Temple University Athletics
Temple University
KENT STATE
Temple Football Cruises To Record Ninth Straight Win, 47-13, Over Kent State
11.21.09 | Football
Matt Brown and Delano Green lead the way for the Owls
PHILADELPHIA -- Temple scored 41 unanswered points in cruising to its record ninth-straight win, a 47-13 victory over visiting Kent State Saturday afternoon in front of 21,046 fans at Lincoln Financial Field. With the win Owls clinched a share of the Mid-American Conference East Division title. Temple (9-2, 7-0) travels to Ohio next Friday for a nationally-televised (ESPNU) morning (11:00 a.m.) showdown with the Ohio Bobcats, who are 8-3 and 6-1after a 38-31 win over Northern Illinois today. The nine wins are the most for Temple team since the 1979 Owls went 10-2, capping their season with a 28-17 win over California in the Garden State Bowl.
As has been the case for the Temple Football team all season, a freshman running back led the way. However, this time the freshman's name was Matt Brown, not record-setting back Bernard Pierce.
Subbing for Temple's All-America candidate back, who went down with a injury on the team's first offensive series, Brown rushed for a season high 156 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. The Baltimore, Md., native broke a 71-yard run, the longest from scrimmage since 2006, to give the Owls' 19-10 lead, and his one-yarder, also in the third quarter, broke the game wide-open, 33-10.
Junior WR/PR Delano Green, who became the first Owl to return a punt for a touchdown in consecutive games, scored two fourth quarter touchdowns. The first, a 52-yard punt return down the right sidelines, and the second, a 50-yard reverse to cap the Temple scoring. Green also tied Temple Hall of Famer Anthony Young for the most punt returns in a season (2). Young accomplished the feat in 1982.
The Cherry and White never looked back in posting their ninth-straight win, the longest win streak in a single season for the program.
The win was not as easy as the final score indictaed as Kent State (5-6,4-3) controlled the tempo in the first half, taking a 10-9 lead into the locker room at the break.
The Golden Flashes were led by their freshman phenom, QB Spencer Keith. The true freshman signal-caller completed 17-of-29 passes over the first 30 minutes for 237 yards and one touchdown to spark the KSU offense that doubled (276-138) the total yardage of Temple. Eight of his 17 completions went for 14 or more yards as he picked apart the Owls secondary.
Keith led KSU down the field on its opening possession, engineering a 14-play 79-yard drive that led to a Freddy Cortez 21-yard field goal. The Owls could not muster anything offensively on its first two possessions. On its initial one of the game, Pierce started and carried for no game on the Owls first offensive play before leaving the contest for good.
With KSU driving to open the second quarter, Adrian Robinson made the defensive play of the day. The sophomore left end tipped and then intercepted a pass while rushing Keith, running it back 35 yards to the Kent 40.
Four plays later redshirt sophomore QB Chester Stewart (6-16-1, 124 yds, 1 TD) found redshirt sophomore TE Evan Rodriguez open off a play-action fake for a 10-yard touchdown. Freshman Brandon McManus, who had two field goals and five extra points, had his point after try blocked by Kevin Hogan which made the score 6-3 in Temple's favor.
Keith marched the Golden Flashes down the field late in the second quarter on a nine-play, 80-yard drive, and made a precision pass in coverage to Kendrick Pressley for a six-yard touchdown on a third-and-goal play to put KSU back on top, 10-6.
On the Owls final possession of the half, Stewart hit Green on a 34-yard pass play to the Kent 19. Two Brown rushes put the ball at the six, but the drive stalled their resulting in a McManus 24-yard field goal, making it 10-9.
The second half started with the owls regaining the lead on the opening drive. Big plays by WR Joe Jones, a 17-yard third-down reception, and WR James Nixon, a 21-yard reverse, put Temple into good field position. A Brown 13-yard rush put the ball at the Kent 11 before the drive stalled. McManus then converted a 28-yard field goal, the 16th of the season to tied him for third on Temple's all-time season list, to give the Owls the lead for good, 12-10.
On Kent's ensuing possession, Keith hurt his shoulder on the second play, and never returned.
The floodgates then opened as Brown had his 71-yard run to push the lead to 19-10 then sophomore Kee-ayre Griffin, who moved running back to defensive back for the Akron game, made his first interception count with a 36-yard return for a touchdown to give Temple a 26-10 lead.
Robinson made another big play on defense to key another Owl score. He sacked back-up QB Giorgio Morgan with senior LB John Haley recovering at the Kent 25. eight plays later Brown scored his second TD, a one-yard run, to make it 33-10.
Green two touchdowns highlighted the fourth quarter with a Cortez 46-yard field goal capping the scoring.
