Oct 22, 2015; Greenville, NC, USA; Temple Owls quarterback P. J. Walker (11) drops back to pass against the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Temple Owls defeated the East Carolina Pirates 24-14. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
for the first time in school history by posting a 24-14 victory over East Carolina on Thursday in American Athletic Conference play at Greenville, N.C.
Walker passed for 250 yards and Anderson had eight receptions for 126 yards as the Owls (7-0, 4-0 AAC) prevailed in their first game as a ranked team since 1974. Junior running Jahad Thomas rushed for two touchdowns, and junior Sharif Finch had a key blocked punt in the final minutes.
Junior quarterback Blake Kemp completed 31 of 48 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown and one interception for the Pirates (4-4, 2-2). Junior receiver Isaiah Jones caught 10 passes for 106 yards to raise his career count to 204 receptions. He became the third player in East Carolina history with more than 200 catches.
Temple was penalized 12 times for 114 yards and survived two field-goal misses by sophomore kicker Austin Jones but scored two touchdowns in a 73-second span late in the game to pull out the victory.
The Owls moved 71 yards on seven plays to take a 17-14 lead when Walker connected with Anderson over the middle. Temple then forced Eastern Carolina to punt, and Finch deflected the effort by junior Worth Gregory, and the Owls took over at the Pirates’ 15-yard line.
Two plays later, Thomas scored on a 14-yard scamper to boost the lead to 10 with 2:18 remaining.
Temple outside linebacker Tyler Matakevich did his part to keep his team unbeaten. The senior intercepted his fourth pass of the season and accumulated 13 tackles and one sack.
Thomas, who entered the contest as the AAC’s leading rusher with 756 yards, was held to 66 yards on 20 carries by the Pirates.
East Carolina senior running back Chris Hairston rushed for a touchdown, and sophomore receiver Quay Johnson caught a touchdown pass.
Neither team scored in the first 26-plus minutes of the second half, and that magnified the field-goal misses by Austin Jones. He was short from 52 yards with 4:07 left in the third quarter, then was right wide from 37 yards out with 7:24 remaining in the contest.
Austin Jones was successful on a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter. East Carolina went ahead 7-3 on a 1-yard run by Hairston with 9:02 left in the first half.
The Owls moved in front on a 2-yard run by Thomas with 2:59 remaining in the second quarter before the Pirates took a 14-10 halftime lead on Kemp’s 7-yard scoring pass to Johnson 18 seconds prior to the break.
