In Ball State's 42-0 loss, the worst loss ever at Scheumann Stadium, the defense had trouble stopping Temple's rushing attack all afternoon.
Led by juniors Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown, Temple ran for 350 yards in the game as the two running backs both reached over 100 rushing yards. Pierce finished with 121 rushing yards while Brown finished with 114 yards.
"A lot of good things happened today for us," Temple coach Steve Addazio said. "We were able to have over 500 yards of offense and have two running backs rush for over 100 yards."
Temple went to its preseason first-team All-Mid-American Conference back often in the first quarter as Pierce scored his first touchdown from two yards out with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter. He would add two rushing touchdowns, one a four-yard run and the other a one-yard run, to record three touchdowns in the first half, helping the Owls to a 28-0 halftime lead.
Pierce's second touchdown of the game was his 40th rushing touchdown of his career, making him Temple's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns.
"I got to give my performance to my linemen," Pierce said. "It wasn't anything special, my linemen did what they had to do."
Only ten times in program history have two running backs for Temple ran for over 100 yards in the same game and it was the second time Pierce and Brown both ran for over 100 yards. The last time the duo accomplished the feat was at Buffalo on Oct. 23, 2010.
"We share the ball around," Pierce said. "We made sure each of us got a breather. It was a nice little combo we had going."
Addazio credited his team's ability to moving the ball well in the game to the injuries Ball State had in its defense. The most notable player who did not play for the Cardinals was All-MAC safety Sean Baker, who was out with a shoulder injury.
"They didn't have their safety that I think is one of the best in the country," he said. "[Baker] is a run stopper. I know that's hard. We wanted to come in here and put the ball on the perimeter. We wanted to get them tired and then pound the ball in there. It wasn't that there were any weaknesses, it was just they had injuries."
Even though Temple had the success it did against Ball State, linebacker Travis Freeman said there was nothing about its offense that surprised him.
"It was nothing special," he said. "We knew we were getting into power football and that's what they did. Temple is a good team, but we made too many mental errors. Teams like that feed off the run. That's their style of offense, they want two yards, they want three yards. It just wasn't good enough."
Freeman said most teams would change their style of play to best attack the opposing defense, but the fact Temple stuck to their game plan is what made the Owls successful.
"There was nothing spectacular about their offense, they just stuck to their plan," he said. "They ran the football and did it pretty well."
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