Temple Football: Owls edge FIU in Gasparilla Bowl

Temple football picked up their seventh win of the season, defeating the FIU Panthers in the 2017 Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.

More: Complete 2017-2018 bowl schedule

The Temple Owls continued a bowl season of one-sided victories. They carefully dispatched a formidable eight-win Florida International squad in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, ending their first season under head coach Geoff Collins on a high note.

It was a slow start for both teams with the only scoring play of the first half coming on a 4-yard touchdown run by Owls quarterback Frank Nutile. The score turned out to be the deciding one as FIU would not find the endzone even once. Nutile would add a passing score later in the game.

This game was close up to the final moments of the third quarter. The Owls extended a 7-3 lead to 14-3 before putting the game out of reach with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to cap a comfortable 28-3 victory.

The Temple defense was the story of the night. They held the Panthers to 76 rushing yards on 40 attempts, just 1.9 yards per carry. The Panthers weren’t any more successful through the air. Quarterback Maurice Alexander completed 16 of 33 passes for 162 yards with two interceptions. He also fumbled in the fourth quarter, squashing any hopes of a furious late comeback attempt.

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It wasn’t an overwhelmingly dominant performance by the Owls but they found a way to get it done. A year removed from an incredible season under the direction of Matt Rhule the Owls have taken a step back. However, this bowl win might be the springboard coach Collins needed to return the Owls to the 10-win mark soon.