Steve Maneri had the game-winning touchdown against Army

For the second week in a row the Temple Owls had a lead, lost it but ultimately won the game. By early in the second quarter on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field, the Owls (4-2) were up 13-0 but Army (3-4) fought back to tie it up late in the third quarter. However, a sequence midway through the fourth quarter that in the bad old days would’ve gone against the Cherry and White broke for them and they were able to punch in a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to get the win 27-13, it was the Owls fourth straight win.

“There’s a confidence right now even as there’s ebb and flow in the game,” said Temple head coach Al Golden. “There’s a confidence on the sideline that we hadn’t had before.”

A lot of that ebb and flow occurred with just over 9 minutes left in the game, when Army head coach Rich Ellerson elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-one at the Black Knights own 24-yard line but Trent Steelman was stuffed on a quarterback sneak. Before the Owls could run a play, the ruling had to withstand a video review, which it did.

“That was horrible,” said Ellerson. “With third and eighteen inches, if you can get eighteen inches what makes you think we’re going to win a football game?”

On the next play, Temple quarterback Vaughn Charlton was intercepted by Donovan Travis but there was a flag on the field for pass interference against Army but it nullified because the officials ruled the pass was tipped. Golden challenged the call saying that the ball was not tipped. He was right and was rewarded with the ball back and a first down at the Black Knights 12-yard line. Three plays later, Charlton hit his tight end Steve Maneri with a 6-yard touchdown pass and the Owls were ahead to stay. On the ensuing drive, Steelman was sacked and fumbled. Alex Joseph recovered the ball for Temple and Kee-ayre Griffin went in from a yard out to cap the scoring.

The Owls scored on their first possession of the game by relying on the running of freshman sensation Bernard Pierce, who carried five times for 34 yards including a one-yard touchdown run, and Army penalties. The Black Knights were flagged four times accounting for 22 of the 75 yards the Owls gained in taking a 7-0 lead. Charlton hit Jason Harper with a 37-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead.

Army got a field goal before halftime and another on the first possession of the second half. They just missed getting a safety when they sacked Charlton at the Owls one-yard line but they used the good field position from the ensuing punt to score their only touchdown – a four-yard pass from Steelman to 6-10 wide receiver Alejandro Villanueva.

NOTES – Pierce left the game late in the first half with an apparent shoulder injury. He finished with 65 yards on 11 carries, breaking his string of three straight 100-yard games…The Owls defense held Army to 1 of 11 of third down conversions…Army committed 14 penalties for 100 yards…The Black Knights had five sacks of Temple quarterbacks, four of those were by Josh McNary, who now holds the school’s single-season and career marks for sacks with 9.5 and 15 respectively…Next for the Owls is a visit to Toledo.