Brown stepped in for Pierce, who suffered a shoulder injury, in the Owls' last two regular-season outings. He rushed for 156 yards on 18 carries in a victory over Kent State. The next week, Brown came back with 172 yards on 25 carries as Temple lost at Ohio.
Brown scored three times in the two games, including a 71-yard run.
"I just wanted to get on the field and make myself known," said Brown, who is now on scholarship. "It felt good, but it felt like that was where I was supposed to be. I had it made up in my mind that was going to happen as soon as I was put in a position for it to happen."
While Pierce wound up with 1,361 yards on 235 rushes and scored a school-record 16 touchdowns, Brown ran for 529 yards on 89 carries with five scores in 11 games. Working behind an offensive line that included four players who made one of the three all-MAC teams, Pierce averaged 5.8 yards a carry; Brown had 5.9 yards per try.
Overall, Temple finished second in the MAC in rushing offense.
"I used to always tell Matt that he was good and that he was going to get some playing time," Pierce said. "He really never believed me. He was like, 'Yeah, yeah.' But he stepped up big, and it doesn't matter if he goes in or I go in, it's going to be the same result."
Brown, who also returned kicks last season, echoed his teammate.
"I don't think about that," he said of getting as many carries as he'd like. "I just think about running. I know that he is going to play, and I'm going to play. As long as we get the W, I'm happy."
Pierce, a native of Ardmore who went to Temple out of Glen Mills, accumulated his yardage last season despite sitting out two full games and the second halves of two others due to his shoulder injury.
