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Gameday preview: ECU

Coming off two straight disappointing losses against teams from Florida, including a 49-7 rout at the hands of UCF last week, Temple is looking to get back on track on the road against East Carolina Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Owls’ season is starting to spiral out of control, as they’ve lost three straight games by a combined score of 135-24. Temple now must win three of its last four games to qualify for a bowl game.

ECU, on the other hand, is coming off a win over USF that improved the Pirates’ record to 4-4 on the season and 2-2 in American Athletic Conference play.

Here is how the Owls matchup with ECU in all three phases of the game.

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE

The Owls’ offense is struggling mightily this season, especially during the last three games. They are averaging just 20.8 points per game this season, which ranks 10th in the AAC.

Temple’s running game has been stifled this season, as they are averaging just 113.5 yards per game, dead last in the American.

Plenty of the blame for this should be lofted at Temple’s offensive line. They don’t get a lot of push up front and have plenty of instances where they don’t squeeze their gaps on zone concepts, and that allows defenders a free pass into the backfield.

With that said, the Owls’ running backs haven’t exactly been impressive this season either. Edward Saydee leads the team in rushing with 236 yards, and he’s scored two touchdowns this season.

The Owls have started to work Illinois transfer Ra’Von Bonner and true freshman Malik Cooper into the running game a little more recently. Bonner led the team in rushing against UCF with 35 yards and Cooper finished with 21 yards — 20 of which came on one run.

ECU’s rush defense isn’t overly strong, but there is no reason to believe Temple’s run game will suddenly come alive given its performance against much worse teams. ECU is allowing 155.6 rushing yards per game, fifth in the AAC.

Temple’s passing attack is slightly more reliable, but not by much. They are averaging 209.8 yards per game, which ranks ninth in the AAC.

Quarterback D’Wan Mathis is completing just 59.8 percent of his passes for 1,186 yards, six touchdown passes and four interceptions. In Temple’s last three games, Mathis has thrown for just one touchdown and three interceptions. Keep in mind that Temple’s offense was barely on the field two weeks ago in getting dominated at USF and ran just 34 plays.

Mathis isn’t getting a ton of help from the pieces around him. Jose Barbon and Randle Jones are first and second on the team in receiving with just 370 and 366 yards, respectively.

Jadan Blue’s regression is continuing to snowball this season as well. Blue has recorded a measly 177 yards this season and is averaging just 6.10 yards per catch.

Amad Anderson is starting to get more involved in the offense on plays like jet sweeps and jet passes. He’s now third on the team in receiving with 215 yards and is averaging 14.3 yards per catch.

ECU’s passing defense shouldn’t be anything Temple hasn’t seen already this season. They are allowing 269.6 yards per game this season, which is good for ninth in the AAC. They are led by cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian and safety Jireh Wilson. McMillian is playing quite well at outside corner and is making consistent plays on the ball. He’s recorded four interceptions and 14 pass breakups.

ECU ranks second in the conference in sacks this season with 19, and its two sack leaders are defensive lineman Suirad Ware and outside linebacker Jeremy Lewis, who have three sacks apiece.

ECU’s defense is about as average as they come in every category, so Temple should be able to move the ball against the Pirates. With that said, UCF’s defense was, roughly, on the same level, and Temple only scored one garbage-time touchdown against the Knights.

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE

Temple’s defense is a tale of two units. The passing defense has performed well this season — although there is mounting evidence that has more to do with their opponents and not their own play — while the run defense has been dreadful.

The Owls’ passing defense still ranks second in the AAC in yards allowed per game, but the two times they’ve played potent passing attacks like Cincinnati and UCF, they’ve struggled.

That unit is also dealing with a considerable number of injuries. Safeties Amir Tyler, M.J. Griffin, DaeSean Winston and cornerback Keyshawn Paul are considered “day to day.” Tyler, Griffin and Paul participated in a portion of practice on Wednesday.

Because of this, Temple relied on the likes of safeties Alex Odom, Corey Cuascut-Palmer, Muheem McCargo and cornerback Ty Mason against UCF. They had some bright moments, but they largely failed to contain UCF’s passing attack.

The Owls’ will have to contend with ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers, who is in his third season as ECU’s full-time starter. He’s completing 60.2 percent of his passes for 1,983 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

ECU also has a couple of dynamic receivers for Ahlers to feed the ball to. Their leading receiver is Tyler Sneed, who has recorded 495 yards and two touchdowns this season.

They also have Audie Omotosho and C.J. Johnson, who have recorded 347 and 322 yards, respectively. All three receivers make up a well-rounded group of weapons that can threaten Temple at all three levels of the field.

The Owls’ rushing defense ranks last in the AAC in yards allowed per game with 218.6. Temple is continuing to primarily run a 3-3-5 defense despite their lack of ability to stop the run this season.

The Owls young linebackers and BUBOs like Jordan Magee, Kobe Wilson and Yvandy Rigby have played well in spurts allowing them to rack up decent stats. However, down-to-play from them and Temple’s older linebackers like William Kwenkeu and George Reid has been inconsistent.

The Owls’ run defense wasn’t overly impressive before they got hurt, but Tyler and Griffin were leading the team in tackles before they got injured.

ECU’s rushing attack is ranked just eight in the AAC, but it is headed by a dynamic freshman back in Keaton Mitchell. Mitchell is the AAC’s second-leading rusher with 756 yards, and he’s added five touchdowns.

Mitchell has impressive long speed to break big runs and the ability to juke defenders in the open field. If Temple isn’t stout in their gaps, Mitchell will burn them all game.

ECU also has another freshman back in Rahjai Harris, who has recorded 429 rushing yards this season — 200 more than Temple’s leading rusher on the season.

ECU’s offense doesn’t look overly scary on paper, but they have playmakers and experience littered throughout the unit. Temple’s defense is dealing with a ton of injuries, and they do not match up well with ECU’s potent rushing attack either.

It’s also worth noting that Temple has only forced three punts in its last three games, and they’ve forced zero in its last two games.

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON SPECIAL TEAMS

The Owls’ special teams might be the only unit on the team that has consistently improved this season, but they did struggle a tad against UCF.

They gave up a 36-yard return on a punt, Adam Barry averaged just 37.2 yards on his punts, and kicker Rory Bell missed his only field goal attempt of the game from 45 yards out. Bell is now 7-for-10 on field-goal attempts this season.

In the return game, Temple is starting to rely solely on Anderson for kickoff returns. He had a 45-yard return last week against UCF and is averaging 30 yards per kick return this season.

Temple’s punt returner is hard to say for sure because the Owls haven’t forced a punt in the past two games. It’s likely it will be either Anderson or Blue. ECU relies on Sneed to do both their punt and kick returning. He averages 7.1 yards per punt return and 22.1 yards per kick return this season.

Their kicker, Owen Daffer, is 10-for-13 on field-goal attempts this season, and their punter, Jonn Young, is averaging 42.4 yards per punt.

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