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Maryland Terrapins vs Temple Owls Football Recap
Temple 38, Maryland 7
The most shocking score of the past weekend in the Atlantic Coast Conference was not Kansas State’s late win over Miami in South Florida. It wasn’t Southern Mississippi’s win at Virginia against the Cavaliers. It wasn’t Clemson’s win over preseason conference favorite Florida State.
It occurred in a sparsely-filled Byrd Stadium in College Park, Maryland, in a noon kickoff that did not receive much national buzz or attention in the week leading up to kickoff.
It certainly received some notice when the game ended, however.
In a shocker of A-grade proportions – not because of the winning team, but because of the way the proceedings unfolded – the Temple Owls blasted the Maryland Terrapins to smithereens, laying down a classic demolition job against a dumbstruck ACC squad that never got off the canvas after the first 11 minutes of play.
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Temple, formerly coached by Al Golden, beat the Maryland team that defeated Golden’s current squad, the Miami Hurricanes. That was an interesting little plot twist to this contest, which pitted two first-year coaches against each other: Temple’s Steve Addazio versus Maryland’s Randy Edsall. Since Edsall coached Connecticut to a Fiesta Bowl berth and a Big East title last year, it seemed that Maryland owned the better coaching credentials in this matchup, but you never would have known it from the way this jawdropper progressed.
Temple simply strode into College Park and punched Maryland in the mouth from the word go. The Owls’ star running back, Bernard Pierce, scored early and often against the Terps. Pierce scored each of Temple’s first four touchdowns, three in the first quarter and one more with 9:54 left in the second. Pierce’s first three scores occurred within eight minutes of each other, and by the time the second quarter was halfway done, Temple already owned a 28-0 lead.
The beatdown was comprehensive, and it was reflected in a few key stats. For one thing, Temple rushed for 285 yards while Maryland managed just 45 on the ground. You never would have guessed which team hailed from the Mid-American Conference and which team carried the banner for a BCS league.
Temple also owned the rock for 41 minutes, compared to just 19 for Maryland. It was entirely legitimate to say that the Terrapins up and quit in the face of Temple’s assault. Boos filled the crowd – or what was left of it in the second half – on an afternoon Temple’s players won’t soon forget.
By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer