Today's subplot: Owl Nation vs. Phillies Nation

Owl Nation (left) and Phillies Nation

Still time for students to get their free stuff:

Every Temple student is entitled to receive one (1) free ticket to all home Temple Football and Basketball games per their student activities fee.

For Temple Football games, students may pick up their free ticket up to two days prior to the game at the Liacouras Center Box Office. Students may also pick up their free ticket the day of the game at the Lincoln Financial Field Box Office. Student must bring valid student ID to receive their ticket.


Student Bus Information for Football Games:
For all home football games, the Temple Athletic Department provides students with free transportation to and from Lincoln Financial Field. Buses will pick up students two and a half hours prior to game time at four different Temple locations: 1300 Cecil B. Moore Ave, Johnson & Hardwick Dorm, the Student Center, and Ambler Campus. Buses on main campus will run shuttles to and from Lincoln Financial Field leading up to the start of the game. Conversely, buses will only make one pick-up for students at the Ambler Campus. Buses will return to campus when the football game is over.

Football Student Tailgate:
Temple Athletics hosts a free Student Tailgate for Temple students before all home football games at Lincoln Financial Field located in Lot K. The tailgate starts an hour and a half prior to kickoff. Free food, drinks, and music will be provided to all Temple Students with proper Temple Student ID.

You've seen them everywhere all summer.
From Citizens' Bank Park to Chicago to San Diego, Phillies Nation has been one damn impressive fan base, often outcheering folks in far-flung cities.
At home, they usually arrive 3-5 hours before game time and tailgate their asses off in the Lincoln Financial Field Lot K.
Only problem is that Lot is taken over by Temple fans during Temple home football games.
So even Phillies Nation doesn't have a clue, though, what will happen later on today.
Owl Nation, armed with a little knowledge that Phillies Nation doesn't have, will grab those tailgate spots between 12-3 for a 5 p.m. game. The Phillies fans will arrive around 3 and mutter "what the f*ck" under their breaths, forced to find spots on the street.
Why?
Because Phillies Nation probably doesn't follow Temple football and probably is unaware that a Temple game is even taking place, thanks to the pro-sports oriented Philly media.
So score one for Owl Nation, which is quite aware of the Phils' start two hours later.
They haven't tallied (err, maybe I should use a different word there) the final numbers of tickets sold quite yet because Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw expects a huge walk-up for the game with Villanova.
Bradshaw mentioned the number 10,000 as a walk-up number, saying that was approximately the walk-up in the 2003 and 2009 meetings between the teams at Lincoln Financial Field.

I said back in June I'm sticking with it that the attendance for this game will be around 37K. I'll be disappointed if it is less and mildly surprised if it is more.

Could be a couple of thousand more, a couple of thousand less but I said back in June I'm sticking with it that the attendance for this game will be around 37K. I'll be disappointed if it is less and mildly surprised if it is more.
Looks like Owl Nation will be a big-time winner in this fan game, with anywhere between an estimated 28K and 32K rooting for Temple and 5-8K rooting for Villanova.
But Villanova isn't a loser in this fan race, though.
If the Wildcats bring 8K, they will be bringing 3K more than they did in three of their last five home Division I-AA playoff games. For a shore week, those are impressive numbers.
The fan base losing out is Phillies Nation, which usually wins everywhere else.