Three of the Temple football team’s first five games in 2007 will likely be televised, according to Coach Al Golden, who recently attended the Mid-American Conference meetings in Mobile, Ala.In addition to the season opener against Navy and an early-season game at Army, the Owls' visit to Bowling Green is being considered for broadcast.
The early-season exposure affirms Golden’s conviction that Temple and the MAC are perfect together.
“I thought the MAC was a great fit for Temple (when he took over as head coach) and I think that now,” Golden said in a recent interview. “When I go to the MAC meetings in Mobile and they’re talking about three of our first five games being on ESPN, because we’re in the MAC, and because we’re the fourth-largest media market in the country, I think it was a great fit.
“As soon as we sat down, the representatives from ESPN and the MAC are basically saying, ‘OK, we’re going to put the Navy game on ESPNU and the Army game is going to be on ESPNU, and then we want to put your Bowling Green game on,’ – before we can even settle into our seats. That pretty much tells me that the reasons that we wanted to come here are starting to come into fruition, little by little.”
The Owls will open the season hosting Navy at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday, Aug. 31. The ESPNU placement has already been announced. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
After hosting Buffalo (Sept. 8) and visiting UConn (Sept. 15), the Owls will visit Bowling Green on Sept. 22. Bowling Green has announced the kickoff time as 6:00 p.m., though specific television arrangements have not been released.
On Sept. 29, Temple will visit Army. There’s been no official announcement regarding ESPNU, only that the game will appear on one of the ESPN networks. Kickoff time also hasn’t been released.
Later television appearances will be announced at a later date.
A handful of Temple’s opponents have released kickoff times for this season. Below is the 2007 schedule, with kickoff information gathered from MAC member websites.
Fri., Aug. 31, Navy, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 8, Buffalo, TBA
Sat., Sept. 15, at Connecticut, TBA
Sat., Sept. 22, at Bowling Green, 6:00 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29, at Army, TBA
Sat., Oct. 6, Northern Illinois, 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 13, at Akron, TBA
Sat, Oct. 20, Miami, TBA
Sat., Oct. 27, Open Date
Fri., Nov. 2, at Ohio, TBA
Sat., Nov. 10, Penn State, TBA
Sat., Nov. 17, Kent State, TBA
Sat., Nov. 24, at Western Michigan, 2:00 p.m.
All times Eastern; subject to change