TURNOVERS DOOM TEMPLE IN LOSS TO UCONN

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

College Football Editor

Coming off an impressive road win, the Temple Owls couldn't build on it, falling to the University of Connecticut, 34-20, in a non-conference game on Homecoming at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday afternoon. Two fumbles – one in each half – were huge reasons for the Owls' (2-4) loss, while the Huskies (3-3) broke a two-game losing streak with their second win in a row over Temple.

“When you win, you have no problems,” said Temple head coach K.C. Keeler. “You're blind to everything that's going on, and that's not good. You need to have wide-open eyes. When you lose, everything's a problem. I think we're somewhere in the middle. I think we have some issues that we need to fix, but I don't think there's a million problems. I think we're a lot closer than it feels right now. Right now, it feels like we're a million miles away. We're not.”

The first half was like Arena Football without the roof. The teams combined for 41 points; there were nine combined possessions and points were scored on seven of them. The Huskies had 373 yards of offense while the Owls totaled 271 yards (that’s 644 yards, in case you don’t want to do the math). The only time a punter was on the field was when Temple’s Dante Atton performed his other duty – holding for kicks.

The Huskies gained 38 yards on the second play of the game. Then on a third-and-one from the Temple 12-yard line, Kalieb Osborne made a man miss, then went into the end zone untouched.

Temple’s first play from scrimmage was a 79-yard touchdown pass from Ajani Shepherd to a wide-open JoJo Bermudez. UConn needed just five plays to get the lead back when Kenji Christian raced 39 yards for the score. With their second possession, the Owls put a drive together, going 80 yards in 10 plays. The touchdown came when wide receiver Colin Chase threw a pass to tight end Peter Clarke for 29 yards (there are probably not too many times in football history that a player wearing jersey number 1 threw a touchdown pass to a teammate in the zero jersey, but that’s what happened on this play).

TEMPLE WIDE RECEIVER COLIN CHASE THREW A TOUCHDOWN PASS IN THE OWLS' LOSS TO UCONN. (Photo by Jesse Garber)

The first quarter ended tied at 14; one play after, the Huskies turned the ball over on downs at the Owls’ 10-yard line. Aided by two 15-yard penalties on UConn, a 15-yard run by Shepherd, and a 17-yard catch by Bermudez, Temple took the lead with a 26-yard field goal by Carl Hardin.

The Huskies wasted no time taking the lead back; Trey Cornist ran for 51 yards on the third play of the drive to set up his own one-yard touchdown plunge.

Temple was driving on the ensuing possession when Keveun Mason fumbled at the Huskies 28 after a 14-yard run. UConn recovered and got a field goal as time expired in the half.

“Not on the same page, not everybody doing their job,” was how Temple middle linebacker Eric Stuart summed up the Owls' defensive struggles in the first half.

Perhaps predictably, the teams found it difficult to move the ball in the third quarter, with Temple getting the only points, a 29-yard field goal by Hardin. There were five punts, and UConn, which averaged 9.5 per rush in the first half, was held without a yard on the ground.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Temple converted a third-and-seven with a 21-yard catch by Clarke and seemed to have momentum, but four plays later, Shepherd lost the ball on a strip-sack at the Huskies 38-yard line. The fumble call was upheld after a review.

“I, for sure, thought it was,” Shepherd said when asked if he thought it was an incomplete pass, “but I can’t control what the refs do. We just have to be better.”

UConn, which had gained 22 yards to that point in the second half, matriculated the ball down the field, covering 68 yards in 10 plays. Cyncir Bowers ran in from the 8-yard line to put the Huskies up by two scores at 31-20.

The Owls responded with a three-and-out, which basically ended the game.