3.8: Average yards gained per Brett Smith pass attempt. Wyoming is a "keep it close and try to catch the breaks in the fourth quarter" team; when Temple leaped to a 21-0 lead, the Cowboys had to open up the gameplan a bit, and it just didn't work out very well for the freshman quarterback. Smith completed 20 of 30 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, but he was picked off three times and sacked once for nine yards. Down three touchdowns in the third quarter, he had to pass a bit more, and his average just kept going down. He completed seven of ten third-quarter passes ... for 11 yards and a sack. Meanwhile, after the first quarter, his running back threesome of Kody Sutton, Brandon Miller and Alvester Alexander gained just 40 yards on 11 carries. Temple's defense was just too much for this young, limited offense.
Temple Vs. Wyoming, New Mexico Bowl Recap: The Numerical
The numbers that mattered in Temple’s first bowl win in over three decades.
4: Combined tackles for loss recorded by Temple linebacker Tahir Whitehead and end Adrian Robinson. Wyoming's entire defense, meanwhile, had only five.
10.2: Value, in equivalent points (as defined here), of Wyoming’s three turnovers. They were unable to force any of their own as well, and for a team so incredibly dependent on the turnover battle (they were fifth in the country with a plus-15 turnover margin), this was a killer.
14.1: Average yards gained per Chris Coyer pass attempt. The Temple quarterback played the "run, run, run, play action pass" part beautifully, completing eight of 12 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. He threw in 12 carries for 71 yards as well. Wyoming was actually quite effective at limiting the impact of bruising Temple backs Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown -- the two combined for just 149 yards in 38 carries (3.9 per carry) -- but while they focused on the backs, they let Coyer do whatever he wanted.
61: Length of the touchdown pass from Chris Coyer to Rod Streator that effectively ended the game. Wyoming had just finished grinding out an 11-play, five-minute touchdown drive to cut Temple’s lead to 21-7 with 31 seconds left in the first half, but Coyer found Streator deep on the very next play, and when the Wyoming safety slipped in coverage, Streator was able to take the ball to the house, and Temple went up 28-7. After five minutes of hard work, Wyoming found themselves still down by 21 points.
152: Yards gained by Temple in the first quarter. The Owls ran the ball 17 times, threw it just three times (for 47 yards), and established early physical dominance. They would go up 14-0 two plays into the second quarter, and after a Brett Smith interception, they drove a short field to a third touchdown 20 minutes in.
503: Length, in seconds, of Temple’s final drive, a 13-play, 56-yard field goal drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter. No need to make this game last longer than it had to.
11,690: Days between Temple bowl wins. The Owls won the 1979 Garden State Bowl, 28-17 over California, and ... then it took a while to get back into the winner’s circle. With the current trajectory of the program, however, it is doubtful that the next bowl win will take quite as long.
