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Owls fly past anemic Army, 35-7
West Point, NY (8/29) - In a game played between two teams that are trying to turn their football fortunes around, the Temple Owls strutted their stuff past the Black Knights of Army racing off to a 28-0 lead at the start of the second half before the Cadets showed any penchant for moving the football. In the first period, Carlos Sandiego's muffed punt on Army's eight resulted in Adam DiMichele's five-yard TD pass to WR Bruce Francis. Before the period expired, DeMichele threw his second scoring TD pass to TE Steve Maneri to cap a 71-yard TD drive. Ten seconds into the second stanza, Freshman DE Morkeith Brown scooped up QB Carson Williams fumble off the turf and rumbled, twisted and turned 17 yards to extend the lead, 21-0. Army's defense held the Owls in check for the balance of the half, but special teams put Army in a deeper hole to start the second half when Jamal Schulters took the second half kickoff on the two on the left side of Blaik Field, and raced 98 yards to the opposite corner to put the game well out of reach for the Cadets. Army, who is supposed to be converting to the option attack similar to Navy and Air Force, looked like they were trying to run some kind of hybrid with a FB and two wing backs. They lacked the deception, power, and speed that their academy brethren have demonstrated in the recent past. Despite FB Collin Mooney's 81 yards on 16 carries and Army outgaining Temple offensively 284 to 250, the option didn't work. Most plays went for short yardage, and Army came up short on fourth down situations on several occasions to turn the ball back to the Owls. Tony Dace took it in from the one on Army's first second half drive to finally put Army on the board. Marquise Liverpool scored the final Owl TD of the day on a one-yard run to start the fourth period and finalize the score, 35-7.
Extra points: Army's defense played well. Their backs were to the wall after the fumble at the eight. Another turnover and a kickoff return did them in. We plan to see the Cadets play at Michie two more times this season, we hope that we will see continuous improvement on the offensive side of the ball running the option. This is the second consecutive game at West Point where we saw Army's opponents race out to a commanding lead. Air Force raced off to a 43-0 first half lead in November 2006 in a 43-7 win on a cold Friday night game. From our view in the end zone, we noted that Temple QB Adam DeMichele (15 of 22, 159 yards, 2 TDs and 1 Int) consistently focuses on his primary target. That's not going to bode well against better defenses they will meet in the future (Penn State). The Owls made a big improvement in one year as they fell to the Cadets last season, 37-21. They are projected to be one of the most vastly improved teams in the MAC. If Al Golden, a former PSU Tight end and a great recruiter, can turn around the Temple Owl program, I think he would be a great choice to be Joe Paterno's successor! Once again, we parked in a totally new location on the West Point campus. Even though our parking pass puts us on Target Hill, we were directed to a better spot closer to the stadium on Tower Hill. Lots of TU fans there. This year, the buses ran to the stadium on time! Met fellow fan, Dennis, who's been communicating since the Times article. We spoke at halftime and plan to get together for a few more games in the future. He pursues Our Goal and has 26 teams left to see. I'm glad Temple went back to the old style uniforms. They're unique. I always liked them. Guest Game Analysts (GGAs) Laurie and Alex Koreivo were mere entertained during the course of a dull game by the antics of Army's company mascots wandering around Michie Stadium. They critiqued Frogs, a Knight, and an Indian. One plebe tied to wrestle the head off an Eagle mascot only to be freed by a chokehold put on the attacker by a first classman which I witnessed as I walked behind the Corp on my way back after halftime. On back to school night, Army lunch boxes were given out to kids 14 and under. The Corps entertained themselves using the empty corrugated boxes as beach balls since no one snuck one in! |