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Loss to Miami of Ohio jeopardizes Temple's bowl bid

OXFORD, Ohio - For a football program that has had its share of gloomy days (and decades), Temple had another one yesterday.

OXFORD, Ohio - For a football program that has had its share of gloomy days (and decades), Temple had another one yesterday.

After news broke early in the day that two freshman players are under investigation for sexual assault, the Owls promptly put their bowl hopes in jeopardy in a 23-3 loss to Miami in the regular-season finale at mostly empty Yager Stadium.

The Owls (8-4, 5-3 Mid-American Conference) finished the regular season on a two-game losing streak, a glaring error on their bowl resume.

Running back Bernard Pierce (hamstring) and team captain Elijah "Peanut" Joseph (knee) didn't make the trip.

The Owls squandered scoring opportunities, made costly mistakes and went a paltry 2-for-13 on third-down conversions.

Favored in the preseason to win the Mid-American Conference championship, Temple will finish no better than third place in the MAC East Division.

"We started out pretty strong," senior safety Jaiquawn Jarrett said. "But midway through the season, we started going down, and we didn't finish the season as good as we wanted to."

Temple hopes it at least has the opportunity to match last season's 9-4 record, as the Owls will wait to see how the bowl picture unfolds. If Temple receives a bowl bid, it most likely will fill a spot left open because another conference (or independent) tie-in didn't have a qualifying team. That was the case last season, when the Owls made their first bowl appearance in 30 years - a loss to UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl.

Coach Al Golden mentioned that his team's nonconference wins against Connecticut (6-4) and Army (6-5) should carry some weight in determining whether the Owls are invited to a bowl game.

"I never feel comfortable [about Temple's bowl hopes]," Golden said. "We played a tough schedule. I just wish we would've played better down the stretch, but can't do anything about it now."

Temple committed four turnovers. The most costly was a Mike Gerardi interception with 2 minutes remaining in the first half. With Temple trailing by only 6-3, Gerardi's pass ricocheted off the outstretched hands of a leaping Rod Streater and was picked off by linebacker Evan Harris. The sophomore returned the ball 25 yards to the Temple 31-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Austin Boucher connected with Armand Robinson for an 8-yard touchdown. Miami led, 13-3, at halftime.

The Owls blew two field-goal opportunities. On the opening drive of the game, Brandon McManus missed a 47-yard attempt. With 9:09 left in the third quarter and Temple still trailing, 13-3, holder Vaughn Charlton bobbled the snap and ended up rolling right and throwing the ball out of bounds to waste another potential 47-yard field goal.

The Owls' defense wasn't much better. Miami rushed for a season-high 253 yards against the MAC's fourth-best rushing defense, including Thomas Merriweather's 96-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring with 9:08 remaining in the game.

"That broke our back," Golden said.

Regarding news that two freshman players are being investigated for sexual assaulting a student in a campus dormitory last weekend, Golden said he could not comment because of privacy issues and noted that the university takes the matter "very seriously." *