Jubilation, Ecstasy, Relief. Just a few words to describe what every Temple fan was feeling after Brandon Mcmanus nailed a 43 yard field goal to give Temple the victory over city rival Villanova, but the drive leading up to the field goal was perhaps one of the best put together drives you will ever see.
With Villanova hitting a field goal to take the lead the Temple offense got the ball at their 28 yard line with 1 minute 43 seconds showing on the game clock. Chester Stewart led his team back on the field, having fumbled in his own half the previous drive that led to the Villanova field goal that put Temple down two. Stewart has very little experience in situations like this seeing as he was never a full time starter until this season. However, instead of focusing on his mistake and giving up Stewart had a case of short term memory loss and led his team all the way down the field into Mcmanus' field goal range. This showed a lot about Stewart's character. He stayed tough and didn't pout after giving Villanova the lead. He was determined to give Temple a chance to win.
The first play of the drive was nearly the only play of the drive. Stewart dropped back and looked to his right and fired an attempt at a screen pass. Out of no where Villanova defensive lineman Mario Johnson jumped up and nearly intercepted it. Instead, however, he just batted it down. This made Temple fans wonder if Stewart was still thinking about the fumble. The very next play Stewart fired a completion near the sideline to Mike Campbell for a first down that stopped the clock.
Everybody will have their own opinions on which play was the most important in Temple's victory. Well my vote is for Evan Rodriguez's catch on 2nd and 10 on the 4th play of the drive. Stewart took a quick drop and saw Rodriguez splitting 2 defenders up the middle. Stewart fired the ball high and Rodriguez leaped and caught it and before he could land he got smacked on both sides by the 2 Villanova defenders. All 3 players hit the ground. Rodriguez somehow held on to the ball for a 9 yard gain. Many players would have understandably dropped the ball after getting hit that hard, but Rodriguez held on to it. Not to celebrate this or anything sinister but 1 of the Villanova players was hurt on the play as well. This gave Temple a breather and time to get a play set while the injured defender was tended to. The last and most important point about the play is that it left temple with a 3rd and 1 which gave them options to run or pass compared to a 3rd and 10 which would add more pressure to Chester Stewart.
The next play on 3rd and 1 Temple's Heisman candidate running back Bernard Pierce ran for a 5 yard gain to give Temple a 1st down and get them into Villanova territory. However the following running play by Chester Stewart topped it. Stewart was flushed out of the pocket on 2nd and 10. He found space right up the middle and followed a blocker a few yards before bouncing outside for an extra few yards. The overall gain was 13 yards. That gave Temple yet another 1st down and got them close to field goal range.
The final few plays of the drive helped make it a shorter kick for Mcmanus. Stewart hit Campbell for a 3 yard gain. Then with time winding down everybody expected Temple to spike it however Temple ran to line and called a play out and ran a play with 16 seconds left. This caught the Villanova defense off guard and Stewart found running back Matt Brown outside for a 5 yard gain and Brown stepped out of bounds to stop the clock with 8 seconds left.
We all know how the drive ends. Mcmanus steps up cool as a cucumber and nails a 43 yard field goal to give Temple the victory.
Perhaps one last important note is that Temple had no timeouts to use during the drive so they drove down the field in a minute and 43 seconds while using clock management. Very impressive display in the 1st game of the year from the Temple offense.
Don't wanna burst any bubbles but we may have already seen Temple's best overall drive of the year. Every play was crucial and helped lead Temple to a victory over their city rivals.
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