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Temple vs. Virginia Tech

Extended Box  Game Story 
Oct 17, 1998

NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- TEMPLE 0 7 14 7 28 VIRGINIA TECH (10) 10 7 0 7 24 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QTR: VTCH - TD, JARRETT FERGUSON 26 YD PASS FROM NICK SORENSEN (SHAYNE GRAHAM KICK), 5:09 VTCH - FG, SHAYNE GRAHAM 28 YD, 13:00 2ND QTR: VTCH - TD, RICKY HALL 11 YD PASS FROM NICK SORENSEN (SHAYNE GRAHAM KICK), 12:52 TEMP - TD, RAHSAAN HARRISON 67 YD PASS FROM DEVIN SCOTT (DAVE NICHOLL KICK), 14:27 3RD QTR: TEMP - TD, JASON MCKIE 13 YD RUN (DAVE NICHOLL KICK), 2:06 TEMP - TD, CARLOS JOHNSON 80 YD PASS FROM DEVIN SCOTT (DAVE NICHOLL KICK), 5:53 4TH QTR: VTCH - TD, LAMONT PEGUES 1 YD RUN (SHAYNE GRAHAM KICK), 4:10 TEMP - TD, DEVIN SCOTT 1 YD RUN (DAVE NICHOLL KICK), 8:58

ATT: 47,610


Extended Box

NCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- Temple 0 7 14 7 28 Virginia Tech (10) 10 7 0 7 24 FINAL

Virginia Tech-J Ferguson 26 pass from Sorensen (Graham kick) Virginia Tech-FG Graham 28 Virginia Tech-Hall 11 pass from Sorensen (Graham kick) Temple-Harrison 67 pass from Scott (Nicholl kick) Temple-Mckie 13 run (Nicholl kick) Temple-C Johnson 80 pass from Scott (Nicholl kick) Virginia Tech-Pegues 1 run (Graham kick) Temple-Scott 1 run (Nicholl kick)

Temple Virginia Tech First downs 12 29 Rushed-yards 44-202 62-337 Passing yards 155 143 Sacked-yards lost 3-12 2-13 Return yards 25 30 Passes 4-9-0 14-24-2 Punts 7-35.0 3-43.3 Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1 Penalties-yards 4-39 4-36 Time of possession 25:46 34:14

Individual Statistics RUSHING: Temple-Mack 10-74, Mckie 16-61, C Johnson 1-35, Scott 12-17, Harrison 2-10, Devito 2-3, Jackson 1-2. Virginia Tech-Pegues 26-166, Stith 20-117, Sorensen 13-50, J Ferguson 2-3, Houseright 1-1.

PASSING: Temple-Scott 4-9-0-155. Virginia Tech-Sorensen 14-24-2-143.

RECEIVING: Temple-Harrison 2-67, C Johnson 1-80, Khamis 1-8. Virginia Tech-Harrison 6-66, Hall 4-30, J Ferguson 1-26, Stith 1-17, Samuel 1-6, Pegues 1-minus 2.

Att: 47,610


Game Story

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (Ticker) -- Nearly a five-touchdown underdog, perennial Big East doormat Temple recorded one of the biggest victories in school history, rallying from a 17-point first-half deficit to shock 10th-ranked and previously undefeated Virginia Tech, 28-24.

True freshman Devin Scott, who earlier tossed an 80-yard touchdown pass, scored on a one-yard TD run with 6:02 remaining to give the Owls (1-6, 1-2 Big East) their first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 16 Pittsburgh, 24-21, on September 19th, 1987.

Virginia Tech (5-1, 3-1), which was off to its best start since opening the 1967 season with seven straight wins, was marching for the winning touchdown in the final minutes, but a 12-play 82-yard drive stalled when Shyrone Stith was stopped for a three-yard loss on 4th-and-goal from the 3.

"The Temple jinx that we cannot win a game, that last goal-line play just kicked the door down and we won the football game," said Bobby Wallace, who earned his first victory as Temple coach.

Temple snapped an eight-game losing streak dating to last season and improved to just 5-44 since entering the Big East in 1991.

"I'm happy for the players," added Wallace. "Myself, I've been fortunate to be around a lot of successful programs. I was not concerned for myself, I'm just happy for our kids. They have worked just as hard as anyone else."

The Owls snapped a six-game losing streak against Virginia Tech, cutting the Hokies' lead in the all-time series to 9-3. The loss ended a 10-game home Big East winning streak for Virginia Tech, which came into the game allowing a Division I-best six points per game.

"This is our first win, but I sure didn't want to wait this long for it," said Wallace. "I've never seen a more injured, beat up football team in my life, especially on defense. We have so many people banged up, they were just out there playing their hearts out."

Virginia Tech grabbed a 24-21 lead on a one-yard TD run by Lamont Pegues, who rushed 26 times for a career-high 166 yards, but Temple answered with a 10-play, 59-yard drive to defeat the Hokies for the first time since 1990.

"It was a different offensive game than we're used to seeing week after week," said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer. "They started to run it well. We weren't filling the lanes."

Virginia Tech, which had outscored its first five opponents, 146-30, was burned for a late score in the first half and two touchdowns early in the third quarter after opening its 17-0 lead in the second period.

"Sometimes I think when you get momentum early in the game you let up a bit," added Beamer. "I'm not sure if we let up or if Temple started playing better. We were not flat."

After Rahsaan Harrison's 67-yard TD catch from Scott got Temple on the board with 33 seconds left in the first half, true freshman Jason McKie's 13-yard TD run pulled the Owls within 17-14 with 12:54 left in the third quarter.

Scott, in for the injured Kevin Harvey, tossed an 80-yard TD pass to Carlos Johnson less than four minutes later to give Temple a 21-17 lead with 9:07 remaining. Scott completed just 4-of-9 passes for 155 yards while Stacey Mack rushed for 74 yards on 10 carries. McKie added 61 yards on 16 attempts.

"They were not the same defense at the end that they were at the beginning," said Wallace. "They have tremendous quickness and speed. They are a great defensive football team, don't get me wrong. But we were able to run right at them."

Nick Sorensen, the third-string quarterback, tossed touchdown passes of 26 yards to Jarrett Ferguson and 11 yards to Ricky Hall to give the Hokies their 17-0 lead. Sorenson, starting once again for Al Clark, who has a sprained right foot, was 13-of-23 for 126 yards two with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Sorenson moved to safety in the spring and started the season on defense before Clark got hurt and second-stringer Dave Meyer separated his shoulder.

"We were not sharp," said Beamer. "We weren't catching the ball. When you got your third-string quarterback playing, not every pass is going to be great, but he threw enough good ones today to get a win."

Stith gained 117 yards on 20 carries for Virginia Tech, which outgained Temple, 337-202, on the ground.

"We lost as a team," said Beamer. "Everyone contributed -- the players and the coaches. We're going to live with it, we're going to learn from it, and we're going to go on and get ready to play next week."