Temple Takes Care of 49ers, 37-3
Charlotte (2-3) trailed the Owls 10-3 at the half, but Temple (4-0) scored 20 third quarter points on its way to a 37-3 non-conference victory at Jerry Richardson Stadium which was drenched when the heaviest rain materialized in the second half.
It was the 49ers second straight home night game and the second straight that was doused by rain.
Charlotte running back Kalif Phillips rushed for 125 yards – his second straight 100-yard performance – and the 49ers outgained Temple in total offense, 334 yards to 322, but struggled to strike in the red zone.
“That’s a really good football team,” 49ers head coach Brad Lambert said of Temple, which owns wins over Penn State and Cincinnati and is receiving votes in the national polls. “I though their intensity level was good. The thing I’m proud about our team is we matched that intensity level. I was really proud of the effort and how hard our guys played, but against good teams your margin for error is not very big.”
The 49ers had three drives into Temple territory in the first quarter but came away empty after missing field goals from 55 and 28 yards. Temple, meanwhile, connected on 39-yarder to take a 3-0 lead and then drove 74 yards on 13 plays for a one- yard touchdown run by Jahad Thomas for a 10-0, second-quarter lead.
Charlotte took the next possession 56 yards on seven plays, with Phillips busting a season-long 39-yard rumble. That set up a 36-yard field goal from Blake Brewer to make it 10-3 at the half.
“That is a really tough, physical football team,” Temple head coach Matt Rhule said of the 49ers. “To think they started football three years ago – what coach Lambert has built really challenged our team. I told our guys at halftime the key to the second half was going to be to tackle Kalif (Phillips) because we couldn’t do that in the first half. We didn’t necessarily do it in the second half, he just kept running, but we made some big plays.”
The 125 yards rushing for Phillips are the most Temple has allowed to a rusher this year and the 49ers’ 223 rushing yards are the most Temple has allowed this year.
In the second half, a pair of three and outs matched with a pair of short punts gave Temple two drives that started inside 49ers’ territory. Temple scored TDs on both possessions – on another one-yard run by Thomas and an 11-yard TD pass from PJ Walker to Robby Anderson.
On the 49ers third possession of the quarter, Sharif Finch blocked Arthur Hart’s punt and Nate Smith returned it 16 yards for the score to put Temple ahead, 30-3 with 3:22 left in the third. The Owls tacked on another TD in the fourth, on a 13-yard pass from Walker to Anderson to close the scoring.
“We missed a field goal, we got a punt blocked and we didn’t make any first downs coming out of the locker room in the third quarter,” said Lambert. “We had two bad punts and the field position was not in our favor. The third quarter put us behind the eight ball. We got the punt blocked and it kind of put it out of reach for us.”
Lee McNeill was 13-of-27 for 131 yards. He threw an interception at the goal line that was returned 74 yards to setup Temple’s fourth-quarter touchdown. That was the 49ers lone turnover of the game after having seven turnovers in each of the last two games. The 49ers forced one turnover, a fumble recovered by DaQuavius Reid in the fourth quarter in a game the was relatively free of turnovers despite the elements.
Phillips rushed for 100 or more yards for the 10th time in his career. Last week, we rushed for 165 yards against Florida Atlantic. He had 19 carries tonight and is now averaging 99.8 yards on the season.
The 49ers rushed for 223 yards compared to Temple’s 206 and passed for 131 compared to Temple’s 116. The short fields benefited the Owls who scored TDs on 4-of-5 red zone possessions. Temple was 8-of-16 on third down while Charlotte was 4-of-17.
McNeill hit eight different targets in putting up 1131 yards passing. Phillips had two catches for 41 yards and Trent Bostick had four catches for 40 yards.
Thomas finished with 109 yards rushing for Temple to go along with his two TDs. Walker was 11-of-23 passing for 116 yards and two TDs. Thomas had 48 yards receiving and Anderson had 35, including the two touchdowns.
“I’ve been really proud of our team and how hard they’ve worked and how hard they’ve played,” said Lambert. “We’ve got to continue on that track and get a little bit better next week, especially fundamentally, and take care of the little things.”
Charlotte heads into a bye week before travelling to Old Dominion, Oct. 17.
