Monday, November 21, 2011

Temple's Johnson earns MAC DPOY honors

Temple senior LB Stephen Johnson  earned Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for the East division, the MAC announced on Monday.

In Temple’s 42-14 win over Army, Johnson led all players with a career-high 16 tackles, including a career-best eight solo stops.

In 11 starts this season, Johnson leads the Owls with 99 tackles, 34 more than any other Owl.  He also has a team-high five break-ups, two forced fumbles, and a hurry.

The MAC honor is the third of Johnson’s career and his third this season.

Also, The College Football Performance Awards honored junior PK/P Brandon McManus and junior RB Bernard Pierce with Honorable Mention national player of the week accolades on Sunday.

Named the Honorable Mention kickoff specialist for the third consecutive week, McManus made six PATs to extend his consecutive streak to 42 makes.  He also kicked off seven times for 488 yards, averaging 69.7 yards per kickoff.  He punted three times for 139 yards (46.3 average) with two touchbacks and one inside the 20.

In 11 games, McManus second in team scoring with 75 points. He leads the MAC with a perfect 42-of-42 in PATs.  In his first season with the added duty of team punting, McManus has punted 43 times for 1,985 yards. Fifteen of those 40 landed inside the 20, while 16 were longer than 50 yards.

On the career charts, McManus is No. 2 in field goals (41) and No. 3 in career points (241).

In this week’s national statistics, McManus is No. 5 in punting (46.16).

This is McManus’ seventh weekly honor from the CFP this season.

Named the Honorable running back, Pierce finished with 157 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries against Army, helping Temple to a season-high five rushing touchdowns.  With five rushing TDs in the game, Temple set the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season and now has a record 32 rushing TDs this season.

Pierce now has 294 career points, 48 career rushing touchdowns, and 49 total career touchdowns. He extended his school records and now has 22 touchdowns and 132 points this season. Pierce He eclipsed the 100-yard mark in rushing for the 16th time in his career and seventh time this season.

In 10 games, Pierce is the Owls’ rushing leader with 1,192 yards and 22 TDs on 224 carries. In this week’s national statistics, he is No. 3 in scoring (13.20 ppg) and No. 12 in rushing (119.20).

This is Pierce’s fifth weekly honor from the CFP this season.

Temple (7-4, 4-3 MAC) hosts Kent State (5-6, 4-3 MAC) in the regular-season finale on Friday, Nov. 25 at Noon at Lincoln Financial Field.  The Senior Class will be honored during a pregame ceremony.

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