Listen here as PSD's Ben Medland recaps Temple's 31-17 victory vs. Tulsa:
PHILADELPHIA -After beating Maryland, 35-14, the Temple Owls wanted to continue their winning momentum into Thursday’s game against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Owls did just that, as they dominated Tulsa in a 31-17 victory. Tulsa did not have the answer for Temple’s defense and redshirt sophomore, Anthony Russo, got the nod at quarterback for the second straight week due to Frank Nutile’s injury.
Russo threw an early interception, but was bailed out by cornerback Ty Mason who had a pick-six the next drive. Russo bounced back in the second quarter, throwing a long 41-yard pass to set himself up for a rushing touchdown. Senior running back Ryquell Armstead had a dominating first half, with 89 first half rushing yards, and a touchdown. With his first half performance he moved up the Temple All-Time Rushing Touchdown leader board (now fourth) and rushing yards (now eighth). He ended the game with 108 yards, a touchdown and a sack. Owls head coach, Geoff Collins, touched on the great stat line by Armstead.
“I’m really proud of Ryquell Armstead, third game with over 100-yards rushing but the coolest part was that he added a sack,” said Collins
The Owls came out in the second half continuing their dominating performance and by the end of the third quarter, the score was 28-10. The defense was the strong factor in this game, intercepting Tulsa three times, and forcing two strip sacks, which they recovered. Senior defensive tackle Karamo Dioubate even recovered a fumble for a 50-yard touchdown. The defense scored two of Temple’s touchdowns on five takeaways, while sacking Luke Skipper six times.
After the game, Armstead talked about his offense’s performance.
“My line is doing fantastic, I am just running off of them and feeding off of their energy and the yards are showing it,” said Armstead.
Geoff Collins Post Game Press Conference:
Temple senior running back Ryquell Armstead Post Game Press Conference:
Coach Collins also spoke about the overall team effort that went into the 31-17 victory.
“College football games, AAC football games aren’t supposed to be easy, you got to fight, and you got to scratch and claw to get wins,” said Collins. “So proud of those guys for fighting.”
The Owls move to 2-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. Temple will travel to play Boston College next Saturday. Boston College is currently 3-0 and ranked No. 23 in the country. Tulsa is now 1-3 and has another AAC match-up next week against Houston.