With seven minutes and 35 seconds left in the first quarter, Owls’ freshman quarterback Justin Lynch saw redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Jose Barbon open down the right sideline. Barbon was in the endzone with a step or two on the defensive backs, but Lynch’s throw was short, falling into the arms of Golden Hurricane’s graduate student safety TieNeal Martin for an interception.
Temple University football (3-8, 1-6 The American Athletic Conference) lost to the University of Tulsa (5-6, 4-3 The American) 44-10 at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saturday evening.
“It was a couple plays here and there that we could’ve executed a little better,” said junior offensive lineman Adam Klein. “We gotta stay consistent, stay focused and execute on those one or two plays.”
Tulsa put up 10 points in the first quarter to take an early lead. Temple has not scored in the first quarter since their second game at the University of Akron (2-9, 1-6 The Mid-American Conference) on Sept. 11, and have been outscored 91-7 in the first quarter this season. Today also marked the fourth straight game in which the Owls went scoreless in the first half.
The Owls lacked any sort of offensive capabilities from the air against the Golden Hurricane, instead displaying a running game that rushed for 131 yards.
Lynch started in today’s game because redshirt-freshman starting quarterback D’Wan Mathis intends to enter the transfer portal.
Lynch went 22 of 37 for 152 yards, with just 48 of those yards coming in the first half. Graduate student Randle Jones, the Owls’ leading receiver this season, suffered an injury in the third quarter that kept him out the rest of the game.
Lynch did find redshirt-sophomore Amad Anderson Jr. for a 23-yard touchdown pass with five minutes and 13 seconds left in the third quarter. This was Lynch’s fourth touchdown thrown in 143 attempts this season.
Going into today’s contest, the Golden Hurricane had five consecutive games finish within one score, going 3-2 over that stretch, including an eight-point loss to No. 2 ranked University of Cincinnati (10-0, 6-0 The American).
Temple’s seventh-ranked pass defense — which allows an average of 263 yards per game — gave up 233 yards to Tulsa redshirt-junior quarterback Davis Brin in the first half alone. Brin finished the game with 297 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Only four receivers caught a pass for the Golden Hurricane, but senior wide receivers Josh Johnson, redshirt-senior JuanCarlos Santana and graduate student Ezra Naylor II each caught three or more passes for a combined 272 yards.
On the Golden Hurricane’s first offensive play of the second half, junior safety DaeSean Winston stripped the ball from Tulsa senior running back Shamari Brooks, which was recovered by graduate student defensive end Manny Walker after a 32-yard rush.
Winston had seven total tackles in his first game back for the Owls after an injury in Temple’s season opener.
This play helped Temple execute their first scoring drive of the game. Freshman kicker Rory Bell sent a 33-yard field goal through the uprights, making the score 27-3.
The Owls take on Navy (2-8, 2-5 The American) on Nov. 27 at Lincoln Financial Field in their final game of the season, where they will honor their seniors.
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