The situation was almost identical.
Two days after Thanksgiving, the Owls had to win one game to clinch the American Athletic East division title and earn a spot in the conference championship game.
In 2015, Temple knocked off Connecticut at Lincoln Financial Field and celebrated with the division trophy on its home field. After their 37-10 win against East Carolina on Saturday (see Instant Replay), the Owls (9-3, 7-1 AAC) once again held up the trophy and celebrated a division title and conference championship berth with their home fans.
They’ll play Navy at noon next Saturday with a shot at redemption after last year’s loss in the AAC title game.
“Nobody believed we were going to win this championship at the beginning of the season,” senior quarterback Phillip Walker said. “We lost our first game and then lost our third game and our goal was still right in front of us. … We won the East side, now, we just have to get prepared for next week.”
The Pirates came into the game as one of the bottom teams in the East Division, with only one conference win on the year. But East Carolina started the game with an 11-play, 58-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead. Adonis Jennings returned the ensuing kickoff 43 yards and caught a 44-yard pass three plays later to set up a two-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore running back Ryquell Armstead and tie the game.
The Owls took control late in the first half when Armstead ran in his second touchdown with 2:08 remaining in the second quarter. Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Praise Martin-Oguike forced a fumble on East Carolina’s next drive, which set up a touchdown run by senior Jahad Thomas to put Temple up 21-7 at halftime.
Another touchdown run by Thomas, who finished with 152 yards rushing, put Temple up 27-7 with 1:21 left in the third quarter and all that was left for Temple was to count down the remaining 16 minutes and change and avoid an epic meltdown before it could celebrate a division title once again.
“It took long days in and long nights out, blood, sweat and tears to get back here,” said senior offensive lineman Dion Dawkins, who helped the Owls run for 256 yards. “So I’m very thankful ECU was a great team and they played us hard. We’re excited to get the win.”
The Owls started their season with a 28-13 loss to Army and dropped to 1-2 two weeks later with a 34-27 loss to Penn State. After a loss to Memphis on Oct. 5, the Owls were 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
They won six games in a row after that point, including last second win against Central Florida and a dominating performance against South Florida, who is now 10-2.
Over their last four games they outscored opponents 123-23. They also outgained the Pirates 414-225 in total yards on Saturday, holding the Football Bowl Subdivision’s fifth-ranked passing attack to just 183 passing yards.
“It shows the resolve of those kids to be sitting there at 3-3 to win six straight,” coach Matt Rhule said. “As I told them, trophies come and go, rings come and go. … Those things are material. Being able to battle back and come back from where we were, the early adversity, to not turn on each other, to not give up on the year, to not start worrying about selfish aims to just keep getting better, I’m really excited about that.”