INSIDE SLANT

   Temple (8-2 overall, 6-0 MAC) is the feel-good story in college football this season, having won eight straight ballgames. And it’s no fluke. They have one of the best young coaches in the college game in Al Golden. They are strong in both trenches, the hallmark of any quality football team. And they have a program-changing tailback in true freshman Bernard Pierce (1,308 yards, 15 TDs).

Pierce, like the Owls’ program as a whole, has undergone an incredible transformation over the past couple years. During Pierce’s sophomore year at Lower Merion High School (yep, that’s Kobe Bryant’s alma mater), Pierce was involved in a big brawl and, according to sources, Pierce seriously injured one person. After the incident, Pierce was sentenced to Glen Mills School, a school for court-adjudicated boys outside Philadelphia. Pierce matured a great deal at Glen Mills. In fact, when it was time for Pierce to be discharged, he instead opted to remain at Glen Mills for his senior year, because he felt that he flourished in the regimented Glen Mills system. The 6-foot-2, 212-pound Pierce has enjoyed a record-setting freshman year for the Owls, rushing for 1,308 yards and 15 TDs.

   In its 56-17 win over Akron last Friday night, Temple proved that its offense is more than a one-man show (Pierce). With Akron putting everyone and their third cousin in the box to stop Pierce, Golden—who figures to be rumored for every head coach vacancy on the Eastern Seaboard (i.e. Virginia or Maryland in the ACC) after the season is over—used Pierce as a decoy in the first quarter, faking handoffs to him and then throwing play-action passes or running reverses once the Akron “D” committed to Pierce.

   The lopsided win over Akron, a game in which the Owls scored 49 unanswered points after falling behind 17-7, showed that Temple has plenty of other home-run hitters in its lineup and that Golden made the right move in changing his quarterback two weeks ago. Not thrilled with his team’s quarterback play—even during a winning streak—Golden made a gutsy move last week against Miami (Ohio), replacing starting quarterback Vaughn Charlton (90-of-177 for 1,200 yards, nine TDs and seven INTs) with the much more mobile Chester Stewart. Making just his second start of the season, Stewart was impressive versus Akron, throwing for 145 yards and two scores and running for two other scores.

   The Owls host Kent State (5-5 overall, 4-2 MAC) this Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. If the Owls win and Ohio University (7-3, 5-1) loses this weekend at home to Northern Illinois (7-3, 5-1), then Temple would clinch the MAC East title and a spot in the MAC title game in early December. If not, then the Nov. 27 game at Ohio will determine which MAC East team heads to the MAC title game in Detroit.  

NOTES, QUOTES

   —Temple has won eight straight games, its longest win streak since 1973, and has rushed for 200 or more yards in four straight ballgames.  

• Bernard Pierce’s 15 rushing TDs this season ties him with Paul Palmer (1986) and Walter Washington (2004) for the single-season school record.

• This weekend’s Kent State game will be the 1,000th football game in Temple school history. The Owls began varsity football in 1894 with a 15-6 win over Philadelphia Dental College. It will also be Senior Day at Lincoln Financial Field.  

• Guaranteed its first winning season since 1990, Temple is also bowl eligible for the first time since 1990. Temple’s last bowl appearance came in the 1979 Garden State Bowl where the Owls beat California, 28-17, at Giants Stadium. 

Series History:   Kent State leads series 2-1 (last meeting, 2008, 41-38, Kent State)

Scouting The Offense:   On Nov. 13, with Akron stacking the box with eight and nine defenders in hopes of slowing down the Owls’ freshman superstar tailback Bernard Pierce, Temple head coach Al Golden wisely started using Pierce as a decoy—faking handoffs to him, freezing the defense and then punishing the Zips with a nice blend of play-action passes, reverses to speedy wideouts and some option runs by mobile quarterback Chester Stewart. Stewart, making his second start of the season after Golden made the gutsy move to have him take over the No. 1 job from Vaughn Charlton (the starter for Temple in the first seven games of the season), hurt the Akron defense with his arm and his feet. In the lopsided win, Stewart threw for two scores and ran for two others. Expect a similar approach this week vs. Kent State as Temple registered four touchdowns of 22 yards or more vs. Akron: a 63-yard TD pass from Stewart to Michael Campbell, a 22-yard run on a reverse by speedy wideout James Nixon (4.3 speed in 40), a 66-yard punt return by Delano Green and a 24-yard TD pass from Stewart to Joe Jones.

Scouting The Defense:   Temple enters the Kent game ranked No. 26 nationally in rushing defense (107.20 yards per game allowed) and No. 28 nationally in total defense (321.40). The strength of the Owls’ defense is its front seven—particularly potential future pros Andre Neblett, a disruptive force at nose tackle, and Adrian Robinson, a sophomore defensive tackle who is No. 8 in the nation in sacks (1.00 per game). Neblett and Robinson routinely occupy multiple blockers, allowing Jaiquawn Jarrett (61 tackles, three INTs), Dominqiue Harris (53 tackles) and the Joseph brothers, Alex (56 tackles) and Elijah (49 stops), to make plays.

   QUOTE TO NOTE: “Bernard was a good kid who made a mistake. We were willing to give him a chance here, because we felt he made a decision not to go down the path he seemed to be heading. We don’t sugarcoat things around here. He and his family understood the kind of support he’d get from our staff and Temple. We trusted that he was changed. He trusted in us. We have no regrets on our part.”—Temple coach Al Golden, on making the decision to recruit Bernard Pierce, one of the top freshmen runners in the college game, even though he was arrested as a high school sophomore and sentenced to the Glen Mills School, outside Philadelphia, where he turned his life around.  

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

   THIS WEEK’S GAME: Kent State at Temple, Nov. 21—Temple faces an experienced, talented and rested Kent State team in this one. The Golden Flashes, who return 15 starters from last season, had a bye last week. The challenge for the Owls will be disrupting the timing of Kent’s spread offense. Sophomore RB Jacquise Terry is the Flashes’ leading rusher with 590 yards and four touchdowns on 124 carries. Freshman QB Keith Spencer is 150-of-263 for 1,915 yards and 13 touchdowns, while r-sophomore QB Giorgio Morgan is 36-of-66 for 279 yards. Freshman WR Tyshon Goode is the top receiver with 685 yards and five touchdowns on 48 catches. 

Keys To The Game:   Temple, home to one of the best o-lines in the MAC, will rely on its two-headed tailback approach of freshmen Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown, who are now called “Bernie and the Bug” by their Owl teammates. The 6-foot, 212-pound Pierce has established himself as one the top ball carriers in the country on his way to setting Temple freshman records with 1,308 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns. Brown, all 5-5, 167 pounds of him, has risen steadily on the depth chart to become the chief backup for Pierce. If Kent packs the box with defenders to slow down “Bernie and the Bug”, then Chester Stewart (two rushing TDs, two passing TDs vs. Akron last week) has the ability to hurt an opponent with both his arm and his feet.

   PLAYERS TO WATCH:

   RB Bernard Pierce is fourth in the nation in rushing (130.8 yards per game) and No. 12 in the nation in scoring (9 ppg).  

QB Chester Stewart—Temple coach Al Golden made the quarterback change from Vaughn Charlton to Chester Stewart a couple weeks ago, because of Stewart’s stronger arm and greater mobility. It appears to be a masterstroke as Stewart threw for two scores and ran for a pair of scores in Temple’s lopsided 56-17 win over Akron.  

   WR James Nixon, quick-as-hiccup (4.3 speed in the 40), is a blur with the ball in his hands and the Temple coaches seem determined to get him more touches—either in the pass game or on reverses in the run game.  

    DT Adrian Robinson is living in opponents’ backfields this fall with 11 sacks and 11 tackles for loss thus far this season.  

   ROSTER REPORT:

   —The recent emergence of Matt Brown, small (5-5, 167 pounds), but speedy tailback from Baltimore, as a dependable back-up to Bernard Pierce has resulted in Temple coach Al Golden moving sophomore Kee-ayre Griffin, who has battled minor injuries all year, to cornerback. Griffin scored a touchdown in each of Temple’s first five games in ’08 and wound up leading the team in rushing with 394 yards, but his injuries opened the door for Pierce and Brown to be the team’s primary ball carriers. “He is one of the best 22 players on the team, and he deserves to be on the field,” Golden said of Griffin.

• Prior to this Saturday’s home finale, Temple will recognize the achievements of its 16 seniors—DB Wilbert Brinson, Jr. (Cheltenham, Md.), OL Marcus Brown (Upper Marlboro, Md.), PK Jake Brownell (Thorofare, N.J.), DB Anthony Ferla (Waldwick, N.J.), DT Grigory Frenk (Brooklyn, N.Y.), LB John Haley (Potomac Falls, Va.), WR Jason Harper (Budd Lake, N.J.), DB Dominique Harris (Washington, D.C.), LB Alex Joseph (Stamford, Conn.), TE Steve Maneri (Saddle Brook, N.J.), RB Lamar McPherson (Philadelphia, Pa.), LB James Namude (Potomac, Md.), NT Andre Neblett (Rahway, N.J.), DT Dave Nwasike (Marietta, Ga.), DT Brian Sanford (Hartford, Conn.), OT Devin Tyler (Suitland, Md.). The 2009 Owl seniors have seen it all through their four years. As Al Golden’s first recruiting class, the seniors had a tough beginning. Arriving as true freshmen in 2006, they began their collegiate careers at 1-16 through the first 17 games, averaging a mere 14 points to opponents’ 40 points. In their last 12 games, the Temple Owls are 10-2, including their current eight-game winning streak.

• Junior Michael Campbell is Temple’s top receiver with 379 yards and three touchdowns on 23 catches.

• Senior LB Alex Joseph battled plantar fascitis for the better part of 18 months, but he’s A-OK now and is making stops all over the field for the Owls. He’s second on the Owls this season with 56 tackles.