With six minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the first half against Central Florida, redshirt-junior wide receiver Branden Mack scored a 75-yard touchdown.
Mack totaled 104 receiving yards, tying a team record for games with more than 100 receiving yards in a season with four.
He was the only player to record more than 50 receiving or rushing yards in the Owls’ (5-3, 2-2 The American Athletic Conference) 63-21 loss to the Knights (6-2, 3-1 The AAC) Saturday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Mack’s 104 yards were more than triple the receiving total of the next-highest Temple player, senior wide receiver Randle Jones. Jones had one catch, his first of the season, for 32 yards.
Temple performed worse on the ground.
“I don’t know that much of [the running game] worked at all,” coach Rod Carey said postgame.
Temple had a chance to score early in the third quarter. The Owls took possession at midfield, yet lost six yards in three plays.
“The offense has to go down, at least get a field goal, get a touchdown, something,” redshirt-junior quarterback Anthony Russo said.
The Owls did not drive for more than 11 yards for the rest of the game.
The Owls’ longest rush was a 14-yard carry by freshman running back Re’Mahn Davis. Davis finished with 26 yards, double that of redshirt-senior running back Jager Gardner. Gardner had a one-yard push for the Owls’ only rushing touchdown of the game.
Russo threw for 199 yards, but recorded 15 lost yards on the ground and threw two interceptions.
Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Todd Centeio saw the field once again and gained 27 total yards—22 via passes and five rushing yards.
On Temple’s final drive of the game, redshirt-freshman quarterback Trad Beatty became the third quarterback to take a snap for the Owls.
“The game was out of reach at that point,” Carey said. “So I didn’t feel it [was] necessary to keep playing the starters at that point. It was an opportunity to get [Beatty] in as well.”
Beatty made three plays for six total yards. He handed the ball off twice and rushed for one yard.
Temple has a 12-day break before playing South Florida (4-4, 2-2 The AAC) in Tampa at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7.
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