Temple Rallies To Beat UConn 17-14 In OT

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Brandon McManus kicked a 29-yard field goal in overtime and Temple, which trailed for over 59 minutes Saturday, came from behind to beat Connecticut 17-14.

Boston College transfer Montel Harris ran 30 times for 142 yards and a touchdown for the Owls (3-2, 2-0 Big East), who held UConn (3-4, 0-2) to two first-quarter touchdowns.

The Huskies' Chad Christen missed four field goal attempts, including a 28-yarder on UConn's overtime possession.

Chandler Whitmer threw for 293 yards and both of UConn's scores, and Max DeLorenzo had 91 yards rushing for the Huskies.

Temple trailed until Jalen Fitzpatrick caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Chris Coyer with 19 seconds in regulation. The Owls have won two consecutive Big East games for the first time in the program's history.

The touchdown was set up by a 33-yard catch on the left sideline by Deon Miller on a third-and-13 from the UConn 47, which followed 13-yard catch by Harris on a fourth down that moved the ball into UConn territory

Temple had failed on fourth down on two other fourth-quarter drives.

Christen had a chance to secure the win for UConn, but his 45-yard field-goal attempt with just under 3 minutes to play was blocked. He had missed earlier from 38 and 42 yards.

Whitmer completed 10 of his first 12 passes, including a 15-yard strike over the middle to Mike Smith for a touchdown that gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead. On his next drive, he found tight end Ryan Griffin over the middle for a 42-yard score.

Whitmer completed 22 of 39 passes for 293 yards and no interceptions. He had thrown four interceptions at Rutgers and came in with 10 on the season and just four touchdown passes.

Coyer, who threw for just 132 yards, also ran for 51 for the Owls.

The Huskies kept Temple pinned in its own territory for most of the first half. The Owls managed just 8 yards and one first down on their first four possessions. But they had 113 on their next two.

Harris broke a 37-yard run and a 24-yarder for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-7. The Owls were driving again before Harris was stripped of the ball by linebacker Yawin Smallwood at Connecticut's 26-yard line.

Both teams played without their top running backs. Temple's Matt Brown, suffered an ankle injury last week, and UConn's Lyle McCombs sprained his wrist.

Without McCombs, the Huskies managed just 88 rushing yards.

Harris, who transferred from Boston College, ran for 133 yards in the Owls' win last week over South Florida.

The win gave Temple coach Steve Addazio a victory over his mentor.

UConn's Paul Pasqualoni was the head coach at Western Connecticut and hired Addazio to his first assistant coaching job there in 1985

The win gave Temple its first road win of the season.

The Huskies came in ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, giving up just over 82 yards per game on the ground.

Temple improved to 9-4 against UConn and has beaten the Huskies the last three times the programs have met.