To put it mildly, Temple is coming off of back-to-back poor defensive performances - especially against the run.

In its last two games against East Carolina and Tulane, Temple has allowed a combined 558 yards on the ground. The job does not get any easier this week, as Temple hosts FAU. The other Owls sit at No. 4 in the American Athletic Conference in rushing offense.

The rushing defense for Temple has had an up and down season. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers' unit has had its moments, such as limiting opponents like UConn or Tulsa to fewer than 100 rushing yards, but it has also allowed teams to go off for more than 200 yards.

Temple defensive lineman Latrell Jean attributed the polarizing performances to the simple things.

“We have to execute better,” Jean said. “We have to execute our calls better, that’s really what it is. It’s just consistency. We stopped UConn and then we stopped Tulsa but then we went to ECU and didn’t stop ECU. We have to stay consistent when it comes to stopping the run.”

Temple sits at 2-7 on the season. With just three games remaining, and after two straight blowout losses, it's a fair question to ask how hard the team is still playing. According to Jean, however, the Owls are still playing hard for Temple head coach Stan Drayton.

“Yeah, guys are ready to play,” Jean said. “Guys are ready to compete. We never have to question that. Guys that are stepping on the field got to be competitive and I know that we have a competitive football team. So guys are definitely ready.”

Jean transferred to Temple after playing four seasons with FAU. The Temple defensive lineman mentioned to the media that he is still friends with a lot of the players on both sides of the ball.

Jean also said he still talks weekly with a lot of his former teammates. That has not changed this week, as Jean caught up with his former roommates and current FAU defensive linemen Jaden Wheeler and Chris Jones this week ahead of their game against each other.

Despite going up against some of his former teammates, Jean said there is no extra emotion heading into the game against his former school.

“Extra emotions? No,” Jean said. “I’m excited to play against my old team, my old teammates, but I can’t get too high and I can’t get too low. I got to treat it as a regular game. I don’t want to go in there with my emotions all out of whack. To me I’m going to treat this as another game.”

Jean said several of FAU's current offensive linemen were there when he played there, so Jean has been able to talk to his Temple coaches about specific things to look for on the film and on gameday.

“We’ve gone against each other a lot,” Jean said. “We have a lot of reps built up going against each other from over the years.”

Jean doesn’t believe either will have a leg up when they’re facing each other in their direct matchups, despite the amount of reps they all have against one another.

“You’re a different player every year,” Jean said. “Obviously, they know some things about me that they’ve been going against for years, and I know things about them that I’ve been going against for years. So I feel like it kind of balances out. It just comes on, who's going to hit each other harder? Who’s going to punch each other in the mouth first?”