Publicité

Temple takes control of AAC East with big win over USF

Temple's Ryquell Armstead rushed for 210 yards in a 46-30 win over USF. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Temple’s Ryquell Armstead rushed for 210 yards in a 46-30 win over USF. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

South Florida had the chance to take sole possession of first place in the AAC East Friday night in Philadelphia, but Temple had other ideas.

The Temple offense ran all over the USF defense, putting up 528 yards in a 46-30 win. The Owls totaled 319 yards on the ground, including 210 yards and two touchdowns from sophomore Ryquell Armstead. The win gives the Bulls their first conference loss of the season and moves Temple to the top of the division standings with matching 3-1 AAC records.

The game was back and forth for much of the first three quarters until the Owls took a 27-23 lead on a 42-yard Armstead run with 3:53 to go in the third. The Owls defense forced a three-and-out on USF’s ensuing possession, and then blocked Jonathan Hernandez’s punt, setting up a short field.

Two plays later, Jahad Thomas waltzed in from nine yards out, and in less than four minutes, the Owls went from a three-point deficit to an 11-point lead, 34-23.

After a Temple field goal, USF was able to cut the lead to 37-30 on a Marlon Mack touchdown run with 8:42 to go. The Bulls then forced a punt and regained possession at their own 13-yard line with five minutes to play.

Things went south for the Bulls from there. Very, very south.

Two penalties quickly pushed USF back to its own one-yard line and wiped out a nice run from star quarterback Quinton Flowers, who was injured on the play. Backup Brett Kean came in and promptly lobbed one up into traffic for an interception, which Temple’s Deivon Randall returned inside the five.

Thomas scored on the very next play to put things out of reach.

And to make matters worse, Kean was sacked (and injured) for a safety on the first play of USF’s next drive to put the bow on the Owls’ big win.

The course of Temple’s season turned pretty dramatically in just two weeks. The Owls dropped to 3-3 with a 34-27 loss at Memphis on Oct. 7, but overcame a big deficit and won 26-25 with a touchdown pass with a second to go last Saturday at UCF.

Now, after Friday night’s win, the Owls are 5-3 (3-1 AAC) and control their own destiny in the East division.

On the other side, South Florida drops to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play with Temple now holding the edge in the division. With its offensive performing at a high level and only a loss to Florida State under its belt before Friday night, USF looked like one of the better Group of Five teams in the country. But with the way their defense played against the Owls, the Bulls clearly still have a long way to go.

For more Temple news, visit OwlScoop.com.

For more USF news, visit RunningTheBulls.com.

More college football from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!