NORMAN, Oklahoma – Temple heads into Oklahoma with a tall task Friday night against the 16th-ranked Sooners. The Owls are 42.5-point underdogs in their season opener, facing numerous questions about their roster that have yet to be answered.

Like Temple, Oklahoma will also have a relatively new quarterback under center in Jackson Arnold. The former five-star recruit went 26 of 45 passing for 361 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in the Alamo Bowl last December, getting his first college start after former Oklahoma starter Dillon Gabriel entered the transfer portal.

Third-year Temple head coach Stan Drayton talked about how he isn’t fazed by doubters when he spoke at AAC media day in Fort Worth last month, and now his squad will get the opportunity to prove it against a top-25 team with a loaded defense.

Kickoff at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is set for 7 p.m. EST time and will be televised nationally on ESPN.

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE

Temple’s biggest question throughout the offseason was simple: who will start at quarterback?

E.J. Warner left the nest in December and transferred to AAC foe Rice. Nearly eight months following Warner’s departure, Drayton still hasn’t officially announced a starting quarterback, although every sign would point to Forrest Brock, a California JUCO product who played the second half of last season’s blowout loss to SMU.

The expectation was for Drayton to announce a starter Sunday during his first weekly press conference of the season, but he left it holding close to the talking points he leaned upon this month during preseason camp.

“I have a great competitive situation going on in that room right now, and I don't want to lose that edge,” Drayton said. “It's an iron-sharpens-iron mindset, and everybody in that room is getting better. There's a clear one, two and three. That being said — I'm just going to probably make that decision (on) game day.”

Whether it’s Brock, Rutgers transfer Evan Simon or redshirt freshman Tyler Douglas taking snaps at any point Friday night, they will be relying upon what Drayton and assistant coach Chris Wiesehan hope is an improved and healthier offensive line, led by a new starter at center in South Carolina transfer Grayson Mains. If that line can give the quarterbacks some time to scan the field, getting the ball to playmaking tight ends like Landon Morris and Reese Clark. They’ll be looking across at an Oklahoma defense that intercepted 20 passes last season, the most in college football. The Sooners’ secondary is peppered with players who know how to take the ball away, led by senior safety Billy Bowman Jr., who picked off six passes and returned three of them for touchdowns.

If the offensive line wants to be able to pave running lanes for Maryland transfer Antwain Littleton, sophomore Joquez Smith, E.J. Wilson and JUCO transfer Terrez Worthy, they’ll have to do it against a front six that includes middle linebacker Danny Stutsman, one of the best players at his position in the nation, and a defensive line that will start 4-star true freshman defensive tackle Jayden Jackson and also feature another true freshman blue chipper in David Stone, ranked the No. 5 overall player in the 2024 class. Jackson and Stone were teammates at Florida’s IMG Academy.

If the depth chart the team released this week is a true indicator of who will start Friday, Wiesehan’s offensive line will have to grow up quickly on a big-time national stage. Redshirt freshman Kevin Terry is the projected starter at left tackle, sophomore Luke Watson is slated to start at left guard, and redshirt freshman Melvian Siani is the projected starter at right tackle. Right guard Wisdom Quarshie is the only projected starter with significant playing experience.

Drayton, of course, would love to be able to get more balance to a team that had the nation’s 10th-worst rushing offense last season and mustered an average of just 95.7 yards per game.

​​”The run game is extremely important to our success,” Drayton said. “If we're not able to run the football, it's really putting us in a one-dimensional situation, which is not going to win a bunch of ball games.”

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE

Temple’s defense was carved up last season. The Owls dealt with three significant injuries to their defensive line in K.J. Miles, Demerick Morris and Allan Haye, and the back end struggled with coverage and communication all season. After former defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot’s group led the American in sacks in 2022, the Owls finished 10th out of 14 teams in the conference in sacks with 22, and the Owls were dead last in the league with just two fumble recoveries and just three interceptions.

When Eliot was hired just days into the 2023 spring season to be Nick Sirianni’s linebackers coach with the Eagles, Everett Withers returned to Temple to replace him. Withers has since changed from a 3-4 to a 4-3 base defense and recruited heavily to it during the offseason.

Heading into Friday night, Oklahoma is dealing with some significant injuries on offense. The Sooners lost talented wideout Jayden Gibson to a season-ending injury during preseason camp earlier this month, so they’ll be without a 6-foot-5, 197-pound receiver who showed promise last season in catching 14 passes for 375 yards, with five of those catches going for touchdowns. And Oklahoma head coach Brett Venables said Wednesday that junior receiver Nic Anderson, who caught 32 passes for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall, will also not play Friday as he continues to recover from an injury he sustained during the first week of preseason camp.

Even so, the Sooners still have plenty of offensive weapons, starting with the aforementioned Arnold. The former 5-star recruit was rated by Rivals as the No. 23 overall player in the 2023 class, and he can hand the ball to Gavin Sawchuck, who rushed for a team-best 744 yards and nine touchdowns last fall. And although Gibson and Anderson will be out, the Sooners will benefit from the return of Andrel Anthony, who caught 27 passes for 491 yards and a touchdown before succumbing to a torn ACL against Texas back on Oct. 7.

If there’s an area where the Sooners might be slightly vulnerable, it’s along the offensive line. SMU transfer Brandon Hickman is the new starter at center, and fellow transfer Febechi Nwaiwu (North Texas) is slated to start at guard, while Jacob Sexton is moving over to start at left guard after making four starts at right tackle last season. Sexton, despite some inexperience, is a former 4-star recruit from the 2022 class who chose Oklahoma over Alabama, so the talent is certainly there.

In attempting to generate a pass rush, Temple will be without defensive end Diwun Black, who could miss as many as the first four weeks of the season due to academics, as OwlScoop.com first reported Wednesday. Along the interior, defensive tackles Demerick Morris and Allan Haye will have their best opportunity of the season to test themselves against a nationally-ranked team from the jump, as will FAU transfer Latrell Jean and JUCO transfer Sekou Kromah. Morris sustained a preseason camp injury that initially looked to be season-ending before he returned for the final two games of the season, and Haye was lost for the season not long after logging his first sack at Tulsa back on Sept 28.

Along the back end of Temple’s defense, Western Carolina transfer Andreas Keaton made enough of an impact during spring ball and preseason camp to earn a single digit, and he played at Oklahoma as a freshman back in 2021, registering four tackles in a blowout loss. If the Owls want to have a shot Friday, even against a short-handed Sooners receiving corps, he and fellow transfer Javier Morton (Nebraska) will have to be sound tacklers with good eye discipline, and two more transfers in Torey Richardson (UTEP) and Jamel Johnson (Charleston Southern) are set to start at cornerback.

“He’s a leader. He’s a bulldog,” defensive backs coach Dominique Bowman said of Morton. “He’s a tough kid, but obviously he hasn’t played a bunch of ball, so he can’t sit there spectating and just come in right away and be perfect. So he’s learning, he’s getting better. He’s getting stronger.”

SCOUTING SPECIAL TEAMS

Rugby-style punter Dante Atton returns for the Owls, and Temple may have a placekicker in Austin Peay transfer Maddux Trujillo with the strongest leg and range since Brandon McManus. Wide receiver Dante Wright is set to return punts, and running backs E.J. Wilson and Joquez Smith will be out to return kickoffs, and JUCO transfer Terrez Worthy could get a shot there as well.

Billy Bowman, who returned three interceptions for touchdowns last season at safety, looks like he’ll get his chance to return kickoffs this season for Oklahoma, so Temple’s coverage units could be in trouble if he gets the slightest amount of daylight. Peyton Bowen, one of the top young safeties in America, is listed as the starting punt returner. He logged one punt return last season for 20 yards and will be tough to tackle should he get a clean look on an Atton punt.

Placekicker Zach Schmit went 15 of 21 on field goals last season with a long of 46 yards, but Florida State transfer Tyler Keltner could get the nod there. Punter Luke Elzinga averaged 45 yards on 27 punts last season.