On North Broad Street, it's always been something.
Now, it's mostly about new ground: first MAC win ... first MAC East Division win ... first road win since 2003. In the overall landscape of college football, it's not necessarily registering on the Richter scale. Yet in Temple's corner of it, this beats the all-too-familiar alternative.
"Belief without evidence is hard," said second-year coach Al Golden. "That's called faith. It's easier to believe now than it was 3 weeks ago ...
"There's [still] a tremendous job in front of us. And a tremendous opportunity. Two wins is not why I took this job. It's not why [Temple] wanted to have me here.
"[The coaches] knew we were going to win. We just didn't know if the players knew we were going to win."
The Owls (2-5, 2-2), who have one senior and 28 freshmen and sophomores on the depth chart, figure to have a chance in just about every remaining game. That doesn't guarantee anything. But for a team that hasn't won more than twice since 2002, it's something.
For now, the tricky part could be keeping it in the proper context. How's that for irony?
"There's a lot that [still] needs to be fixed," said fourth-year fullback Josh Bundy, who had been part of one victory over a I-A opponent before this month. "We're discovering how to become a better team. That's where we're at."
And maybe even where they're headed. Just remember to proceed according to plan.
"With all due respect, the media's poison right now," Golden said. "I have no idea what people are saying [about us]. We asked the kids to block that out when we weren't winning. You can't go back and tell them to listen at this point.
"All of a sudden they have a lot more friends on campus. That's OK. But it's not like I woke up on Sunday and approached it any different."
