By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Richard Hall rushes for a touchdown against the Temple Owls during the first half of Saturday nights Big East-CUSA matchup at Nippert Stadium. (Thomas E. WItte photo) | ZOOM |

University of Cincinnati running back Richard Hall told himself to be patient. In a game of twists and turns, emotional ups and downs, he waited for the right moment.

"I told myself if I get the ball again, there's going to be a cutback lane somewhere," Hall said. "I just found me a crease, got up in there, and the rest is just what I do."

It all came together perfectly on Hall's 25-yard touchdown run that gave UC a stirring 30-24 come-from-behind triple-overtime victory over Temple on Saturday night before 30,405 fans at Nippert Stadium.

The win provided UC with its first 3-0 start since 1985 and moved head coach Rick Minter past Sid Gillman on the school's career victories list with 51.

Hall's touchdown run came on UC's second play from scrimmage in the third overtime.

It accounted for the only points in overtime after five botched field goal attempts.

"He took it right out of the kickers' feet," Minter said of Hall's run. "He's a big-time player."

Temple's Jared Davis missed a 24-yard field goal in the Owls' third overtime possession. It was his third missed field goal after regulation.

Temple's Zamir Cobb looks for an open route while UC's A.J. Lucius runs him down from behind. (Thomas E. WItte photo) | ZOOM |

UC is now 5-3 in overtime games. Temple is 0-2 in overtime games, both of which have been played in their last two outings.

Trailing 24-10 after three quarters, the Bearcats woke up in the fourth quarter and stormed back to force the overtime.

UC had a chance to win the game in regulation with 4:42 left, but a 33-yard field goal attempt by Chet Ervin was aborted when holder Collin Carey couldn't get the snap down.

The Bearcats had the ball again on the Temple 45 with fourth down and 1 to go.

They tried unsuccessfully to get the Owls to jump offsides, then called time out and punted to the Temple 4.

The Owls then ran out the clock and sent the game into overtime.

Bearcats quarterback Gino Guidugli passed for 321 yards and rushed for 71. He broke Deontey Kenner's record for total offense with 6,799 yards.

After failing to score on third-and-goal from the 2, and fourth-and-goal from the 1 at the outset of the fourth quarter, the UC offense came alive on its next possession with a 56-yard touchdown pass from Guidugli to freshman running back Derrick Eddington, who was all alone behind the Temple defense.

It was the longest pass play of the season for UC and the first career touchdown catch for Eddington.

Following a Temple punt, the Bearcats scored again on an 11-yard run by Hall to tie the score at 24 with 8:46 to go.

The UC defense, so stingy in its first two games, was shredded by Temple's passing game.

Behind quarterback Mike McGann, the Owls (0-3) used their no-huddle, spread offense to riddle the UC secondary with passes.

They rolled up 415 passing yards and kept the UC defense on its heels all night long and burned the UC defense for 522 yards overall.

"We'd expect one play and they'd do something else," said defensive end Andre Frazier. "They had us on our heels."

Three Temple receivers - Cobb, Phil Goodman and Terrence Stubbs - had more than 100 receiving yards, the first time that has happened in school history.

"We were a little soft," Minter said. "They exploited us in some areas, but our defense really played well in the overtime and in the fourth quarter."

Temple broke a 10-10 halftime tie early in the third quarter, taking advantage of a Dennis Hart fumble at the Temple 31.

The Owls drove 69 yards and scored on a 17-yard pass from McGann to Ikey Chuku.

They scored again with 4:14 left after taking over on their own seven yard line and driving 93 yards on six plays to score on a 15-yard pass from McGann to Zamir Cobb, eliciting boos from the UC crowd.

The Bearcats, who entered the game ranked fifth nationally in total defense, having allowed 223 yards per game, gave up 181 in the first quarter alone.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Temple	7	3	14	0	0	0	0-24
Cincinnati	7	3	0	14	0	0	6-30

First Quarter

UC-Hall 12 run (Manfredini kick), 11:34

Tem-Ferguson 9 run (Davis kick), 3:32

Second Quarter

Tem-FG Davis 22, 4:47

UC-FG Manfredini 26, :00

Third Quarter

Tem-Chuku 17 pass from McGann (Davis kick), 11:52

Tem-Coob 15 pass from McGann (Davis kick), 4:14

Fourth Quarter

UC-Eddington 56 pass from Guidugli (Manfredini kick), 11:29

UC-Hall 11 run (Manfredini kick), 8:46

Third Overtime

UC-Hall 25 run, 15:00

A-30,405.

	Tem	UC
First downs	22	25
Rushes-yards	31-107	38-136
Passing	415	321
Comp-Att-Int	28-48-2	29-44-0
Return Yards	11	61
Punts-Avg.	05-32	05-36
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-1
Penalties-Yards	11-79	2-10
Time of Possession	28:39	31:21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Temple, Ferguson 13-66, Porter 6-2, Washington 5-(minus 4), McGann 5-41, Szarka 1-3, Team 1-(minus 1). Cincinnati, Guidugli 14-71, Hall 13-66, Vann 1-6, Eddington 9-3, Team 1-(minus 10).

PASSING-Temple, McGann 26-46-2-338, Washington 2-2-0-77. Cincinnati, Guidugli 29-43-0-321.

RECEIVING-Temple, Cobb 9-120, Goodman 8-129, Stubbs 6-123, Chuku 1-17, Ibeh 1-15, Porter 1-6, Hannigan 1-3, Szarka 1-2. Cincinnati, Murray 8-67, Ross 6-75, Hall 5-49, Eddington 3-67, Dawley 3-30, Hazel 2-21, Hart 1-9, Dudley 1-3.