Temple's Sharif Finch AAC defensive player of the week

Temple redshirt senior defensive end Sharif Finch has been named the American Athletic Conference defensive player of the week.

Finch had two sacks and five tackles in Thursday's 34-28 win over Navy. He was a major part of a defensive effort that held Navy to 136 yards rushing. The Midshipmen entered the game leading the nation in rushing with 376.1 yards per game.

This week the Midshipmen dropped to second in rushing, averaging 346.1 yards per game.

"I thought Sharif was a hard kid to block and he was all over the field," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said during Monday's AAC media call.

In addition to Finch, redshirt junior quarterback Frank Nutile earned a place on the AAC honor roll, after completing 22 of 30 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns.

Nutile to again start

Temple coach Geoff Collins said on the conference call that Nutile will make his third consecutive and third career start when the Owls (4-5, 2-3 AAC) visit Cincinnati (3-6, 1-4) on Friday.

Nutile has done well replacing injured starter Logan Marchi, completing 42 of 59 passes for 579 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, the last two games. Collins wouldn't commit past Friday on his starting quarterback.

Collins also said that starting left guard Jovahn Fair is "closer" to playing. Fair started the first three games, but has been sidelined since suffering an undisclosed injury in the Owls third game of the year, a 29-21 win over Massachusetts.

Start time for UCF

Temple's next home game is No. 14 Central Florida on Nov. 18 will begin at noon and will be televised by ESPNU. Coming off a 31-24 win over SMU, Central Florida (8-0) leads the nation in scoring, averaging 48.5 points per game. Before facing Temple, UCF hosts Connecticut (3-6) on Saturday.