After scoring just 14 points in the first two weeks of play in losses to No.16 Oklahoma and Navy, Temple’s offense has come to life.
It didn’t translate to a win in a 28-20 setback to Coastal Carolina in week three, but the offense saw significant improvement with Rutgers transfer Evan Simon taking the reins under center after Forrest Brock sustained a wrist bruise in the Navy loss.
Last Saturday was the breakthrough, a 45-29 win over Utah State in which Simon had a hand in all six Temple touchdowns, five through the air and one on the ground.
Now head coach Stan Drayton’s team will look to keep the momentum going this week, but this time with a tougher challenge. It’s a 3-0, triple-option Army team on a short week. The Black Knights travel to South Philadelphia as one of the best teams in the nation with seven straight wins, dating back to last season when they closed out the 2023 campaign with a four-game win streak that started with a victory over then-No. 17 Air Force. Much of that team, including quarterback Bryson Daily, is back.
Army comes into this game with the second-best rushing offense and the eighth-best defense in the nation. Thursday night’s kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field is set for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
When Temple is on offense
Although he said he hasn’t etched his name in stone, it’s clear Drayton trusts Simon as his starter right now at quarterback going forward, especially after last week. The redshirt junior went 17 for 27 for 271 yards, with five passing touchdowns and an additional one on the ground in guiding the Owls to their first win of the season.
Temple’s offense saw a different player score each touchdown in the Owls' win over Utah State, with graduate wide receiver Dante Wright leading the group with three catches for 196 yards.
Wright had a reduced role in the first half after an injury setback leading up to the game put his playing status in question. Drayton mentioned that it took some convincing but that it was ultimately the right decision to play Wright beyond special teams. His 91-yard touchdown reception on a perfectly-thrown ball from Simon helped put Temple ahead for good at 24-21 at the 4:10 mark of the third quarter.
Temple will get wideout Zae Baines back this week after a four-game absence due to off-field issues. Baines, who caught 36 passes for 422 yards and a touchdown last season, could give Simon a reliable option over the middle of the field if he sees a significant snap total upon his return while Wright works deeper routes.
The rushing attack was solid against Utah State, with some creative play-calling from offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf leading to long gains. Simon led the Owls on the ground with 54 yards, and his mobility gave Temple's offense some variety.
A similar performance will be necessary against a stout Army defense. Even if it has come against an FCS team in Lehigh and against two 1-3 American Athletic Conference opponents in FAU and Rice, the Black Knights have allowed just 9.3 points per game, with difference makers at every level.
“What they do is they try to eliminate the run,” Drayton said. “Everything up front is twisting, linebackers coming downhill. They're very, very physical. They do a very good job in pursuing to the football. There's a lot of bang-bang type situations in the past game and linebackers making contact on or around the line of scrimmage a lot. They know exactly what they're doing, and they play very, very hard.”
The inside linebacker junior duo of Andon Thomas and Kalib Fortner lead the physical group with a combined 31 total tackles, but they aren’t the only ones flying around the field, with four players with 10 or more tackles. Senior safety Max DiDomenico leads the Army secondary with 14 tackles and two pass breakups to go with an interception.
While Army’s defense appears to be balanced across the field, the Black Knights have played best with their backs against the wall, sporting the nation’s best red-zone defense. Through three games, opponents have scored just three times in eight red-zone trips against Army.
It’s worth noting, however, that even in a 42-7 blowout win over Lehigh, Army allowed the Mountain Hawks to rush for 172 yards and average 5.2 yards per carry, and they gave up a 17-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. So if the Owls want to run the ball, use up the clock and keep the ball out of the hands of Daily and the Knights’ methodical triple-option attack, the evidence is there that it can be done.
When Temple is on defense
Temple spotted Utah State a 14-0 lead thanks in part to some sloppy tackling, but the Owls’ defense did also tighten up when needed and kept the team in the game early against the Aggies after the offense failed to get going early. Temple ended Utah’s State’s second drive with a fourth-down, goal-line stand at the Owls’ 1-yard line when linebackers Tyquan King and D.J. Woodbury Sr. teamed up to bring down Utah State running back Rahsul Faison for no gain. King, an ECU transfer, stepped into the starting lineup with Eric Stuart out with an injury and didn’t miss a beat, leading the Owls with 13 tackles and a sack.
Woodbury, who had 10 tackles of his own, led a strong Temple defense that finally was able to get its first turnover late in the fourth quarter with a Torey Richardson interception. Woodbury continues his impressive campaign in the American Athletic Conference with the second-most total tackles with 38 and 26 solo stops.
Thursday will present a different challenge. After facing much more of a pocket passer in Utah State quarterback Spencer Petras, Temple will go back to defending a triple-option offense, similar to those the Owls faced in losses to Navy and Coastal Carolina. The Black Knights rank second among all FBS programs in time of possession, holding the ball for an average of 36 minutes per game through three wins.
The Black Knights have averaged 356 rushing yards per game, and everything starts under center with Daily, whose 113.3 rushing yards per game rank him 11th nationally in that category. Similar to Navy’s Blake Horvath and Coastal Carolina’s Ethan Vasko, Daily is actively looking to get downhill with his speed and make plays, but he more closely resembles Horvath as a passer and can hurt teams through the air if the opportunity is there. His 41-yard touchdown pass to slot back Noah Short opened the scoring in last week’s win over Rice. Daily doesn’t throw the ball as much as Navy’s Horvath, but he’s completed 10 of his 19 passes for 186 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions this season, so he’s been efficient.
Short has tallied 266 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and sophomore running back Kanye Udoh, a Mays Landing native who played at nearby St. Augustine Prep in South Jersey, has 169 yards and three touchdowns through three games. He was a more subtle part of last week’s win with just 24 yards on eight carries, but he had 75 yards and two touchdowns in the Lehigh win and 70 yards and a touchdown in Army’s win over FAU.
Temple will get defensive end Diwun Black back onto the field after he missed the first four weeks due to academic issues, per multiple sources. As perhaps the Owls’ most talented pass rusher, Black might have enjoyed a better return last week against Utah State as opposed to this week against a triple-option attack. But if Temple can somehow get out to a lead on Army and force Daily to throw from more of a more traditional pocket, Black could have an impact Thursday night.
But before it gets to that point, Temple must contain the run and limit Army to more pedestrian rushing totals on first and second down. The Black Knights will get their yardage due simply to the sheer volume of rushing attempts, but the Owls have to put them in more challenging third-down scenarios as opposed to a third-and-short situation where a fullback dive or a run from Daily will get the job done. If Temple tackles the way it did early on against Utah State last weekend, Thursday night could be a long one for the Owls.
Special teams
While there were a variety of storylines to emerge from last Saturday’s win, placekicker Maddux Trujillo managed to steal the show on a day when his quarterback accounted for six touchdowns. The Austin Peay transfer etched his name into the Temple and Lincoln Financial Field record books with a 64-yard field goal to close out the first half, a kick that broke a program record and bested Eagles kicker Jake Elliott’s previous record makes of 61 yards in 2023 and 2017 at the Linc. Trujillo’s field goal, one that landed on the crossbar and bounced over it, was also the longest collegiate kick since 2008.
So if the game comes down to a late field goal, Drayton and special teams coordinator Adam Scheier know field-goal range takes on a different meaning with the best placekicker the program has had since Brandon McManus.
Not to be lost in Saturday’s win was the contribution of JUCO transfer running back Terrez Worthy, who replaced E.J. Wilson on kickoff returns. His 34-yard kickoff return helped get Temple into Trujillo’s range before he hit the 64-yard field goal, and his speed and acceleration could give the Owls some new life on special teams.
Army senior placekicker Trey Gronotte has hit all 14 of his extra points and converted his only field goal attempt, a 35-yarder against FAU. He kicked in just three games across the 2021 and 2022 seasons and did not see game action last season, so it’s hard to know where his range is at this point if Army coach Jeff Monken needs a late field goal out of him Thursday night.
Army has only fielded a total of three kickoffs and two punts through three games, and the Black Knights haven’t seen any game-breaking returns in that limited sample size. Sophomore Jaydan Mayes has returned two punts for three total yards and one kickoff for 13 yards, while sophomore Lloyd Benson III has also returned two kickoffs for 30 yards, with a long of 16 yards against Lehigh.