The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page D08

D8 www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Sunday, October 24, 2004 COLLEGE FOOTBALL Huskies bury Owls early with big plays Temple piled up 475 yards on UConn, but found it hard to score until it was too late. By Mike Jensen INQUIRER STAFF WRITER EAST HARTFORD, Conn. It's hard to say where it ranks among Temple's football oddities, but put yesterday's first half against Connecticut on the list. This stuff only happens to the Owls: Seven of the first eight times Temple had the ball, the Owls went into UConn territory, twice inside the 15-yard line. On the other side, the Huskies didn't start any plays in Temple territory until 612 minutes remained before halftime, and they had four turnovers.

UConn also had a 21-0 lead. The Huskies didn't need the ball in Owls territory. They hardly needed the ball at all. They big-played their way to a quick lead and kept a comfortable margin throughout, before three fourth-quarter Temple touchdowns made for a 45-31 final score in front of a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field. The Huskies ran the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a score.

On their third play from scrimmage, they completed a third-and-13 pass for a 90-yard touchdown. They weren't done. Their tailback, sophomore Cornell Brockington, a Willingboro High graduate, had a couple of fumbles, then more than redeemed himself with the two longest runs of his career, a 6l-yarder for a first-quarter touchdown, then a 54-yarder that set up a second-quarter score. "Too many big plays," said Temple coach Bobby Wallace, who boiled it down further: "Bad tackling." For the day, the Owls had 475 total yards, while UConn had 518. Even early, Temple (1-7 overall, 0-3 Big East) was effective on its first- and second-down plays, getting 13 first-half first downs, to 11 for UConn (5-2, 2-2).

But the Owls were just 1 of 8 on third-down conversions in the first half. They finally got on the board on their eighth trip into Huskies territory on a 5-yard run by Walter Washington with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining before halftime, cutting the lead to 24-7. Bad things happened to Temple at terrible times. The Owls Cornell Brockington after forcing the Connecticut running back out yards on just 15 carries yesterday, including touchdown runs of 61 BOB CHILD Associated Press of bounds during the third quarter. Brockington, a sophomore out yards in the first quarter and 3 yards in the third.

Connecticut 45, Temple 31 Temple 0 7 3 21 31 Connecticut 21 10 7 7 45 First quarter C-Taylor 97 kickoff return (Nuzie kick), 14:44 C-Williams90 pass from Orlovsky (Nuzie kick), 11:04 C-Brockington 61 run (Nuzie kick), 3:45 Second quarter C-FG Nuzie 32, 3:31 T-Washington 5 run (Lux kick), 1 :08 C-Sparks 9 pass from Orlovsky (Nuzie kick), 0:29 Third quarter C-Brockington 3 run (Nuzie kick), 3:25 Fourth quarter T-Washington 4 run (Lux kick), 14:53 C-Bellamy 5 run (Nuzie kick), 6:09 T-Chuku 24 pass from Washington (Lux kick), 4:09 T-Goodman 6 pass from Washington (Lux kick), 2:51 40,000. Temple's Delonne Wilbourn flies over of Willingboro High, racked up 181 were at UConn's 11-yard line when Washington slipped on the grass moving away from center for a 4-yard loss. Two incomplete passes later, the Owls tried a 32-yard field goal. The kicker thought it was good. His holder thought it was good.

The officials said: Wide right. Kicker Ryan Lux had a similar experience in the first quarter. He thought he'd made a 27-yarder. So did his holder, Mike McLaughlin. The officials ruled: Wide left.

"It was very frustrating," Washington said of the offense's early failure to get into the end zone. "We weren't on the same page and had a hard time executing on certain plays. Certain reads, I didn't capitalize on." Washington ran 20 times for 84 yards and had two rushing touchdowns, giving him 10 for the season, tops in the Big East. He also completed 21 of 44 passes for 276 yards and two late touchdowns. But none of that mattered much after the early big plays.

Temple quarterback Walter Washington takes on defenders Maurice Lloyd (right) and James Hargrave as he picks up some yardage. TU UCONN First downs 23 20 Rushes-yards 41-199 34-258 Passing 276 260 Comp-Att-Int 21-44-1 18-29-1 Return Yards 18 41 Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-3 Penalties-Yards 4-28 5-45 Time of Possession 33:46 26:14 good thing to do. "Yeah, I'm thinking about running one back," Taylor said, according to Brocking-ton's recollection. That's what the freshman did, on the opening kickoff.

That really was a reminder of the changing fortunes of these two football programs. The first two times Temple played UConn after the Huskies moved from Division I-AA to I-A in 2001, the Owls ran the opening kickoff back on their way to big victories. Yesterday, Taylor looked wrapped up at UConn's 23-yard line, but he broke away and went 97 yards. The next time UConn got the ball, Huskies quarterback Dan Orlovsky found Jason Williams behind Temple's zone coverage over the middle. By the time Williams crossed midfield, four Owls were chasing him.

His 90-yard score was the third-longest pass play in UConn history. Wallace said the Owls knew they had to give Williams some cushion. "He's a very fast player," Wallace said of Williams. "We knew he's fast. He's gotten behind everybody they've played.

He's dropped most of them. He didn't drop it today. That's just the way it goes." Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensenphillynews.com. smash for the touchdown. Mathews carried the ball five times for 50 yards during the series, and Kyle Ambrogi carried it five times for 32 yards.

Quakers quarterback Pat McDermott threw one 10-yard pass to Ryan Pisarri along the way. "One of the things we wanted to do," Mathews said of the Quakers' second-half performance, "was be more physical. Coming out we wanted to run the ball, and that's what we tried to do." Mathews ripped through the s9vHM sp RyA iHiA STEVE MILLER Associated Press Penn quarterback Pat McDermott (left) is tripped up by Yale's Brandon Dyches. McDermott was 21 of 35 for 276 yards. The offensive star was Brockington, who carried 15 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

Before halftime, he had 147 yards. He said he had been watching Michigan on ESPN Classic the night before at the team hotel with Huskies return specialist Larry Taylor. He saw a Michigan back break a long run and thought that might be a them, and we did." With temperatures in the mid-408 and Old Glory fluttering in the gusting wind, the Yale Bowl crowd of 17,737 shivered through a 7-all halftime deadlock before the Quakers made momentum shift in their favor. The Quakers had struck first when Sam Mathews, the senior running back who came through with his best performance of the season, finished off a 69-yard drive with a 1-yard burst for the first of his two touchdowns. Yale (3-3, 1-2) countered just before the first quarter ended when Al Cowan, the Bulldogs' senior quarterback, connected on a 20-yard scoring pass to Chandler Henley, the junior wide receiver who made a brilliant end-zone reception on the play.

Penn regained the lead early INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Temple, Washington 20-84, Ferguson 10-47, Brown 10-36, Shelton 1-32. UConn, Brockington 15-181, Bellamy 17-76, Orlovsky 1-3, Team 1 -(minus 2). Passing: Temple, Washington 21-44-1-276. UConn, Orlovsky 18-29-1 -260. Receiving: Temple, Ibeh 4-72, Goodman 4-54, Chuku 3-60, Albrooks 3-38, Harris 2-27, Shelton 2-9, Brown 2- 9, Ferguson 1-7.

UConn, Williams 5-138, Henry 3- 49, Cutaia 2-21, Brockington 2-10, Bellamy 2-7, Murray 1-12, Sparks 1 -9, Anderson 1 -7, Lassen 1 -7. Bulldogs' defense 25 times for 169 yards. He got 129 yards on 18 carries in the second half. "It's always the offensive line," Mathews said, directing the credit where he thought it was due. As for that 18th Ivy League win, Mathews said: "The streak is more for the media.

I haven't heard one player talk about the streak." Contact staff writer Ron Reid at 21 5-854-4469 or rreidphillynews.com. Ivy streak hits win over Yale Penn 17, Yale 7 Penn Yale 0 10 0 0 0-17 0-7 First quarter Penn-Mathews 1 run (Stine kick), 7:55 Yale-Henley 20 pass from Cowan (Sullivan kick), :45 Third quarter Penn-FG Stine 25, 10:35 Penn-Mathews 4 run (Stine kick), :59 17,737. PENN First downs 27 Rushes-yards 49-221 Passing 276 Comp-Att-Int 21-35-1 Return Yards 30 Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost 0-0 Penalties-Yards 3-22 Time of Possession 37:07 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Penn, Mathews 25-169, Ambrogi 17-51, DeSmedt 2-16, Team 2-(minus 2), McDermott 3-(minus 1 3). Yale, Carr 31 -167, Cowan 5-(minus 3).

Passing: Penn, McDermott 21 -35-1 -276. Yale, Cowan 12-21-0-149. Receiving: Penn, Castles 8-131, Mathews 7-74, Pisarri 2-19, Mizell 1-15, Makovsky 1-15, Marabella 1 -1 2, DeSmedt 1 -1 0. Yale, Plumb 7-89, Henley 4-46, Faherty 1-14. By Ron Reid INQUIRER STAFF WRITER NEW HAVEN, Conn.

With a magnificent second-half effort on both sides of the ball, Penn outmuscled Yale yesterday for a 17-7 victory that extended the Quakers' Ivy League win streak to 18 games. Blocking harder, slipping blocks cleaner, and hogging the ball over those last two quarters, the Quakers dominated the late going and handed the Bulldogs a defeat that likely took them out of championship contention. It was Penn's 11th victory in the last 13 meetings with Yale and the second weekend in a row that the Bulldogs were held without a touchdown after half-time. Penn (5-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) limited possession of the football by the Yale offense 149 22:53 Penn's 18 with Yale's Chandler Henley (left) manages to hold on to the football in the end zone against Penn's Michael Johns for a touchdown during the first half. His 20-yard reception tied the game at 7.

to the not-so-grand total of 2 minutes and 40 seconds during the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs offense that had generated 226 total yards on 40 first-half plays managed only 87 yards on 17 plays in the second half. The Quakers also did a number on Rob Carr, the 5-foot-7 senior running back who finished the contest as Yale's career rushing leader. Carr ran for 144 yards on 23 first-half carries but managed only 23 yards on eight snaps in the second half, when the Penn linebackers and defensive linemen ended his penchant for bursting out of apparent tackles for big gains. "I thought our kids did a tremendous job in the second half," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We knew we would be challenged, but we felt we had a reasonable chance to contain in the third quarter when Peter Stine, the Quakers' third kicker this season, booted a 25-yard field goal in his first varsity start.

Stine also kicked two extra points but failed on a 26-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Video replays showed the ball sailed inside the upright, but the officials said it had gone wide right. Penn generated its best offensive march late in the third quarter. Mathews launched it with a 24-yard run and finished it on the 11th play, with a 4-yard.