For once this season, Temple came into the first quarter looking dominate instead of sluggish like previous games and you’re sitting here thinking Temple might be able to blow the UCF out. Well, that didn’t end up being the case due to the Owls shooting themselves in the foot multiple times. Temple would turn the ball over four times in the game with one of those turnovers being a 80-yard interception return for a touchdown, accounting for UCF’s only touchdown of the game. If this was the Temple team of last year, they would have lost this game, but as we’ve seen time and time again this year, the Owls are for real. Temple stuck with their game plan and fed Jahad Thomas the ball, who would finish with a career-high 31 carries for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns. Two of Thomas’s touchdowns came in the fourth quarter and Temple would go for two and convert on a both of those touchdowns to give you your final score of 30-16.
Once again, the defense for Temple is what kept them in the game and it could have gone a completely different way without their stellar play. Temple’s defense held UCF to 137 total yards and did not allow an offensive touchdown. Even after being put into bad situation after bad situation, the defense still didn’t break and were able come up with big plays when they needed it the most. Scott Chandler had a key interception for the second straight game and Tyler Matakevich, who would finish the game with 8 tackles reaching over 400 for his career, closed out the game with his third interception of the season.
Temple’s 6-0 record is their best start in program history and the team is now bowl eligible for the second consecutive year. The Owls also find themselves ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since 1979, appearing at #22 in the AP poll and at #24 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll. Temple will have a quick turnaround heading to Greenville, North Carolina for a Thursday night showdown against East Carolina(4-3).
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