Temple vs. SMU: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

The No. 22 Temple Owls survived an early scare from the SMU Mustangs Friday night, leaving Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas with a 60-40 victory. The Owls improve to 5-0 in the American Athletic Conference and 8-1 overall.

Temple was anything but sluggish coming off its first loss Oct. 31 to No. 5 Notre Dame, taking an early 14-0 lead against SMU.

The Mustangs fought back to take the lead in the second quarter, but P.J. Walker and the Owls offense eventually outlasted SMU, despite their defense allowing a season high in points.

Temple made a statement on the road early, with a record-setting touchdown less than three minutes into the game, courtesy of running back Jager Gardner. Below is the freshman's 94-yard score, per ESPN College Football:

Temple took the 14-0 lead in to the second quarter, but it didn't last long. In a span of 10 minutes, SMU kicked a field goal and scored two touchdowns to take a 17-14 lead with 4:03 remaining in the half. 

SMU football's official Twitter account showed how Xavier Jones went untouched into the end zone on what was a two-play drive to give SMU its first lead of the game:

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports humorously explained the craziness of a one-win SMU team scoring 17 straight points on one-loss Temple: 

"

Wow, SMU takes the lead. That really Mustang if you’re Temple.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 7, 2015"

The lead didn't last long. Walker engineered a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Romond Deloatch. Temple senior associate athletic director Larry Dougherty celebrated the score on his Twitter account:

The 3rd-and-1 completion with less than 30 seconds before half was the momentum the Owls needed.

However, at least one SMU fan didn't care much for Temple's momentum and had plenty of faith in his team at the break, per SportsCenter:

Temple scored on its first drive of the second half, which helped open a 28-17 lead, on Walker's third touchdown pass. ESPN College Football posted on Twitter that Temple was back in control with the score:

That was only the case for about four minutes when Jones scored his second touchdown of the night and helped cut the Temple lead to 28-24.

The teams would score six more touchdowns the rest of the way. It seemed like Temple put the game away with 12 minutes left on another long scoring play from a freshman, helping the team take a 45-31 lead.

Ventell Bryant hauled in Walker's fourth touchdown pass from 75 yards out, one play after SMU cut the lead to 38-31. Here is the talented freshman's highlight, per ESPN College Football:

As it turned out, the game was far from over. Leading by the same score, Temple allowed a safety after holding in the end zone. The free kick turned out to be worse, as SMU's Braeden West returned it 80 yards, helping cut the lead to 45-40. 

It was one of the most exciting plays of the night, as shown by ESPN College Football:

It also wasn't enough as Temple forced SMU to turn the ball over on downs on its own 32-yard line with 2:42 remaining in the game. It looked like the Owls may run the clock out, but they did more than that, scoring two more touchdowns. Walker scored on a 36-yard run for his fifth total touchdown of the game, and Sean Chandler's pick-six with 55 seconds left provided the final score.

ESPN's Chris Fowler gave his thoughts on the back-and-forth game as soon as it ended:

Walker was about as efficient as a quarterback can be, completing 18 of 25 passes for 268 yards and four touchdowns. 

Gardner was one of the game's key players. He had just four carriers for minus-1 yard on the season coming in, but he finished with 110 yards and the long touchdown.

SMU's Matt Davis finished 17-of-29 for 167 yards and a touchdown.

The Owls now have opened up a two-and-a-half game lead over the Cincinnati Bearcats and South Florida Bulls in the AAC East division and remain in great shape to play in the Dec. 5 AAC Championship Game.

If they knock off No. 13 Memphis Nov. 21 and win the championship game, the Owls will be 12-1 when they await to hear their bowl destination. The College Football Playoff Selection Committee could choose Temple for the Fiesta or Peach Bowl.

As John Smallwood of Philly.com suggests, the College Football Playoff committee wasn't going to put Temple in the final four to battle for a national championship, even if it did beat Notre Dame:

"

Due to politics, finances and influence, no team from the Group of Five (AAC, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West or Sun Belt) will make the four-team tournament unless the most extreme convergence of circumstances occur. No, the bone thrown to the Group of Five was the automatic bid into a prestigious and lucrative "New Year's Six Bowl" for its highest-ranked champion.

"

That "New Year's Six Bowl" would be the Fiesta or Peach, which is something no one could have dreamed of for Temple before the season started. Now, if the Owls keep winning, it's a real possibility. 

Postgame Reaction

Temple head coach Matt Rhule was not happy with the way his team played despite the win, per ESPN: "It's not our best football game, and our goal is to always play really great football," Rhule said. "We didn't play great football tonight, and that's starts with me."

Conversely, first-year SMU head coach Chad Morris seemed to like the fight his 1-8 team put up against Temple, and all season, per ESPN: "I think as you look at the story of the season, I know the record says what you are," Morris said. "When you consider our strength of schedule and who we've played...I think it says a whole lot about our guys. They've got a lot fight in them. We're close."

The Mustangs official Twitter account released some cool photos from the game:

Temple's account celebrated the victory, and pointed out the most important outcome of the game for the Owls:

It might not have been pretty for Temple, but a win is a win, and the Owls are one step closer to a conference title, and perhaps more.