PHILADELPHIA, PA. 11/16/2019 – The Temple Owls broke the losing streak last week and became bowl eligible for the sixth straight season. A win now could set up an interesting match up next week at Cincinnati which could have an impact on who wins the American Eastern Division. This was no time to stumble. The Owls did not, but hung on to get a 29 – 21 win at the Linc. A win that wasn’t sealed until the last defensive stop.
“We’re happy with the win, a tough win against a really good football team,” said Temple Coach Rod Carey. “Any time you get conference wins against good football teams you take it. It was not pretty.”
And for old-times sake Temple was wearing the replica jerseys used when the Owls faced the Tulane Green Wave in the first Sugar Bowl in 1935. This is now.
Temple held the lead, but Tulane was not going away and got possession of the ball with 1:34 on the clock in a one score game. Starting on their 29 yard line, the Green Wave ran into a road block in the form of the Owls defensive end Quincy Roche who had two huge sacks in that final drive.
“The game was on the line,” said Roche about the urgency of the situation. “If they would have scored it was a ball game. The whole defense came out and we had to get the stop. We had to get the job done and that was exactly what we had to do.”
Usually the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game. The Cherry and White caused three for the Wave. Two of those turnovers resulted in scores for Temple. In the first quarter Roche caused and recovered a fumble that turned into a 35-yard field goal by Will Mobley and a 3 – 0 lead early in the game. In the third quarter Owls linebacker Chapelle Russell forced a fumble recovered by Christian Braswell setting up the offense at the Tulane 47 yard line. in a span of 3:41 quarterback Anthony Russo found tight end Kenny Yeboah for an 8-yard touchdown reception and a 22 – 7 lead. It was one of two scoring receptions for Yeboah.
“It was 3 – 1 in turnovers, and we got 10 or 13 points off turnovers and that’s true to win games,” Carey said.
Ten points off turnovers in an eight-point game is meaningful.
The Owls got their final points on a 15-yard toss to Jadan Blue, who had 12 receptions for 131 yards and that score.
Still Tulane fought back and got to within one possession on a Cameron Carroll touchdown run, his second of the day.
The Owls were in front, but found themselves penalized for 106 yards on 9 miscues whichcaused them chances to put the game away.
Temple is 7 – 3 overall and 4 – 2 in the American. The Cherry and White go to Cincinnati next week in a game that has major implications on who can win the east.
“It’s going to come down to execution, who makes the least mistakes, so we really have to lock in this week and come to play.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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