Are Penn State and Villanova Really Considered Temple’s ‘Rivals?’

I often allude to Temple’s Wikipedia page. Specifically, I like to talk about the subsection called “the Steve Addazio Era” and the irony of his era being two years and a record just over .500 (even though it’s really just Wikipedia protocol to have that subsection). But mostly, I like to talk about the Owls’ listed rivals: Penn State and Villanova.Let’s be honest. Nobody at Penn State thinks of Temple as a rival.

PSU has maybe the most overconfident fan base in the country but even I’ll admit that saying Temple is one of their rivals is an insult to Penn State. And Villanova is an FCS school, which is an insult to Temple.

Here’s a weirdly low-budget ESPNU video of Penn State students finding out for the first time that Temple is their rival:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-bSSjBXF7qQ

As you see, they all have the same reaction: “We always beat Temple. That isn’t a rivalry. We have other things to worry about like Ohio State, Michigan, and THON.”

And I agree. I see the theory—they’re both Pennsylvania schools, they both have students from similar backgrounds who are friends with each other—but Temple doesn’t have nearly the fan base, the recruits, or the historical success that Penn State does.

You can’t push two schools to be rivals just because they play in the same state. There are other factors involved, most important being talent level. Penn State and Temple have met 43 times over the years. The Owls have won just three of those games and tied one. That’s a .071 winning percentage. The dictionary defines a rivalry as “a competition for superiority.” It hasn’t been a competition since 1941, the last time Temple defeated Penn State. The Owls have lost 39 straight since then.

Temple’s proximity to Villanova is much closer (about 15 miles). And their all-time record is even at 15 wins apiece (although Villanova has won just four times since 1970). And their “rivalry” even has a catchy name: The Mayor’s Cup. But we can’t call them rivals for the same reason—saying that Temple should care excessively about beating Villanova would stall their recent progress.

The Mayor’s Cup started in 2009 and was backed by Mayor Michael Nutter and Philly native Bill Cosby (good thing they didn’t call it The Cosby Cup. Who would want a cup from him?). The two teams played from 2009 until 2012 in their season openers but kind of gave up on that idea when Temple joined the AAC and haven’t played since.

The theory with Villanova and Temple was that their basketball teams are historically pretty good, so hopefully a rivalry could carry over into football. It doesn’t always work that way though. Duke and North Carolina aren’t football rivals. Alabama and Auburn aren’t basketball rivals. Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks aren’t baseball rivals. What? You don’t watch college hockey?

I’ll agree that Temple and Nova do display some key symptoms of a rivalry. And I’ll concede that they can be secondary rivals. But they’re missing the most important factor: Nova has virtually no fan base. In most cases, it’s the fans that care more about rivalries than the players.

The Owls have an up-and-coming football program (hopefully) and as such, they deserve a rival. But they don’t deserve Penn State. And Villanova doesn’t deserve them.