Coming close not good enough for Owls
Temple rallies but falls short against Navy.
Players of the weekend
National: Andre Heidari kicked a career-long, 53-yard field goal with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left to give Southern Cal a 13-10 win at Stanford, which had won an FBS-best 17 straight at home.
Local: Sixth-year senior Sean McCartney (Archbishop Wood) passed for four touchdowns as West Chester, ranked 10th in Division II, opened with a 35-30 win at New Haven.
Around town
Navy 31, Temple 24
After starting with a 30-point win at Vanderbilt (which just lost to Mississippi at home by 38), the Owls dropped their home opener to a team that was beating Ohio State in the third quarter the week before.
"We're beyond the point where it's OK to lose," coach Matt Rhule said. "That was last year [when they went 2-10 with a bunch of close losses in his debut] . . .
"We're not there yet."
The Owls - who scored on a fumble recovery by Sharif Finch (which he caused) in the end zone on Navy's first play - got to within 17-14 just before halftime on a highlight catch at the back of the end zone by Romond DeLoatch. The Midshipmen, who are 11-0 at the Linc (nine against Army), went ahead by 17 with 5:47 left in the third quarter. Temple would make it a one-possession game with 9:49 to go.
After Navy missed a 43-yard field goal, the Owls took over on their 26 at 2:08 with no timeouts, which would become an issue. Sixteen plays later, after converting three fourth-and-shorts, P.J. Walker was chased from the pocket and ran for 7 yards up the middle to the Navy 24. But since the clock kept running, the best they could do was barely get the ball snapped for a last chance. Walker again scrambled, this time for 14 yards, before lateraling as he was going down to lineman Brendan McGowan, who ended up fumbling it away as he tried to lateral.
Navy, which lost three fumbles and punted once (early in the fourth), rushed for 487 yards on 63 attempts. Junior QB Keenan Reynolds (173 yards on 21 carries) became the first Middie to score a TD in 10 consecutive games.
The Mids are joining the American Conference next season for football only but will be in the West Division.
Temple, which wore black helmets, gets the first of three byes this weekend before hosting FCS Delaware State on the 20th.
Villanova 50, Fordham 3
This is how you respond to a double-overtime loss at FBC Syracuse that you could have won had you made a short field goal at the end of regulation.
It was the biggest margin of victory for the Wildcats over a ranked team since the program was restored at the FCS level in 1985.
They were No. 10 in the polls, one spot ahead of the visiting Rams (1-1).
Their home opener was delayed a little over an hour early in the second quarter due to lightning. It was 7-3. By the half the lead was 30.
John Robertson threw for three TDs and ran for another. The Wildcats forced a turnover for the first time since Oct. 12. Their 12 tackles for losses (six sacks) were the most for them since October 2008.
After losing by three at Fordham last September, they avoided going 0-2 in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1972-73.
Freshman kicker Steve Weyler (Cardinal O'Hara) did miss two extra points. Senior Chris Gough, who missed the probable game-winner at the Carrier Dome, came back in and made a late, 42-yard FG.
The Wildcats have their lone bye this week, then host James Madison in their CAA opener.
Did you notice? *
For the first time since 1988, Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State all lost on the same day.
* Michigan was shut out for the first time since 1984, ending its NCAA record streak at 365.
* South Carolina's Steve Spurrier got his 200th win as an SEC coach, joining Bear Bryant (292) and Vince Dooley (201).
* Junior Marcus Mariota threw his 69th TD pass, an Oregon record.
* Texas, a 41-7 loser to BYU, suffered its worst home defeat since 1997.
* Baylor backup Scott Russell, playing for the injured Bryce Petty, threw for 438 yards and five TDs just by playing the first half against Northwestern State.
* California won its second game, or one more than it won last year in coach Sonny Dykes' first season.
* Northern Illinois, which beat Northwestern, won its 16th straight on the road, the longest such current streak in FBS.
* Florida State has won 18 in a row, something it had never done before.
* In case you missed it on Friday, Widener and new coach Mike Kelly went to Rowan and beat what was the No. 15 team in Division III, 19-7.
* And on Thursday, Texas A&M-Commerce set a Division II record with 986 yards in a 98-20 win over East Texas Baptist.