Bernard Pierce ran for 172 yards and three touchdowns, and Brandon McManus kicked an 18-yard field goal with 3 seconds left to give Temple a 34-32 victory over Miami of Ohio on Thursday night. The Owls (7-2, 5-0 Mid-American Conference) won their seventh straight game and are on their longest winning streak since they won the final eight games of the 1973 season. Temple blew leads of 21-3 and 31-13 against the RedHawks (1-9, 1-5). McManus bailed out the Owls with their biggest kick of the season. Coach Al Golden's Owls were already bowl eligible and they now have the MAC title game in sight. To put the winning streak in perspective, the Owls won seven games total from 2002-05. The Owls opened the 1974 season with six straight victories and finished the 1970s with three straight bowl games. Temple then sunk into three decades of football futility that made it one of the worst programs around. No more. The Owls showed some grit on the final drive after blowing the huge leads. Zack Dysert threw for 415 yards and three touchdown passes for the RedHawks (1-9, 1-5). Dysert tossed TD passes of 25 and 14 yards in the fourth quarter to slice the deficit to five at 31-26. Dysert rushed for the first down on a crucial fourth-and-1 at Temple's 2 on the final drive. Thomas Merriweather capped the comeback with the short TD run to make it 32-31. The 2-point conversion failed. Golden, a former Penn State captain, needed only four seasons to turn a a demoralized program into conference contenders. Once an automatic "W" on any team's schedule, the Owls are on track for their first bowl game since 1979. The Owls haven't had a winning record since they went 7-4 in 1990. Temple's sob story _ kicked out of the Big East, winless seasons _ has been recounted countless times. Continued... |