8/17/2020 – In a press conference today Temple Interim Athletic Director Fran Dunphy indicated that the school will be moving forward with fall sports at this time with a reminder that nothing is etched in stone.
The football team has lost all of its non-league opponents. The school would like to fill in part of the schedule, but nothing is definite. The series against Miami and Rutgers could be resumed in the future.
Currently, the schedule has Temple opening the season against Navy at Annapolis on September 26th. The first home game will have South Florida visiting on October 17th. Will they be played, not definite. And, if so, will there be fans in the stands?
“I was on a conference call today,” said Dunphy. “Other league schools are trying to get twenty-five percent of the stadium filled. Can that happen? I don’t know because they are in different parts of the country from where we are. The city will tell us what our marching orders will be in terms of that. Maybe as much as fifteen percent we could have at a game. Maybe it could be for Olympic sports it could be no fans in it. It will be interesting to see where we are in the next couple of weeks.”
For the fall sports consisting of men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball, the games on the schedule are intended to be be played. The soccer teams are practicing, and the student-athletes want to play. Men’s soccer gets underway tentatively in early September and have 10 conference games on the schedule to be played on Saturday’s. If a non-conference game can be arranged, they attempt to play the game. Women’s soccer has 8 games in the American, and those will take place on Sunday’s.
Volleyball has shortened the season to 8 matches, all in the American.
The student-athletes want to play. Dunphy did remind us that the situation is fluid.
“The health and safety piece are what we are most worried about,” Dunphy said. “There is not a lot of specific things we can do as we are still at the mercy of what Covid has in store for us.”
“What I say to you today could change tomorrow.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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