Temple coach Matt Rhule and Stella the Owl take on Notre Dame to kick off the season/

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

With the start of the 2013 college football season upon us, it’s time to make a list of games to see that involve Philadelphia-area teams.

First, we’ll start off with a road trip. There’s nothing like going out of town to watch college football and if you can do it at an iconic stadium it makes it that much better. The Temple Owls open the season, the Matt Rhule era and catch a glimpse of Touchdown Jesus with a trip to Notre Dame on Saturday, August 31. You don’t have to be a Fighting Irish fan to appreciate that Notre Dame Stadium is one of the most important sites in college football history. With the Owls visiting South Bend, it gives Philadelphia-area fans the perfect excuse to make the trip.

Next, on Friday, September 6, another coaching era gets started when Widener visits Dover to take on Wesley. The battle between a pair preseason Top 20 teams at the Division III level, will be head coach Bobby Acosta’s first game at the helm of the Pride and it won’t be an easy start. Wesley has developed into a perennial power; since 2005, the Wolverines have reached double-digit wins every season but one. “It’s a national championship-type game for us,” Acosta told FootballStories, “Our guys are fired up at the opportunity to play a top-10 team. If we can compete and do well, it’s really going to propel us into our season.”

The next day, Saturday, September 7, Delaware Valley hosts Rowan in a MAC-NJAC Challenge game. In the last 10 seasons, the Aggies have accomplished a lot as a program including multiple MAC Championships, NCAA playoff wins and victories in ECAC Bowl games but in six tries they have never defeated Rowan.

Saturday, September 21, marks the first of three appearances for Villanova on the list. The Wildcats will have a chance to gain a measure of revenge on Stony Brook, the team that ended their 2012 season in the first round of the FCS playoffs. This is also the Seawolves first season in the CAA.

The next Saturday, September 28, the Wildcats and Penn renew their rivalry. Some have suggested that since Temple and Villanova are not playing for the Mayor’s Cup this year that it should go to the winner of this game. Quakers head coach Al Bagnoli would settle for a win, never mind the Mayor’s Cup. The teams have played regularly since 1999 including every season starting in 2004 and Bagnoli is still looking for his first win over an Andy Talley coached team.

On Saturday, October 5, the Owls host the Louisville Cardinals at Lincoln Financial Field. It figures to be a tough task for Temple, the Cardinals are the preseason favorite to win the American Athletic Conference (AAC). They also feature one of the games more dynamic players in quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. A junior, Bridgewater, is a Heisman Trophy candidate and he was named the MVP of the 2013 Allstate Sugar Bowl for leading his team to a 33-23 win over Florida.

On October 12, the University of Delaware will host CAA newcomer Albany in the Homecoming Game at Delaware Stadium. The Fightin’ Blue Hens will have a reunion of their 1963 national championship team which was coached by College Football Hall of Famer David Nelson. He was the father of the Delaware Wing T offense and, as a Michigan man, the one who brought the winged pattern to the teams helmets.

November 9, Bloomsburg visits West Chester in a PSAC Eastern Division battle. Both teams figure to be at or near the top of the division so a win could propel the victor into the PSAC Championship Game the next week.

Time to hit the road again, this time it’s up to Boston as the Penn Quakers meet Harvard on November 16. The teams are picked to finish one-two in The Ivy League again this year and this game could decide who gets the title as it has done five times since 2001. If Amtrak to The Hub isn’t your thing then try SEPTA’s Lansdale-Doylestown line to Delaware Valley College and watch the Aggies battle Widener for the Keystone Cup. This game has also decided the MAC Championship and the playoff birth that goes with it the last two years.

For the second time in the history of the great rivalry between Villanova and Delaware, PPL Park will play host. November 23 is the Battle of the Blue and the Wildcats have won six of the last seven to forge a 24-21-1 mark in the series all-time. New Fightin’ Blue Hens head coach Dave Brock gets his first taste of this rivalry which dates back to 1895.

Rock Hoffman can be reached at rock@footballstories.com