PHILADELPHIA -- It was a record-breaking day for Temple's Walter Washington, the nation's leading scorer among quarterbacks, as the Owls recorded their first Big East win this season with a 34-24 victory over Syracuse at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. The junior signal-caller rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns to set a slew of Temple and conference records and nearly single-handedly carried the team to victory.
"It's easy for us to take Walter for granted," head coach Bobby Wallace said. "We take it for granted because we see it every day. What a performance."
Washington tied a program record with his 15th touchdown of the season, a mark set by Owl legend Paul Palmer in 1986. The 15 rushing scores also are a Big East record for a quarterback, as are Washington's 816 rushing yards, breaking West Virginia's Rasheed Marshall's mark set in 2002. Last on Washington's ledger for the day is a new Temple record for total yards in a season (2,740), breaking Henry Burris' standard of 2,577 set in 1994.
"I don't care about records at all," Washington said. "I just care about winning."
Syracuse (5-5, 3-2), which recruited the Daytona Beach, Fla. native out of high school, had no answer for the 6-2, 240 pounder. Even on a broken play in the second half, on which a high snap forced him to keep the ball rather than hand it off, Washington simply ran into the designed hole on the line and carried 19 yards to pay dirt.
The win, the first for the Owls since defeating Florida A&M, 38-7, on September 18, upped Temple's record to 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference. It was its first Big East win since defeating Rutgers, 20-17, on November 16, 2002. Wallace was glowing with pride in the post-game press conference about his team's performance.
"I'm very proud of this football team," Wallace said. "It's been a long season and they just never give up."
When wins are hard to come by, the head coach rarely counts it in the book until time expires. Wallace was no exception. "I didn't think it was over until I saw 0:00," he said. The head coach did breathe easier, though, when senior and former walk-on DeMarco Dodson intercepted a Perry Patterson pass late in the fourth quarter as Syracuse was threatening to make the game interesting.
Junior Umar Ferguson rushed for 56 yards on 16 carries senior Phil Goodman had three catches for 77 yards and a touchdown for Temple. Bobby Fulmore (12 tackles) and Sadeke Konte (11 tackles) paced the Owl defense.
Overshadowed by Washington's performance, was the effort of Orange tailback Damien Rhodes. Filling in for the injured Walter Reyes, Rhodes rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns, setting career highs in both categories. Patterson completed 20-of-35 passes for 240 yards and Steve Gregory had seven catches for 87 yards.
From the first three plays, it appeared that Syracuse would have its way with the Temple defense. Rhodes carried for 21 yards and two first downs bringing the Orange offense to their own 45 yard line. But senior Mike Mendenhall stuffed Rhodes for a loss of one on first down and two incomplete pass later, Syracuse was forced to punt.
Temple was able to capitalize on its first possession, driving 71 yards on 11 plays, capped by a senior Phil Goodman 24-yard touchdown reception to put the Owls on the board, 7-0. Junior Walter Washington was efficient on the drive, completing 4-of-5 passes for 55 yards and kept the drive alive with his first down run on a third and one from the Syracuse 43.
On the next possession, Collin Barber failed to get the Orange on the board as his 34-yard field goal into the wind was wide left. The Owl defense came up big with SU threatening, stopping Rhodes for no gain and junior Andrew Turner deflected a pass intended for Jared Jones inside the 10 on third down.
All season long, it has been the Cherry & White who have been victimized by the big play. But on its second possession, it was Temple who produced the excitement. A 26-yard Washington scamper gave TU the ball near midfield before the end of the first quarter. Wallace called a flea-flicker, as an end-around to wide receiver and former high school quarterback Ikey Chuku instead resulted in a 51-yard pass to fellow senior Buchie Ibeh, who was tackled at the three.
Two carries by Washington still left Temple short of the goal line, but a third-down QB sneak by the 6-2, 240-pound signal-caller got into the end-zone and gave him his 13th touchdown of the season.. Junior Ryan Lux's PAT was good, giving TU a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Barber earned a bit of redemption on his second field goal try, this one a 30-yarder that capped a 12-play, 52-yard drive for Syracuse. The kick cut the Temple lead to 14-3 with 8:47 remaining before halftime. The Owls went three-and-out on their third possession, giving SU the ball back after just over a minute. It worked out for the Owls, however, as a 32-yard Jake Hendy punt was fumbled by Marcus Clayton and recovered by Turner at the 48 yard line.
It took the Owls only 2:27 to capitalize on the turnover, as Washington and Ferguson combined to lead TU 52 yards in six plays. Ferguson produced 14 yards on the drive and Washington found pay dirt on his 19-yard run up the middle to give Temple a 21-3 lead with four minutes to play before halftime.
Syracuse looked as if they would cut into the Owl lead on its next possession. Diamond Ferri rushed for 32 yards on a 3rd and 1 to the Temple 24 yard line. Three plays later, SU faced a 4th and 4 from the 18 yard line and went for the first down instead of kicking a 35-yard field goal. Patterson was flushed out of the pocket and tried to scramble for the first down, but came up a yard short after Rian "Goo" Wallace (eight tackles) brought him down at the 15-yard line.
Temple's first drive of the second half began with good field possession after junior Jamil Porter returned the kickoff 34 yards to the TU 34. A personal foul penalty snuffed out any chance of a first down and the Orange took over after a 40-yard Hendy punt at their own 25 yard line.
Rhodes owned the next series for Syracuse. The junior tailback rushed for 70 yards, setting a career high for rushing yards in the process, and that did not include a 31-yard touchdown scamper that was called back after a holding penalty. Two plays later, Rhodes again found the end-zone and this time was able to keep the six points, cutting the Temple lead to 21-10.
A Lux 28-yard field goal finished off a 16-play, 58-yard Temple drive to give the Owls a 24-10 advantage with 5:25 to go in the third quarter. Goodman twice had chances to come down with his second touchdown reception of the game, but was called out-of-bounds on the first and had the second broken up on his way down. The big play of the drive was a roughing the kicker penalty on Syracuse on a Hendy punt, which allowed Temple a first down near midfield.
SU and Rhodes scored on its second straight possession to bring the Orange within a touchdown at 24-17. The junior had touches on six of the eight-play, 64 yard drive and tied a career high with his second score of the day on a 16-yard scamper off right tackle with 2:31 to play in the third quarter.
A 46-yard completion to Goodman set up the Owls on the 15 yard-line right before the end of the quarter. After switching sides, Washington ran for seven yards to the eight yard line and Brown gained four yards to set up a first and goal from the four. Washington gave Temple a 31-17 advantage with his third score and tied Palmer's record for single season touchdowns in the process.
The momentum continued to be dressed in Cherry & White, as junior Rodney Wormley forced a Breyone Evans fumble on the ensuing Syracuse possession. Sophomore Durrell Davis recovered on the 39-yard line for TU. Lux capped off the eight-play, 15-yard drive with a career-high 41-yard field goal to put the Owls on top, 34-17 with 10:23 left to play.
The Orange were far from being totally squeezed as Rhodes scored his third touchdown of the day to complete an eight-play, 71-yard drive to bring the 'Cuse within 10 at 34-24 with just under eight minutes remaining. The junior also topped the 200-yard mark on the ground and doubled a career-high set earlier this season versus Rutgers.
Syracuse had driven from its own 16 yard line and was threatening to make the game interesting, but Dodson cut in front of a Patterson floater deep in Owl territory to end any chance of a SU comeback.
Temple hosts Boston College in the season finale next Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. Kick-off is set for noon and the game will be televised on ESPN Regional.
Temple Game Notables at a Glance
- Junior Walter Washington, the nation's leading scorer among Div. I-A quarterbacks with 92 points and a 9.20 points-per-game average, tied the Temple record for TDs in a season with 15 after carrying into the end zone three times en route to 185 rushing yards in the Owls' 34-24 win over Syracuse on Saturday that snapped a six game losing streak and a string of 12 consecutive Big East Conference losses for the Owls. Washington is tied with former RB Paul Palmer, who had 15 TDs in 1986, in the Temple annals.
- Washington, who is responsible for the last 14 Temple TDs, was responsible for four scores versus the Orange, including a 24-yard TD toss. His 315 total yards Saturday gives the Daytona Beach, Fla. native 2,740 total yards this year (816 rushing; 1,924 passing), breaking the Temple record for total yards in a season (2,577), set by QB Henry Burris in 1994.
- Washington's 816 rushing yards also breaks the Big East record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a season, previously held by West Virginia's Rasheed Marshall with 666 rushing yards in 2002.
- Washington, the only Temple signal-caller in school history to rush for over 100 yards, carried 29 times for 185 yards (6.4 avg.) against Syracuse to mark his fifth career 100-yard rushing game and third this season. It also marked his highest career output on the ground, breaking his previous high of 151 versus Virginia Tech in 2003 and ranking second in the conference annals behind Michael Vick's 210 rushing yards against Boston College in 2000. His 315 total yards marked his seventh career game with over 300 total yards and fifth this season. Washington completed 10 of 19 passes for 130 yards versus Syracuse without an interception and engineered two touchdown drives of 80 yards, as well scoring drives of 71 (TD), 58 (FG), 52 (TD) and 15 (FG) yards.
- Washington ranks first in the Big East and 11th nationally in scoring (9.20), first in the conference and 14th nationally in points responsibility (14.00) and third in the Big East and 15th nationally in total offense (274.0).
- Washington has a Temple-record 495 total plays to his credit this season, which ranks third in the Big East record books behind former Pittsburgh QB Rod Rutherford, who posted 549 total plays in both 2002 and 2003. Washington already holds Big East records for rushing TDs in a season by a quarterback (15, current), total offensive plays in a game (69, at WVU, 2003) and most rushes by a quarterback in a game (36, at WVU, 2003).
- The last time Temple entered the end zone without a Washington rush or pass was versus Bowling Green on October 2 at Lincoln Financial Field, when Mike McGann connected with Travis Shelton on a 56-yard TD pass.
- Temple is now 13-2 under Bobby Wallace when scoring 30 or more points.
- Temple was a perfect 4-4 in the red zone against a Syracuse team that entered the game with the top-ranked red zone defense in the Big East.
- Temple did not commit a turnover and owned a 35:29-24:31 advantage in time of possession. Temple had the ball for 20 minutes, 29 seconds in the second half.
- Senior CB DeMarco Dodson, a former walk-on now on scholarship, sealed Temple's win when he picked-off a Perry Patterson pass at the Temple 18 yard-line with just over two minutes remaining in the game. It was the first career interception for Dodson, who returned the aerial theft 23 yards.
- Temple's 18-point, 21-3, halftime lead was its largest at the break since the Owls led UConn, 35-0, at halftime in the 2001 season finale on November 24 at Franklin Field.
- Sixth-year senior WR Ikey Chuku's 51-yard pass to senior WR Buchie Ibeh in the second quarter to give the Owls a first-and-goal at the three yard-line was the first pass of his career. Chuku was a high school quarterback at Largo (MD) HS and originally walked-on to the Temple program as a signal-caller in 1999.
- First-year junior Lambert Watts (#26) made his first career start. Watts started at SS for senior Lawrence Wade, breaking a string of 21 straight starts and games played for Wade.
