Gametime Thoughts before Temple/Uconn showdown

Uconn beat Temple 12-9 in their last meeting. They need a better showing this time around.

Temple always seems like a school whose athletics should be better than they are, right? I mean, I always think of Temple basketball as somewhat of a big deal, even though every March comes and goes without the Owls doing much of anything.
Temple football?
They've been a real PITA (pain in the ass) for a while now. In fact, the last two meetings of these teams, you can make the case that Uconn should have lost both outings (a 22-17 victory in 2007 and a 12-9 ug-fest in 2008).
As such, this, to me, is a somewhat important game for the Huskies. First, quite simply, you don't want to lose to a MAC team. Sorry Temple fans but, if you're a team from a BCS-qualifing conference with Orange Bowl aspirations, you can't lose to Temple. Case closed.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, college football remains a beauty pagaent as much as an athletic competition. How you win becomes equally as important as that you do win. Uconn had a very bad showing on opening day of this year in The Big House against Michigan after much hype. It knocked Uconn back into the relative obscurity of also-ran college teams.
However, Michigan's subsequent win at Notre Dame, and Denard Robinson's virtuoso performance against the Irish, where he ripped them for more yards, both on the ground and through the air, than he did to Uconn, has made that loss look, well, okay. It gives Uconn the "out" so many schools look for. "Hey, I know we didn't look good against Michigan at Ann Arbor, but look at what Robinson is doing to everyone else? We are still a pretty good team" will be the mantra from this point forward.
No one is going to schedule a parade because the Huskies dismantled Texas Southern. But, beating them by a score of 62-3 is what good teams are suppose to do. It's hard to imagine that any top-tier school could have won or dominated by more.
While no one expects Uconn to destroy a team like Temple by 59 points, they need something more than a last-second field goal victory here. They need a resounding win, one that lets people know Uconn hasn't gone away.
Temple, so far, has beaten Villanova and Central Michigan, both in close games (Central Michigan was an overtime game). That's not an impressive showing.
Simply put, Uconn needs to continue to establish itself as a good team, and a lopsided victory at Temple would help keep that momentum going.