96-yard TD ended Temple's shot at comeback

OXFORD, Ohio - The Temple football team was looking futile at times Tuesday night in a Mid-American Conference contest against Miami of Ohio that ended the regular season for both teams.

Mostly, however, the Owls appeared to be only one big play away from making a game of it. That was before RedHawks running back Thomas Merriweather sent the crowd at Yager Stadium into hysteria by scoring on a 96-yard run with 9 minutes, 8 seconds remaining.

On a third-and-7 play, the 5-foot-10, 213-pound Merriweather broke off tackle and sprinted straight up the middle of the field on his way to the final touchdown in Miami's 23-3 victory. Trailing, 16-3, and with Miami at its own 4-yard line, the Owls, with a defensive stand, could have given themselves a dose of the momentum they had been lacking all night.

"That broke our backs," said Temple coach Al Golden, whose team finished the regular season with an 8-4 overall record and 5-3 mark in the MAC. "You stop them there, and you get the ball back in plus territory and you have a chance to make it a one-score game. But we didn't do it."

Temple had hung around despite committing four turnovers and with two key players - running back Bernard Pierce (hamstring) and linebacker Elijah Joseph (knee) - back home nursing injuries.

The Owls, who were picked to take the MAC title this year, had a chance to do just that. But they fell first to Ohio last week and then to Miami, the two teams Temple was tied with atop the MAC East Division going into the last two weeks.

Had the Owls won both outings, they would have won the division crown, earned a spot in the MAC championship game, and received an automatic spot in a bowl game. Now, all that's left for Golden and his squad is to hope Temple has put together a good enough resumé to be included in the postseason.

After finishing 9-3 last regular season, Temple faced UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, where the Owls went down, 30-21, in their first appearance in a bowl game in 30 years.

This season, the MAC has ties to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho; the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl in Detroit; the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala.; the Dallas Football Classic in Dallas; and the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.

"I never feel comfortable, but hopefully we would," Golden said about landing a postseason berth. "Both Army and Connecticut are [bowl eligible], and those two [Temple] wins will go a long way. We played a tough, tough schedule. I wish we would have played better down the stretch."