Temple University Athletics
Brownell's Game-Winning Kick Gives Owls 16-15 Homecoming Win Over NIU
10.6.07 | Football
Oct. 6, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
| Coach Golden Postgame Audio
PHILADELPHIA - Redshirt sophomore Jake Brownell connected on a 39-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining to lift Temple to a 16-15 win over Northern Illinois on Homecoming, presented by Verizon, on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. Brownell's field goal, which was his third of the game, capped a 12-play, 56-yard drive that started with 3:47 left in the game.
On a day when the Owls inducted arguably its greatest placekicker, Don Bitterlich, into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame, Brownell shined. He made three field goals of 25, 38 and 39 yards, although none was bigger than his kick with nine seconds to go.
Despite Northern Illinois trying to freeze the West Deptford, N.J. product with a pair of timeouts, Brownell was cool under pressure and the kick sailed through the uprights with plenty of room to spare. The win was the second straight on Homecoming for the Owls, who defeated Bowling Green 28-14 last season. It also snapped an eight-game losing streak and was the first in Mid-American Conference play.
"This game was a blessing for our program in that we didn't just win the game easily," Temple head coach Al Golden said. "Jake's just a tremendous kid, so I'm very happy for him, and I know he's very emotional right now. And that was good. It's kind of a microcosm of our day that we came full circle with Jake. So it's exciting."
Ironically, without a pair of missed PATs by the Huskies' Chris Nendick, TU would have needed a touchdown for the win. The senior was 12-for-12 this season and was 148-for-150 for his career on point after tries, but his two misses today gave the Owls some hope on their final drive.
NIU's Justin Anderson, who rushed for 163 yards on 29 carries, scored one of his two touchdowns to give the visitors a 15-13 lead with 7:08 to play. Temple failed to record a first down on the ensuing possession, but got the ball back on its own 22-yard line with 3:47 remaining after forcing a NIU punt.
Redshirt junior Adam DiMichele, who threw for 202 yards and ran for 55 more, made several big plays on the final drive. His 13-yard scramble on the first play gave TU a first down and two plays later, he connected with junior WR Bruce Francis for 11 yards on a third and five.
The two paired up on another third down catch, this time for eight yards, to bring the Owls to the NIU 35. DiMichele then found junior Marcellous Grigsby for eight yards, but an incomplete pass to Francis left TU with third and two with 22 seconds left. Sophomore Jason Harper, who had just 12 yards up to that point, carried for eight crucial yards and a first down.
DiMichele centered the ball on the next play and Brownell finished off the drive with his third field goal to propel Temple to the victory.
Freshman ATH Daryl Robinson rushed for a career-high 71 yards on 14 carries, all in the second half. Francis had four catches for 51 yards to pace the receiving corps.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore Dominique Harris had 10 tackles and freshman Jamal Schulters added seven.
Junior DT Terrance Knighton came up big for the second week in a row. With the Temple offense failing to score a touchdown for the first time all season, Knighton's 66-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown with 2:54 to play before halftime gave the Owls a 7-6 lead. It was his third fumble recovery in the past two weeks and gave the hosts momentum late in the first stanza.
The Cherry and White forced a NIU punt and then drove 74 yards in six plays in just over a minute to set Brownell up for his first field goal of the game. He connected on a 25-yarder with no time on the clock to make the score 10-6.
Temple possessed the ball for almost the entire third quarter, using a 19-play, 9:49 drive to set Brownell up for another field goal. Robinson rushed for 45 yards on the drive alone and helped the Owls down to the four-yard line. But a DiMichele sack pushed TU back 17 yards where Brownell converted a 38-yarder to put Temple ahead, 13-6.
Nendick made a 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut the NIU (1-5, 0-3 MAC) deficit to 13-9. The Huskies took their first lead since the opening quarter on a 39-yard touchdown scamper by Anderson on a third and one play to make it 15-13 with 7:08 left.
TU (1-5, 1-2 MAC) will visit Akron (2-3, 1-0 MAC) next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM and the game will be aired on 1210 AM WPHT with Harry Donahue and Steve Joachim on the call.
