EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – Anything Ventell Bryant does from here on out will be icing on the cake for himself and Temple, which wraps up the regular season Saturday with an American Athletic Conference game at Connecticut. The redshirt senior is the owner of school records for career receptions and receiving yards for the Owls, who have won three of the last four games with the Huskies.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU. LINE: Temple - 30.5
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"It's great finishing out this way my last home game at the Linc and my family got to see me break this record," Bryant told the media of breaking the receptions record at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, a week after taking down the receiving yards mark. "I am so blessed." Bryant could add to his records in a big way as the Owls face a UConn defense that is in the bottom three in the FBS in passing yards allowed per game (287.8). The 6-3, 200-pound native of Tampa, Fla., who has caught 168 passes for 2,395 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career, has seven catches for 110 yards in three games against the Huskies. David Pindell, who set the program record and leads all FBS quarterbacks in rushing yards, will try to help the Huskies avoid surpassing the 1977 squad (1-10) for the worst record in program history.
ABOUT TEMPLE (7-4, 6-1 AAC)
Travon Williams won't make much of an impact on the field Saturday for the Owls, but will surely be an inspiration to those that will. Despite touching the ball only 11 times in three seasons, the junior walk-on from Philadelphia, who had two catches in last week's come-from-behind win over South Florida, was granted a full scholarship for his senior season by coach Geoff Collins. "I was surprised, shocked, excited," Williams told the media. "I am not a big crier, but if I was, I would have cried."
ABOUT UCONN (1-10, 0-7)
Pindell saw his streak of four straight games with at least 120 yards rushing come to a halt in last week's 55-21 loss to East Carolina as the senior was limited to three yards on 15 carries including four sacks for minus-24 yards, the lowest total of his career on more than two carries. The Maryland native goes into his final game with 1,115 rushing yards while teammate Kevin Mensah is 49 yards shy of 1,000 for the season. "You'd love to have 85 David Pindells," coach Randy Edsall told the media. "He loves football. That's one of the problems, we don't have enough guys that love football. You wish you had him for two more years."
EXTRA POINTS
1. Ryquell Armstead ranks fifth among AAC all-time leading rushers with 2,756 yards and fourth in rushing touchdowns (34) for Temple.
2. The Owls have blocked five kicks this season, giving them 23 in Ed Foley's five seasons as special teams coordinator.
3. Temple's Isaiah Wright, who is second in the nation with 856 kick return yards, earned AAC Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a punt for a touchdown against USF.
PREDICTION: Temple 47, UConn 17