Three years ago, a 37-year-old Al Golden stepped out of the visitor's locker room at UB Stadium as the new commander-in-chief of Temple University football. With Golden came a cast of under-confident Owl players and a 12-game losing streak that the young head coach was supposed to eliminate as soon as possible.
Temple's 9-3 overtime loss to new head coach Turner Gill's Buffalo squad didn't exactly elevate the excitement level of Temple Owl fans, but Golden's first game sparked a new era and a new prospective football rivalry.
Three years later, hatred exists between the two football programs, but the record between the schools doesn't exactly portray a rivalry similar to Texas-Oklahoma.
Wins are no longer apocalyptic forewarnings on both Golden's and Gill's respective campuses, but heading into Saturday's Mid-American Conference opener, Golden holds zero wins against his fellow fourth-year head coach. Overall, Buffalo is a staggering 12-1 against its MAC foe in eastern Pennsylvania.
According to Golden, the main difference between the extremely similar programs is team attitude. He referred to current NFL and former Buffalo players Trevor Scott and Jamey Richard – along with a cast of current Bulls – as self-motivated players that carried Buffalo teams in the past.
'When [new players] walk into the program at Buffalo, there's three or four NFL guys in the program showing them how to win,' Golden said in a press conference. 'You don't have to wind those guys up. They know how to compete and they know how to win. What we need is [for] our seniors to step up and do that now.'
Golden believes that his senior class has learned enough from the last three Temple-Buffalo meetings to see how to win.
Temple came into the 2007 meeting against Buffalo with more confidence and looking to protect its home field.
Now-injured senior running back James Starks took a first play screen 74 yards into the Temple end zone and started what would be an all-around drubbing. The Bulls outgained Temple 414-141, held Temple to -36 yards rushing and pounded Temple 42-7.
For a team that expected to compete in the MAC East, the loss effectively ruined its season. The Owls had a hard time recovering and lost their next three games to start the season 0-5.
The embarrassing loss still provides Golden with sore memories.
'They kicked our ass,' Golden said. 'They were a veteran group. They were a strong group and they kicked our ass.'
The Owls finally got it together and went 4-3 in their last seven games. Once again they came into the season with momentum and expected to do well.
After beating Army and losing in overtime to Connecticut to start off the 2008 season, the Owls once again traveled to UB Stadium hoping to display success.
A Hail Mary and a 30-28 loss later, the Owls were stunned and relegated to kneeling on the turf, asking how they could once again lose to Buffalo.
In the end, the loss was the difference between a 5-7 season and a MAC East title. Temple finished one game behind the Bulls, who knocked off Ball State in the MAC Championship and were invited to the International Bowl.
When asked about revenge, Golden downplayed the factor.
'[The Hail Mary] happened, you have to move on. We tried to leave it alone last year,' Golden said. 'To me, it's just about where we're at. It's the game we're getting ready for and our guys have to prepare for it … We understand the process now and now it's time to go play and perform.'
Temple's highly anticipated bout against Buffalo begins the program's third season as a member of the MAC. Temple has gone 4-4 both years, just a game behind the MAC East champion. The Owls were an independent team for two years before joining the MAC. With no conference affiliation and limited bowl prospects, the program was unable to attain quality prospects.
Now with two years of MAC experience to fall back on, Golden is ready for his team to take the step to success.
'[Last season] was [Buffalo's] 10th year in the conference,' Golden said. 'I'm not saying it takes 10 years to learn, but I think it takes some time to understand that it's like the NCAA Tournament. This is an eight-game tournament. It's not single elimination, because our representative from the East has been 5-3 the last three years. But every game is important … Both teams know it's an important game and that's the way it is.'
As far as this year's contest goes, Golden is ready for his team to prove its worth against the reigning MAC Champions.
'It's a chance to play the MAC Champions and a team that plays well,' Golden said. 'They provide a lot of challenges for us schematically on both sides of the ball, and they play well together as a team.'
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
