Gameday preview: UCF
After the bye week and coming off a 24-3 defeat at Memphis to start American Athletic Conference play 11 days ago, Temple is 2-3 and looking to get its first conference win of the Stan Drayton era when the Owls face a 4-1 UCF team in Orlando Thursday night.
The game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN.
UCF leads the all-time series 7-2 and has won its last five games over Temple, including last season’s 49-7 blowout win at Lincoln Financial Field. Temple is 1-3 when visiting UCF and looking to stop a six-game road losing streak that dates back to the 2021 season.
UCF is coming off its first AAC win of the season, a 41-19 rout of SMU last Wednesday in a game that was delayed from Sept. 30 due to Hurricane Ian. All of UCF’s wins are by at least three possessions, including victories over South Carolina State, Florida Atlantic and Georgia Teach. The Knights’ only loss came in week two at home in a 20-14 defeat at the hands of Louisville.
UCF is coming off of a 9-4 2021 campaign with a 5-3 conference record, which was third in the AAC. Head coach Gus Malzahn is in his second season with the Knights with a 14-8 record. He is most known for being the head coach at Auburn from 2013 to 2020. In those eight seasons with the Tigers, he was 67-35, including winning the SEC and being the SEC coach of the year in 2013.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
True freshman quarterback E.J. Warner is coming off the worst start of his young career. He threw for 245 yards but also threw three interceptions, all of which came in the fourth quarter at Memphis.
In Orlando, he will be going up against a UCF defense that has allowed just 14.6 points per game, good for second in the American, just ahead of Temple. And when he’s throwing the ball, he’ll have to be aware of redshirt senior safety Divaad Wilson, who has a team-best two interceptions. Wilson is a former 4-star recruit who first played at Georgia before transferring to UCF. He contemplated entering the NFL Draft after last season before deciding to return for his redshirt senior season.
Although Temple’s offensive line has allowed just four sacks this season, part of that can be attributed to Warner getting rid of the ball under pressure. This week, the line will be facing a pretty good pass rusher in Tre’Mon Morris-Brash, who leads UCF with 3.0 sacks and 6.5 tackles for a loss.
Making matters worse for Temple is the fact that the Owls have not at all been able to take pressure off Warner by running the ball. Temple is 125th out of 131 FBS teams in rushing offense, averaging just 83.8 yards per game.
Getting this aspect of the offense going would obviously be a huge lift to Warner, a true freshman playing on the road in what will be his loudest environment to date.
“We've got to make sure that our offensive line is doing a much better job of communicating what they see up front so that we’re targeting the proper people at the right times,” Drayton said Monday, “and I think we had a lot of that going on. And again, shuffling the deck, that o-line has provided some inconsistencies that way. Our running backs, as we assessed it, they were not great reading the play from time to time, but there are times when the opportunities were not there for them.
“And then there were times where the opportunities were there and they weren’t taken advantage of it, so we were not timed up. And I’m hoping that we’ve really attacked that issue this past week and trying to get our guys a little bit more aware of what was going on, getting our guys up front targeting the proper defenders at the right times given the scheme called and our running backs making those guys right.”
After disappearing for two consecutive games, graduate wide receiver Jose Barbon was back in form with five catches for 134 yards at Memphis, including a 78-yard completion which led the Owls to their only red zone appearance of the game. Adonicas Sanders had another solid game with four catches for 57 yards. When the passing game and Warner were on, they were very effective.
Due to the issues the Owls have running the football, the passing game will most likely either win or lose them games until they can get some semblance of a running game going.
After shuffling back and forth between right tackle and center, Adam Klein is listed on the team’s depth chart this week as the starting center, but neither Klein nor Drayton would confirm Monday that he’ll actually line up there as the starter Thursday night. A source told OwlScoop.com this week that James Faminu is unlikely to play Thursday, so if he can’t go at right tackle, then it’s likely Klein would be at right tackle again with Richard Rodriguez at center.
Due to Warner being a pure pocket passer, the offensive line needs to keep the pocket clean. Memphis had a sack, three interceptions, and lots of hits on the freshman quarterback. One of the biggest elements to help the offense and to make Warner more comfortable is keeping the pocket a lot cleaner.
If that can’t happen Thursday night, it could be a long game for Warner and the Owls.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
UCF averages 35.6 points per game with an offense led by senior quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who is in his first year as the starter at UCF after longtime starter Dillon Gabriel transferred to Oklahoma. Plumlee has thrown for 1,143 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions to go along with 431 yards rushing and four rushing touchdowns
Temple shut out Memphis on the road in the first half two Saturdays ago, and its linebacking corps continues to impress, led by inside linebacker Jordan Magee and outside linebacker Layton Jordan. They had three of the five sacks at Memphis, but Plumlee is far more mobile than Tigers quarterback Seth Henigan, so Temple’s linebackers and defensive line can’t simply pin their ears back and rush Plumlee like they did Henigan. Instead, they’ll have to be more disciplined with their eyes.
Temple’s secondary will be focused on UCF wideouts Javon Barker (24 catches, 395 yards, 2 TDs) and Ryan O’Keefe (21 catches, 253 yards, 2 TDs). After a rough start to the season at Duke, Temple cornerback Elijah Clark has played better in coverage in the weeks that have followed, and safety Jalen Ware looks like he’s being coached and utilized more effectively than he was last season. At Memphis, Ware had seven tackles, including two tackles for loss, and a sack. The improved play of Clark and Ware has made life a bit easier for single-digit cornerback Jalen McMurray, who continues to be the team’s best cover corner.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON SPECIAL TEAMS
After placekicker Rory Bell missed his first two kicks of the season, Drayton made a change in week five, as Miami transfer Camden Price hit a 47-yard kick into the wind that gave the Owls a 3-0 lead heading to the half in Memphis. Based on making a pretty tough kick, expect Price to keep the job at UCF.
UCF placekicker Colton Boomer has been a perfect 7-for-7 on his field goal attempts this season, with a long of 43 yards.
KEY MATCHUPS
Temple’s running backs vs. UCF’s defensive front
This is the most crucial matchup of the game. Temple’s offense has been very one-dimensional this season, and that's because of the nonexistent run game. If Darvon Hubbard, Edward Saydee and Jakari Norwood can get anything going, they can begin to take some pressure off Warner on the road and perhaps help the Owls sustain some drives, something they simply could not do at Memphis when they went 2 of 16 on third down. Eastern Illinois transfer Jason Johnson has made an immediate impact at UCF. The senior linebacker leads the team with 41 tackles, so the Owls will have to be mindful of his downfield playmaking ability.
UCF safety Divaad Wilson vs. Temple wide receivers Jose Barbon and Adonicas Sanders
As previously mentioned, Wilson contemplated leaving early for the NFL after a successful 2021 season. With two interceptions, he is the most dangerous playmaker in the Knights’ secondary. Both Barbon and Sanders need to continue their success in opening things up downfield, especially if the run game continues to struggle.