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Miami Isn't Worried About Letdown Vs. Temple

Sept 13, 2002

By ROB MAADDI
AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Here’s a scary thought for Temple: Miami coach LarryCoker said his team can be even better.

After an impressive 41-16 victory over then-No. 6 Florida at The Swamp lastweek, No. 1 Miami enters Saturday’s game against overmatched Temple as a37-point favorite.

The Hurricanes overwhelmed Florida even though they committed 14 penaltiesand threw three interceptions.

“My goodness, you don’t win, usually, games like that,” Coker said.”There’s a lot of improvement we need to make there.”

But it might be difficult for Miami (2-0) to measure progress againstTemple. The Owls (1-1) are coming off a 35-3 loss to Oregon State that followeda 34-7 victory over Division I-AA Richmond.

Temple has beaten Miami just once in 11 tries, a 34-0 win on Oct. 30, 1930,long before Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson broughtnational prominence to the program.

“Miami is obviously a great football team,” Owls coach Bobby Wallace said.”There’s not a whole lot of things that you can say that haven’t been alreadysaid about them. They have outstanding players at every position. And I’mtalking about every position.”

Ken Dorsey threw four touchdown passes, Willis McGahee ran for 204 yards andMaurice Sikes had two interceptions, including one he returned 97 yards for aTD, in Miami’s rout last week.

Can the Hurricanes somehow find motivation to play Temple after such anemotional victory?

“This team will not let down after Florida. Definitely not,” Sikes said.”We’re not playing against Temple. We’re playing against Miami. We’re playingagainst a tradition that’s been here already, and we’re trying to set our owntradition now.”

While the Hurricanes strive for greatness, Temple would be satisfied withmediocrity. The Owls have had just one winning season since 1984 and that camein 1990. Because they are a perennial doormat in the conference, the Big Eastis dropping Temple after the 2004 season.

But the Owls aren’t worried about finding a new home. Their biggest concernright now is avoiding another embarrassing loss.

“We’re not going to go in just to play good,” senior defensive lineman DanKlecko said. “We’re going to go into this game to try to win, try to beatMiami, try to upset them. You have to look at those games as winnable or whyelse would you be here?

“They’re a great team. How many people get to play against No. 1 in thenation every year? So it’s pretty awesome.”