About a month ago, Temple had its best offensive performance by scoring six touchdowns in a 45-21 thumping of Utah State on Sept. 21. The Owls were on a roll during quarterback Evan Simon’s second start, with six different players finding the endzone to secure their first win of the season.
Temple’s success largely stemmed from its ability to get multiple players involved in offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf’s offense. Simon connected with nine different players on the field and Langsdorf sent flurries of new schemes of reserve players to give Temple a boost against the Aggies.
Temple (2-5, 1-2 American Athletic Conference) dropped the two ensuing games. The Owls were unable to replicate that same output, scoring just 21 offensive points.
The Owls reverted back to the plan of attack ahead of its homecoming game against Tulsa (2-5, 0-3 AAC) and the tactics proved to be fruitful. Temple scored 17 points in the first half, showing it has the potential to get the ball moving in the 20-10 win. Temple now sits at 2-5 and its hopes of making it to a bowl game are barely alive. But a deeper look at the schedule shows Temple might not be as bad as its record indicates.
“I could obviously tell you our record does not define us,” said linebacker Tyquan King. “You can tell by our play. The back end of the season is just like the beginning. We still got to go 1-0 every week from here on up. That’s our objective.”
The Owls have played difficult opponents for most of the season — Temple has only lost by more than one possession to opponents that were either nationally ranked when they played them or became ranked later in the season. The Owls lost to ranked conference foes Army and Navy, while Oklahoma was in the top 25 during their matchup on Aug. 30.
Temple has played every other game tightly outside of those matchups. The Owls’ defense has made strides and has forced five turnovers in the last two games after having just one through five games. If a couple small things went accordingly against Coastal Carolina and UConn, the Owls could be looking at a 3-4 or 4-3 record with a bowl game in closer reach.
If Simon was the signal caller against UConn on Oct. 5, the Owls might have walked away with a victory. Temple started season-opening starter Forrest Brock, who orchestrated a potential game-winning drive before a last-second blunder spoiled the chances.
Simon was also close to forcing overtime against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 14. His final pass was off the mark resulting in a loss, but the offense looks completely different when he is under center.
Against Tulsa, Simon threw for 297 yards while sprinkling in 13 different players into the action and getting a touchdown out of it. Temple used key reserves like John Adams and Kajiya Hollawayne to kick-start the offense.
Despite being forced to punt on the first drive of the game, Temple clicked on the next three drives with a 29-yard field goal from kicker Maddux Trujillo and two straight touchdowns. Tight end Landon Morris, who was expected to have a breakout season but has been buried in the depth chart, also provided a spark with 97 receiving yards.
“For us to move forward as an offense [spreading the ball around] is exactly what needed to happen,” said head coach Stan Drayton. “[Dante Wright] is not the only playmaker in that room on that side of the ball. It’s time for those other guys to be exposed.”
The Owls’ next opponent is AAC foe ECU, who just fired its head coach Mike Houston Sunday following a 17-point loss to Army. If Temple can replicate its first-half showing when Simon is on the field, then the Owls might be able to show signs of life to keep its bowl hopes alive another week.
“We feel like we’re better than what the record shows, but it’s in the rearview mirror,” Drayton said. “I think we’ve learned some lessons from those games and win or loss that’s what you need to do. You got to be able to flush it and get to the next play, the next game. That’s our mindset.”
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