Temple had a chance to enter its second bye week on a two-game win streak and build momentum against a ECU team that fired its head coach the week of the game.
The Owls didn't get it done, allowing the Pirates to explode in the third quarter for 29 points.
Temple’s hopes of a bowl game are slim to none, sitting at 2-6 on the season and needing to win out the rest of the season to become bowl eligible. Now, the Owls are staring down one of the American Athletic Conference's best in Tulane.
"At times this year, we’ve played really well on defense, really well on special teams and early on, our offense struggled,” Temple head coach Stan Drayton said. “Last game, our offense showed up, and our defense kind of had a rough go there. So we just got to find a way to put it all together.”
Tulane comes into the week second in The American standings at 7-2 and a perfect 5-0 in conference play. Jon Sumrall's team's only losses came against Kansas State and Oklahoma in the first three weeks of the season, and both were ranked at the time.
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. EST and will air on ESPN+.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
After scoring just six points in the first quarter through the first seven games of the season, the Owls offense finally started to click in the opening quarter two weeks ago at ECU.
Temple scored its first touchdown in the first frame and more than doubled its first quarter points on the season against ECU.
“I just think it was confidence,” Drayton said. “It was good to see that coming out of a lot of young players. When you look at this team as a whole, this is a young football team by the way of experience and classification. It’s just been a developmental piece for us, it’s been a rough journey that way.”
Drayton also mentioned during his Monday press conference that wide receiver Dante Wright, who missed most of the game against Tulsa and the entirety of the ECU game, is still questionable heading into the Owls matchup against Tulane this weekend.
The Green Wave enter this game second in the AAC in scoring defense, allowing just 20 points per game. Tulane also ranks fifth in the AAC when in pass defense, allowing just 208 passing yards per game.
If Temple wants to see success on offense they will need to get the run game going, something that has been nearly nonexistent for the Owls this season. The Owls rank dead last in rushing offense in the AAC, averaging 91 yards on the ground per game.
Temple running back Terrez Worthy has been a bright spot for the Owls, averaging just under 75 rushing yards the last three games. Temple knows if it wants to see the offense producing, it can’t be a one dimensional offense.
“It’s getting there,” quarterback Evan Simon said. “We’re working on it. We got to be able to do both to be a winning team, so we’re working on it.”
Tulane also has a strong pass rush, sitting at third in the AAC with 22 sacks. A big part of that pass rush is defensive lineman Kameron Hamilton and Patrick Jenkins, who have 3.5 and 3 sacks, respectively. Green Wave linebacker Tyler Grubbs is also a key piece of their defense with a team-high 39 tackles along with three sacks.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
It's no secret that the Owls’ secondary has had a rough last two games. Against Tulsa, it was the penalties. Against ECU, it was the big plays. The secondary allowed ECU to have four plays for 30 or more yards and 269 total passing yards.
Drayton mentioned that a big part of the secondary’s struggles at ECU was the miscommunication from the sideline to the players, leading to players in the wrong coverages.
“It was just poor communication,” Drayton said. “We got caught in some bad coverages where we had guys that weren’t on the same page. One guy executing one coverage, another guy executing another call and it cut some guys loose. We just got caught in some poor communication, which is disheartening this part of the season to be talking about.”
The Owls still sit at third in the AAC in passing offense, despite the rough last couple of weeks. Against Tulane, the Owls will have to worry about the run game more than the pass attack.
Statistically, the Green Wave sits toward the top of the AAC in both scoring offense and rushing offense. Tulane is No. 2 in the conference at 39.8 points per game and No. 3 in rushing offense at 216.8 rushing yards per game.
Tulane running back Makhi Hughes is a key factor for the Owls to watch out for this weekend, as the Green Wave's leading rusher is No. 2 in The American at 117 rushing yards per game.
The Green Wave have two quarterbacks that have played every game this season with redshirt freshman Darian Mensah taking the bulk of the passing duties. Mensah has thrown for 1797 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 65 percent of his passes.
Or Tulane can go to Ty Thompson, who is used more as a rushing threat when on the field. Thompson has rushed for 148 yards and five touchdowns on just 29 attempts.
“They haven’t skipped a beat in terms of a new staff coming in and bringing in a new culture,” Drayton said. “You can tell that the team was already pretty lined up with some solid football players. They’ve got a lot of toughness and resolve that shows up in their actions on the football field.”
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON SPECIAL TEAMS
Tulane has used two kickers this season. Jacob Barnes has taken the bulk of kicking duties this season, making seven of his nine attempts, with a 47-yarder being his longest. Freshman Ethan Head took over for Barnes for three weeks in the middle of the season after Barnes suffered a groin injury.
Temple kicker Maddux Trujillo has continued to be one of the bright spots for the Owls. He missed his one attempt from 58 yards, but is still 9-for-12 on his attempts this season, including his 64 and 60 yarders.
Temple punter Dante Atton is third in the AAC in total punts with 43 and sits at 13th on average yards per punt with just over 40 yards.
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