Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: TEMPLE This included limiting explosive East Carolina, which had tallied 70 points against North Carolina earlier in the year, to 10 points; allowing SEC mem‑ ber Vanderbilt just seven points; and permitting only 14 to a potent Cincin‑ nati offense led by former Notre Dame quarterback Gunner Kiel. The carryover from last season, when the Owls improved from 2‑10 to 6‑6, has continued on that side of the ball during a surprising 5‑0 start entering the week‑ end of Oct. 17 versus winless Central Florida and then a Thursday night trip to East Carolina Oct. 22. Through five games, the Owls ranked in the top 20 nationally in most defen‑ sive categories — including scoring defense again with an average of 14.4 points allowed per game, which ranked 13th in the country. This was highlighted by a 27‑10 drub‑ bing of Penn State in the Sept. 5 opener in which the Nittany Lions were sacked 10 times while suffering their first loss to the Owls since 1941 (PSU had re‑ corded a 38‑0‑1 record versus Temple since then before this year's loss). Among all the favorable defensive data for Temple, the one that stood out the most was its No. 6 ranking in third‑ down defense, allowing foes to convert only 18 of 73 (24.7 percent). This in turn enables the Owls defense to get off the field quicker and the Temple offense to rank fifth in the country in time of pos‑ session with just more than 34 minutes per game. Finally, entering the weekend of Oct. 17, Temple was tied with Notre Dame for 16th nationally in red‑zone defense. Of the 15 times an opponent reached the Owls' 20‑yard line, only five resulted in touchdowns (there were six field goals and four other posses‑ sions with no scores). Even in Rhule's first game as the Temple head coach, a 28‑6 loss at Notre Dame in the 2013 opener, shades of a scrappy defense at the Philadelphia school were developing. In the first 4:41 of the game, quarterback Tommy Rees and wide receiver DaVaris Daniels connected on two 32‑yard touchdown passes for a quick 14‑0 Notre Dame lead. In the remaining 55:19, the Irish managed only 14 more points. A 1998 Penn State graduate who earned Academic All‑Big Ten honors in 1997 as a senior linebacker, the 40‑year‑ old Rhule is emerging as one of the na‑ tion's top coaching candidates for any Power Five conference vacancy. His career path has actually been on offense, including working under cur‑ rent Miami head coach Al Golden as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for the Owls before serving as an assistant offensive line coach for Tom Coughlin's New York Giants in 2012. Rhule's defensive coordinator is Phil Snow, who has been in college or NFL coaching since 1979. RETURN TO THE ROAD After playing five of its first seven games at home, Notre Dame will finish with four of its last five on the road, with Senior Day Nov. 14 versus Wake Forest the lone exception. Since the 28‑21 loss at Pitt on Nov. 9, 2013, the Irish are 4‑6 in regular‑season road outings. So far this year on the road, it needed a dramatic 39‑yard touchdown pass