Oct 31, 2015 07:00 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Thanks to the Temple Owls' (21) surge to a 7-0 start, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9) find themselves playing an important road game in Philadelphia.

But Temple is can also play spoiler to Notre Dame's College Football Playoff hopes if they can improve to 8-0 and strengthen their grip on the AAC East. Temple also has a chance to put their football program on the map, as ESPN's "College GameDay" will be on site.

Click here to watch the game live via WatchESPN. You can also listen to the game live via TuneIn. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET in Philadelphia, Penn.

Few teams have defended the run as well as Temple, and the Owls would do well to take that away from the Irish and force DeShone Kizer to step up and make plays with his arm.

"Obviously we're excited about this week, as I know everybody is," Temple head football coach Matt Rhule said in his weekly press conference. "A tremendous opportunity to play a great team in Notre Dame, a team we had a chance to play two years ago. They're probably still a national title contender even though they lost one game by a point or two points. They're loaded, they're absolutely fantastic."

But this week also shaped up to a big one for Notre Dame. Temple was 2-10 in Rhule's first season in 2013 and then improved to 6-6 last season, so Notre Dame was not likely expecting to be playing an undefeated team in Philadelphia when the season started.

"They will have to settle into the game and they will," head coach Brian Kelly told reporters this week. "They have played in some big venues. They understand that there's going to be some excitement about it. And I'm sure they will be excited, but they are going to have to settle into the game."

(Quotes, stats courtesy of ESPN)

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