Temple 55, Eastern Michigan 52

Temple and Eastern Michigan let it fly on Saturday afternoon at chilly Lincoln Financial Field.

Records fell, others were challenged, and in the end, the Owls outlasted the Eagles, 55-52, in a Mid-American Conference thriller.

Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele tied a school record with six touchdown passes and ran for another. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 370 yards with no interceptions. Four of his TD passes went to Bruce Francis (9 catches, 125 yards), who boosted his season total to 13 touchdown receptions.

“The last few weeks we’ve been scoring a lot of points,” said DiMichele, as the Owls have 120 points in their last three games, though just a 1-2 record. “It was fun. Our kickoff return team is (one of the best) in the nation right now, and (Eastern Michigan) was squibbing and trying sky kicks and wound up giving us the ball on the 40- or 50-yard line every time. That makes everything easy for the offense.

“When we take our shots, we’ve been converting. Bruce had a typical Bruce day. We definitely needed it today. We just did what the gameplan said to do. We were going to try to run it and if that didn’t work, take some shots up top. It’s an honor to [tie] the record, but that’s not my focus right now. We’re trying to win five games, which we haven’t done here in two decades.”

Francis, a senior, caught touchdown passes of three and 31 yards in the first half as Temple rallied from a 14-3 deficit to take a 24-21 halftime lead. He added touchdown receptions of four and 10 yards in the second half.

“I’m getting towards the end of my career and we’ve been working so hard, for so long,” said Francis, who suffered a shoulder and head injury towards the end of the third quarter but returned to the game. “This is a good way to get paid off. I’m happy to get the win, first and foremost, but the records are good as well.

“The coaches put us in position to make plays. That wasn’t just me and Adam running around out there.”

As prolific as DiMichele and Francis were, Eastern Michigan quarterback Andy Schmitt was approaching NCAA records. He completed 50 of 76 passes for 484 yards and three scores and was not intercepted.

Schmitt, who completed his first nine passes, was five completions and seven attempts away from matching the Football Bowl Subdivision records of 55 completions and 83 attempts set by Purdue’s Drew Brees against Wisconsin in 1998.

“I never thought I’d throw the ball that much in a game my college career, but we were going to base the game off how that first drive went, and that first drive we spread them out and threw the ball every time and scored a touchdown,” Schmitt said. “It was working, we kept rolling with it. It’s a quarterback’s dream to spread them out and pick them apart.”

The Eagles had two bye weeks coming into the game, having not played since Nov. 1, and were able to put in a more elaborate gameplan. Jacory Stone finished with 18 catches for 152 yards and a score, while Tyler Jones caught 17 balls for 185 yards and two touchdowns.

“Our offense doesn’t look like that normally,” Schmitt admitted. “Usually we huddle up a little more. But the two bye weeks helped us prepare a lot. We came out and played well offensively. You tell your guys it’s a shootout. They want to shoot, let’s shoot. We did the best we could, and unfortunately they came out on top.”

DiMichele’s sixth touchdown pass came with 2:40 to play, a 45-yarder to Jason Harper that gave the Owls a 55-45 lead. Eastern Michigan needed just two minutes to cut the deficit to three as Schmitt went in from two yards out with 37 seconds to play.

“I think the biggest difference now is that our guys on offense want the ball at the end of the game,” Temple Coach Al Golden said. “It was a situation we had to stay aggressive. We tried to put the nail in the coffin and they came back again. The offense is starting to score now. I think we had 55 points in our first five games total.”

Played in a shroud of darkness as the Philadelphia Eagles -- who share the Linc with the Owls -- apparently hadn’t left the instructions on how to turn on the lights, Temple wrapped up the game when Marquise Liverpool tipped the ball in the air and came down with it on an onside kick with 34 seconds remaining.

“We knew coming in we only had eight quarters left in our careers, and every time another quarter went down I let those guys now,” DiMichele said. “The seniors have talked a lot the last week. I think the senior class is playing its best ball now.”

“We’re going to enjoy our win, but tomorrow in the film room we’ll talk about our mistakes,” Temple safety Dominique Harris said. “We expected them to pass, just not as much as they did. We saw everything they did in the game today during practice. We just had some missed tackles and some people not doing their assignments.”

Temple’s kicking game has been shaky at times this season, but placekicker Jake Brownell converted field goal attempts of 34 and 35 yards and made all seven extra points.

Temple closes its season at home Friday against Akron.

Golden Postgame Comments: Listen to Audio

DiMichele/Francis/Jones/Harris/Schmitt Postgame Comments: Listen to Audio