Temple University sees big boost in applications

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Temple University continues to be in the spotlight thanks to its winning football team, and it's peaking the interest of potential students from across the globe.

For the current freshman class Temple received 30,000 applications for the 4,900 spots available. That's a record for the university, and right now they're on pace to breaking that record next year.

Ryan Rinaldi, Temple's student body president says, "It's a special time to be a Temple Owl." And there is no denying that the football team's recent success has something to do with it.

Rinaldi says from the Owl's 7-0 start to their top 25 ranking, Coach Matt Rhule and his team have done a lot to raise the school's profile.

"This year was just a great opportunity for us to show the country, to show families across the country, high school students across the country what 'Temple Made' means," Rinaldi said.

School official say all that buzz is already paying dividends.

Karin Mormando, Temple's Director of Admissions, tells us, "Our most recent open house was the largest ever at over 6,000 attendees. Freshman applications, at this point, for our fall '16 class are up 11 percent over last year."

But Mormondo says the football program is merely putting a spotlight on what is already happening at Temple.

For example, this year's freshman class included 591 honors students. That's an all-time high for Temple. And this year, US News and World Report ranked Temple the 115th best school in the nation. That's a 17 spot jump over the past four years, giving the university its highest ranking ever.

With that said, we spoke with some prospective Temple students taking a campus tour on Tuesday, who say they don't want to come to Temple because of the football team. But one of those prospects, Leah Welde of Springfield, Delaware County, did say, "I know that if I come here I want to go to the games, because I know that a lot of people go and they're a lot of fun."

Meanwhile, Temple faces Houston Saturday at noon for the AAC championship, which you can watch on 6abc.