As Temple’s 42-14 loss to Army was coming to a close Thursday night, quarterback Evan Simon took a significant hit and was injured. He was attended to by trainers after the game, delaying his appearance at the postgame press conference.

After he walked somewhat gingerly to the dais, Simon was asked how he was feeling.

“I’m going to be sore in the morning,” Simon said.

Three mornings later, Simon is still sore.

Simon, who accounted for six touchdowns in Temple’s first win two weeks ago but took seven sacks in the loss to Army, did not throw during Monday’s practice due to an injury to the SC joint in his throwing shoulder. Head coach Stan Drayton said he and his staff had feared it was an AC joint injury.

But as things stand for the Rutgers transfer, it’s a day-by-day situation.

“He’s very sore,” Drayton said to reporters Monday afternoon. “We got some good news in terms of it not being as bad as we initially thought it would be. It's a day-by-day deal for Evan. He's a tough kid, but we got to be smart, as his health is most important for us.”

Simon’s is the second quarterback injury the Owls have sustained this season. Forrest Brock started the first two games of the season before suffering a wrist contusion at Navy. Like Simon’s injury, it happened late in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. Since stepping in as the starter against Coastal Carolina, Simon has completed nearly 65% of his passes for 680 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions in three games.

Brock himself is still not 100% according to Drayton, but he would likely start if Simon can't play Saturday. The injuries could also potentially open the door for redshirt freshman Tyler Douglas to see his first collegiate snaps. The Ocean Township High School product had his name floated around in fall camp as a player in the quarterback competition.

“He's been preparing behind those two guys since camp,” Drayton said. “His learning curve is still pretty high, but at the same time, he's not afraid. He's a tough kid. He provides a little different skill set than those other two guys in terms of what he can do with his legs, and he does throw the ball pretty well. If he has to go in the ball game, we'll rally around him."

Here are some other takeaways from Drayton’s Monday press conference.

OTHER STATUS UPDATES

Outside of the glaring injury issues at quarterback, the Owls’ defense has also been hampered by injuries to key depth pieces.

Not long after he registered a sack at Tulsa late last September, defensive tackle Allan Haye went down with a season-ending knee injury that night and missed the final eight games of the season. Through the first four games of this season, Haye was a consistent part of the defensive line rotation but missed the Army game as another player considered day-to-day.

“That was a real deal he took last year,” Drayton said, “and he's struggling to get back from that. There are days when he feels good. There are days when he doesn't. Last week he was not available for us against Army, but this week may be a different story.”

The Owls' linebacker depth was thinned out against the Black Knights, missing rotation pieces Eric Stuart, Tyler Lepolo and Katin Surprenant. While Drayton did not provide an update on Stuart, he did offer one for Lepolo and Surprenant.

According to Drayton, Surprenant was in concussion protocol last week and is back at full go, while Lepolo is no longer part of the team. He could retain his redshirt and his two remaining years of eligibility if he transfers to another program.

Temple did welcome back two key players last week in wide receiver Zae Baines and linebacker Diwun Black. Baines did not get much opportunity in his first game back while Black made an immediate impact, registering two tackles and forcing what looked like a fumble but was ruled an incomplete pass right before halftime.

It was a solid debut for them in Drayton’s eyes, something that can be built on.

“Both of those guys are very talented football players,” Drayton said. “There’s a little rust on both of them still, but they're very intentional about getting back this week. They’ve got the right mindset. We'll see improvement as they continue to play.”

WHAT IS “FIXABLE?”

Drayton has preached all season how Temple’s issues are fixable. He said it again after Thursday night’s loss.

So what does Drayton view as actually fixable?

He highlighted two specific things Monday: missed tackles and missed assignments.

And they’re not really small fixes.

Army ran all over Temple in their blowout win, rushing for 417 yards and averaging more than seven yards per carry. The Owls struggled mightily to bring down Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily and running back Kanye Udoh.

“I think our tackling kind of went down against Army,” Drayton said. “And we cannot do that against a good UConn football team. Those running backs are the real deal.”

UConn has the nation’s 11th-ranked rushing offense, averaging 244.6 yards per game on the ground. Durrell Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound redshirt freshman, has tallied 369 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 8.6 yards per carry. Mel Brown, a 5-9, 180-pound Gardner Webb transfer, has run for 297 yards and a score on 6.1 yards per attempt. Cam Edwards, a 5-11, 210-pound redshirt sophomore has 280 yards and three scores while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

Between No. 1 Army, No. 5 Navy and now UConn, Temple will be facing three of the top 15 rushing teams in the country. Robinson, Brown and Edwards combined for 223 yards and two touchdowns against Buffalo.

On the other side of the ball, Simon was sacked seven times and constantly hurried, and it wasn’t always just the same issue contributing to those sacks.

“The offensive line’s got to play better. We lacked some communication,” Drayton said. “It was a lot of second-guessing in the communication piece at the line of scrimmage, which put us in some bad positions, and you just can't play like that. So that's the focus this week, is to make sure we call out what we see. We live in it. If it's the wrong call, we're going to be wrong altogether. We can't have one guy doing something, doing a different call than the next guy doing a different call. We just got to get everybody on the same page. And I think if we do that, you're going to see much better execution from this team on both sides of the football.”

Right tackle Melvin Siani, right guard Wisdom Quarshie, center Grayson Mains and left guard Jackson Pruitt played all 56 snaps Thursday night. Left tackle Diego Barajas was benched after 16 snaps in favor of Kevin Terry, who played there the rest of the way. Barajas’ holding penalty wiped a 49-yard touchdown pass from Simon to Antonion Jones off the board in the first quarter.

PREVIEWING UCONN

UConn also enters Saturday with its own questions at quarterback. Starter Nick Evers exited in the first quarter of the Huskies’ game last week with a head injury, his second of the season, and was relieved by Joe Fagnano, who has thrown for 10 touchdowns and two interceptions this season.

No matter who is starting at quarterback, the Huskies’ offense is built on the ground, as previously noted.

“The one thing I noticed on film is that the system didn't change,” Drayton said. “They're still handing that ball off, they're still throwing it deep, and the quarterback’s still running the football. So I think that's what they do, that's what they practice. They've gotten good at it. It's not like they're giving a lot of different looks offensively. They're just really good at what they do.

“We're going to see a lot of stretch. We're going to see some movement passes. The quarterback is a threat to run. But we're going to prepare the same.”

UConn’s defensive approach is built on their pass rushers and offers the opposing offense a multitude of different looks.

“They’re a pressure defense and they’re all over the place in terms of looks they give you,” Drayton said. “They know what they’re doing. They have good pass rushers. (Linebacker) Langston Hardy (the son of former Pro Bowl linebacker Kevin Hardy) lines up everywhere. He’s a real-deal pass rusher. They play fast, so we’re definitely going to hone in and do the best we can against that.”