Filed under: Temple, Big East, FCS

PHILADELPHIA — The college football world was delivered a beauty of a game Friday — at least for the 32,000 in attendance and perhaps hundreds more who witnessed the otherwise untelevised 31-24 thriller between Temple and Villanova on ESPN3.com.

Al Golden’s resurgent Temple Owls rallied from a 21-13 fourth-quarter deficit to topple the defending FCS champion Villanova Wildcats and claim the Mayor’s Cup. Owls quarterback Chester Stewart committed what Golden termed a “critical error,” fumbling the snap on third-and-one from his own 22-yard line to set up a wild finish.

Before the fumble, Temple had scrapped to a 22-21 lead, and was looking to ice the final two minutes of the game. The lower-division Owls had steadily dominated Temple through nearly three quarters of play, something the Wildcats’ coach readily admitted. Villanova’s faithful were soon frothy as the Wildcats kicked a field goal for the 24-22 lead, spotting the Owls just 1:43 to attempt a rally without any remaining timeouts. Stewart and his teammates promptly rallied, collecting four first downs against the dwindling clock to set up a frenetic field-goal attempt from the 26 with eight seconds left.

From there, kicker Brandon McManus drove the 43-yard attempt through the uprights for the wild victory. In so doing, major college football outpost Philadelphia gifted observers with one heck of a ballgame, perhaps the best game of the opening week with an entire Saturday still to be played.

“I feel like the people in Philadelphia should really embrace college football in the area because you have two teams that can put on a game like that. I just thought it was tremendous … for college football in general,” Temple coach Andy Talley (pictured above) said afterward.

Added Temple’s Golden, “There are a lot of irrelevant games in college football this weekend (but) this is not one of them.”

Villanova’s offensive trickery and steady play in the trenches slowed down Temple’s mighty rush attack led by Heisman Trophy candidate Bernard Pierce. The sophomore had just 12 carries for 34 yards at the end of the third quarter.

However, Temple’s talent and numbers edges finally materialized.

“Suddenly, they woke up” Talley said.

Perhaps metaphorically egged on by a cartoon-like cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee roaming the sidelines the entire game, the Owls took flight under the cover of night.

Their defense arrived first, holding the Wildcats to just 25 yards in the final frame. It wasn’t for lack of trying by a steadily tiring Wildcat squad.

Said Talley, “We shot everything we had [offensively], and they were playing better.”

Those stops provided just enough breathing room for an offensive rally sparked by Pierce’s own fourth quarter awakening.

He carried the ball eight times for 45 yards and likely the clinching first-down carry had Stewart not fumbled. But Stewart also contributed heavily to the victory, tossing a 62-yard touchdown to Michael Campbell that gave the coffee-like jolt — and 22-21 lead — to the Owls.

On the final drive, Stewart completed four-of-seven passes for 28 yards and a crucial 13-yard scramble into field-goal range.

“Obviously he won the game for us, and I was excited for that,” Golden said of Stewart. “He did show a lot of poise and a lot of maturity. We had a quarterback that won in the two-minute drill.”

Golden said that the team rallied around Stewart, making the winning drive possible. But that rally was as much on the players as the coach, who said, “If you trust your players, they’ll make you look good.”

Indeed.

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