After relying on a second-half comeback to defeat Army on Oct. 2, the football team found itself the victim of a comeback Saturday against Northern Illinois. The Huskies defeated the Owls, 31-17.
The game started well, as senior safety Jaiquawn Jarrett forced a fumble from Huskies’ senior running back Chad Spann on Northern Illinois’ first play from scrimmage. The Owls would recover the fumble at Northern Illinois’ 29-yard line. Two plays later, sophomore running back Matt Brown would find the end zone on a 25-yard touchdown run.
On the ensuing drive, Northern Illinois would respond with a nine-yard touchdown run from freshman running back Akeem Daniels. The Owls and Huskies would each score a field goal on their next respective drives, with a 33-yarder from Temple sophomore placekicker Brandon McManus and a 28-yarder from Huskies’ redshirt-senior placekicker Michael Cklamovski.
After the Owls and Huskies traded rushing touchdowns and field goals in the first half, they traded passing touchdowns to close out the half. Redshirt-junior quarterback Chester Stewart threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to redshirt-junior tight end Evan Rodriguez, while the Huskies’ redshirt-junior quarterback Chandler Harnish threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Landon Cox with 30 seconds left in the half.
The second half saw the Huskies leave the Owls in the dust offensively. The Huskies bested the Owls on the ground and in the air. As the Owls’ offense ground came to a halt in the third quarter, Harnish threw a four-yard touchdown pass to redshirt-junior wide receiver Nathan Palmer. In the fourth quarter, Spann would put the game away with a six-yard touchdown run.
The Huskies’ Harnish finished the game 20-for-25 for 211 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, while Spann rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown. On the Temple side, Stewart finished the game 13-for-27 with 148 yards with a passing touchdown and an interception. Brown rushed 93 for yards on 13 carries to go along with his first-quarter touchdown. After being absent from the trip to West Point, N.Y., sophomore running back Bernard Pierce made a brief appearance with three carries for six yards.
This week, the Owls take on Bowling Green Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in the team’s homecoming game. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
-Brian Dzenis
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