Carey dissects Saturday's loss
Temple head coach Rod Carey said after Saturday night’s 31-29 loss to Navy that nothing was broken.
Rather, some things were bent out of shape and needed to be corrected.
After having time to digest the loss, Carey had a more in-depth look at quarterback Anthony Russo’s first performance of the shortened season and was most excited about his response to adversity after throwing a crucial interception late in the first half.
“How he responded to that was completely different from how he’s ever responded from a play like that. And that is an improvement,” Carey said. “Before, Russo makes a critical error like that and you will see it affect him for the rest of the game. It did not in this game.”
The third-year starting quarterback responded with two touchdowns on the ground and a third through the air to Branden Mack in the third quarter. He finished the night with 206 yards, completing 21 of his 30 passing attempts.
Russo’s most costly incompletion came in the final minute of the fourth quarter on a 2-point conversion attempt with a chance to tie the game at 31. With five minutes on the clock in a one-possession game, Temple marched down the field on a drive that culminated in a Re’Mahn Davis touchdown run from the 1-yard line.
Carey called for Russo to roll out right to find Davis, but Navy sophomore linebacker Terrell Adams got in front of the play and forced an incompletion. Adams was recognized as the American Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week for his clutch pass breakup in what was his first career start.
Offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich had a different play call on the 2-point conversion attempt, but Carey overruled him, which he said in retrospect was a bad call on his part.
“I would have liked to see him extend it with his feet,” Carey said, “but it was such a bad call that that’s not on him. That’s on me.”
Carey also offered assessments on how the offensive line graded out and the defense’s struggles with pad level and containing the run.
All things considered, Carey was pleased with the effort he received from a revamped offensive line unit. Leon Pinto was a late addition to the lineup with Adam Klein sidelined with a minor injury, while Vincent Picozzi and Michael Niese were both starting at the tackle positions for the first time in their respective careers. Isaac Moore was in for seven snaps, but Picozzi did return after a brief absence.
“I guess when you take the entire picture into it, you would come out and you’d say I feel like they played really well,” Carey said. “But, inside of it, there’s still some consistency, some improvement that we’d like to have happened…[I’m] certainly not satisfied, would’ve liked to seen us have more yards in the run game, even though we ran it effectively.”
On Saturday, Temple totaled 169 rushing yards on 33 attempts. Davis had 23 carries for 100 yards and a score, while Tayvon Ruley added five carries for 46 yards, including a career-long 30-yard scamper.
Russo added a different element to Temple’s rushing offense, but Carey would like to see more in terms of blocking upfront. Especially considering that coming into Saturday’s contest, Navy was allowing 311.7 rushing yards per game, which was last (74th) in the nation.
Temple’s inexperienced defense, on the other hand, was exposed early and often in the loss.
Navy’s offense, which relied heavily on the triple-option running through gaps up the middle, scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions.
On 60 attempts, the Midshipmen torched the Owls defense for 261 yards on the ground, including four touchdowns. Senior fullback Nelson Smith led the way with 120 yards on 20 attempts with a long of 26 yards that accounted for one of his two touchdowns on the night.
Going back and watching the film, Carey felt there were moments where Dan Archibong looked “really, really good,” but he just wasn’t consistent enough. Archinbong struggled to contain the run on Saturday, but Carey again attributed it to the graduate defensive tackle’s pad levels.
As for Will Kwenkeu, who also experienced some struggles in his first career regular-season start, Carey believed the graduate linebacker was a little hesitant at times but got it going at the end.
“You have a normal first game thing that happens to every team, no matter how much you’re in the shoots with every position,” Carey added. “It's just one of those things every year, you come out and see in the first game, pads are usually high for a period of time.”
Carey insisted the issue of pad level was corrected mid-game, but because the defense was on the field so long, so early in the game, fatigue got the best of them at times.
Injury updates
In terms of injuries to report on, Klein is cleared to get back to practice Tuesday after clearing protocols on a minor injury suffered in practice the week leading up to the Navy game.
As for Yvandy Rigby, the redshirt freshmen had been banged up and played just 29 snaps between the linebacker and BUBO positions. Also, Purdue transfer Darrius Pittman did not register a snap in Saturday’s game after being talked up by both his head coach and quarterback. The grad transfer tight end tweaked his ankle in late September and was only active in case of an emergency. Carey is confident that Pittman should be back in the lineup to complement David Martin-Robinson against USF this Saturday.
A handful of other players had minor bumps and bruises, Carey said, but nothing that would keep anybody out of practice this week.
Extra Points: It is expected to be announced Tuesday whether or not Lincoln Financial Field will allow fans at Temple’s game against USF this Saturday in a limited capacity…. Evan Boozer saw a surprise start at defensive end, seeing 12 more snaps than Wake Forest graduate transfer Manny Walker, which Rod Carey attributed as merely an in-game personnel move from a production standpoint…. Carey said it was tough to get a good read on his defensive backs playing the first game against a team that threw the ball twice all game, but USF will be a better test for the inexperienced group.