Gameday preview: Tulsa
Following a 70-13 blowout loss at UCF last week, Temple will look to get its first conference win of the season when the 2-4 Tulsa Golden Hurricane come to Lincoln Financial Field for a 7:30 pm kickoff Friday night on ESPN2.
Temple is tied up 3-3 all-time against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane won the most recent matchup 44-10 last season at home. Before that, the Owls were on a three-game winning streak against the Golden Hurricane.
Temple is 2-1 when the two teams meet in South Philly.
Tulsa is 2-4 to start the year and like Temple, both teams are 0-2 in American Athletic Conference play. Tulsa lost at Navy back on Oct. 8 53-21 and at home to Cincinnati 31-21 the week prior. The Golden Hurricane also lost to Wyoming in double overtime and to Ole Miss. Their two victories were over Northern Illinois and Jacksonville State.
Tulsa’s offense is led by redshirt senior quarterback Davis Brin, who has thrown for 1,839 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also run for 66 yards and a touchdown. Tulsa is fourth in the AAC in total offense, averaging 437 yards per game, and the Golden Hurricane average 33 points per game.
Their defense, on the other hand, has struggled this season. Other than holding Jacksonville State to 17 points, Tulsa has allowed at least 30 points in its other five games this season. The Golden Hurricane have allowed 35.2 points per game. Only USF’s defense has been worse. In terms of takeaways, they have three interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
True freshman quarterback E.J. Warner is continuing to find his footing as the Owls’ starting quarterback. Following a three-interception game at Memphis, he committed no turnovers against UCF and looked a lot more composed in the pocket, even in a lopsided loss.
The offense continues to start off games well but is having trouble finishing games and staying consistent. Backup quarterback Quincy Patterson saw playing time once again in an effort to try to aid the run game, this time playing 10 snaps, but he got just 16 yards on seven carries.
When he is inserted into the game, it becomes a predictable offense, as most of the time, it signals a run play, but Drayton defended the staff’s decision to use Patterson in those situations.
“There’s still an opportunity in the play calls that are called when Quincy in,” Drayton said Monday. “They’re just giving him run looks. When you run an RPO-type system with Quincy, he has the option to run it or throw it, and it looks like he’s been forced to run it.”
Temple’s rushing offense, which is ranked an abysmal 128th out of 131 FBS teams, stayed stagnant against UCF. Edward Saydee led the team with nine carries for 41 yards, but the rest of the running back room had 10 carries for six yards. This is a golden opportunity - no pun intended - to get the run game going, as Tulsa is the mirror image of Temple on the other side of the field with the 128th rushing defense among 131 FBS teams, having allowed an average of 239.7 yards on the ground per game. Temple must get some semblance of a run game going to support Warner, sustain drives and keep its defense off the field for longer stretches of time.
The only bright spot in Orlando for the Owls offense was the two lead receivers. Graduate Jose Barbon had seven catches for 107 yards with a touchdown, and Georgia Tech transfer Adonicas Sanders had seven catches for 57 yards. Drayton has said he wants his receivers to win their 50/50 matchups more often, but both receivers have been the bulk of the offense most weeks for the Owls.
For as bad as Tulsa has been at defending the run, it does have the American’s top-rated defense against the pass, having allowed just 159.5 yards per game. That stat, however, is deceiving, as Tulsa has played two run-heavy teams in Jacksonville State and Navy who threw the ball a combined 15 times against the Golden Hurricane.
As previously mentioned, Tulsa has just three interceptions this season, so it’s not as if Warner will be going up against an opportunistic secondary that takes the ball away a lot. Safety Bryson Powers is tied for the team lead with 51 tackles with linebacker Justin Wright, who has one of the team’s three interceptions. Opposing quarterbacks like Wyoming’s Andrew Peasley (20 of 30 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns), Northern Illinois’ Rocky Lombardi (18-31, 259 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception), Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart (13-24, 154 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Cincinnati’s Ben Bryant (15-27, 166 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) were all able to put up solid enough numbers against Tulsa’s defense, and the Golden Hurricane went 1-3 in those games.
While Temple did not have any turnovers or sacks at UCF, the offensive line continued to struggle in the run game. A unit that has been ever-changing and has not started the same five players in consecutive games this season is something Drayton believes has contributed to the Owls’ anemic ground game.
“Every time I go back and look at the film, especially in the bye week leading up to the UCF game, I see not the same five people up front, from game to game to game to game to game to game to game,” Drayton said with a chuckle Monday, “That’s what I see, and I know that has a major effect in the run game.”
Last Thursday, Temple started Isaac Moore at left tackle, Wisdom Quarshie at left guard, Adam Klein at center, Richard Rodriguez at right guard and Victor Stoffel at right tackle. Stoffel’s debut appeared to be a positive thing for the Owls with Bryce Thoman and James Faminu not making the trip to Orlando. Drayton said Monday that Thoman and Faminu are “progressing in the right direction” and getting ready to play Friday. Whether that means they’ll play remains to be seen.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
Temple simply has to close the book on what happened last Thursday at UCF. Knights quarterback John Rhys Plumlee threw for 343 yards, ran for 37 yards and scored a combined seven touchdowns - four through the air and three on the ground. Darian Varner was the only Temple defensive lineman with a tackle for loss in the game.
Even when Temple would struggle on defense, the linebackers were always consistently solid all year, except for last week, when UCF’s speed was simply too much.
While Tulsa’s Brin isn’t dangerous with his legs, Temple’s linebackers need to make sure the middle of the field is not available for Tulsa’s four productive receivers.
Keylon Stokes leads the team with 765 yards on 44 catches, and J.C Santana has 480 yards on 29 catches. Malachai Jones has 329 yards and Isaiah Epps has 305 yards. Stokes, Santana and Epps all have four touchdowns apiece. To put that into perspective, Temple has just two players with more than 350 yards receiving, with Barbon leading the team with 420 yards and Sanders at 350 yards. If Temple wants to win, the secondary needs to limit the high-flying and explosive Tulsa’s passing game.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON SPECIAL TEAMS
Camden Price kicked field goals of 26 and 49 yards last week, with the 49-yarder sailing through the uprights with plenty of distance to spare. The Miami transfer is now 3-for-3 after taking over for Rory Bell, who went 0-for-2 to start the season. He seems to have cemented his spot as the starting kicker.
Mackenzie Morgan had six punts for 251 yards for a 41.8-yard average. He will need to continue to stay consistent to help Temple flip the field and keep a productive Tulsa offense starting drives in their own territory.
Corey Cuascat-Palmer did provide a slight spark in the return game last week with two kickoff returns for 42 yards.
KEY MATCHUPS
Temple’s running backs vs Tulsa’s defensive front
With Temple having the 128th-ranked rushing offense and Tulsa countering with the 128th-ranked rushing defense, something is going to give Friday night. In addition to his 51 tackles, Tulsa’s Wright also has three tackles for loss, an interception, and a fumble recovery.
Tulsa’s wide receivers vs. Temple’s secondary
Tulsa has four play-making receivers that the Temple secondary will need to slow down. Stokes, Santana, Jones and Epps will keep Owls cornerbacks Jalen McMurray and Elijah Clark busy, as well as safeties Alex Odom and Jalen Ware. Some pressure up front from the likes of outside linebacker Layton Jordan and Varner could force Davis into some early throws and help the secondary.