The American Athletic Conference’s first week featured a lot of expected wins against overmatched teams, but one truly impressive victory — and one crushing defeat.
Temple hadn’t beaten Penn State since 1941 and trailed 10-0 early, but surged past the Nittany Lions for a 27-10 victory before a delirious sellout crowd at home.
“The reason I believe we won is because we focused on ourselves and the players bought into that, only worrying about the next play,” Temple coach Matt Rhule said. “After the game I said we won — it’s not about Penn State it is about us. For our guys to do that and focus on themselves shows great maturity.”
Rhule worked the Owls hard in the preseason, trying to get his team ready for an improved 2015. That effort showed on both sides of the ball. In particular, the Owls made NFL prospect Christian Hackenberg look tentative and uncomfortable after those first two drives.
“When you put in so much time and work, to come out with a win in college football — it’s hard to get a win in college football,” linebacker Tyler Matakevich said. “All of the hours that we put in, all of the late nights. This week, I was probably there until 10:00 p.m. or 11:00pm at night just watching film. I mean, it’s so rewarding to see all your guys do their job and celebrate. At the end, when the clock says zero, you look up at the scoreboard and it says what the score was, I mean that’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
Last year was a letdown for the Owls, because they came so close to better things. Temple went 6-6, but were shut out of the postseason. Perhaps as a result, the Owls didn’t take long to look beyond the opening win.
“It feels good, but as I said at the end of the game, it’s one of many victories that will come this year. I’m looking past it already. I’m on to the next game against Cincinnati,” quarterback P.J. Walker said.
It’s a victory that Rhule hopes pays dividends far beyond 2015.
“To see all the cherry and white it was a big game day atmosphere. This is huge for the program, I am going to get on the recruiting tonight and say look what we are doing. The only way it is bad is if we come out slow next week. That is a true test of what kind of team we are, how we respond next week.”
CENTRAL FLORIDA (0-1, 0-0)
Game: Florida International 15, Central Florida 14. A blocked field goal in the final minute sent the Knights down to a shocking season-opening defeat at home. UCF led 14-3 in the second quarter, but couldn’t generate much of anything after intermission.
Takeaway: Central Florida suffered its first loss in a home opener since 2007, and the reason seemed apparent. As junior defensive back Shaquill Griffin noted after the game, “I feel like we underestimated our opponent today. I feel like we let ourselves play down and we can’t have those problems. We have to play full speed and play everybody like they’re the best team.”
Next: at Stanford, Sept 12.
CINCINNATI (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Cincinnati 52, Alabama A&M 10. Despite a delayed kickoff caused by severe weather in the area, the Bearcats had few problems dispatching an overmatched Bulldogs squad. A 28-point second quarter had UC up 35-7 at the break.
Takeaway: It’s tough to take much from a game like this one, except that the renovated Nippert Stadium looks very nice and that a lot of fans will show up to watch this team play even in terrible weather. Worth noting, however, is that a defense that was a disaster for much of 2014 held the visitors to 246 total yards.
Next: vs. Temple, Sept 12.
CONNECTICUT (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Connecticut 20, Villanova 15. Bryant Shirreffs threw for 202 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Huskies to a narrow victory over the Wildcats. It ends a two-year losing streak for Connecticut in season openers.
Takeaway: This is a young team that will suffer through some growing pains, but the opener provided some hope for days to come for Bob Diaco. Shirreffs is just a sophomore. So are the three touchdown scorers — Tommy Myers, Ron Johnson and Arkeel Newsome.
Next: vs. Army, Sept. 12.
EAST CAROLINA (1-0, 0-0)
Game: East Carolina 28, Towson 20. Chris Hairston ran for 154 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Pirates to victory at home. Though ECU led the whole game, its fans couldn’t breathe easily until Terrell Richardson forced a Towson fumble in the final two minutes to end the Tigers’ final threat.
Takeaway: The man everyone was watching, new quarterback Blake Kemp, did a solid job making safe passes and managing the game. He completed 29 of his 37 pass attempts and didn’t turn the ball over. But ECU generated just 230 yards through the air and will have to show some more big play ability as the schedule gets tougher in the coming weeks.
Next: at Florida, Sept. 12.
HOUSTON (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Houston 52, Tennessee Tech 24. Greg Ward led an impressive performance from the Cougars offense in giving new coach Tom Herman a positive start to his head coaching career. Houston finished with 627 yards of total offense.
Takeaway: Ward showed the potential to be one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the game. He threw for 275 yards and a touchdown, and garnered another 107 yards and two scores.
Next: at Louisville, Sept. 12.
MEMPHIS (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Memphis 63, Tulane 7. Memphis scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in a dominating performance at home. Paxton Lynch had a short day of it, throwing for 78 yards and a touchdown in one half of action.
Takeaway: There are a lot of new faces on the Tigers defense, but the results were the same. Memphis held Missouri State to 125 yards of total offense, including just 18 yards on the ground.
Next: at Kansas, Sept. 12
NAVY (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Navy 48, Colgate 10. The Midshipmen ran all over Colgate in cruising to victory in its home opener. Navy finished with 374 rushing yards, with Chris Swain generating 126 to lead the way.
Takeaway: The one disappointment in the blowout win was that quarterback Keenan Reynolds didn’t gain more ground in pursuit of the NCAA FBS record for touchdowns. He entered the week 14 rushing scores and 20 total touchdowns behind former Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, but had only one of the Mids’ six touchdowns on the day.
Next: vs. East Carolina, Sept. 19
SOUTHERN METHODIST (0-1, 0-0)
Game: Baylor 56, Southern Methodist 21. The Mustangs hung with the Bears early, but ultimately didn’t have enough to knock off the Bears. SMU did score 21 points, an impressive start compared to the 12 points the team managed through its first four games of 2014.
Takeaway: Chad Morris probably wouldn’t have selected the fourth-ranked team in the country to make his coaching debut, but the Mustangs were competitive with the Bears for a half. The Mustangs trailed 28-21 at the half before Baylor outscored SMU 28-0 after intermission.
Next: vs. North Texas, Sept. 12.
SOUTH FLORIDA (1-0, 0-0)
Game: South Florida 51, Florida A&M 3. The Bulls dominated on both sides of the ball in an easy victory. South Florida totaled 556 yards of total offense, the seventh-most in program history.
Takeaway: Beating up on a FCS team doesn’t signify much, but both sides of the ball showed reason for optimism. In addition to the offense, the defense held the Rattlers to 182 yards of total offense — including one first-half first down.
Next: at South Florida, Sept. 12.
TEMPLE (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Temple 27, Penn State 10. The Owls came back from an early 10-0 deficit for a program-changing victory over the Nittany Lions. P.J. Walker’s one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Owls ahead to stay.
Takeaway: Temple knocked off the Penn State for the first time since 1941, thanks mostly to the performance of its defense. The Nittany Lions scored on their first two drives, but gained just 42 yards on their next nine possessions.
Next: at Cincinnati, Sept. 12.
TULANE (0-1, 0-0)
Game: Duke 37, Tulane 7. The Green Wave surrendered 530 yards of total offense in getting blasted by the visiting Blue Devils. After the lone Tulane score cut the margin to 23-7 in the fourth quarter, a 95-yard kickoff return for a score by Duke’s DeVon Edwards ended any lingering suspense.
Takeaway: Unless the defense gets much better, it’s tough to see this team going anywhere. Tulane was thoroughly dominated. It allowed Duke to run 28 more plays, secure 29 first downs and outgain the home team by more than 250 yards.
Next: at Georgia Tech, Sept. 12
TULSA (1-0, 0-0)
Game: Tulsa 47, Florida Atlantic 44. Zack Langer’s touchdown run in overtime gave the Golden Hurricanes a narrow victory in the season opener. The Golden Hurricane trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter before tying the game at 38, allowed a field goal, then tied the game on a 39-yard field goal with three seconds left to force overtime. The defense started the extra session by holding FAU to a field goal, setting the stage for Langer’s heroics.
Takeaway: It wasn’t always pretty, but the Golden Hurricane gave Philip Montgomery a victory in his debut as a head coach. The tempo of the offense was faster than it was a year ago, and Montgomery is hoping to speed things up even more by the time conference play starts.
Next: at New Mexico, Sept. 12.