Temple on longest win streak since 1973
November 6, 2009
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Bernard Pierce ran for 172 yards and three touchdowns, andBrandon McManus kicked an 18-yard field goal with 3 seconds left to give Templea 34-32 victory over Miami of Ohio on Thursday night.
The Owls (7-2, 5-0 Mid-American Conference) won their seventh straight gameand are on their longest winning streak since they won the final eight games ofthe 1973 season.
Temple blew leads of 21-3 and 31-13 against the RedHawks (1-9, 1-5). McManusbailed out the Owls with their biggest kick of the season.
Coach Al Golden’s Owls were already bowl eligible and they now have the MACtitle game in sight. To put the winning streak in perspective, the Owls wonseven games total from 2002-05.
The Owls opened the 1974 season with six straight victories and finished the1970s with three straight bowl games. Temple then sunk into three decades offootball futility that made it one of the worst programs around.
No more.
The Owls showed some grit on the final drive after blowing the huge leads.
Zack Dysert threw for 415 yards and three touchdown passes for the RedHawks(1-9, 1-5). Dysert tossed TD passes of 25 and 14 yards in the fourth quarter toslice the deficit to five at 31-26.
Dysert rushed for the first down on a crucial fourth-and-1 at Temple’s 2 onthe final drive. Thomas Merriweather capped the comeback with the short TD runto make it 32-31. The 2-point conversion failed.
Golden, a former Penn State captain, needed only four seasons to turn a ademoralized program into conference contenders. Once an automatic “W” on anyteam’s schedule, the Owls are on track for their first bowl game since 1979.
The Owls haven’t had a winning record since they went 7-4 in 1990.
Temple’s sob story—kicked out of the Big East, winless seasons—has beenrecounted countless times.
Pierce is among the Owls trying to write a new story in Temple’s history. Healready set a Temple record for yards rushing and touchdowns by a freshman. Henow has six 100-yard rushing games this season.
Pierce had TD runs of 1 and 7 yards in the first half, then capped a15-carry third quarter with a 14-yard score that made it 31-13.
His 14 rushing touchdowns put Pierce one shy of the single-season rushingrecord held by Paul Palmer (1986) and Walter Washington (2004).
Golden benched starting quarterback Vaughn Charlton for Chester Stewart.Charlton started every game, but had only completed 51 percent of his passes andthrew seven interceptions.
Charlton still made an impact, scoring on a fake field goal on fourth-and-1late in the first quarter for a 14-3 lead.
With Pierce carrying the load, Stewart wasn’t asked to do much and threw for142 yards.
Golden has done a masterful job with the rebuilding project on the field. Hehas miles to go to spark massive interest in a city that has never fallen inlove with college football. Perhaps suffering from a World Series hangover withthe Phillies loss to the New York Yankees, only a few thousand fans showed up ona brisk night perfect for football.
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