The Temple Owls pulled off a big upset victory over No. 21 Maryland thanks in no small part to their strong effort on the defensive end. Photo from The Associated Press.
While the UConn football team did not have a game this weekend, there were still plenty of exciting matchups across the American Athletic Conference. If you like high scoring football, then you had plenty to be excited about this weekend, with Temple being the only non-blowout of the games this past weekend. UCF managed to stay unbeaten on the season as well, securing a win over Stanford.
Temple: 20, No. 21 Maryland: 17
Temple was able to pull off the surprise upset over No. 21 Maryland thanks to a defense that kept Maryland in check for most of the game and an offense that was able to do enough to win the game for the Owls. The Owls offense had a great day running the ball, gaining a total of 150 yards rushing on 31 combined carries between Jager Gardner and Re’Mahn Davis. All of Temple’s scoring came from the Owls passing attack, as quarterback Anthony Russo completed 20 of 37 attempts for 277 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Jadan Blue led all Owls receivers for the game with five receptions for 132 yards and one touchdown. The Owls had a total of 427 yards on the day. Temple was able to take the lead for good in the fourth quarter when Kenny Yeboah caught a 7-yard touchdown pass that gave the Owls a 20-15 lead over Maryland.
Maryland did not look like a top 25 team in this game thanks to the defensive efforts of the Owls. Quarterback Josh Jackson was being pressured by the Owls’ pass rush all game long, only completing 15 of 38 attempts for 183 yards, throwing for one touchdown as well as one interception. Jackson was sacked a total of four times. The lone bright spot of the day for the Terrapins was running back Anthony McFarland Jr., who ran the ball 26 times for 132 yards and one touchdown.
Next week, Temple will look to keep things rolling against Buffalo.
No. 17 UCF: 45, Stanford: 27
No. 17 UCF remained undefeated after making easy work of Stanford last weekend. They are the team to beat in the American. Photo from The Associated Press.
UCF was able to stay undefeated for another weekend with an impressive win over Stanford. The Knights were ready from the start, jumping out to an early 21-0 lead by the middle of the first quarter. The Knights were able to almost whatever they wanted on offense, compiling 545 yards on offense, with only one turnover on special teams. Quarterback Dillion Gabriel turned in an incredible performance, completing 22 of 30 passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Greg McCrae had a good performance on limited carries, rushing 11 times for 109 yards and one touchdown, and his longest run of the day went for 79 yards. Tre Nixon led all receivers for the game with five receptions for 88 yards and one touchdown.
Stanford’s offense had a solid but unspectacular offensive game, compiling 349 total yards on offense. Quarterback K.J. Costello had a rough game, completing only 21 of 44 passing attempts for 199 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Stanford’s defense was unable to put up much of a fight against the Knight’s offense, failing to record a single turnover on the game, as well as failing to record a single sack, which won’t help the Cardinals win many games, especially against teams in the Top 25.
UCF will try to stay undefeated this weekend when they take on the University of Pittsburgh.
Navy: 42, ECU: 10
ECU fell to Navy last weekend, allowing Navy running back Malcolm Brown to gain 164 yards on the ground. Photo from The Associated Press.
Navy’s offense looked like its usual self this weekend in a dominant win over ECU. Navy ran the ball an incredible 64 times, gaining over 315 yards on the ground. Running back Malcolm Perry gained 164 of those yards on 24 attempts, and he scored four touchdowns. What is even more incredible is that Navy only threw the ball seven times, completing five passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Navy’s defense had a stellar game as well, only giving up one touchdown and they came away with two turnovers for the game.
ECU struggled to get anything going on offense all day long, while the defense was helpless against Navy’s running game.
Navy will have the weekend off this week while ECU will look to bounce back against William and Mary.
Joshua Gorman is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via joshua.gorman@uconn.edu
