Temple gets back on track with 42-0 rout of Ball State

MUNCIE, Ind. - Temple sure looked like a Mid-American Conference contender again Saturday.

Thanks to Bernard Pierce's record-setting performance and championship-caliber defense, the Owls defeated Ball State, 42-0, at Schuemann Stadium.

And they got their swagger back.

"We didn't come in here with a crazy game plan," Temple quarterback Chester Stewart said. "We just came in here and played our style of football.

"Last week [Toledo] out-physicaled us and really beat us up overall. We just wanted to get back to our style of play."

The lopsided MAC victory went a long way toward erasing the 23-point setback Temple (4-2, 2-1) suffered against Toledo last week at the Linc.

Ball State (3-3, 1-1) suffered the worst home loss in its history - and it was the Cardinals' homecoming game.

While he publicly won't admit it, Pierce might remember this game for a long time. And it's not just because he and Temple backup tailback Matt Brown each rushed for more than 100 yards.

The 6-foot, 218-pound junior tailback had 30 carries for 121 yards and three touchdowns to become Temple's career rushing touchdown leader with 41. Paul Palmer, who played at Temple from 1983 to 1986 and then briefly in the NFL, held the previous school record (39).

Pierce scored on runs of 2, 4, and 1 yards on consecutive first-half drives.

The record-setter came on his 4-yarder with 8 minutes, 5 seconds left in the second quarter to give Temple a 21-0 cushion.

"I wasn't really worried about that," Pierce said of breaking the record. "I was just worried about a win, a 'W.' I had to redeem myself from last week."

Last week, the Glen Mills product was held to 75 rushing yards - just four after intermission - in the only game this season where he failed to score a touchdown.

He gave credit to Temple's offensive line.

"That's really what it was," Pierce said. "It really was nothing to do with anything special. I hit my landmarks. And my linemen did what they had to do and block."

Brown finished with 114 yards and a score on 15 carries, the second time the duo rushed for 100 or more yards in the same game.

Defensively, the Owls rattled Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning.

The sophomore threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. He was also sacked three times. Wenning had been sacked only four times in the Cardinals' first five games.

Owls middle linebacker Stephen Johnson, who had one of those sacks, finished with a career-high 16 tackles.

"As I told the guys in [the locker room], this was a great team win," Temple coach Steve Addazio said. "We had to respond, come back out here on the road and play this way. And we did."