Bearcats Get Back To Winning Ways Over Temple

Cincinnati's defense was eager to meet Temple's sluggish offense but found out the Owls found a new star.

P.J. Walker led and offense the challenged Cincinnati's fourth ranked defense in the first half.

Temple was the 117th ranked team in scoring offense with just 15.8 points per game.  The Owls put up 20 points in the first half.

Cincinnati shut out the owls in the second half.

"Defensively, we had no idea what they would be running offensively," Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said. "They had a new quarterback and new formations and it looked like we didn't know what they were doing. We didn't stop much in the first half, but we made some adjustments. We made sure to get in the quarterbacks face and not let him get outside."

Tion Green set career highs with 91 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and Brendon Kay added two touchdown passes to Anthony McClung as the Cincinnati Bearcats logged their first win in the fledgling American Athletic Conference, 38-20, over winless Temple at Nippert Stadium on Friday night.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

 Before a crowd of 32,220, Kay was 31-of-37 for 270 yards and also ran for a touchdown and Tony Miliano added a season-high 44-yard field goal as Cincinnati (4-2, 1-1) bounced back from a turnover-plagued, 26-20, loss at previously winless South Florida on October 5.

True freshman quarterback P.J. Walker, playing just his third game and making his first career start, was 12-of-22 for 200 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and added 48 yards on nine carries for the Owls (0-6, 0-2), who still are looking for their first AAC victory.

Cincinnati's defense bounced back.

""I wanted to come out the same way in the second half," Walker said.  "We played fast.  The second half we came out flat.  U.C. blitzed a little more but we picked them up.  We needed to make some third downs and that's on us."

Cincinnati, hoping for a quick start after scoring just six points in the first half against South Florida, scored on its first possession and added three more touchdowns to build a 28-20 halftime lead. Kay connected on all five of his passes for 32 yards on the opening drive, and added a 25-yard touchdown pass to  McClung and a four-yard scoring run while Green was scoring touchdowns on runs of 24 and two yards.

Temple hung with the Bearcats, shredding the nation's fourth-ranked defense in total yards for a season-high 20 first-half points and 271 yards, 16 more than the Owls' total in their 30-7 loss to No. 8 Louisville on October 5. Walker completed touchdown passes of 35 yards to Jalen Fitzpatrick and 30 to Clinton Granger and Zaire Williams added a one-yard run as the Owls gained 20 more yards than the per-game average of 251 allowed by the Bearcats in their first five games.

The Bearcats had gone 10 consecutive quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown.

Kay added a four-yard touchdown pass to McClung with 9:19 left in the third quarter.