Good luck is on Temple's side after miraculous victory

I BELIEVE in karma.

The thing about success in sports is that being lucky is sometimes better than being good. Another thing about sports is that sometimes a team must make its own luck.

The Temple University football bandwagon rolled out of Foxborough, Mass., on Saturday with a tank of karma, filled by the luck the Owls had made in their 25-23 victory over Massachusetts.

It was not only that Temple snatched a victory out of the jaws of a bandwagon-stalling defeat; it was the way it happened that makes me more confident that this road trip from North Philadelphia is destined for a final destination in either Atlanta for the Peach Bowl or Glendale, Ariz., for the Fiesta Bowl.

I concede, I lost a little faith when UMass took that 23-20 lead with 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining. The Minutemen were an extra point away from making it a four-point advantage.

A loss to a team from the Mid-American Conference would have flattened the right front tire on the bandwagon.

Then the Cherry and White pixie dust fell.

Temple's appropriately named Praise Martin-Oguike blocked the extra-point try, and Stephaun Marshall picked the ball up.

Those actions were enough to assure that the Owls would have a chance to tie the score with a field goal, but Marshall, just before he was tackled, lateraled the ball to Will Hayes, who ran the ball all the way back for a two-point conversion that pulled Temple to 23-22.

A Massachusetts unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the kickoff back 15 yards and, after a 9-yard kickoff return, Temple had the ball on its 35-yard line with 1:16 remaining.

The Owls moved the ball 50 yards in nine plays, then sophomore kicker Austin Jones won the game with a 32-yard field goal.

"Games like this, you have to find a way to win," said Temple coach Matt Rhule, whose Owls are 3-0 for the first time since 2010.

The pessimist says, "Well, Temple needed a miracle to beat a team from the Mid-American Conference."

The optimist, like the folks already with me on the bandwagon, point out that, historically, Temple would have more likely lost in that manner instead of winning.

Northern Illinois, for the MAC, stood toe-to-toe with No. 1 Ohio State before losing, 20-13, on Saturday.

Still, the bottom line is that Temple is 3-0.

Brigham Young (2-1) is the only team outside the Power Five conferences ranked in the Top 25. The Cougars are rated 22nd in the Associated Press poll.

Temple received 20 votes in the AP poll, putting the Owls behind BYU, Toledo (36 votes) and Houston (22) as far as rankings for teams outside the Power Five.

The Owls got 15 votes in the coaches' poll, behind only BYU (74) in the teams outside the Power Five.

The champion of the highest-ranked "Group of Five," which consists of the American Athletic Conference, MAC, Conference USA, Mountain West and Sun Belt, is guaranteed a bid into the national semifinals or an NY6 Bowl, which are the Peach or Fiesta Bowls this season.

The AAC already has wins over Power Five teams Penn State, Kansas and Louisville. Three wins over Power Five teams is the most by any of the midmajor universities.

I saw the things that happened during the Sixers' 2000-2001 run to the NBA Finals, the Eagles' journey to the 2005 Super Bowl, the Flyers' to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and the Phillies' journey to the 2008 World Series title.

There were odd things, peculiar things and strange things that happened. They were things that let you know something special was happening.

I know good karma when I see it.

Temple's "Miracle in Massachusetts" tells me what I need to know. The bandwagon gets a week off because of a Temple bye, but the gas tank has enough good karma to take a New Year's road trip to Atlanta or Glendale, Ariz.

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood