Well, it was nice while it lasted _ approximately 12 hours.
Yesterday, CBS Sportsline updated its latest bowl projections to put Temple in Mobile, Ala., playing against Notre Dame in the GMAC Bowl.
Around noon today, the guys there revised their predictions to put Temple in the same bowl we told you they were going last Saturday, the International Bowl in Toronto.
GMAC BOWL: Temple vs. UConn (ESPN2).
Who knows where tomorrow's revision will have the Owls headed, but my money is on Washington, D.C.
Seems to be they made a dartboard, put the bowls on the wall and the teams on darts and threw them and projected wherever the darts stuck.
I guess these guys didn't know two things:
1) The GMAC has told the MAC it wants Central Michigan;
2) Notre Dame's players voted not to play in a bowl.
Nice pick, though, and a way for Owl fans to get excited.
Now don't get too hung up on No. 1 or No. 2.
1) The MAC is flexible.
2) The Notre Dame administration has said it, not the players, will decide who plays where.
All of us should be very excited today and not because we had a chance to go to Mobile to play Notre Dame.
We're looking at two likely bowls, one that would pit Temple against (probably) a hated Big East foe in another country and one that would give 10,000 of the Owls' very fragile fan base a chance to get off their asses and into a car for a two-hour drive down I-95 to see something they haven't seen in their lifetimes."Expert' Bowl Projections:
CBS Sportsline.com:International: Temple vs USF
The Rivalry, Esq. :
GMAC: Temple vs UL-Monroe
Saturday Sound-Offs:
International Bowl: Rutgers vs. Temple
ESPN's Graham Watson:
International Bowl: Temple vs. Big East
ESPN's Mark Schlabach:
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Temple vs Louisiana-Monroe
ESPN's Bruce Feldman:
International: West Virginia vs Temple
Sporting News' Dave Curtis:
Eagle Bank Bowl: Temple vs. Marshall
SI's Stewart Mandel:
International: USF vs Temple
Rivals :
International: Rutgers vs Temple
Or at least in 30 years.
The Owls in a bowl game.
Playing Notre Dame in a warm-weather climate adds another level to that excitement, I admit, even though it's probably not coming to pass.
I want the opponent to be as high a profile one as any.
I also want to beat said opponent.
What you put your money on Al Golden and Mark D'Onofrio (and maybe Bernard Pierce) against someone from Charlie Weis' staff?
I would.
Don't put your hopes on that trip.
Yet.
The Owls are in a bowl and that's reason enough for me to be happy. Whatever the bowl is, I want them to win it and open some national eyes in the process.
No bitching allowed.
At least not this year.
