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Temple Football Secures First American Conference Win Of 2025 Over UTSA

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Football

The Temple Owls (3-2, 1-0 American) topped the UTSA Roadrunners (2-3, 0-1 American) 27-21 in front of 12,132 at Lincoln Financial Field.

How It Happened 

  • The Roadrunners got the ball on offense to start the afternoon and had a methodical yet efficient drive that resulted in seven points. Quarterback Owen McCown and running back Robert Henry Jr., each shined on the opening 12-play, 75-yard drive. The ball was punched in by tight end Patrick Overmyer on a quarterback sneak from the one-yard line with 8:44 left in the opening quarter. The Temple passing game had a strong start to the day. Evan Simon delivered the ball to three different receivers on the opening offensive drive for the Owls. Wide receiver Colin Chase and tight end Peter Clarke found themselves wide open for big plays to get the offense into the red zone. The drive stalled out from just outside of the 10-yard line and resulted in a 31-yard field goal from Carl Hardin to get the Owls on the board with 5:53 on the clock. On the ensuing UTSA offensive possession, the Owls forced a three-and-out that was capped off by a sack from Jayvant Brown and Sultan Badmus to force the punt. Temple's next drive had some movement, including a 16-yard pass-and-catch from Simon to wide out Kajiya Hollawayne on third down. The quarter then ended with a Temple punt with the Roadrunners leading 7-3.  
  • The opening drive for the Roadrunners in the second quarter resulted in UTSA's second touchdown of the day. McCown found his receiver Overmyer from seven yards out. This was the second score of the day for Overmyer, his first receiving score of the day. UTSA held a 14-3 lead with 7:21 left in the first half. The Roadrunner defense forced a three-and-out, but a solid punt by Dante Atton had UTSA start its next drive from the 15-yard line. Temple's defense held strong, forcing a punt by UTSA. On that drive, cornerback Adrian Laing made a huge tackle, on what ended up preventing a long touchdown, but his tackle limited the gain to just 15-yards. Temple would get the ball back with just over two minutes left in the first half. The drive would ultimately end with 50 seconds left on the clock, and UTSA got pinned deep in their own territory. The Roadrunners punted to end the drive, as time expired, and the teams went to halftime with UTSA leading 14-3.  
  • Temple started the third quarter with the ball on offense. Clarke had one of the more impressive catch-and-runs you will see out of a tight end on the drive. With a defender on him in the seam, Clarke hauled the ball in and then proceeded to drag the defender for an extra 15-yards to make it a gain of 36. On third-and-goal from the eight, Simon connected with JoJo Bermudez for the first touchdown of the afternoon for Temple. UTSA now held a 14-10 lead with 9:03 remaining in the third quarter. On the following offensive possession by UTSA, the game flipped in a big way. On a deep pass down the field, safety Jamere Jones undercut the route to pull in an interception for the Temple defense, the first turnover of the game. The very next play by the Temple offense was a house-call by running back Hunter Smith. The redshirt senior took the handoff and burst through the line for a 54-yard touchdown run to put the Owls on top 17-14 with 7:32 left in the third. The Roadrunners would respond with authority on the next drive. McCown orchestrated a quick, five-play 75-yard drive that was capped off by an 18-yard pass from McCown to wide receiver Devin McCuin. The Roadrunners got the lead back quickly as the score sat at 21-17. Temple continued to answer on the offensive side of the ball thanks to Simon and Clarke. Clarke hauled in just his third pass of the day, this being the biggest one of the day as it was for a score and the lead. Simon found his tight end from 15-yards out which gave the lead back to the Temple, 24-21.  
  •  The Roadrunners were driving down the field early in the fourth quarter, and entered the red zone. On a first down play, Badmus got his had up and tipped the McCown pass, which fell into the hands of Temple's Avery Powell for the second takeaway of the day for the Owls. The Temple defense had another massive stand to prevent UTSA from scoring. The Owls forced the Roadrunners into a fourth down situation thanks to outstanding pressure from the defensive line. On fourth down, that trend continued as Cam'Ron Stewart forced McCown to get rid of the ball quickly for an incompletion, giving the ball back to the Temple offense with 3:24 left in the game on the UTSA 31-yard line. After the turnover, the Owls chewed up clock and allowed Hardin to add onto the score, and he did just that. Hardin connected for three from 35-yards out to make it 27-21 with 1:57 remaining in the game. It was only fitting that the defense would make another stand to end the game. On fourth down and 20, defensive tackle Demerick Morris secured a sack and the win for the Owls.  

Statistically Speaking 

  • This marks Temple's first ever win over UTSA. 
  • On Evan Simon's eighth pass attempt of the day, he reached 100-straight pass attempts without throwing an interception. 
  • Jamere Jones notched his first interception of the season, which is also his first division one interception.  
  • Peter Clarke's 36-yard catch and run marked a new career-high for the junior from London.  
  • Avery Powell also secured his first career interception in today's game, joining fellow safety Jamere Jones. 
  • The Temple defense stifled UTSA's explosive offense all day today. In the previous four games to start the season the Roadrunners had touchdowns of at least 75 yards in those games. Today, the longest play on offense UTSA had was 36 yards.  
  • Temple scored 21 points in the third quarter of today's game. The last time Temple had three touchdowns in a conference game was back in 2022 against East Carolina. 
  • UTSA's standout running back Robert Henry Jr. Was held to under 100 yards rushing today for the first time since October 26, 2024, against Tulsa.  

Up Next 

Temple will remain home next Saturday, October 11 for homecoming against the Navy Midshipmen. The American Conference bout will kickoff at 4:00 pm and will be broadcast on ESPN2.