Temple University Athletics
Turnovers Prove Costly For Temple In 48-35 Loss At Bowling Green
9.22.07 | Football
Sept. 22, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - Two costly turnovers to start the second half proved to be too much to overcome as Temple dropped a 48-35 decision to Bowling Green Saturday afternoon at Doyt L. Perry Stadium. The Owls (0-4, 0-2) and Falcons (3-1, 1-0) were deadlocked, 21-21, at intermission, but the Falcon defense scored twice in the third quarter to give the home team a lead it would not relinquish.
The 35 points scored by Temple is the most the team has scored since a 38-7 win over Florida A&M on Sept. 18, 2004. It is also the most against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since a 44-36 win at Middle Tennessee State (10/4/03)
"You got to give (Bowling Green) a lot of credit," TU head coach Al Golden said. "I thought the defense was playing really well in the first half. The offense moved the ball, and we had the ball for 20 minutes in the first half. Two of the touchdowns were not defensive related. It's going to be hard to judge our defense based on what happened here. Once we got down and things started to get away from us that's when we got hurt."
Temple and Bowling Green are two of the youngest teams in the Mid-American Conference, and they looked it in this contest. The Owls, who have played 43 freshmen and sophomores so far this season, turned the ball over three times in the contest while the Falcons, who have played 40 freshmen and sophomores, also committed three miscues.
It was Temple's two veterans, senior fullback Josh Bundy and redshirt junior QB Adam DiMichele, however, that made the third quarter turnovers that turned the game in Bowling Green's favor.
Bundy had the ball stripped from him on a third down carry in opening possession of the quarter by Kenny Lewis who took the ball 35 yards into the end zone for a 28-21 Falcon lead.
On Temple's third possession of the quarter DiMichele was sacked in the end zone by Jacob Hardwick, who also forced a fumble that was recovered by Orlando Barrow for another defensive score. That made it 35-21 with 7:06 remaining in the quarter.
It also took away the momentum from the Owls, who had scored two second-quarter touchdowns, the last with five seconds on the clock, to tie the game.
Falling behind by two scores also changed the offensive attack for the Owls. Temple had utilized sophomore RB Jason Harper effectively in the first half. Coming off his best performance of his career, 114 yards in the UConn game, Harper made 16 of his career-best 24 carries in the first half, and compiled 65 of his 88 rushing yards during the opening 30 minutes.
The Owls managed just 10 yards of total offense in the third quarter, while BGSU, which also tacked on a 41-yard field goal Sinisa Vrvilo, amassed 100 yards of offense.
Temple's offense did not get on track until midway through the four quarter. Trailing 48-21, DiMichele put together a seven-play 73-yard drive culminated by a 17-yard TD reception by Harper. It was the third straight that Harper has scored a touchdown. Redshirt junior Travis Shelton caught a two-point conversion to make the score 48-29.
DiMichele, who set career-highs for completions (27), attempts (41) and TDs (4), mustered the offense for one final scoring drive, a 14-play, 89-yard march down the field with junior wide receiver Bruce Francis hauling in a 15-yard touchdown pass in the left corner with 19 seconds remaining to make it 48-35. It was Francis' career-high eighth reception in the game. He had 92 receiving yards.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Sheehan continued his emergence as one of the best signal callers in the MAC. In just his third start, the Cincinnati native completed 30 of 47 passes for 351 yards and a career-best four touchdowns.
Sheehan's favorite target, Freddie Barnes, made eight receptions for 96 yards and a career-high two touchdowns. Corey Partridge made seven receptions for 71 yards. In all, nine different receivers caught passes for the Falcons.
Temple had its best opening half of the season, forcing three Bowling Green turnovers en route to posting 21 points. Turning the Falcons over seemed to be the only way to stymie their potent aerial attack, as BGSU, led by their second-year quarterback, posted 21 points of its own.
Junior DB Georg Coleman set the tempo for the Cherry and White defense early, picking off Sheehan on the first drive of the game. Andre Neblett and Terrance Knighton also combined on a sack in the possession as the Owls put pressure on Sheehan, who was in shotgun formation nearly the entire game.
The Owls marched the ball down the field on their opening drive, with the offense picking up right where it left off in its last contest at Connecticut. Harper rushed for xx yards on the initial possession with DiMichele calmly engineering the attack. The drive stalled, however, and Jake Brownell was wide left on his 44-yard attempt.
Neblett forced a fumble on the second play of the Falcons next possession with Jamal Shulters recovering on the BGSU 40 yard-line. Four plays later DiMichele connected with sophomore tight end Steve Maneri for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Owls an early 7-0 lead.
Sheehan, who passed for 683 yards and three TDs in the team's first two game, quickly marched BGSU down the field, completing all five of his passes, the last to Barnes for a 21-yard touchdown.
Bowling Green kicked off to Shelton and converged on the Owl return specialist, who had run back a kickoff 96 yards for a TD in last year's meeting. Shelton managed just a seven-yard return to the Temple 13 on that play and only 37 yards in returns for the game.
BGSU pinned the Owls down in their own territory, and then, following a 40-yard punt by freshman Jeff Wathne, moved methodically down the field with Sheehan again hitting his favorite target, Barnes, for a seven-yard TD in the left corner of the end zone for a 14-7 lead.
Shelton then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, with the Falcons recovering on the Temple 13. It took just one play for Bowling Green to make it 21-7 as Sheehan found Marques Parks for a 13-yard touchdown with 11:10 remaining in the half.
After the teams exchanged empty possessions, DiMichele found sophomore wide receiver Dy'Onne Crudup for a quick out on the right side. Crudup then broke a tackle and ran 20 yards to paydirt for his first career score to cut the deficit to 21-14.
Redshirt sophomore DB Dominique Harris then picked off Sheehan at the Temple 47.
DiMichele carried 17 yards to the BG 36 yard line, but the drive sputtered there. With a 4th and 8 on the 34, Temple coach Al Golden decided to go for it. DiMichele connected with freshman wide receiver Michael Campbell for 20 yards and a first down. A face mask penalty moved the ball to the BGSU 7. Harper then rushed for what appeared to be a touchdown, but a review confirmed that he fumbled and recovered at the one yard-line. The Owls then utilized their Philadelphia Threedown backfield of Lamar McPherson, Omar McDonnaugh-Hales and Josh Bundy, but McPherson was held for no gain. On third down, DiMichele was sacked for a nine-yard loss, but two BGSU penalties gave the Owls the ball at the half-yard line. DiMichele then carried it in on a sneak to even the score at 21 with five seconds remaining in the half for his first career rushing touchdown.
