TAMPA, Fla. — Temple had spent two straight weeks talking about how close it was to pulling out a win.
On Saturday night in Tampa, the Owls finally finished.
They upset previously undefeated South Florida, 17-13, at Raymond James Stadium, responding to a costly late turnover and making the decisive plays that had escaped them in consecutive losses to Toledo and Army.
The Owls (2-3, 1-1 American) trailed, 13-10, in the fourth quarter after quarterback Ajani Sheppard fumbled near the goal line late in the third. Rather than unravel, Temple answered with a go-ahead drive that ended when Sheppard broke free for a touchdown with 3:08 remaining.
South Florida got another opportunity, but Temple’s defense forced a turnover on downs with 1:47 left and later survived one final possession to seal the win.
“You need some proof for the fellas,” coach K.C. Keeler said. “It’s one thing to say, ‘Hey, this is a good team.’ Good teams win. You have to find a way to win.”
Keeler said Temple emphasized one message all week after coming up short in back-to-back games: do your job.
“We stressed that so much this week: just live within the play,” Keeler said. “Whatever your responsibility is, just do your job.”
Temple’s defense keeps the Owls alive
Temple’s offense looked lost early.
The Owls went three-and-out on each of their first two possessions and managed just 4 total yards before finally settling in. Carl Hardin tied the game with a 34-yard field goal early in the second quarter, and JoJo Bermudez gave Temple a 10-3 halftime lead when he turned a short catch into a touchdown with 45 seconds remaining.
The defense gave the offense time to recover.
South Florida moved the ball at times, but Temple repeatedly kept the Bulls out of the end zone in the first half. Saboor Karriem appeared to score on an interception return before the play was erased by a penalty, then later delivered a third-down hit that helped force an incompletion before a missed USF field goal.
Linebacker Curly Ordonez said the difference from the previous two weeks was discipline.
“The last two weeks, our eyes were in the wrong place,” Ordonez said. “We had to fix the small things.”
South Florida tied the game on its first possession after halftime, going 75 yards in 14 plays before D.J. Crowther scored from a yard out. The Bulls later took a 13-10 lead after Sheppard’s fumble turned what could have been a Temple touchdown into a touchback.
But the Owls did not allow another point.
“We kept believing we could do this,” Ordonez said. “We kept believing we could win.”
Sheppard responds after costly fumble
Temple took possession at its own 4-yard line with 8:32 remaining, still trailing by three and needing its best drive of the night.
Sheppard delivered.
The quarterback found space up the middle on third down and raced untouched into the end zone for the winning score, completing his response to the turnover that had given South Florida a chance to seize control.
“I put the fumble on my back,” Sheppard said. “The defense came over and said, ‘I got your back.’ So I just had to go back out there and play.”
Sheppard credited the offensive line for opening the lane on his touchdown run.
“Eric King, JP and John all came up to me and were like, ‘Just follow right behind me,’” Sheppard said. “That’s exactly what I did the second time.”
With Sam Brown unavailable, Temple also found an unexpected contributor in Hunter Smith. Smith entered the day behind Brown and Keveun Mason on the depth chart but became a significant part of the rotation, including a 34-yard third-quarter run that put Temple in the red zone.
Smith said he learned before the game that Brown would not play and relied on the mental repetitions he took in practice while waiting for an opportunity.
That same preparedness helped Temple respond when Sheppard lost the ball.
“We didn’t even blink,” Smith said. “We were like, ‘Hey, Ajani, next play. Next play.’”
For Keeler, the result provided evidence that Temple could finally turn close games into wins.
“There’s some proof of concept now,” Keeler said. “We went on the road and beat an undefeated team that everyone was talking about. We took them down at their place.”
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