A UConn victory gives South Florida the East Division title and a spot in the championship game. Check. A 10-win season?
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The Huskies had no answer for linebacker Tyler Matakevich. “But you can’t be satisfied. Having that trophy is an accomplishment, but we want to win the game next week”. “But we have the conference championship game next week”.
With the loss, CT will await their postseason destination after becoming bowl eligible with an upset win over Houston last week.
Temple won the game with its defense, but running back Jahad Thomas victimized the Huskies for 119 yards and two touchdowns – one for nine yards to open the scoring and another of 60 yards to close Temple’s scoring.
“I’m just trying to help the team any way I can”, Anderson said. The victor of that game will likely earn a coveted spot in a New Year’s Day bowl game.
“Houston is what’s next”, Temple’s featured tailback said. “We’ll enjoy this tonight”.
UConn is going to a bowl game, but the Huskies were completely overmatched by Temple in the regular season finale Saturday night.
And they’ve got a chance to do it again.
He called it a “championship culture”.
Rhule wouldn’t address a report that he is scheduled to meet with Missouri on Sunday to discuss the Tigers’ head coaching position.
The Bulls opened the season 1-3, putting heat on Taggart after he went 6-18 during his first two USF seasons, but finished with a flourish. But that doesn’t mean there’s not any familiarity.
Houston defeated Temple 31-10 in the last meeting between the two on October 17, 2014.
“Our offensive line, including our tight ends … did a real nice job”, Rhule said. SMU’s Matt Jones (102 rushing yards and a touchdown) had a big game in his team’s loss to Temple.
He came from Laney (Calif.) Junior College to play quarterback, but because of his strength (6 feet 1, 236 pounds) and versatility, he can be plugged into different areas at different times. In Rhule’s case, not much had yet been heard in terms of an opportunity to coach a bigger Division I school, at least not until gametime Saturday night. “This year – They blew ’em out today”, said Yaasir Gray of South Philadelphia. “After that, we’ll go down to Houston and see what we can do”.
Temple clearly had a memorable performance on senior night, when 22 Owls were honored before the game, witnessed by an announced crowd of 28,236.
WALKER CLOSING IN ON CARRER HIGHS: Temple quarterback P.J. Walker needs 29 yards and four TDs to reach career highs in those categories. Temple’s leading receiver on the evening, Brandon Shippen, had just 45 yards on four catches.
Darreus Rogers and Taylor McNamara caught TD passes while the Trojans (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) scored 20 consecutive points in the second half before raising the Victory Bell in the frenzied Coliseum. UConn had 40 yards of offense on its second possession, but on the other five first-half possessions the Huskies managed just 21 yards on 16 offensive plays. UConn came into Saturday’s contest averaging 135.1 yards rushing per game.
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The Huskies were struggling to piecemeal production from both quarterbacks, but it was hard, and in trailing 10-0 at halftime, the Huskies were held scoreless in the first half for the first time this season.
