After Temple Football (0-2, 0-1 American Athletic Conference) scored just three points in a much-expected blowout loss to No. 15 Oklahoma on Aug. 30, there was hope for a bounce-back game on Saturday. Temple faced AAC rival Navy (2-0, 1-0 AAC), a team boasting a new-look Wing-T offense.
Temple defeated Navy in its last matchup on Nov. 4, 2023, but halfway through the first quarter, it was evident a repeat performance wasn’t going to happen. The Owls’ offense recorded just six yards in the first quarter and continued to be the team’s Achilles heel.
Quarterback Forrest Brock’s less-than-ideal week one performance carried into week two, with 277 yards and two interceptions. Temple’s defense was put in a blender, unable to contain the Midshipmen’s offense and ultimately crumbled.
Put everything together and you get an embarrassing 38-11 score in Annapolis, Maryland. Brock looked uncomfortable passing the ball and the run game was non-existent, a recurring theme throughout head coach Stan Drayton’s tenure.
“I am not giving up on this football team,” Drayton said. “I believe that we have the right stuff in place and we just need to put it to execution. That’s going to be on the coaches and the players and we will grow with the season.”
It’s easy to blame Brock, who couldn’t find a rhythm until the last drive of the first half. While he completed 30 of his 46 passing attempts, he was visibly rattled and 25 of his 46 attempts were five yards or less.
When Brock was able to sling the rock, his confidence was shaky. He threw it more than 15 yards just seven times and completed a mere three of them, stifling an offense in desperate need of a spark.
However, Drayton kept the struggling Brock on the field for a second straight week despite his subpar performances. The Owls were able to break onto the Midshipmen’s side of the field twice in the first 30 minutes but interceptions and penalties ruined any chance to walk away with points.
“We just weren’t clicking,” Brock said. “We need to start faster and gather some momentum. I feel like we were shooting ourselves in the foot the whole time.”
While Brock sputtered, the running game fared even worse against a stout Navy defense. Temple’s rushing attack has failed to gain steam under Drayton, and Saturday was more of the same.
Brock led the Owls in rushing through the first three quarters while the lead backs ran in place for a combined eight yards. Running back E.J. Wilson was a semi-bright spot last week but managed only two yards against the Midshipmen.
Like week one, Temple finally found a rhythm in the second half and made it into the Navy red zone. Brock found wide receiver Dante Wright for what looked to be the team’s first touchdown of the year but a penalty negated the lone positive and Temple ended the drive empty-handed after a turnover on downs.
The pair connected in the endzone for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the ending was already decided.
The Owls’ defense was a source of optimism against the Sooners but was the exact opposite in their second matchup of the year. After holding the 15th-best team in the country to 1-12 on third downs, they couldn’t stop a nosebleed against Navy.
Navy’s offense gave Temple fits all game, and only linebacker D.J. Woodbury Sr. was able to adapt. The single-digit led the team with 10 tackles. The Midshipmen constantly found the second level and Woodbury Sr. was the only one there to make a stop.
But Navy still easily broke through and quarterback Blake Horvath delivered the blows. He sliced through the Owls’ defense for 122 yards and three scores on the ground. Then the Owls were on the receiving end of the Midshipmen’s recently discovered passing attack, as Horvath threw for a touchdown.
“There’s a lot of moving parts, it all comes down to discipline and our eyes,” said defensive tackle Latrell Jean. “We have to handle our assignments. It wasn’t too difficult, it comes down to discipline. We have to handle our assignments a lot better than we did today.”
The Owls have now gone without a road conference win for 1,746 days and the streak will extend even further. They return home next week for their home opener against Coastal Carolina (2-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) on Sept. 14 at 2 p.m.
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