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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Chad Pennington's pain was Marshall's
gain.
Limited to one day of practice with a sore thigh, Pennington
threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night as No. 21
Marshall beat Temple 34-0.
The injury, which occurred a week ago against Bowling Green,
bothered Pennington throughout.
"I didn't take any shots on it. I made sure I slid when I was
scrambling," Pennington said.
"Every time he stepped on it, he was in pain," Marshall coach
Bob Pruett said. "He played in a lot of pain tonight. That's the
reason he's a great player."
The Thundering Herd toyed with Temple, rolling up 593 yards in
offense in going to 4-0 for the third time in four years. Marshall
also won its 27th straight at home, second in the nation to
Florida's 30.
Wide receiver Nate Poole enjoyed the feast with career highs of
10 catches for 179 yards, including a juggling 26-yard catch for a
score in the third quarter.
"After a while, I didn't even have to think about my routes,"
Poole said. "It was like when your mother cooks dinner. She just
puts it on the table and you eat. I've never felt like this."
Poole had six catches in the first quarter as Pennington
completed 11 of his first 12 passes. He also ran for a first down
on fourth-and-inches from the Marshall 30 in the second quarter.
"If we can't make it that far, we don't need to be ranked,"
Pruett said.
The sneak kept alive a drive which resulted in Pennington's
47-yard TD toss to running back Llow Turner for a 21-0 halftime
lead.
Pennington finished 26-of-36 with one interception before
leaving late in the third quarter with Marshall ahead 31-0. The
400-yard game was the fourth of his career.
Temple (0-4) was held scoreless for the third time in four
games.
Its defense was given some reason to cheer. Marshall failed
twice on fourth-down tries in Owls territory and twice was forced
to kick short field goals inside the Temple 10.
Marshall's defense, allowing just 10 points per game, held the
Owls to 14 first downs, forced nine punts and held the Owls to 195
yards.
"Any time you post a shutout and score 34 points, I think
you've got to be happy," Pruett said.
Temple had the ball in Marshall territory five times but had two
passes intercepted and turned the ball over on downs three times.
The nation's fourth-worst rushing offense was held to 28 yards on
28 attempts.
"When it rains, it pours," Temple coach Bobby Wallace said.
"We tried to run at them. Two or three times we had short yardage
and we didn't convert. And that hurt us."
Temple quarterback Mac DeVito, making his first college start,
left in the first quarter when he was hit attempting his first
pass. Backup Devin Scott, who started Temple's other three games,
went 21-of-39 for 157 yards.
"We practiced our game plan with DeVito all week. When DeVito
went out, we had to go back to another," Scott said.
This was just the second meeting between the schools. Temple won
31-10 in 1974.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Temple Clubhouse
Marshall Clubhouse
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