Owls lose despite controlling the clock

A barometer of a team’s performance can be measured in part through three key statistics:… A barometer of a team’s performance can be measured in part through three key statistics: time of possession, third down conversions and total offensive yards.

Through one half of Saturday’s game against the No. 22 Panthers, the Temple Owls controlled the ball for an astounding 22 minutes, one second compared to Pitt’s meager seven minutes, 59 seconds. The fact that makes this number all the more impressive is that Temple ran the “hurry-up” offense for the majority of the first half.

The Owls were also converting their third down attempts at a 54.5 percent clip (six of 11), which was a full 30 percent higher than the Panthers, who had so far converted just one of five attempts.

Temple also faced little resistance moving efficiently toward the end zone. Running its spread offense with three or four receivers often stepping to the line of scrimmage, the Owls accumulated 248 total yards in an astounding 52 plays.

The Panthers, on the other hand, ran just 22 plays for a total of 111 yards, which was a number in sharp contrast to the offensive production Pitt achieved during the past few weeks.

“[Temple] kind of moved [the ball] up and down the field,” head coach Walt Harris said. “They had a very well designed attack. It took us a while to really get a feel of how to deal with this.”

Trailing 19-14 just minutes into the second half, the Panthers were able to turn these numbers into a victory by putting pressure on quarterback Mike McGann, forcing turnovers and stopping key Temple third downs.

On third-and-nine at Temple’s own 35-yard line – a situation the Owls were previously able to convert – Panther linebacker Brian Beinecke sacked McGann and forced a fumble that Vince Crochunis was able to recover.

“I was fortunate to read it fast enough and make the play,” Beinecke said. “Maybe I just got lucky.”

On the resulting Panther drive, quarterback Rod Rutherford converted a third-and-goal as he faked a hand-off to fullback Tim Murphy and snuck into the end zone for the score.

“I think we just kind of put an emphasis on ourselves to try to create more turnovers to try to give [the offense] some help,” defensive end Brian Guzek said.

The Owls were able to move the ball all the way to the Panther 1-yard line on their next drive. The Panther defense, however, was able to keep the Owls from converting a third-and-goal when Beinecke got into the backfield and stopped standout tailback Tanardo Sharps for a 2-yard loss.

Although Temple place-kicker Cap Poklemba kicked a Big East record fifth field goal on the next play, the Panthers proved they could stymie the Owls with the game in question and their backs against the goal line.

“I thought we turned it up on defense in the second half,” Harris said.

Claude Harriott’s fumble recovery for a touchdown proved to be the key play of the second half. By taking the forced fumble from Guzek’s sack into the end zone for the game winning score, Harriott and the defense rendered the time of possession and total yards deficit from the first half moot by turning the game into a 29-22 Panther victory.

“I couldn’t let that one get away from us,” Harriott said. “It was very important. In this type of game you just have to protect the ball [and] get it back to the end zone.”