Monday notebook: Russo out again, issues on both lines
Rod Carey expressed his disappointment when speaking with reporters after Saturday's loss at Tulane and offered similar sentiments again on Monday during his weekly Zoom call with reporters.
Despite being short-handed, Temple’s second-year head coach was not happy with his team’s effort in its 38-3 loss this past Saturday. Carey specifically pointed to Temple’s play on both sides of the line scrimmage, saying he felt like the Owls got dominated on both sides of the ball. Carey added that’s the first time since he’s been the head coach of this program that he’s felt that.
Temple traveled to New Orleans with just 54 scholarship players. Even with that, the Owls had several opportunities to make Saturday’s contest a game, heading into halftime down just 10-3 and receiving the opening kickoff to begin the second half.
That never quite happened though, as Temple allowed the Green Wave to score 38 unanswered points in a complete rout.
Fortunately for the Owls, they’ll have two extra days to prepare for a high-powered SMU offense. The American Athletic Conference permitted Temple to move back this week’s game from Thursday night to Saturday.
But even with those extra two days, Carey announced that quarterback Anthony Russo, who is dealing with an injury in his AC joint in his right throwing shoulder, will miss his second consecutive game Saturday. The Owls will start Trad Beatty against the Mustangs and continue to rotate him with Re-al Mitchell, just as they did at Tulane until one of the two can stand out and get into a rhythm.
Carey was optimistic about linebacker Yvandy Rigby and offensive guard Adam Klein returning to the fold on Saturday. And while the Owls could get back both true freshman linebacker Kobe Wilson and redshirt sophomore tight end David Martin-Robinson later in the week from their quarantine period, it doesn’t sound like either will be medically cleared to play, Carey said.
Here’s what Carey had to say about his team ahead of its upcoming matchup against SMU (6-1) on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
On Anthony Russo missing his second game with a shoulder injury:
“I made the decision yesterday after speaking with him. He’s not going to play this week. Could he be ready by Saturday? I think there’s probably an outside opportunity for that physically, but certainly, he would not have practiced all week and that can’t happen again. He understands that. He’s obviously disappointed, but my first job is to make sure the team we field out there is safe and I don’t think that would be a proper situation for him.”
On the initial reaction to the loss at Tulane:
“We’re still really disappointed with it and quite honestly, it felt like we lost both sides of the line of scrimmage and that was the first time I’ve felt like that since I’ve been here. That’s not good enough. So we went back to work today…. I’d like to give you some elaborate explanation about why we lost both sides of the line of scrimmage other than the fact that we got out butts whooped upfront. And it wasn’t a talent thing. It was simply our technique was wrong at times and the line of scrimmage was not moving.”
On the potential return of offensive lineman Adam Klein’s injury status:
“He did practice today for the first time since South Florida. He had good pop today and went through an entire practice today. He really looked like himself. The big thing will be how he recovers off that and how sore he is and how much he can bounce back and get ready for Wednesday. If he can keep bouncing back, I expect him to play quite a bit on Saturday.”
On the struggles from the offensive line and whether other players could see some reps or push the starters:
“Right now we got a few of our backups in quarantine, so that’s been one of the things… you always like to have competition and right now there isn’t a lot of it. But guys like Griff Sestilli are doing a good job, [Leon] Pinto obviously, David Nwaogwugwu. I think [Victor] Stoffel is coming along.
"Griff had a good practice today. I think he can smell a little blood in the water because he saw the same thing I saw from the center position, which wasn’t good enough. And CJ [Perez] will get that corrected. I have a lot of faith in CJ as well. As for the guard situation, (Joseph) Hooper and (Vincent) Picozzi know Klein is coming back, so I think that competition will be a positive going forward.”
On potentially getting players back from COVID-related issues:
“If I get this wrong don’t hold it against me…. I think I’m getting Kobe Wilson on Thursday, a true freshman linebacker, which I don’t know if he’ll be medically cleared to play because then you have to get back in shape. He might be, he might not be. And I’m getting [David Martin-Robinson] on Friday before the game, so he won’t be [available to play Saturday].”
On SMU:
“They’re a really good football team. Shane Buechele, their quarterback, makes the entire thing go. They have a lot of guys that are back on defense so a lot of the same cast of characters. Obviously, I’m very familiar with their [defensive coordinator] Kevin Kane. He worked for me for a number of years and a couple of years as my DC. They stress you defensively. They do a lot of different things and they got players who are running around, flying and being physical. Then offensively, I know they’re down their big wide receiver but they have another guy who might be just as fast as he was. As for their running backs, I know they have a backup out but their top line guy is really good and the whole line is back. It’s a complete team that is certainly led by the quarterback.”