If Temple is going to win its final nonconference game of the season Saturday up at UConn and create some momentum heading into American Athletic Conference play, it’s going to have to do so with a new quarterback under center.
Well, sort of.
According to several sources, the sternoclavicular (SC) joint injury Evan Simon sustained on the Owls’ final drive of their 28-point loss to Army kept him out of practice this week and will ultimately keep him out of Saturday’s game against the 3-2 Huskies at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
In his absence, third-year head coach Stan Drayton and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf will turn back to Forrest Brock. The 6-foot-3, 195-pount redshirt junior started Temple's opener at Oklahoma and the following week at Navy before he himself also sustained an injury, a wrist contusion, late in the fourth quarter that opened the opportunity for Simon to start the following week against Coastal Carolina.
Brock, a product of Santa Monica Community College, won the job coming out of preseason camp after competing with Simon and redshirt freshman Tyler Douglas but went 0-2 in his two starts, completing 59% of his passes for 405 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.
Although Simon was sacked seven times last week in the loss to Army, his numbers were markedly better in his three starts. The Rutgers transfer completed nearly 65 percent of his throws for 680 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. In what proved to be the best statistical performance of his career, Simon went 17-of-27 for 271 yards and five touchdowns through the air while running for a sixth in Temple’s first and only win of the season, a 45-29 rout of Utah State back on Sept. 21.
Now the Owls will have to hope that a week of first-team reps and some rest will allow Brock to look more like the quarterback who outperformed Simon in preseason camp and less like the signal caller who struggled in the Oklahoma and Navy losses. On top of that, a poor-tackling Temple team that holds the dubious distinction of having the nation’s second-worst rushing defense will be going against the nation’s 11th-best rushing offense in UConn, which is coming off a 47-3 rout of Buffalo.
Saturday’s kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
When Temple is on offense
With Brock back under center and Simon unavailable, Douglas will be Temple’s backup quarterback Saturday. He is untested as a passer at this level and has yet to play his first college snap but it wouldn’t be totally surprising to see Langsdorf devise a few packages to get Douglas on the field Saturday in order to utilize his running ability, something he showed at New Jersey’s Ocean Township High School and during spring ball and fall camp.
Brock has a capable downfield threat in wide receiver Dante Wright, who leads the American Athletic Conference in receptions (34), receiving yards (450), receptions per game (6.8) and receiving yards per game with 90. If UConn head coach Jim Mora’s defense commits more coverage and attention to Wright, it could open things up over the middle of the field for an emerging group of Temple tight ends that has received a jolt from freshman Daniel Evert. Two of the 6-foot-5, 245-pound German native’s first three career catches have gone for touchdowns, including his 54-yard scoring catch last week against Army.
UConn is ranked No. 57 nationally in scoring defense, having allowed an average of 22 points per game. The Huskies have posted nine sacks, although four of them came in a 63-17 win over FCS program Merrimack. Their linebackers, Tui Faumuina-Brown and Jayden McDonald, have been a pretty solid duo through five games, leading the Huskies in total tackles with 38 and 36, respectively. Fellow linebacker Langston Hardy, a redshirt sophomore and the son of former NFL Pro Bowler Kevin Hardy, had two sacks in last week’s dominant defensive performance against Buffalo in which the Huskies held the Bulls to just 1-of-14 on third down and eight three-and-outs.
"They're a pressure defense all over the place,” Drayton said during his weekly Monday press conference. “They give you different looks and have good pass rushers. [Hardy] is a real-deal pass rusher with good length who plays fast. We have to hone in and do the best we can.”
When Temple is on defense
UConn is dealing with its own quarterback issues after starter Nick Evers left last Saturday’s game with his second head injury of the season. Joe Fagnano relieved him and played well, completing 11 of his 19 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns, all to wide receiver Skyler Bell. The 6-foot, 185-pound Wisconsin transfer caught six passes for 153 yards in his third 100-yard receiving game of the season.
Mora initially said last Saturday that the team would be careful in planning out Evers’ return to the field. On Tuesday, the veteran head coach said Evers practiced and looked good. If he starts Saturday, Temple will be defending a dual-threat quarterback who ran for a combined 138 yards and two touchdowns in weeks two and three against Duke and FAU, with both rushing touchdowns coming in the win over FAU.
“They're both good players that can play football and get the ball out, and they're athletic,” Temple defensive tackle Demerick Morris said Tuesday. “So one thing we have to do is go out there and perform and also just do our job to a T.”
Regardless of who’s under center for UConn, the Huskies’ running backs are a bad matchup for a Temple team that tackled quite poorly in last week’s loss to Army and surrendered 417 rushing yards to the Black Knights through their triple-option attack. Durrell Robinson (369 yards, three touchdowns, 8.6 yards per carry), Mel Brown (297 yards, one touchdown, 6.1 yards per carry) and Cam Edwards (280 yards, three touchdowns, 5.7 yards per carry) have combined for 946 yards and seven touchdowns.
Between Army (1), Navy (5) and now UConn, Temple will have faced three of the top 15 rushing teams in the country by the midway mark of the season. Robinson, Brown and Edwards combined for 223 yards and two touchdowns against Buffalo.
Simply put, Temple must tackle better Saturday, albeit against a different offense than the one it faced last Thursday. But if players like Morris, linebackers D.J. Woodbury and Tyquan King and safeties Andreas Keaton and Javier Morton struggle with run fits and wrapping up Robinson, Brown and Edwards, it’s going to be a long day and send the Owls into the bye week on a sour note.
Special teams
If Temple finds itself in a position to go ahead late in the fourth quarter, it knows it has a capable kicker in Maddux Trujillo, who hit the record-setting 64-yard field goal against Utah State two weeks ago at Lincoln Financial Field. The Austin Peay transfer wasn’t called upon last week to try a field goal against Army during a game in which Temple fell behind quickly and needed touchdowns.
Getting running back Terrez Worthy unlocked again on kickoff returns could give the Owls a boost Saturday. The JUCO product showed some burst in a 34-yard return against Utah State that helped get Temple in range for Trujillo’s 64-yarder. UConn placekicker Chris Freeman has kicked off 35 times with 21 touchbacks, so Worthy should get a shot to return a kick or two Saturday. Additionally, Freeman has yet to hit a field goal beyond 39 yards this season, having gone 0-for-2 from 40-49 yards and missed his lone attempt from 50 yards and beyond.
UConn wideout TJ Sheffield did record a 33-yard punt return against Buffalo last weekend, so he could be a threat in the return game for the Huskies.