Temple Football extended its losing streak to three games after Friday night’s 27-16 loss against the University of Tulsa (3-4, 1-2 The American).
The two teams entered the primetime matchup tied with each other for ninth place in the conference standings. With a chance to move up in the rankings, the Owls’ offense disappointed once again. Now averaging less than 15 points per game, Temple tallied only 280 yards of offense against Tulsa.
“We’re just trying to stretch the field with movement on offense right now,” said head coach Stan Drayton. “[We’re] not doing an adequate job. Not good enough, obviously.”
Friday was perhaps the most inefficient Temple’s offense has ever been.
Third down running back Jakari Norwood was away this week as Drayton said in the press conference the redshirt junior had “some personal things he’s dealing with.” The last time Drayton said that was in reference to former four-star recruit Iverson Clement, who is no longer on the roster.
Redshirt senior Adonicas Sanders played in the first half, but returned to the sidelines in sweatpants when the team left the locker room for the second half. Sanders was initially a gametime decision for the Owls with a knee sprain.
Redshirt junior Amad Anderson Jr. joined redshirt freshman Zae Baines and graduate Jose Barbon as the only wideouts to log second-half snaps. Barbon’s inconsistent hands appeared again on Friday as he dropped multiple passes in a game where his team needed him to be the top pass-catching option.
Baines filled in for redshirt freshman receiver Ian Stewart, who was ruled out for Friday’s game with a foot injury. Unfortunately, Baines’ limited knowledge of the playbook was on display.
“Anytime there’s new guys, you have to get used to it,” said freshman quarterback E.J. Warner. “But we’ve been putting in work in practice. We put in work all camp, all summer. So it’s not an excuse with no chemistry or anything like that.”
To make matters worse, offensive linemen James Faminu— who made his return on Friday night— and Adam Klein left the game with injuries in the second half and never returned to the field. Temple started its seventh different offensive line in seven games on Friday.
“Looking at [Klein’s] demeanor and watching him push those young linemen to give it everything they’ve got toward the end of the ballgame shows me that he’s going to be just fine,” Drayton said. “He’s actually agitated that he wasn’t allowed to finish the game today.”
Defensively, Temple came out firing on all cylinders. Outside linebacker Layton Jordan caught his second pick-six of the season early on Tulsa’s first drive of the game. On the second play of the Golden Hurricane’s second drive, freshman cornerback Jalen McMurray caught the first interception of his career.
Jordan also had two sacks, including a forced fumble, and another tackle for loss. However, he wasn’t the only edge rusher that stood out on Friday.
After Jordan and McMurray had their fun on Tulsa’s first two drives, sophomore defensive end Darian Varner joined the party on the third drive. With outside linebacker Tra Thomas out again this week, Varner split snaps with fellow sophomore Muheem McCargo at the position. Varner had 1.5 sacks on the drive and added two more before the end of the night.
However, Tulsa exposed Temple’s Achilles’ heel in the contest, increasing the tempo of their offense to stall the defense. Once the Golden Hurricane began going no-huddle, the Owls did not have a response and allowed 14 unanswered points to end the first half. Running backs Deneric Prince and Steven Anderson took advantage of Temple’s worn-down front seven, leading Tulsa to 299 rushing yards.
Prince had a career-high of 231 yards and a touchdown on just 20 carries. His 84-yard touchdown run was the fourth-longest run in Tulsa history.
“No huddle is something we should expect,” Varner said. “College football has changed. That’s something we should expect out of everybody.”
Even if fast tempos aren’t the theme of modern football, Temple should expect that style of play from opponents for the rest of the season. When a weakness is so glaring on film and on the box score, it’s something a coaching staff must work rapidly to address. However, it’s out of the defense’s hands.
Until Danny Langsdorf’s offense can stay on the field and put together time-consuming drives, Temple’s defense will continue to be overworked and fall victim to opposing running backs.
Things won’t be any easier for the Owls on Saturday when they travel to the Naval Academy (2-5, 2-3 The American) and face Ken Niumatalolo’s triple-option offense.
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