PHILADELPHIA – Before the game started, back when the Syracuse football team still had a chance at winning the Big East and Temple was still a gimme, Andre Fontenette heard the trash talk and laughed.

‘Yeah, right,’ he thought, as Temple cornerback Andrew Turner barked about how it would be a long day for Syracuse.

After all, this was Temple – Temple – that of the 1-8 record entering the game without a win against a Division I-A team all year.

Back before the game started, ‘Yeah, right,’ seemed like a pretty safe bet.

By the end, it was crazy-talk.

On Saturday, before 15,564, Syracuse did the unthinkable – again. The Orange lost to Temple, 34-24, the second time the Owls have defeated SU in three years.

‘He was right,’ Fontenette said. ‘I don’t know who he was. But whoever No. 14 was (Turner), he was right.’

And Syracuse has no excuses.

Unless God lined up under center for Temple on Saturday, there is no reason why Syracuse should have lost to Temple.

To the players’ and coaches’ credit, they didn’t try to come up with any excuses like in past years. The turnovers, the poor play in the red zone and the failure to stop Temple quarterback Walter Washington – that’s what they pointed to.

Those are facts, not excuses, because a loss to Temple is inexcusable.

Let’s examine Temple’s last seven wins (which, by the way, span the last three years).

With its loss Saturday, Syracuse joined such powerhouses as Florida A&M, Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers, Connecticut (in 2002, when the Huskies were a Division I-A Independent), itself (SU suffered a one-point loss in 2002) and Richmond. Even Villanova, a team that has gone 13-8 the last two years in Division I-AA, beat Temple last year, 23-20, in double overtime.

This is the team that made Syracuse look silly.

There are no excuses this time, not when SU still had a chance – albeit remote – to win the Big East. (With Boston College defeating West Virginia, 36-17, Saturday, SU just needed to beat BC on Nov. 29 and watch WVU lose to Pittsburgh on Nov. 27). And not with bowl eligibility on the line.

In 2002, at least, a loss at Temple simply sullied an already bleak season. Syracuse, at 1-4, lost to Temple, 17-16, after kicker Collin Barber doinked a last-minute extra point off the upright.

Last year, Syracuse lost to Temple’s alter-ego, i.e. Rutgers. The 24-7 loss could be blamed on the choppy, unpredictable wind.

Saturday, no excuses existed. And the players knew it.

‘Hell yeah I’m embarrassed,’ Fontenette said. ‘I mean, with all due respect to Temple, I mean, they beat us, but let’s be real. They’re one of the worst programs in all of college football. It’s embarrassing. It’s frustrating. It feels like it’s unreal. It really does.’

Syracuse used a bevy of mistakes to hand the game to the lowly Owls. First was sophomore Marcus Clayton’s muffed punt, turning the ball over to the Owls with 7:01 left in the second half. Temple recovered and pounded in a touchdown.

Later, Jameel McClain roughed the kicker while rushing a punt, resulting in a Temple first down and eventual field goal.

As the players filtered off the field and into their locker rooms, the expression on each team’s face told it all.

‘Yeah baby,’ Temple players yelled. ‘This is what we neeeeeddddddeeeeedddd!’

Most Syracuse players drooped their heads and walked slowly toward their lockers, helmets hanging at their side.

At the end, like the beginning, the Temple players were talking. This time, though, no one on SU laughed it off.

‘I’m kinda numb to it,’ Fontenette said. ‘I guess it’ll kick in later tonight. It seems unreal. It’s like we don’t want to win. It’s like God gives us this opportunity every single week and we piss it away.’

Against Temple, there’s no excuse.