Temple Owls kick off football season at University of Oklahoma

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The college football season is underway, and Temple kicks off its campaign Friday night with a tough challenge: the nationally ranked Oklahoma Sooners.

The Owls are hoping to improve on last year’s rough 3-9 campaign, but this will be a tough challenge to start 2024, as Oklahoma went 10-3 a season ago.

Temple head coach Stan Drayton said it’s crucial when the Owls have the ball, they must not turn it over.

“You stand no chance against an opponent like Oklahoma if you’re turning the ball over,” he said. “Our quarterback is going to have to manage the game. … He’s gonna have to be situationally aware and, to the best of our ability, we need to establish the run in this game for us to have the success that we’re trying to have.”

The Temple defense will have its hands full with an Oklahoma offense that averaged more than 41 points and 500 yards of offense per game last season.

This will be the third-ever matchup between Temple and Oklahoma. The Owls lost the first meeting in 1940 and won the second in 1942.

Friday’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. EST in Norman, Oklahoma.