Temple's offense struggles in scrimmage

Temple quarterback Chester Stewart walked into the Edberg-Olson Hall on Saturday and told it like it was.

The Owls had just finished their annual Cherry and White Day scrimmage - it was offense against defense this year instead of a split-squad competition - and the final score was 3-0. On a very windy day, a 51-yard field goal by kicker Brandon McManus with 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter provided the only points.

A 31-yard attempt by freshman Erik Jacobs with 2:24 left in the third period was no good.

"Overall, as an offense, we didn't come out here and do what we wanted to do," said Stewart, the leading candidate for the starting position. He split time with Mike Gerardi and Chris Coyer.

"We left a lot of plays on the field," Stewart said. "We had some dropped balls, and some bad-thrown balls. But I'm stepping into a leadership role, and I'm definitely comfortable with the offense and with the guys on our unit."

In a contest that featured no kickoffs, kick returns, or punts, drives started from certain spots on the field at the direction of Temple coach Al Golden.

Stewart, a redshirt junior, completed 8 of 15 passes for 119 yards with two interceptions. Gerardi, a redshirt junior, was 8 of 18 for 80 yards with three interceptions. And Coyer, a redshirt freshman, connected on 6 of 15 pass attempts for 70 yards with one interception.

As expected, the Owls' running game, which carried the Temple offense last season in a 9-4 year, was in good shape. Bernard Pierce, who as a freshman led the Mid-American Conference in rushing with 1,361 yards, had 87 yards on 14 carries Saturday. Ahkeem Smith rushed for 42 yards on 10 carries. And Matt Brown had 25 yards on five carries. Overall, the Owls had 192 yards on 42 attempts.

"I think we did well, but there are some things we'd like to get better at with our technique," said outside linebacker Jordan Martin. "We missed some tackles here and there."

With Temple's spring drills set to end Thursday, Golden said he was still evaluating most positions. Summer camp will be the final decider.

"There are very few positions that are locked up right now," he said. "We'll have a good practice on Tuesday, and turn around, and get our final scrimmage in on Thursday, and then we'll kind of have a feel for who everybody is going into the summer. For the next two practices, it's going to be the last shot for guys to leave an impression on the coaches before we start game-planning for the summer."

Notes. The team's spring drills awards were handed out at halftime. They went to junior offensive lineman Jeremy Schonbrunner (Mark Bresani Award for spirit); redshirt freshman tight end Cody Booth (most improved non-scholarship player); junior linebacker Tahir Whitehead (most improved defensive player); junior offensive lineman Wayne Tribue (most improved offensive player), and Ahkeem Smith (most improved special-teams player).