Temple vs. Wake Forest: Score and Reaction for 2016 Military Bowl

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons earned their first bowl win since 2008 with a 34-26 victory over the Temple Owls in the Military Bowl on Tuesday evening in Annapolis, Maryland. 

Despite only playing a little over half of the game, quarterback John Wolford played a key role for Wake Forest in the win, throwing for 183 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 10-of-19 passing.

The Demon Deacons also got good performances from the duo of Cade Carney and Matt Colburn, who combined to run for 131 yards on 31 carries.

Temple QB Phillip Walker was 28-of-49 for 396 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a losing effort. 

During the regular season, Wake Forest had one of the worst offenses in the country. The Demon Deacons were 125th in total offense (306.7 yards per game) and tied for 122nd in scoring (19.3 points per game) entering Tuesday.

Through the first two quarters of the Military Bowl, Wake Forest owned a 31-10 lead after carving up the Temple defense for 262 yards.

Sports on Earth's Matt Brown highlighted how Wake Forest followed in Boston College's footsteps after the Eagles had a similar first-half outburst Monday:

Barstool Sports' Dan Katz thought the "WakeyLeaks" scandal had a bigger impact on the Demon Deacons than anybody realized:

The game didn't get off to a great start for Wake Forest, though. Wolford threw an interception on the third play from scrimmage, and Walker threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Adonis Jennings on the first play of Temple's possession.

ESPN Stats & Info noted how the Owls have been an opportunistic team all season:

After going down 7-0, the Demon Deacons rebounded and scored 31 unanswered points.

Passing touchdowns from Wolford on back-to-back drives gave Wake Forest a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Demon Deacons capitalized on two Owls turnovers to pad their advantage.

Sean Chandler muffed a punt on his own 11-yard line, and Wake Forest recovered. On the next play, Carney scored from 11 yards out to make it a two-score game with 12:26 left in the half.

Following a 25-yard field goal from Mike Weaver, Colburn scored on a three-yard run at the 3:02 mark of the second quarter. The Demon Deacons needed to travel only 39 yards to reach paydirt after Walker threw an interception.

Aaron Boumerhi connected on a 45-yard field goal with four seconds remaining in the first half to send Temple into the locker room down 21 points.

The Owls scored on their first two possessions of the second half to trim the deficit to 11 points.

Jennings caught a quick out and eluded three Demon Deacons defenders en route to a 58-yard touchdown reception. A 24-yard field goal by Boumerhi made the score 30-21 with 3:51 left in the third quarter.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Tyler Matakevich, a Temple alumnus, was happy to see the Owls coming back into the game:

In between the scores, Wake Forest was dealt a tough blow when Wolford landed on his head while being tackled on a designed run. According to the Military Bowl's Twitter account, the junior suffered a neck strain and didn't return to the game.

Kyle Kearns replaced Wolford and threw an interception on his fourth passing attempt of the game.

Yahoo Sports' Dr. Saturday directed another "WakeyLeaks" jab at the Demon Deacons:

Following Wolford's injury, Wake Forest's offense ground to a halt. The team's first two drives with Kearns under center ended in three-and-outs, and the third ended without any points as well.

With the Owls poised to potentially tie the game, the Demon Deacons stepped up to limit Temple to a field goal with 3:56 left in the game.

The Owls had a 1st-and-goal at the 6-yard line. Walker threw an incompletion on first down and lost 22 yards on a second-down sack that eliminated any chance of Temple finding the end zone. 

Sean Kane of CSN Philadelphia was surprised the senior made such a costly mistake:

Walker completed an eight-yard pass on third down to set up Boumerhi's fourth tally of the game to cut Wake Forest's lead to five points, 31-26.

John Armstrong delivered another shot in the arm to the Demon Deacons when he returned Temple's ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the Owls 15-yard line. Although the offense couldn't get a first down, Weaver put three points on the board to restore his team's eight-point lead, 34-26, with 1:59 remaining.

Temple had one more chance to tie the game after Isaiah Wright's kick return set the Owls up at their own 47-yard line.

In what's likely to be a hotly debated moment, though, Ed Foley called for a running play on 3rd-and-1 with 1:18 left. Wake Forest tackled Jahad Thomas two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Demon Deacons shared the team's reaction to the play on the sidelines:

As a team, the Owls ran for minus-20 yards, much of which was a result of Walker's sacks. Thomas carried the ball seven times for 35 yards, though, so Temple hadn't established much of a ground presence during the game.

Zach Gelb of Fox Sports 920 thought the third-down play call was questionable:

An incomplete pass from Walker on fourth down cemented Temple's defeat.

With Matt Rhule having left for Baylor, Geoff Collins will have big shoes to fill when he assumes full-time coaching duties for the Owls. Temple went 2-10 in Rhule's first season and posted 10 wins in his final two years.

In addition to Walker, the Owls will lose Haason Reddick and Praise Martin-Oguike, who finished first and second in sacks, respectively, as well as Thomas, who was the team's leading rusher. The cupboard isn't completely bare, but the Owls will struggle to match their recent success in Collins' inaugural campaign.

Wake Forest's seven wins are its most since its last bowl victory in 2008, and the Demon Deacons are set up well for 2017.

Wolford, Colburn and wideouts Tabari Hines and Cortez Lewis will be back, giving the offense back its leading passer, rusher and top two receivers. Linebacker Marquel Lee will leave a big hole on defense, but Jessie Bates III was only a redshirt freshman and defensive end Duke Ejiofor will almost certainly return for his senior year. 

Competing for an ACC Atlantic title will likely be a bridge too far for Wake Forest, but bowl eligibility will be a more than attainable goal for the Demon Deacons next year. 

Postgame Reaction

Temple missed out on setting a school record after failing to collect its 11th win.

"It pains me right now like I cannot describe because I know once it settles in it will only get worse," Foley said after being unable to make history, per PennLive.com's Daniel Gallen. "It is really disappointing to me knowing how close we came in this game."

Foley also discussed what spurred the Owls' second-half turnaround: "They ran a zone-read system on us, and we were on our heels a little bit early. We did not make a whole lot of changes at halftime. We just went into the locker room at halftime and said that we have to knock them back."

Demon Deacons linebacker Thomas Brown was emotional following the win.

"I'm trying to fight back tears right now," he said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "It's such a great feeling. I really don't even know how to describe it."

Head coach Dave Clawson thought the victory was more impactful given the recent drama around the program:

"

It was really important we win this game so this game and this bowl championship becomes the lasting memory for this football team and not some stupid hashtag that nobody in our program was responsible for. That becomes the lasting memory for the team and not a bitterness of something we're ready to move past.

"