LeFevour, Sneed lead Chippewas to easy road win

PHILADELPHIA _” Temple’s Georg Coleman intercepted CMU freshman quarterback Dan LeFevour’s second pass of the game Saturday.

But that was as close as the Owls would get to challenging Central.

CMU stopped Temple from scoring off the turnover with three consecutive plays resulting in negative yards for the Owls. Temple lined up for a 50-yard field goal attempt, but the snap went over kicker Jake Brownell’s head, and the Chippewas recovered on the Temple 40-yard line.

From there the Chippewas would score the next 28 points en route to a 42-26 win at Lincoln Financial Field.

“That was big, it takes a team effort and we didn’t hold up our side of the bargain on that one,” LeFevour said. “It was bad timing for a turnover, giving them such a short field … that was huge not allowing them to score on a short field.”

CMU improves to 6-3 overall, while Temple falls to 1-9. The Chippewas also became bowl eligible with the win.

Saturday’s win sets up the Nov. 10 showdown against Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. The Broncos held off a pesky Miami team Saturday, winning 27-24 on the strength of a 20-yard Nate Meyer field goal with 1:16 remaining in the game.

Friday’s game could decide who represents the West Division in the Mid-American Conference Championship game Nov. 30 in Detroit. The Chippewas are 5-0 in the MAC, while Western is 5-1 in the conference and 7-2 overall.

Sophomore running back Ontario Sneed scored his first of four touchdowns Saturday three plays after Temple’s botched field goal attempt. LeFevour hit him for an 11-yard touchdown catch, giving the Chippewas a 7-0 lead.

LeFevour made it 14-0 on a 30-yard pass to senior receiver Obed Cetoute later in the quarter.

Sneed scored again just before the end of the first quarter as he took a shovel pass from LeFevour and scored on a 30-yard gain.

His third touchdown came on 30-yard swing pass from LeFevour with 2:44 left in the first half.

Temple scored with six seconds remaining in the first half on a 10-yard pass from Adam DiMichele to Bruce Francis.

LeFevour responded with a 6-yard run in the third quarter to give CMU a 35-7 lead.

“Our defense never got them off track,” said Temple coach Al Golden. “We never got any four-man rush on the quarterback. We let them escape from the pocket.”

After DiMichele threw his second touchdown, it took Central only 38 seconds to respond. Sneed took a handoff, ran to his right and raced down the sideline on CMU’s first play of the possession for a 65-yard touchdown.

Temple added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.

The Chippewas had 499 yards of total offense and allowed the Owls to gain 309. Sneed had 140 yards on 10 carries and added five catches for 93 yards.

“We did some very good things offensively,” said CMU coach Brian Kelly. “Defensively … we played hard, but we were just out of sync today. I was pleased with the start but we’ve got to do a better job defensively and clean up some things.”