Bruins overcome Owls in sub-freezing temps to win Eagle Bank Bowl II, 30-21

Washington, DC - Trailing 21-20 with 6:01 remaining, UCLA DE Akeem Ayars picked himself up off the ground and picked off Vaughn Charlton's dump pass to take it in from the two give the Bruins its first lead in the Eagle Bank Bowl with 6:01 remaining.  The Temple Owls (9-4) fared no better on its subsequent possession deep in its own territory when the snap from center sailed over the head of punter Jeff Whatne's head for a safety.  With over four minutes to play and UCLA now leading the frozen Owls, 30-21, GGA Eric Koreivo, who failed to wear long-johns on this subfreezing night in D.C. because he thought our travels on Tuesday were for a game the next day, said, "Dad.  You want to go now?" It was over.  We left.  The Owls had lost RB Bernard Pierce in the second half to an injury, and Charlton's production dropped off like the temperatures in the second half with just one completion and two INTs.  A few questionable calls by Owl Head Coach Al Golden set the Owls back in critical situations as well and made it difficult for the Owls to compete with the Bruins (7-6) in the second half.  QB Kevin Prince finished with 16 of 31 on the evening for 221 yards and 2 TDS for UCLA.

    We saw Prince's first tie the game as we arrived late after our road trip down the highway to hell.  When we took out seats at wind-swept Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Temple led 7-0 in the first on Charlton's 26-yard pass to TE Steve Manieri.  We then watched UCLA's Terrence Austin return a punt 47 yards and Prince hook up with Nelson Rosario on the very next play for a 47-yard TD play.  This is the only bowl game on our schedule this season.  Our day started off with the heat at home off on a cold, windy day.  We waited for service to come and purge the pipes to the furnace.  We then hit a detour with trees downed on Route 206 in NJ which added a half-hour to our ride.  Instead of taking I-295 from western NJ onto PA, I made the mistake of taking the Jersey Turnpike with its delays and an additional $7.35 in toll charges.  Slow going over the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the span near Havre de Grace, MD because of high crosswinds, along with construction, sun glare, and the mistake of following a slow back way provided by our GPS system made for a miserable ride.  What should take four and a half hours at most took closer to seven! It was no an enjoyable trip.  It sucked, especially before trying to settle into a stadium where temps were reported at 19 degrees F with the wind chill. Eric and I grabbed a hot dog, and changed seats several times trying to find good sightlines away from the wind among many empty seats in the vast stadium.  Attendance was reportedly 23,072 at RFK.  I still don't understand why they keep coming up with new bowls when there are so many empty seats at most venues I've seen on TV already.  Surely though, the key is TV.  That's where the money must be coming from to keep many of the 34 bowl games in business.

    Bernard Pirece's 11-yard TD run and Matt Brown's 2-yard TD run in the second period seemed to give Temple a 21-7 halftime lead, but with seventeen seconds left to play, UCLA got into position on three plays to score on Kai Forbath's 40-yard FG as time expired.  Make that four plays - he pulled this off after his first attempt failed.  Al Golden outsmarted himself calling a timeout before the first one went wide left.  We've never liked that strategy for that reason.  It's a crapshoot when a coach calls time out.  If the kicker misses, he gets a second chance. However,  it makes even less sense when you have a kicker from sunny, Southern California kicking in sub-freezing temperatures for the first time in his young life. He's already "iced".  Forbath cut the lead to 21-10 before the half. 

   After UCLA scored on its first possession of the second half on Prince's 32-yard scoring strike to Terrence Austin,  Temple put on a long drive of its own.  On a fourth and short at the UCLA ten, Golden called on Brown's number to challenge the middle of the UCLA defense.  He was effective to that point around the ends and over tackles through gaping holes, but his 5'5", 167 lb frame bounced back off the pack for a loss in a short yardage situation.  Unbeknownst to us, the bigger Pierce was out of the game, and Temple had no power in its backfield.  The play to Brown was just not the right call. UCLA took over on downs.

    A Forbath FG put UCLA within one early in the fourth.  UCLA kept Temple deep in their own territory for the balance on the game resulting in the final two scores on the interception and errant snap to overcome their early deficit and go home with a 30-21 win to finish their season at 7-6.

     Eric and I are hoping for a more favorable bowl schedule next year with enough frequent flyer miles to get us to see at least two bowl games next season in somewhat warmer climes.  The weather at this game was a microcosm of the entire season.  Whether cold, snowy or rainy, it was one of the worst seasons weather-wise in a long time.  From threatening skies at West Point canceling pre-game parachute jumps, to a downpour all game long at our first Ohio State game, to a drive in October to Penn State in a snowstorm closing all grass-covered parking lots, to a cold, wet, driving snowstorm at the Villanova-UNH play-off game, to our cancellation of plans to travel through a blizzard to Salem, VA for the D-3 National Championship where 16" of snow were dumped, to this trip down the highway to hell on a windy, freezing day that caused us to be late for our only bowl game of the year, this had to be our worst weather year ever to attend games.  Next bowl season, we hope Florida, California, or Arizona will offer us some sunnier options if schedules and economics work out for us.

Extra points: We love Temples old Cherry and White uniforms.  UCLA's with unis male the entire team look tall and thin.  A roster check in the program indicates otherwise.  Eric says that they could have grown since the start of the season.

After sitting out in freezing temps where we could find the least exposure to wind in RFK, we sought a warm place to have a late dinner on the way to our hotel in Waldorf, MD after the game.  We found the only pizza joint on the east coast with the air conditioning on!  We thought at first that the heat was broken and kept our coats on.  It turned out that the people working there were so hot by the ovens that they turned the air on.  We passed many options later that would have been better.  Of course, picky Eric couldn't agree to many of them.

Temple has a very spirited team that's young.  They could be entertaining for a few more years as Golden continues to develop this program  We think he's being groomed for the PSU job eventually.  We hope to get them on our schedule again at the Linc next season or the year after.

The day after the game, we spent the morning and afternoon at the Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian.  We could spend a lot more time there.  That is one of the plusses about a bowl game in DC.  The weather on the other hand... That reminds me.  Who thinks that a December Bowl game to be played in Yankee stadium is a good idea?  I'm sure lots of people will come from to follow a mediocre Big 12 school during the holidays on short notice to see their team play at the most expensive city in the country.  It used to work well for college basketball fans in an arena holding 19,000 fans that didn't sell out.  Good luck in a 50,000-seat stadium built to watch baseball in the Bronx.