It wasn’t sunny in Philadelphia
When junior kicker A.J. Principe capitalized on his second-straight field goal attempt in the second quarter, the Bulls had grabbed their first lead of the game – and the momentum. They had just picked off Temple quarterback Vaughn Charlton and were starting to outperform Temple offensively.
Thirteen seconds later, Temple receiver James Nixon returned a kick 92-yards for a touchdown to regain the energy.
Without momentum on their side, the Bulls (1-3, 0-1 Mid-American Conference) fell victim to the perfect storm, as turnovers, a lack of a running game and Temple’s own effective running attack helped the Owls (1-2, 1-0 MAC) cruise to a 37-13 victory on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. Temple’s victory broke a three-game losing skid to the Bulls.
The blowout victory certainly helped heal the sting the Owls felt after last year’s last-second Hail Mary loss to the Bulls.
“The guys played with energy,” said Temple head coach Al Golden. “We went out there to win. We went out there to play. We played with courage and energy, and we started fast and we played fast.”
On the other side of the field, the Bulls were upset by the way they played against a team they had knocked off the past three years.
“It was very frustrating,” said senior wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt. “I thought we had good practices and thought we were prepared, but we didn’t show that [on Saturday].”
The frustration began to hit the Bulls around the end of the second quarter.
Trailing 13-6, sophomore quarterback Zach Maynard was driving the Buffalo offense towards the end zone with time running out in the quarter. Maynard completed a pass to senior wide receiver Brett Hamlin and got the Bulls down to the Temple 13 yard-line with 22 seconds left, leaving the offense an ample amount of time to kick a field goal or tie the game with a touchdown.
But Maynard’s next pass turned the game around. On a pass to Roosevelt, Temple linebacker Elijah Joseph intercepted the ball and proceeded to take the ball 95 yards to the end zone. The 14-point turnaround gave the Owls a 20-6 advantage before halftime and started a string of events that marked Buffalo’s demise.
Temple started with the ball after halftime and went down the field with ease. Charlton connected with Nixon on a 48-yard pass to the Buffalo two-yard line and found tight end Evan Rodriguez shortly after for a touchdown. This put the Bulls down, 27-6.
Maynard attempted to respond, but added to Buffalo’s misery. Lined up in a shotgun formation, Maynard mishandled the snap and dropped the ball to the turf. It was recovered by a Temple defender and marked another Buffalo drive ended by a turnover.
Unfortunately, it was not the last Buffalo drive that concluded with a giveaway.
Maynard threw three more interceptions before the final whistle pierced the cold Philadelphia air. Maynard gave Temple’s defense credit for taking advantage of his impatience.
“I was just trying to get the ball there before they made their breaks,” Maynard said. “The defense did a good job of jumping the routes and getting in the way of the balls I was throwing. I just need to make better decisions.”
Buffalo head coach Turner Gill was quick to lift the spirits of his young quarterback. The four-interception game was Maynard’s first multi-interception contest in his four starts, with each turnover leading directly to 14 Temple points.
“From every game you can learn something, even though you have a great game you can learn from it,” Gill said. “I told him, ‘Hey, it wasn’t your day today, we’ll come back and we’ll learn from this and we’ll get some things corrected.’”
But Gill refused to blame the loss on his quarterback’s errors. Buffalo’s defense allowed Temple’s running backs, which had gained 185 yards in the two previous games combined, to total 198 rushing yards Saturday afternoon. Temple’s trio of runners was led by Bernard Pierce, who gained 116 yards on 20 carries.
“Defensively, we didn’t execute as far as tackling and protecting our gaps,” Gill said. “We had guys in position to make tackles and they didn’t tackle properly.”
Buffalo’s own rushing attack did little to counter the Owls’ effective ground assault or relieve the pressure on Maynard’s shoulder. Buffalo’s own three-headed monster gained just 84 yards on 21 carries, failing to loosen Temple’s defense.
“From an offensive standpoint, we have to run the football better,” Gill said. “We have to do some things in that nature where you put yourself in a better position, where you don’t have to throw the football as much.”
The offensive’s inefficiency, along with the defense’s inability to stop Temple, put the Bulls at 0-1 in MAC play for the first time in three seasons. Adversity surrounds the Buffalo camp as three-straight losses have dampened the mood in the locker room.
But Gill views this as an opportunity for his team to toughen up and improve with seven of the remaining eight games coming in MAC play.
“In our case right now, the good thing about it [is that] we were in this situation somewhat last year. They know that it can be done, and they know it’s a matter of will they get it done,” Gill said. “It’s a new team with some new people, so there is some hope, there [are] some good things to happen. As we all know, when adversity hits, true character gets revealed, and we’ll see what character comes out.”
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