Temple pounds Tulane to stay undefeated
Temple's football team has been prone to slow starts this season, but the Owls have sure shown an ability to eventually get things in gear.
Trailing by 10-7 early in the second quarter, Temple then rolled up 42 unanswered points during Saturday's 49-10 win over Tulane in an American Athletic Conference game at Lincoln Financial Field.
"I am really disappointed with our play early and that goes on one person, me," coach Matt Rhule said.
Then it's also on Rhule that his team has continually been able to shake off its bad starts.
"Our guys needed to calm down," Rhule said.
Now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the AAC, Temple has a chance for its first 6-0 start since 1974. Tulane, coming off a 45-31 win over Central Florida, fell to 2-3, 1-1.
Temple's next opponent? Central Florida in Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game at the Linc.
Temple running back Jahad Thomas set the tone for the comeback in front of a homecoming crowd of 35,179 with rushing and receiving touchdowns in the first half. Temple went to the locker room ahead by 21-10.
Then, for the second straight week, the Owls put the game away with a dominating third quarter. Temple outscored the Green Wave by 21-0 in the third period a week after a 20-0 blitzing of Charlotte in a 37-3 win. The Owls have outscored teams by 75-6 in the third quarter.
Quarterback P.J. Walker was an efficient 11 of 15 passing for 183 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Linebacker Tyler Matakevich had seven tackles, giving him 399 for his career. True freshman running back Ryquell Armstead shook off a fumble in the first series to score his first two career touchdowns, both on 16-yard runs.
The Owls, who had just two sacks total in their previous three games, recorded four against Tulane.
"This is a day the defense really clicked and started to jell and got back to what we thought was our standard," said defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis, who had 11/2 sacks.
Walker hit Robby Anderson with a 22-yard touchdown pass in the end zone with 55 seconds left in the opening period to give Temple a 7-3 lead.
"I had man-to-man coverage, and P.J. put it right there," Anderson said.
Tulane, while punting to Temple on the next series, got a break when a rolling ball bounced off Artrel Foster and was recovered by the Green Wave. Tulane scored four plays later when Tanner Lee hit Teddy Veal on an out pattern against Tavon Young for a 7-yard scoring pass. That gave the Green Wave a 10-7 lead with 13 minutes, 23 seconds left in the half.
Thomas scored on a 10-yard run and 16-yard swing pass from Walker in the first half. The Owls fumbled the ball five times in the first half, losing two, and still led by 11 at intermission.
Afterward, Rhule and the players insisted they didn't worry about whether Temple would be in the Associated Press Top 25.
"My son says it to me sometimes, and I tell him to be quiet," Rhule said, evoking laugher from reporters.
Later, he turned serious. "I want to finish the year in the top 25, make no mistake about it," Rhule said. "But right now I really don't care."
Thomas disciplined. Thomas, the team's leading rusher, sat out the first series after being late for a team meeting on Monday.
"It was on me, and I should have been there on time," Thomas said.
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