No. 21 Temple falls to South Florida, 44-23

TAMPA, Fla. - Temple is in a fight for its life for the Eastern Division title in the American Athletic Conference.

The Owls defense collapsed for the second straight week, and the offense was too inconsistent during a 44-23 loss to South Florida on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.

No. 21 Temple is no longer a lock to win the East and earn a berth in the first AAC championship game.

The Owls are 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the AAC. Surging South Florida, which has won five of six, is 6-4, 4-2.

Both teams have two AAC games left, and with the win USF owns the tiebreaker over Temple. The Owls host Memphis (8-2) and Connecticut (5-5).

South Florida, which had 556 yards of total offense, is now bowl-eligible. The Bulls host Cincinnati (6-4) Friday before closing at winless Central Florida.

"They physically whupped us," Temple coach Matt Rhule said. "We didn't tackle anybody the whole game. It's been two weeks in a row we have played like this."

The Owls beat Southern Methodist last week, 60-40.

Trailing by 31-10, Temple got a fumble recovery by Praise Martin-Oguike on USF's first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. The Owls took advantage, and P.J. Walker hit Ventell Bryant on a 14-yard scoring pass to make it 31-17.

Temple got to within 31-20 on Austin Jones' 35-yard field goal with 8 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

Then the Bulls made two field goals, sandwiched around a 45-yard miss by Jones. That gave USF a 37-20 lead with 8:40 left in the game.

The Owls couldn't control quarterback Quinton Flowers, running back Marlon Mack, and receiver Rodney Adams. Flowers rushed for 90 yards and a score and completed 15 of 22 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.

"He was very elusive," Martin-Oguike said of Flowers. "We saw what he did with other teams, and thought we matched up, but we didn't execute."

Mack rushed for 230 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 42 yards. Adams had seven receptions for 147 yards and a score.

The Owls scored on their second drive of the game, when Jahad Thomas took a pitch for a 1-yard scoring run. That capped an eight-play, 92-yard drive, Temple's fifth TD march of 90 or more yards this year.

The big play was a 35-yard run by Thomas that put him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.

Walker went over 2,000 yards passing for the third year, and he and Thomas are the first 2,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher on the same Owls team since 1979.

Walker missed a number of throws, and his receivers had their share of drops. He completed 20 of 48 passes for 259 yards, one TD, and one interception.

USF got on the board when Adams got behind safety Alex Wells to score on a 68-yard bomb.

On Temple's first play of the next series, Walker was intercepted by Deatrick Nichols, who returned the ball to the Owls' 5. Walker was looking to make a jump pass to Saladeem Major but underthrew the ball.

"I didn't see the corner there," Walker said.

Flowers scored on a 5-yard keeper on the next play to give the Bulls a 14-7 lead with 14:49 left in the first half.

After a 54-yard kickoff return by Jager Gardner set up Jones' 33-yard field goal, Mack burst up the middle for a 57-yard scoring run.

On the next series, after an electrifying 42-yard run by Flowers, he then scrambled until he found Mack for a 20-yard touchdown.

"We couldn't tackle Flowers," Rhule said.

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard