Temple University Athletics
Friday, November 27
Athens, Ohio
11:00 AM
Temple University
at
OHIO
TE Steve Maneri
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Temple Football Heads to Ohio for MAC East Showdown
11.23.09 | Football
Winner to Claim MAC East Title & Advance to Championship Game
Gamenotes in PDF
THIS WEEK
Temple closes out the regular season at Ohio University on Friday, Nov. 27 at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio. ESPNU will televise the game nationally at 11 a.m. The game will determine the Mid-American East champion.
Trey Bender (play-by-play) and Tom Lugenbill will call the game on ESPNU.
The Owls' radio broadcast will air on WHAT 1340 AM with Harry Donahue calling the play-by-play and Steve Joachim providing color analysis.
The 11 a.m. kickoff time is the earliest game for the Owls on record. Scouting through the archives (dating back to 1967), Temple has not started a game before Noon. Conversely, the latest kickoff was a 9 p.m. game against Brigham Young in 1985 at Veterans Stadium.
For the third consecutive year, the Owls and Bobcats play a non-Saturday game. In their three MAC games, the teams have played on Friday twice (2007, 2009) and on Tuesday (2008).
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Al Golden, Temple stands 9-2 overall and a perfect 7-0 in MAC play. Last week, the Owls won their ninth consecutive game with a 47-13 win over Kent State in the home finale. It's the first time in school history that the Owls have won nine consecutive games in a season.
The nine wins are the team's most since 1979 when the Owls finished 10-2 with a trip to the Garden State Bowl.
Guaranteed its first winning season since 1990, Temple is also bowl eligible for the first time since 1990. Temple's last bowl appearance came in the 1979 Garden State Bowl where the Owls beat California, 28-17, at Giants Stadium.
The 2009 squad, featuring Golden's first recruiting class as seniors, returns 21 starters to 17 positions. The Owls utilize an?East Coast offense and 4-3 defense.
On the ground, freshman RB?Bernard Pierce (Ardmore, Pa.) leads the Owls with a freshman record 1,308 yards and 15 touchdowns on 224 carries. Freshman Matt Brown (Baltimore, Md.) follows with 274 yards and three touchdwons on 44 carries. R-junior QB Vaughn Charlton (Landenberg, Pa.) has thrown 90-of-178 for 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns. R-sophomore QB Chester Stewart, who started the last three games, is 19-of-43 for 422 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Michael Campbell (Edison, N.J.) is the top receiver with 393 yards and three touchdowns on 24 catches.
Nationally Temple ranks No. 14 in kickoff returns (25.14), No. 17 in turnover margin (0.73), No. 18 in sacks (2.73), and No. 18 in rushing defense (103.27). Ohio ranks No. 8 in turnover margin (1.00) and No. 24 in pass efficiency defense?(110.45).
Individually, sophomore WR James Nixon is No. 5 in kickoff returns (30.57), while sophomore DE Adrian Robinson is No. 6 in sacks (1.00). Freshman RB Bernard Pierce ranks No. 10 nationally in rushing (118.80) and No. 28 in scoring (8.18). Junior WR Delano Green is No. 18 in punt returns (12.72).
Head coach Frank Solich is in his fifth season at Ohio University. The Bobcats stand 8-3 on the season and 6-1 in MAC play after a 38-31 win against Northern Illinois. Ohio returns 14 starters to its multiple offense and 4-3 defense.
Senior RB Chris Garrett is the Bobcats' leading rusher with 513 yards and two touchdowns on 116 carries. R-senior QB Theo Scott is 158-of-274 for 1,796 yards and 16 touchdowns. Senior WR Taylor Price is the top receiver with 639 yards and five touchdowns on 48 catches.
TEMPLE-KENT STATE CONNECTIONS
Temple has no players on its roster from the state of Ohio.
Ohio has eight players from Pennsylvania, but none from the Philadelphia area.
TEMPLE-OHIO— THE SERIES
Despite the fact that Temple has sponsored football since 1894 and Ohio has fielded a gridiron team since 1894, Friday's contest is just the teams' third meeting. The teams have yet to play a football game on a Saturday.
Last fall at Lincoln Financial Field, Temple evened the series with a 14-10 home win during its “Pink Out,” benefiting breast cancer awareness, before a national television audience on ESPN2. The rollercoaster fourth quarter was complete with big plays and costly mistakes on both sides, including two Cherry and White touchdowns in the come-from-behind victory.
The Owls' offense struggled mightily through three quarters in the return of redshirt senior QB Adam DiMichele, who had missed the previous three games with a shoulder injury. Temple compiled just six total yards of offense in the second and third quarters alone and could not move the football.
The Owls were rejuvenated with a running attack in the final stanza, led by freshman Kee-ayre Griffin (22 carries, career-high 85 yards). His one-yard touchdown run with 10:53 to go cut the Ohio lead to 10-7.
An Ohio fumbled snap and recovery by Temple senior DT Terrance Knighton gave the Owls the ball on the Ohio 20-yard line with 4:39 left. DiMichele hit TE Steve Maneri in the back of the endzone from the five-yard line to give the Owls their first lead of the contest with 1:51 to play.
In their first meeting in 2007, Friday night lights were not shining on Temple at Peden Stadium as the Owls saw their three-game win streak come to a halt with a 23-7 defeat at the hands of the host Ohio Bobcats in a crucial Mid-American Conference East Division clash.
Senior RB Kalvin MacRae and freshman RB Vince Davidson led the Bobcats. MacRae carried 25 times for 151 yards and one touchdown, while Davidson rushed for his first collegiate score, a 22-yarder that gave Ohio a 20-7 lead with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Vaughn Charlton, making his first start of the season in place of the injured Adam DiMichele, completed a career-high 17-of-25 passes for a career-high 161 yards. WR Bruce Francis caught eight of Charlton's passes to match his career high in receptions, while his 101 receiving yards marked the second time he surpassed the century mark.
SERIES INFORMATION
Temple all-time vs. Ohio: 1-1
Temple in games at Temple: 1-0
Temple in games at Ohio: 0-1
First meeting in series: 2007 at Peden Stadium, L, 23-7
Last meeting in series: 2008 at Lincoln Financial Filed, W, 14-10
SERIES HIGHS
Temple Owls
Rushing: Kee-ayre Griffin, 22-85, 1 TD (2008)
Passing: Vaughn Charlton, 17-25-1-161, 1 TD (2007)
Receiving: Bruce Francis, 8-101, 1 TD?(2007)
Ohio Bobcats
Rushing: Kalvin McRae, 28-151, 1 TD (2007)
Passing: Boo Jackson, 23-40-0-220, 0 TD (2008)
Receiving: Chris Garrett, 8-82, 0 TD (2008)
Year Site Results TU Coach OU Coach
2007 Peden Stadium L, 23-7 Al Golden Frank Solich
2008 Lincoln Financial Field W, 14-10 Al Golden Frank Solich
HOOT TOOTS ... OWL NOTES & QUOTES
• The Temple football team will make Thanksgiving food deliveries on Tuesday as part of its third annual food drive. The players, coaches, and staff have collected non-perishable food items, as well as monetary donations for full turkey dinners, to benefit the Bethesda Project and St. John's Hospice.
• Temple's final home game with Kent State was the 1,000th football game in school history. The Owls began varsity football in 1894 with a 15-6 win over Philadelphia Dental College.
• Temple is 7-0 in the MAC for the first time since joining the conference in 2007.
• Temple faced five teams with new head coaches [Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Army, Toledo, and Miami (OH)].
• Temple has won seven consecutive MAC games at home at Lincoln Financial Field.
• Since joining the MAC in 2007, the Owls own the league's best home record for MAC games at 10-2.
• Five of Temple's 2009 opponents went on to postseason play last fall— Ball State [MAC Championship game & GMAC Bowl], Buffalo [MAC Championship game & International Bowl], Navy [EagleBank Bowl], Penn State [Rose Bowl], and Villanova [NCAA quarterfinals].
• “This is a mature team. You can make a case that we just played our best two games of the year, in November, back-to-back. We're finishing games right now. That's hard to teach a team to do that- not just finish in the fourth quarter, but in the fourth quarter of the season, and these kids have learned that.”
— Al Golden following the win over Kent State
UP NEXT
Temple awaits its finish in MAC play. The East Division winner will face West Division winner Central Michigan in the 2009 Marathon MAC Championship game on Friday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. ESPN2 will televise the game live nationally.
THIS WEEK
Temple closes out the regular season at Ohio University on Friday, Nov. 27 at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio. ESPNU will televise the game nationally at 11 a.m. The game will determine the Mid-American East champion.
Trey Bender (play-by-play) and Tom Lugenbill will call the game on ESPNU.
The Owls' radio broadcast will air on WHAT 1340 AM with Harry Donahue calling the play-by-play and Steve Joachim providing color analysis.
The 11 a.m. kickoff time is the earliest game for the Owls on record. Scouting through the archives (dating back to 1967), Temple has not started a game before Noon. Conversely, the latest kickoff was a 9 p.m. game against Brigham Young in 1985 at Veterans Stadium.
For the third consecutive year, the Owls and Bobcats play a non-Saturday game. In their three MAC games, the teams have played on Friday twice (2007, 2009) and on Tuesday (2008).
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Al Golden, Temple stands 9-2 overall and a perfect 7-0 in MAC play. Last week, the Owls won their ninth consecutive game with a 47-13 win over Kent State in the home finale. It's the first time in school history that the Owls have won nine consecutive games in a season.
The nine wins are the team's most since 1979 when the Owls finished 10-2 with a trip to the Garden State Bowl.
Guaranteed its first winning season since 1990, Temple is also bowl eligible for the first time since 1990. Temple's last bowl appearance came in the 1979 Garden State Bowl where the Owls beat California, 28-17, at Giants Stadium.
The 2009 squad, featuring Golden's first recruiting class as seniors, returns 21 starters to 17 positions. The Owls utilize an?East Coast offense and 4-3 defense.
On the ground, freshman RB?Bernard Pierce (Ardmore, Pa.) leads the Owls with a freshman record 1,308 yards and 15 touchdowns on 224 carries. Freshman Matt Brown (Baltimore, Md.) follows with 274 yards and three touchdwons on 44 carries. R-junior QB Vaughn Charlton (Landenberg, Pa.) has thrown 90-of-178 for 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns. R-sophomore QB Chester Stewart, who started the last three games, is 19-of-43 for 422 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Michael Campbell (Edison, N.J.) is the top receiver with 393 yards and three touchdowns on 24 catches.
Nationally Temple ranks No. 14 in kickoff returns (25.14), No. 17 in turnover margin (0.73), No. 18 in sacks (2.73), and No. 18 in rushing defense (103.27). Ohio ranks No. 8 in turnover margin (1.00) and No. 24 in pass efficiency defense?(110.45).
Individually, sophomore WR James Nixon is No. 5 in kickoff returns (30.57), while sophomore DE Adrian Robinson is No. 6 in sacks (1.00). Freshman RB Bernard Pierce ranks No. 10 nationally in rushing (118.80) and No. 28 in scoring (8.18). Junior WR Delano Green is No. 18 in punt returns (12.72).
Head coach Frank Solich is in his fifth season at Ohio University. The Bobcats stand 8-3 on the season and 6-1 in MAC play after a 38-31 win against Northern Illinois. Ohio returns 14 starters to its multiple offense and 4-3 defense.
Senior RB Chris Garrett is the Bobcats' leading rusher with 513 yards and two touchdowns on 116 carries. R-senior QB Theo Scott is 158-of-274 for 1,796 yards and 16 touchdowns. Senior WR Taylor Price is the top receiver with 639 yards and five touchdowns on 48 catches.
TEMPLE-KENT STATE CONNECTIONS
Temple has no players on its roster from the state of Ohio.
Ohio has eight players from Pennsylvania, but none from the Philadelphia area.
TEMPLE-OHIO— THE SERIES
Despite the fact that Temple has sponsored football since 1894 and Ohio has fielded a gridiron team since 1894, Friday's contest is just the teams' third meeting. The teams have yet to play a football game on a Saturday.
Last fall at Lincoln Financial Field, Temple evened the series with a 14-10 home win during its “Pink Out,” benefiting breast cancer awareness, before a national television audience on ESPN2. The rollercoaster fourth quarter was complete with big plays and costly mistakes on both sides, including two Cherry and White touchdowns in the come-from-behind victory.
The Owls' offense struggled mightily through three quarters in the return of redshirt senior QB Adam DiMichele, who had missed the previous three games with a shoulder injury. Temple compiled just six total yards of offense in the second and third quarters alone and could not move the football.
The Owls were rejuvenated with a running attack in the final stanza, led by freshman Kee-ayre Griffin (22 carries, career-high 85 yards). His one-yard touchdown run with 10:53 to go cut the Ohio lead to 10-7.
An Ohio fumbled snap and recovery by Temple senior DT Terrance Knighton gave the Owls the ball on the Ohio 20-yard line with 4:39 left. DiMichele hit TE Steve Maneri in the back of the endzone from the five-yard line to give the Owls their first lead of the contest with 1:51 to play.
In their first meeting in 2007, Friday night lights were not shining on Temple at Peden Stadium as the Owls saw their three-game win streak come to a halt with a 23-7 defeat at the hands of the host Ohio Bobcats in a crucial Mid-American Conference East Division clash.
Senior RB Kalvin MacRae and freshman RB Vince Davidson led the Bobcats. MacRae carried 25 times for 151 yards and one touchdown, while Davidson rushed for his first collegiate score, a 22-yarder that gave Ohio a 20-7 lead with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Vaughn Charlton, making his first start of the season in place of the injured Adam DiMichele, completed a career-high 17-of-25 passes for a career-high 161 yards. WR Bruce Francis caught eight of Charlton's passes to match his career high in receptions, while his 101 receiving yards marked the second time he surpassed the century mark.
SERIES INFORMATION
Temple all-time vs. Ohio: 1-1
Temple in games at Temple: 1-0
Temple in games at Ohio: 0-1
First meeting in series: 2007 at Peden Stadium, L, 23-7
Last meeting in series: 2008 at Lincoln Financial Filed, W, 14-10
SERIES HIGHS
Temple Owls
Rushing: Kee-ayre Griffin, 22-85, 1 TD (2008)
Passing: Vaughn Charlton, 17-25-1-161, 1 TD (2007)
Receiving: Bruce Francis, 8-101, 1 TD?(2007)
Ohio Bobcats
Rushing: Kalvin McRae, 28-151, 1 TD (2007)
Passing: Boo Jackson, 23-40-0-220, 0 TD (2008)
Receiving: Chris Garrett, 8-82, 0 TD (2008)
Year Site Results TU Coach OU Coach
2007 Peden Stadium L, 23-7 Al Golden Frank Solich
2008 Lincoln Financial Field W, 14-10 Al Golden Frank Solich
HOOT TOOTS ... OWL NOTES & QUOTES
• The Temple football team will make Thanksgiving food deliveries on Tuesday as part of its third annual food drive. The players, coaches, and staff have collected non-perishable food items, as well as monetary donations for full turkey dinners, to benefit the Bethesda Project and St. John's Hospice.
• Temple's final home game with Kent State was the 1,000th football game in school history. The Owls began varsity football in 1894 with a 15-6 win over Philadelphia Dental College.
• Temple is 7-0 in the MAC for the first time since joining the conference in 2007.
• Temple faced five teams with new head coaches [Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Army, Toledo, and Miami (OH)].
• Temple has won seven consecutive MAC games at home at Lincoln Financial Field.
• Since joining the MAC in 2007, the Owls own the league's best home record for MAC games at 10-2.
• Five of Temple's 2009 opponents went on to postseason play last fall— Ball State [MAC Championship game & GMAC Bowl], Buffalo [MAC Championship game & International Bowl], Navy [EagleBank Bowl], Penn State [Rose Bowl], and Villanova [NCAA quarterfinals].
• “This is a mature team. You can make a case that we just played our best two games of the year, in November, back-to-back. We're finishing games right now. That's hard to teach a team to do that- not just finish in the fourth quarter, but in the fourth quarter of the season, and these kids have learned that.”
— Al Golden following the win over Kent State
UP NEXT
Temple awaits its finish in MAC play. The East Division winner will face West Division winner Central Michigan in the 2009 Marathon MAC Championship game on Friday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. ESPN2 will televise the game live nationally.
Ep. 24: Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Elvis Forde
Friday, November 21
Ep. 23: Former Men's Basketball Standout Marc Jackson Speaks on Mental Health
Wednesday, November 19
Ep. 22: Owls Sports Update from David & Amelia
Tuesday, November 18
Evan Simon, 11/17/25
Monday, November 17
