Owls Football has Record Setting Day Against Hornets

On Saturday, the Owls(1-1) hosted the Delaware State Hornets (0-3) at Lincoln Financial Field.

After a loss to the Naval Academy two weeks ago,Temple did not waste anytime getting points on the board. Following a quick three and out, the Hornets punt was blocked by the Owls Samuel Benjamin and picked up by Artrel Foster who ran the ball in for a 15-yard touchdown.

On the next drive, Delaware State’s center oversnaps QB Gilbert Rivera and the ball is recovered by the Owls defense on the Hornet 4-yard line. PJ Walker hands off the ball to running back Kenny Harper who takes one in for a touchdown. Owls lead 14-0 with 10:19 left in the first. The Hornets were roadblocked on offense all afternoon and their third punt led to the Owls delivering the play of the game.

Redshirt junior Khalif Herbin took the punt from sophomore kicker Jeremiah McGeough 84 yards to pay dirt with a cut to the left side untouched. The Owls led 21-0 with just a total of three yards on offense.

McGeough was arguably DSU’s MVP of the game with eight punts averaging 50.4 yards. It was that kind of a day for the visitors as star wideout Milton Williams was held to just 39 yards on four receptions.

On the following drive, sophomore QB P.J. Walker connected to senior WR Jalen Fitzpatrick on a 18 yard strike en route to a four yard TD scamper by RB Jamie Gilmore.

Walker would endure the turnover bug as the Hornets picked off the sophomore on the next Owls’ drive. He finished with two in the game. After another DSU punt, Walker redeemed himself with a 31 yard TD pass to the go-to-guy on offense in Fitzpatrick for 31 yards to start the second. Owls up 35-0.

DE Sharif Finch has already scored more TDs than RBs Jamaal Charles and Eddie Lacy and tacked on another picking off QB Gilbert Rivera for a pick six. 64 yards later and the Owls were looking like the East’s version of the Oregon Ducks up 42-0

Walker later found Harper in the end zone to cap off the historic half up 49-0. Backup Connor Reilly was perfect on the afternoon going 6-6 for 52 yards.

Senior RB Hassan Dixon found the end zone after a Tyler Mayes FG in garbage time as the Owls left no doubt on their 59-0 beat-down on the Hornets.

Coach Matt Rhule talked about the victory. “Some people came up to me in the middle of the game and said hey there’s a scoring record if we score this many more points and I’m not really interested in the those things. Number one I want to respect the opponent that we’re playing and I wanted to get all the players that play for us get a chance to get in the game,” said the lead man.

The perfect scenario ensued for the Owls today: they blew out their competition and the hard working reserves got a chance to enter the stat sheet.

Temple (2-1) faces a trap game opponent next week against UConn (1-2, 0-1) as they head north next Saturday in their first AAC matchup of the year.