Temple running back Bernard Pierce will miss Saturday’s pivotal Mid-American Conference East game against Ohio.

Pierce, the Owls leading rusher, suffered a left shoulder injury during the first possession of last week’s 47-13 win over Kent State. Temple coach Al Golden said Pierce landed awkwardly on the shoulder, and though he tried to play two more downs, he was in too much pain to continue.

“It’s fate, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Golden said. “Certainly, he means a lot to our team and we’ll miss him. Obviously, we’re a different team without him, but he hung in there for two more plays and then he couldn’t do it.”

Matt Brown, a 5-foot-5, 167-pound freshman, rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries in Pierce’s stead. Golden said Brown, a former receiver who has only been playing tailback for the past month, would start against Ohio. Golden also said Lamar McPherson, Joey Jones and Jason Harper would be in the mix for backup time, and that that would be decided later this week.

“He did a great job versus Akron,” Golden said of Brown. “He’s been playing tailback for about a month now, so he’s really matured nicely. He’s a competitor, he’s tough, he did a good job of protecting the football and he really just plays with a lot of energy. We’ve got a big, physical offensive line and tight end grouping and he gets in there behind them, makes it tough for defenses to see and the he can dart out. He did a great job for us.”

This Friday’s game against Ohio will determine the MAC East division title and send the winner to face Central Michigan in the MAC title game in Detroit. Temple (9-2, 7-0) has led the East all conference season and has won nine consecutive games after losing its first two of the year.

Ohio (8-3, 6-1) has a conference loss to Kent State, but a win over Temple would give both teams a loss and Ohio the edge with the head-to-head tiebreaker.