Temple Football Falls To UConn After Questionable Fourth Quarter Call

PHILADELPHIA — Temple Football (2-4, 1-1 American) fell 34-20 to UConn at home on Saturday, Oct. 10, their chance at a go-ahead drive ending with 12:08 to play in the fourth quarter on a questionable fumble call.

Trailing 24-20 with first-and-10 from the Huskies’ 39-yard line, quarterback Ajani Sheppard absorbed a hit from UConn defensive lineman Shamar Riser-Pressley. Sheppard was in the act of throwing the ball, which came out wobbly: K’Von Sherman scooped it up for UConn, and the play was ruled a fumble. A review upheld the call, and a 10-play drive put the Huskies up 31-20 after an eight-yard touchdown from running back Cyncir Bowers.

Temple went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and UConn burned up most of the rest of the clock with a meandering field goal drive that left the Owls with no time to mount a response.

Early Track Meet

While the second half hinged on defense, the first 30 minutes saw an explosion of more than 600 yards of offense. UConn needed just 2:17 to open the scoring with a 12-yard keeper touchdown from quarterback Kalieb Osborne, who found Ryder Treadway on a 38-yard deep shot on the second play of the game. Sheppard answered in one play, launching a 79-yard touchdown to JoJo Bermudez on the Owls’ first scrimmage play.

The Huskies raced downfield in 2:09, running back Kenji Christian breaking loose on a 39-yard touchdown run; Temple resorted to trickery, with receiver Colin Chase catching a lateral from Sheppard before lofting a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Peter Clarke. The Owls’ defense got their first stop of the game in the shadow of their own goal line, forcing a turnover on downs when Jaeden Gould sacked Osborne. Their offense responded with a much-needed change of pace, a seven-minute drive that ended with a go-ahead field goal from Carl Hardin.

The Huskies retaliated with another hurry-up drive that ended with an Osborne touchdown keeper, and Keveun Mason fumbled in UConn territory with 1:52 to play in the half, setting up a UConn field goal.

Temple will return to action at home against Charlotte at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.