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UCLA-Temple Preview

Dec 29, 2009 - 4:12 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

UCLA (6-6) at Temple (9-3), 4:30 p.m. EDT

UCLA passed over Al Golden in favor of Rick Neuheisel when it picked a coach two years ago. Though a superb season with Temple has improved his credentials, Golden insists he's not leaving anytime soon.

Golden has the Owls in their first bowl game in 30 years, facing Neuheisel and the inconsistent Bruins in the EagleBank Bowl on Tuesday at RFK Stadium.

Temple went 4-8 in 2007, its second season under Golden. Still, Golden interviewed twice for the UCLA job that eventually went to Neuheisel.

The Bruins went 4-8 under Neuheisel in 2008 before going 6-6 this season and backing their way into a bowl. Temple (9-3), meanwhile, went 5-7 last season, but is now playing its most meaningful late-December game since beating California 28-17 in the 1979 Garden State Bowl.

This is the first meeting between Temple and UCLA.

"It feels good because of where we were," said Golden, the Mid-American Conference coach of the year.

This is the Owls' fourth winning season in the past 30 years. They went 10-2 in 1979, 6-5 in '84 and 7-4 in '90.

Due to Temple's turnaround, Golden is widely considered one of the top targets for teams looking for a new coach. Golden insists he doesn't have any interviews lined up, though he had been mentioned as a contender for the Cincinnati job that was given to Central Michigan's Butch Jones.

The Owls have been rewarded for their patience with Golden, who went 1-11 in 2006 after taking over an 0-11 team.

Temple, however, had a nine-game winning streak snapped in its last contest, losing 35-17 to Ohio. That kept the Owls out of the conference championship game.

Temple ran for more than 200 yards for the sixth straight game even though it was without Bernard Pierce, sidelined by a left shoulder injury. The MAC freshman of the year should return for this matchup after leading the conference with 1,308 yards rushing and finishing second with 15 touchdowns.

Matt Brown, another Owls freshman, is second on the team with 455 rushing yards, 328 over his last two games. Temple is ranked 23rd in the nation in rushing, averaging 192.3 yards a contest.

The Owls' defense, meanwhile, is ranked 19th against the run, giving up an average of 108.8 yards.

Sophomore Adrian Robinson, who had 12 sacks and was picked as the conference's defensive player of the year, is one of a school-record eight players named to the all-MAC first team.

UCLA has had an inconsistent season even though it has four All-Americans, opening with three straight wins before losing its next five. The Bruins had another three-game winning streak snapped in their last game, losing 28-7 to then-No. 24 Southern California on Nov. 28.

UCLA was the last team to make it into the postseason, getting in following Navy's 17-3 victory over Army on Dec. 12. Had they won, the Black Knights would be facing Temple.

This is the Bruins' first bowl game since losing 17-16 to BYU in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to play in the EagleBank Bowl," Neuheisel said. "We have a lot of respect for what coach Golden has accomplished at Temple and we are looking forward to a great game."

The Bruins have two second-team All-Americans, safety Rahim Moore and kicker Kai Forbath. Moore, a sophomore, leads the nation with nine interceptions and Forbath won the Lou Groza Award honoring the nation's best kicker.

Forbath went 26 for 29 on field goals, with all of his misses coming from beyond 50 yards.

UCLA has two third-team All-Americans, junior defensive tackle Brian Price and senior cornerback Alterraun Verner. Price has 34 1/2 tackles for loss in his last 21 games, and Verner has five INTs this season.

The Bruins have been held under 20 points six times. Freshman quarterback Kevin Prince has had trouble settling down, completing 56.7 percent of his passes for 1,829 yards and six TDs while getting picked off seven times.

Prince has not thrown a touchdown pass in his last two games while completing less than half of his attempts.