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Three winning seasons in the last 30 years. Only three seasons ago, the Owls lost 62-0 twice - in consecutive weeks.
"Just so no one thought the first one was a fluke," said Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, laughing.
Finally, there appears to be reason for hope at Temple.
Philadelphia's sports fans are too distracted waving their Phillies' rally towels or singing the Eagles' fight song this fall to really notice, but Temple is on a winning streak.
Yes, the Temple Owls have won four straight, their longest streak since 1985, and have started 4-2 (3-0 in the Mid-American Conference) for the first time since 1986.
Of course in 1986, the Owls used an ineligible player and ended up having to forfeit all their games.
Temple's last bowl season in 1979 (10-2), and 1984 (6-5) and 1990 (7-4) are its only winning records in the last 30 years.
"You get tired of talking about a car wreck," Bradshaw said.
Coach Al Golden may have finally slammed the brakes on an embarrassing three decades of football futility. His slow build over the last three seasons that ridded the program of a suffocating losing culture could result in a MAC title and even a bowl game eight years after getting an eviction notice from the Big East.
"All we're doing is moving in the right direction," Golden said.
Golden, a former Penn State captain, has led the conversion from patsy to a possible postseason with a fervent can-do attitude that has trickled down to every one from assistants to academic advisers.
He builds team chemistry by breaking the roster into smaller teams and sending them on "Amazing Race" type adventures through historic Philadelphia landmarks.
"His passion leaks through this building," quarterback Vaughn Charlton said. "People in business say that managers want to tease the potential out of people and that's exactly what he does. He teases the potential out of us."
In his fourth season, Golden has finally molded a tough team in his style and has shed the roster of the type of player who came to Temple mainly because it was the only option.
The Owls offered a hint of their progress last season when six of their seven losses were by 10 points or less, a small measure of success for a program that has lost 11 games in a season three times this decade. They also won their final two games of the 2008 season (making them 6-2 in their last eight games) for a rare feeling of offseason confidence.
It nearly collapsed this season after opening with a 27-24 loss to Football Championship Subdivision team Villanova, followed by an expected thumping against Penn State.
"It could have easily have been, let's quit again and let's go back to that," Golden said.
Not these new and improved Owls.
Sparked by a 95-yard interception return and a 92-yard kickoff return for scores, they beat Buffalo in the MAC opener. Bernard Pierce rushed for 180 yards in a win at Eastern Michigan, then it was victories over Ball State and Army to keep the winning streak going.
The Owls play Saturday at Toledo (4-3, 2-1 MAC) but they'll likely be without leading rusher Pierce (554 yards) after he was taken off the field last week on a stretcher with neck and shoulder injuries.
Pierce goes down, a reliable backup should be expected to ably fill in.
The Owls were in football's scrap heap after they were forced out of the Big East and had to play a year as an independent. Former coach Bobby Wallace went for the quick fix with junior college players and that plan backfired with an 0-11 mark in 2005.
The mood started to change for Bradshaw on Nov. 6, 2005, a day after the Owls were drubbed 51-3 by Virginia. He interviewed Golden, then the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator. Golden shifted in 24 hours from developing a gameplan to destroy Temple to one that would save them.
Golden found players so beat down from losing that they questioned why they should bother spending extra time - or any time - in the weight room or watching film.
Golden bluntly compared the football team to an intramural program.
Finding quality players was only part of the problem. Temple was socked by the NCAA with a reduction in scholarships because its Academic Progress Rate scores were so abysmal. The Owls played with only 54 recruited scholarship players in 2006, 63 in 2007 and 71 last year, according to the school.
"It was as close to the death penalty as you can get in 2006," Golden said.
Golden went 1-11 in 2006 and the Owls started 0-5 in 2007. Now they're contenders.
Bradshaw understands if Golden turns the Owls from chumps to MAC champs, bigger programs will try to lure him away.
"We're not in position to back up a Brinks truck," Bradshaw said. "I would love to have Al Golden here for many, many years."
Golden wants to make the Owls regular winners - and make them matter in Philly.
The Owls, who played in the first Sugar Bowl in 1935, are still just a blip on the Philadelphia sports scene.
"It's the one thing Philadelphia misses, and I think we need to get the community into that," Bradshaw said. "It's Philly. You've got to deliver."
