Owls Sting Hornets, 59-0

Saturday, September 20

Philadelphia, PA

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

2-1

Delaware State

0-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Delaware State

Temple

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Owls Sting Hornets, 59-0

9.20.14 | Football

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - An explosive first half by Temple, that saw a school record 49 point output, gave them a 59-0 victory against FCS opponent Delaware State (0-4) in front of a crowd of 19,202.

The Owls (2-1) were able to score touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams. RB Kenneth Harper scored the first offensive touchdown with a two-yard run, DL Sharif Finch intercepted the ball for a 65 yard return, and DB Sam Benjamin blocked a punt that DB Artrel Foster was able to scoop up for a 15 yard touchdown for the first Temple score. At the half, the Owls led the Hornets, 49-0.

There were a lot of "firsts" that occurred within the game. TE Saledeem Major had his first career catch in the second quarter, WR Khalif Herbin had his first career touchdown that came on an 84-yard punt return (the second longest in TU history), and DB Khiry Lucas collected thefirst interception of his Temple career. The 59 point victory was the largest margin the Owls have ever won by in the modern era (Temple beat Holy Cross 56-0 in 1974).

Finch's interception with 10:45 left in the half was the first of his career. This is Finch's second consecutive game with a touchdown; against Navy in week 2, Finch forced a fumble on the Midshipmen's first drive of the game and recovered it in the end zone. The Owls now have 14 turnovers in three games (six interceptions, eight fumble recovers), which is one shy of the total record of turnovers the team had in 2013.

QB P.J. Walker went 10-14 for 127 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the first half of the game. QB Connor Reilly came on in relief in the second half, going 6-6 for 52 yards and one fumble, which he recovered.

RB Hassan Dixon's first career touchdown came with 10:54 left in the game, two days after he found out his brother, former Temple defensive lineman Raheem Brock, will be inducted into the Temple Sports Hall of Fame in October.

Harper led the team in scoring with 12 points. In addition to his two-yard run, Harper caught a five-yard pass from Walker in the second quarter. Freshman RB David Hood capped off the team's rushing with eight carries for 62 yards in his first game as a Temple Owl. The team totaled 172 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

LB Jarred Alwan and DE Jacob Martin both collected 5 tackles to lead the team. The team registered nine tackles for a loss, totaling 20 yards.

PK/P Jim Cooper Jr. had 10 kickoffs for 626 yards and five touchbacks, one shy of his season-high six in 2013. Freshman K Austin Jones stayed with his consistent ways, as he went 7-7 in point after attempts.

LB Tyler Matakevich, who had two tackles in the game, said that the victory and dominating team performance is something that the team is starting to work hard on.

"It was a great feeling. This year it's just the standard. We just have to play our process and do our job, and that's what we've been doing," said Matakevich. "We're been buying into the process and finishing all the way through to the fourth quarter no matter who we're playing."

DL Sharif Finch believes that the difference between the team this year and last year is the teams ability to force interceptions and fumbles.

"We put pressure on creating turnovers. This had been our focus in camp and practice this year, so creating turnovers is not a surprise to us because we have been doing this," said Finch.

Delaware State collected just 93 total yards on offense, 67 of them net passing with QB Gilbert Rivera going 9-19 with three interceptions. This was the Owls second game of the season with three interception (first was at Vanderbilt). The Hornets were also forced to punt nine times.

With this victory, Temple has their first shutout since October 2011 against Buffalo (35-0); scored 60 or more points in a game since November 2013, when the Owls beat Army, 63-32; and scored 20 or more points in a half since last year's contest at Memphis, when they had 24 points in the second half.

The Owls next travel to East Hartford on September 28 to take on the Connecticut Huskies (1-3, 0-1 AAC) for their first conference game of the season. The game will kick off at 4:00pm on ESPNews.