PHILADELPHIA — To call it "hell week," as Temple players do, ignores one crucial fact: It lasted two weeks, not just one.
It began on the heels of a one-point loss to Fordham on Sept. 14, 2013, with Temple players assembled in the program's football facilities for another round of depressing film study; that loss marked the Owls' third in a row to start the year, the team's first under Matt Rhule, and a poor way to enter the team's first bye week of the regular season.
At the conclusion of film work, Rhule stood in front of the Owls and issued an edict to his seniors: get out, he said, and don't come back until next week.