Temple was looking for an offensive spark Saturday on its second series. Tasked with a second-and-9, even just a few yards would have made third down more manageable.

Quarterback Evan Simon, who was making his return to the field after an injured right shoulder kept him out of the UConn game, got much more on the next play with a 58-yard strike to tight end Landon Morris that helped set up the Owls’ first points of the day, a 29-yard Maddux Trujillo field goal that pushed Temple out to a 3-0 lead.

The drive sparked three straight scoring possessions for Temple and fueled its 20-10 homecoming win over Tulsa.

Morris, who signed with Syracuse before transferring to Utah and then again to Temple, had to sit out last season. Heading into this season, he was expected to impact a roster that had just lost David Martin-Robinson and Jordan Smith at tight end.

In week eight and coming off a bye, Morris showed flashes of what his coaches were hoping for in the offseason. His four catches for 97 yards were game-high totals in the win.

“We see what he's capable of doing every day. He just put it on display,” Temple head coach Stan Drayton said. “Landon is very talented. We have a talented group of receivers. We're a talented unit out there at wide receiver and tight end. They need to be able to catch the ball and make plays and that helps our offense.”

Morris first signed with Syracuse as a 3-star recruit out of Indiana’s Nazareth Academy. He took part in spring ball before deciding to enter the transfer portal prior to the start of the 2022 season and wound up at Utah, where he did not play in his first year there. He hit the portal again and missed last season when the NCAA’s double-transfer rule was still in effect.

Morris’ progression this season has been slow and steady. With fifth-year tight end James Della Pesca becoming more of a factor in the passing game after being looked upon as more of a blocking tight end, and with the emergence of sophomore Peter Clarke and freshman Daniel Evert as red-zone options, Morris wasn’t being called upon right away as a go-to outlet over the middle of the field, and he also missed Temple’s first win of the season, a 45-29 rout of Utah State, with an injury.

With Simon back in the lineup last weekend, and with wideout Dante Wright missing most of the game with an injury, Morris run-after-catch ability was a plus for the Owls in getting their much-needed win over Tulsa.

The redshirt junior almost was able to cap the day off with a touchdown, but was drilled by a Golden Hurricane defender who jarred the ball out.

“I've been patient and I feel like I got what I deserve,” Morris said after Saturday’s win. “I'm always trying to get more, so we're not satisfied. We're going to get it all. Here at Temple, it doesn't matter what's going on. We have mental reps and tough reps. We're always locked in, no matter what our physical status is.”

With Wright and his 42 catches for 517 yards and four touchdowns out of the lineup, Simon managed to find 13 different receivers in Saturday’s win, an important step in proving Temple’s offense can weather important injuries when necessary.

Morris’ 58-yard catch-and-run was the jolt Tempe needed early on Saturday in a win that kept the program’s bowl-eligibility hopes alive.

“​​For us to move forward as an offense, this is exactly what needed to happen,” Drayton said. “We were targeting Dante [Wright] quite a bit. Good defenses eventually game plan for that. He's not the only playmaker in that room, on that side of the ball. It's time for those other guys to be exposed for sure.”