With four minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter, redshirt-sophomore cornerback Christian Braswell stripped the ball from South Florida redshirt-freshman receiver Terrence Horne. Temple senior linebacker Sam Franklin recovered the ball and ran it back for a 39-yard touchdown, putting the Owls ahead 14-0.
Temple University football (6-3, 3-2 The American Athletic Conference) defeated South Florida (4-5, 2-3 The AAC) on the road, 17-7, on Thursday night.
The Owls defense finished the game with nine sacks and only allowed 286 total yards. Temple defense gave up 600 yards of total offense in its previous two games.
Thursday night’s game was the first time since Sept. 28 that Temple’s defense gave up fewer than 10 points.
Redshirt-junior defensive end Quincy Roche led the way for the Owls, recording 3.5 sacks and three tackles for a loss.
One of Roche’s sacks came in the fourth quarter when he tackled Bulls redshirt-freshman quarterback Jordan McCloud for an eight-yard loss, forcing a punt.
Temple’s defense held the Bulls rushing attack to just 61 yards on the ground. The Bulls came into the game averaging 180 rushing yards per game. Bulls’ senior running back Jordan Cronkrite led the team with just 21 rushing yards in the game.
The Owls gave up 385 rushing yards in its last game on Oct. 26 against Central Florida (7-2, 4-1 The AAC).
McCloud threw for 225 yards and one touchdown in the game, but Temple held him to a 60.5 percent completion rate. The touchdown came with one minute and one second remaining in the third quarter.
The Owls struggled to stop the Bulls on third down. The Bulls converted 10 of 19 opportunities despite Temple coming into the game only allowing a 33.59 conversion rate.
The defense was able to stop the Bulls on fourth down twice out of three attempts, including on the Bulls’ last play of the game.
Temple’s next game is at home on Saturday, Nov. 16, against Tulane (6-3, 3-2 The AAC) at noon.
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