Monday notebook: Injury updates and a look ahead to Tulsa
Temple head coach Stan Drayton spoke with reporters Monday during his weekly media availability at Edberg-Olson Hall to talk about how the Owls can respond following a 70-13 loss to UCF while preparing for Friday’s home game against Tulsa.
The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Among other things, Drayton discussed how the offense needs to stay consistent for a full game, what challenges Tulsa quarterback Davis Brin brings to the Owls, and the statuses of tight end Jordan Smith, linebacker Tra Thomas, wide receiver Ian Stewart and offensive linemen James Faminu and Bryce Thoman, as they all did not play at UCF.
Tulsa is coming off of a 53-21 defeat at the hands of Navy to move to 0-2 in conference play. The Golden Hurricanes are 2-4 overall with losses to programs like Cincinnati, Wyoming, and Ole Miss.
You can listen to Drayton’s Monday interview here and read some excerpts from it below.
Drayton on seeing a resilient nature from his players as he continues to work on rebuilding the program:
“It's everything, whether it’s going good or bad. There’s something about being around good teams that get used to winning, then complacency sets in, and then it becomes that they expect to win, but they forget to do the little things that took them to get to that point. And then here we are, struggling to find those Ws from time to time. But the moment you lose your lack of energy and that edge, then you lose everything. It’s a downward effect from there. I don’t feel that in our kids. I don’t feel that in our coaches. And that is something that is exciting to me. Again, it’s showing me that our kids are resilient and it takes resilience to overcome things, and it takes resilience to get on a winning track that is consistent, so it’s something that we will definitely build off of as a football family.”
Drayton on what he saw from redshirt sophomore right tackle Victor Stoffel, who started at UCF and played 74 snaps:
“I was happy to have him out there. He obviously did his job. There's some rust on Victor, and he played the game pretty high. He's got to get his pad level down, things of that sort. But at the point of attack, he wasn't an issue. In the throw game, when they were bringing some pressure from time to time, the job got done. We know that Victor can do his job better, because we know what his ceiling is. We know what his capabilities are. Because anytime you get a player with the caliber and the talent that Victor is back in your fold, it’s always a good thing. So we're just going to build and continue to grow with him. He's having a good week of practice, he's getting further and further away from those ailments, so we're excited about where we can go from here.”
Drayton on the statuses of wide receiver Ian Stewart, tight end Jordan Smith, linebacker Tra Thomas and offensive linemen Bryce Thoman and James Faminu, all of whom did not play at UCF:
“We’re just doing what’s best for Ian right now. We’re dealing with a little bit of a foot issue, and we're assessing that to make sure that we do the right thing for him for the long term. (Jordan Smith and Tra Thomas) are progressing every single day. It’s going to be a game-day decision for those guys. But they’re out there working and preparing to play against Tulsa. We’re progressing in the right direction with those guys (Faminu and Thoman) right now, getting them ready to play.”
Drayton on trying to get the offense to be more consistent and effective after playing well early but not being able to sustain it:
“I just think that we’ve got to make the plays when plays present themselves. Obviously, we still need to continue to dissect what’s going on in the run game. Again, with the offensive line, maybe we can settle in and find some ways to get some consistency in the run game. But again, it's complementary football too, right? We always talk about that, and how do we get the football in the end zone is what I am a little bit more concerned about. And I think, the better we are on special teams and providing good field position for our offense, and being able to play good defense to help us with the field position piece all plays into the part of production on offense. It really does. There are a couple of throws that could have been better managed and a couple of decisions that could have been better managed, but I do like the way that (quarterback) E.J. (Warner) has grown within the system, but we’ve just got to get more consistent around him a little more.
“It’s not a sack issue, it’s not a turnover issue. It’s catching the 50/50 ball a higher percentage of the time, getting more yards and staying on schedule on first down and on second down to get manageable third downs (that) will help us. In that game, UCF, we lost the explosive play battle, which is the equalizer of everything. You can sit there and keep the ball on schedule, you can sit there and play great defense, you can sit there and win the field position battle on special teams, but if you’re not stopping explosive plays against your opponent, that can really get the game out of control for you.”
Drayton on Tulsa quarterback Davis Brin and his offense:
“The quarterback is very, very good at the RPO (run/pass option) game. Very good. He’s dynamic, and those receivers are veteran guys who have been there for a while, and they are very well timed up with the quarterback, for sure. They know exactly where the ball is going to be placed. They read through the defense very well, and in their RPO game, those receivers know when they’re getting the football as opposed to the quarterback giving the ball. So they’re in the right spots at all times. They do a good job of throwing and catching with timing, which gives those receivers an opportunity to catch the ball in space and run with it from time to time. So that’s a challenge for us this week based upon how we’re built on defense, is being able to stop the RPO game, for sure.”