SOUTH PHILADELPHIA, PA – It seems as if the Temple Owls chose the perfect season to prove themselves and their strength to the City of Philadelphia. A city that often longs for Sundays to see its Eagles play, has since turned its attention to Saturdays to pay homage to another bird of prey, the Owls.
Since beating rival, Penn State, for the first time in 74 years on Sept. 5, the Owls have been almost unstoppable, losing only two games, and ending their season with an overall 10-2 record.
On Saturday night, Temple hosted the University of Connecticut to play its final home game of the season in front of over 28,000 fans at Lincoln Financial Field. Coming into this game the Owls were ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. Since beating the Huskies 27-3, Temple has moved into its highest ranked position all season, settling in at No. 20 in the AP Poll and 21st in the Coaches Poll.
Fan Video: Romond Deloatch catches a 6-yd TD pass from Owls QB, PJ Walker
Fan Video: Owls' Kicker, Austin Jones makes the extra point after Deloatch's TD
Throughout the game, UConn could not get anything together on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The Owls defense held the Huskies to only one late fourth quarter field goal.
To start, the Owls drove down the field on their first possession and scored on a 9-yard touchdown run by running back Jahad Thomas. This was Thomas’s first of two touchdowns in the game. Going into halftime, the Owls led 10-0, with kicker Austin Jones adding three on the board. With a little over six minutes left in the third quarter, Jones added another field goal to increase Temple’s lead 13-0.
Temple’s defense continued to hold UConn scoreless throughout the third quarter. Owls’ junior quarterback, PJ Walker, threw a 6-yard pass completion to Romond Deloatch, to increase their lead 20-0. Thomas would add his second touchdown of the night with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Huskies kicker, Bobby Puyol, was able to make a 45-yard field goal with six minutes left in the game to put his team on the board before heading to the locker-room.
With this win, the Owls claimed the American Athletic Conference East Title and will move on to play Houston (11-1), who lost to UConn last week, for the AAC Championship.
The game will be broadcast on ABC this Saturday, Dec. 5 at noon.