In a clash of American Athletic Conference giants, the Temple Owls walked away victorious over the Cincinnati Bearcats in a thrilling manner, giving themselves a huge advantage for their title hopes in the conference.
The first quarter was a rather quiet one, with the first scoring play coming nine minutes into the game, where Temple took advantage of a Cincinnati forced fumble and Austin Jones hitting a 40-yard field goal to give the Owls a 3-0 lead. On Cincinnati’s ensuing drive, the Bearcats drove the ball to Temple’s 36 yard line, but Andrew Gatz couldn’t convert on a 56-yard field goal attempt and Temple remained on top.
The second quarter saw a little more life out of the offenses for both Temple and Cincinnati. Just under two minutes into the quarter, Gatz redeemed himself and knocked down a 27-yard field goal to tie the game at three. A little over seven minutes later, Cincinnati got the ball into the Temple redzone and let Gatz have at it again, as he converted a 22-yard field goal this time and put Cincinnati on top, 6-3. Towards the close of the first half, the Owls constructed a 10-play drive where they moved the ball 74 yards in five minutes and 39 seconds which finished with a one-yard touchdown pass from quarterback P.J. Walker to Michael Felton, which put Temple back on top, 10-6, at the end of the first half.
Come the third quarter, Temple exploded out of the gate. On the opening kickoff, Jahad Thomas fielded the return and took the ball 100 yards and gave the Owls another touchdown and a 17-6 lead early in the second half. On the very next drive from Cincinnati, quarterback Gunner Kiel found Mekale McKay who took the ball 88 yards and put the Bearcats back in it despite missing the two-point conversion, trailing 17-12. The Owls came right back, giving the ball to Thomas who found a gap and took the ball 56 yards for a Temple touchdown, who now led 24-12. However, the Owls were not done with their scoring in that quarter. In Cincinnati’s redzone with under six minutes left, Walker found wideout Robby Anderson for the 13-yard connection in the endzone and Temple was now on top 31-12, and that is how the third quarter would end.
The fourth quarter provided some thrilling action, especially in the closing minutes. To start off the quarter, Jones nailed a 35-yarder and were now on top 34-12. This is where things got interesting.
Just three minutes into the final quarter, Tion Green got the handoff on the six yard line and was able to find the endzone and cut the deficit to 34-19 for the Bearcats. On the next drive, Temple went three-and-out and Cincinnati got the ball right back to do some damage. Thanks in part to a 25-yard pass from Kiel to Max Morrison and a pass interference call on Temple, Cincinnati had the ball on Temple’s 19 yard line, but Kiel’s pass was picked off by Sean Chandler and returned 57 yards to the Cincinnati 40. Temple would then go three-and-out again so Cincinnati had yet another chance to make do of a failed Temple offensive possession.
The Bearcats were gradually moving the ball down the field, thanks to Gunner Kiel and the passing game. Their drive was capped off with a touchdown pass to Shaq Washington from the two yard line and the Bearcats were now only down eight points, 34-26, and had only had 2:50 left to potentially tie the game.
Cincinnati attempted an onside kick down the middle of the field, but linebacker Tyler Matakevich fielded the ball perfectly, fell on top of it, and looked as if the Owls were going to stop the potential Bearcat comeback. However, something was happening with their offense and they couldn’t find a way to keep the ball. Thomas would fumble the handoff and Cincinnati would recover it with great field position.
Cincinnati got the ball to the five yard line following a defensive pass interference call and two 10+ yard receptions, but time was ticking as they had less than a minute to go. Kiel took the snap and fired to the endzone but Matakevich was there to pick the ball off, his second interception of the day, giving Temple possession with 20 seconds left. The Owls kneeled it and walked out of Nippert Stadium 2-0 with their first, and potentially most important, conference win of the year.
Two big things in this game were Cincinnati’s ball control and Jahad Thomas. Even though Cincinnati had 557 total yards on the game, they turned the ball over five times, four of which were a result from Gunner Kiel interceptions. Two of the interceptions were in late game moments where the Bearcats could’ve went on top and walked out of the game 2-0 instead of 1-1.
Jahad Thomas had another huge game for Temple. Not only did he have a 100-yard kick return, he ran for 193 yards, averaged 7.3 yards per rush, and found the endzone once. Thomas now has 328 rushing yards on the year, which is more than he had all of last year. Expect Thomas to do bigger and better things throughout the year.
Temple now travels to UMass next week in a non-conference matchup and a bit of an easier game compared to their first two games of the season. Cincinnati will hit the road also and play Miami-Ohio in their own non-conference game.