On a busy day for the student body, pep band and PA announcer,
the Temple Owls pulled off and impressive football/basketball doubleheader, Saturday, claiming victory at both ends of
Broad Street by night’s end. The party started
early for fans with morning tailgates at the Linc and its surrounding lots featuring
all the usual grilling, (of-age, responsible) drinking and body painting. TU had promoted “Super Saturday” heavily
throughout the week both on campus and its athletic website; by noon, an hour
before game time, you could see the University’s hard promotion had paid
off. Though ticket sales failed to match
the opening night fiasco called the Mayor’s Cup earlier this season, the crowd
of more than 20,000 was remarkable, nonetheless. A clear show of gratitude for the program’s
near-miraculous turnaround under Al Golden, support from not only the students,
but also the local community is a great sign for this team going forward.
Come the 1:00 p.m. kickoff, the Owl’s Nest -- known to most as
Lincoln Financial Field -- was ready for Temple to cap off its home schedule with
yet another dominant performance over a MAC opponent. And, as they have in now nine straight weeks,
Temple delivered. Despite some early
struggles including what Coach Golden is calling a “maybe fairly significant”
injury to star running back Bernard Pierce, the Owl’s rebounded with an
inspiring 156-yard, 2 TD performance by Pierce’s counterpart, the 5’5,
167-pound Matt Brown. While the near-constant Maurice Jones-Drew
references that emanated from the front rows of certain cherry-covered sections
were certainly overblown (and outrageously entertaining), Brown’s effort,
coupled with a strong showing from the defense including a 36-yard pick-six by
defensive back Kee-Ayre Griffin, propelled the Owls to 47-13 trouncing over the Golden Flashes.
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Less than three hours later, Temple basketball was set to
tip off against Siena. A highly-athletic
and lightning-fast group, Siena nearly knocked-off Louisville in the second
round of last year’s NCAA tournament, and entered last night with the most votes
of any team not listed in the AP top 25.
Capitalizing on their strengths, former Penn guard Fran McCaffery’s
squad came out flying, pressing early and running often. At the end of the first half, it looked as
though the Owl’s were in danger of dropping their second in a row after a
gut-punch loss to Georgetown last Tuesday, a game that may have set basketball back about forty years.
Coming out of the break, however, it was an entirely
different story. An out-of-nowhere 13-0 run
to start the second put the Owls in the lead for the first time in the contest
and swung the momentum for the rest of the game. McCaffery, who spent more time on the court
than most of his players, continued to press, but decided slow the pace
offensively, practically inviting a Temple comeback. The Owls took full advantage and would hold
on to secure a hard fought 73-69 win to commemorate the hanging of last year’s
A-10 Championship banner.
Undoubtedly, the player of the game for Temple, keeping his
team in it with some timely buckets in the first half and some clutch plays in
the second, was Juan Fernandez. Fernandez
carried the Owls Saturday night with the help and sudden arrival of his highly-touted,
though previously absent, jump shot. Nailing four
three-pointers and a finishing a few tough drives down the stretch, Fernandez
finished with a team-high 20. Sophomore
Ramon Moore also chipped in off the bench with 16, leading the early second
half run even after some struggling in the first.
The Owls move to 2-1 and look forward to three local games
this week: Tuesday at home against Ball State, and Friday and Saturday at the
Palestra versus Virginia Tech and St. John’s, respectively. Congratulations
also to the Lady Owl’s on their victory at Buffalo, moving Temple to 3-0 on
Super Saturday.
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Nick Menta is a Junior at Temple University and a proud member of the Cherry Crusade. Thanks to Amy VanDerhei, Andrew Melino and Aaron Miller for the great shots.