Oct. 27, 2008

CLEVELAND - Temple sophomore punter Jeff Wathne (Ledgewood, N.J.) has earned Mid-American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the East division, the MAC announced on Monday.

In Tuesday's 14-10 win over Ohio, Wathne made six punts for 270 yards (45.0 average) and a 39.2 net average. He also had three kickoffs for 178 yards, two of which were more than 50 yards and one was inside the 20.

In eight games, Wathne has 2,176 yards on 53 punts for a 41.1 average. Fifteen of those punts were inside the 20 and six were longer than 50 yards. Wathne also has 1,841 yards on 29 kickoffs (63.5 average). He also serves as the holder for field goals and PATs. Wathne has been named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List as the nation's best punter.

The MAC honor is the second of Wathne's collegiate career and his second this season.

Additionally, junior DE Junior Galette (Spring Valley, N.Y.) was named the OwlSports.com Athlete of the Week.

In the win over Ohio, Galette finished with four solo tackles, two for a loss, and two sacks for a loss of 21 yards. His second sack came on Ohio's final drive of the game, a 12-yard loss on second-and-10 with just 49 seconds on the clock. Galette's set back forced Ohio to pass on the next two plays (both were incomplete), sealing Temple's come-from-behind victory.

Galette helped the defense hold the Bobcats to just 10 points overall on 47 total yards rushing and scoreless in the second half.

In seven games, Galette has 40 tackles, a team-best 10.0 TFL, a team-best 7.5 sacks, three break-ups, a hurry, and a forced fumble. He is a first-team mid-season All-MAC selection by Phil Steele Publications.

This week Temple (3-5, 2-3 MAC) visits Navy (5-3) on Saturday, Nov. 1 for a 3:30 p.m. contest at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Md. CBS College Sports Network will televise the game live nationally.

EAST DIVISION				WEST DIVISION
OFFENSIVE				OFFENSIVE
Eugene Jarvis, TB, Kent State		Nate Davis, QB, Ball State
DEFENSIVE				DEFENSIVE
Brian Lainhart, FS, Kent State		Craig Rusch, DE, Northern Illinois
SPECIAL TEAMS				SPECIAL TEAMS
Jeff Wathne, P/PK, Temple		Mike Salerno, PK, North Illinois