Playing without injured quarterback E.J. Warner undoubtedly hurt Temple on the road Saturday at North Texas, but a defense that was once again overmatched and ineffective was also to blame in a 45-14 loss at DATCU Stadium.
The Owls, who fell to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in American Athletic Conference play, surrendered 527 yards to a North Texas offense led by quarterback Chandler Rogers, who threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns. No one in Temple’s secondary was able to keep up with Mean Green wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin, who caught six passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns, and Oscar Adaway’s 94 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries paced a backfield that put up 220 yards on the Owls.
En route to posting the third 400-yard passing game of his career last week in Temple’s loss to UTSA, Warner took several hits in the process and was nursing an injury all week because of it, according to a Temple spokesperson. When he couldn’t go Saturday, backup Quincy Patterson started in his place. Warner did make the trip to Denton, Texas and watched from the sideline.
Patterson, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound graduate student who played previously at Virginia Tech and North Dakota State before arriving at Temple prior to last season, tallied 113 rushing yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. But when he was forced to throw, he rarely had a clean pocket and struggled nonetheless, completing just 12 of 30 passes for just 105 yards with three interceptions.
A Darvon Hubbard 7-yard rushing touchdown tied the game at 7-7 on Temple’s first offensive series, but the Owls never recovered after Rogers responded with touchdown passes of 41 yards to Maclin (at the 2:17 mark of the first quarter) and 11 yards Kaylon Horton, the latter of which helped put North Texas ahead by 21-7 with 12:51 left in the second quarter.
Patterson’s 7-yard rushing touchdown and Camden Price’s extra point got Temple within seven at 21-14 with 8:53 left before halftime, but the Owls never scored again. They trailed by 24-14 at halftime and by 31-14 after Adaway’s 43-yard touchdown run at the 11:45 mark of the third quarter.
Patterson and Temple’s offense started to regain some momentum two possessions later and drove down to the North Texas 23-yard line, but Patterson telegraphed a pass to tight end Jordan Smith that was picked off by North Texas linebacker Nick Nakwaash, who had plenty of time to make a move on the route given the amount of air Patterson put under the throw.
North Texas, one of six programs that joined The American from Conference USA prior to this season, evened its record at 3-3 and grabbed its first AAC win.
A forgettable stretch for Everett Withers' defense continues
Yes, Temple’s defensive line sorely misses Demerick Morris, Georgia Tech transfer K.J. Miles and Miami transfer Allan Haye. Morris and Miles were lost for the season with injuries prior to the opener, and Haye succumbed to a season-ending injury at Tulsa. And cornerback Jalen McMurray and linebacker Yvandy Rigby have also missed time with injuries, too.
But even taking that into account, defensive coordinator Everett Withers’ unit is lost in a stretch of some very forgettable football.
Temple has now surrendered more than 40 points in four consecutive weeks and hasn’t played well against an FBS opponent since shutting down Akron in the second half of the season opener. Furthermore, the Owls have now gone five straight weeks without forcing a turnover, the longest streak in the program’s history. Temple forced two fumbles – one by safety Dominick Hill and one on a strip sack by Diwun Black - in the first quarter but was too slow in trying to recover either of them. North Texas went on to score touchdowns on both of those drives.
And a secondary with two single-digit players in McMurray and safety Alex Odom has been taken apart in the last four weeks, although Odom did sustain an injury in Saturday's game.
More offensive line changes
True freshman left tackle Kevin Terry saw his first game action Saturday and was in with the Owls’ offense on Patterson’s 7-yard touchdown run at the 8:53 mark of the second quarter. With Terry at left tackle, Luke Watson moved inside to left guard. Once Bryce Thoman returned to the game at left guard later in the quarter, Watson moved back outside to left tackle. He later returned to the game at left tackle when center Richard Rodriguez left the game with an injury, forcing Thoman to move to that position and Watson to left guard.
Terry, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound product of Florida’s Clearwater Central Catholic, could very well have some good football left ahead of him, but he still looked like a true freshman at times Saturday, particularly when he got beat and surrendered the pressure that preceded Patterson’s third interception of the day.
Stat stuff
Although it wasn’t nearly enough to win the game, Temple seemed intent on attacking North Texas rushing defense, the worst among all FBS programs, and had some success with it, posting a season-high 242 yards and two touchdowns. Darvon Hubbard had 69 yards and his 7-yard touchdown run on 11 carries, and Joquez Smith had 36 yards on eight carries. … Patterson completed passes to eight different receivers, but no one had more than two receptions. Amad Anderson Jr. was Temple’s leading pas catcher on the day with two catches for 22 yards and was targeted just four times. … Florida transfer Diwun Black collected two of Temple’s four sacks. Jacob Hollins had one, and Jordan Magee and Layton Jordan teamed up for one. Jordan has 1.5 sacks this season after getting nine last season and earning preseason first-team all-AAC linebacker nods from Phil Steele and Athlon.
Up next
Temple will host SMU Friday night at Lincoln Financial Field at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPN2. The Mustangs are 4-2 and riding a two-game win streak after beating ECU 31-10 Thursday night. Preston Stone’s three touchdown passes and safety Jonathan McGill’s interception return for a touchdown passed SMU in the win.
