Owls get a look at their future in UCF loss
As his team has sputtered to a 1-5 record in this shortened college football season, second-year Temple head coach Rod Carey has continued to say he won’t use a growing list of injuries and COVID-related absences as an excuse for where things stand now.
Saturday night in Orlando following the Owls’ 38-13 loss to UCF, Carey’s stance was no different.
He pointed to two critical turnovers on Temple’s first three drives – a fumble and an interception from third-string quarterback turned starter Re-al Mitchell – that led to UCF’s first 14 points and sent the Knights on their way to an eventual rout.
“The whole game boils down to the beginning,” Carey said. “Two turnovers in the first three drives. We dug ourselves a hole we didn’t have the firepower to get out of.”
Carey, of course, is right. The Owls could ill afford to gift the nation’s ninth-best scoring offense any early opportunities like that, but they did. And it cost them.
Ever since Oct. 24, the last time Anthony Russo played in a 41-29 loss at Memphis, it’s become clear there’s a significant drop-off between the fifth-year starter and backup Trad Beatty, who didn’t play at UCF due to an injury he sustained last week, and Mitchell.
And Carey didn’t really hide his displeasure when it came time to describing Mitchell’s play.
“The ball security thing, turning the ball over is unacceptable,” Carey said. “I don’t care if you’re a true freshman or if you’re a fifth-year senior. It’s unacceptable. We’ve got to have more ball security.”
“The urgency,” Carey added, “I don’t think he played with early. I think he got into a little better form with game speed and better urgency later, but we can’t wait to do that. Those two things, we have to fix.”
Mitchell, after all, is Temple’s inexperienced third-string quarterback, and the Iowa State transfer played like it in his first career start, completing just 10 of his 23 pass attempts for 107 yards and tossing two interceptions. He was also sacked twice and faced consistent pressure from UCF’s defense, one that didn’t always meet much resistance from an offensive line that included inexperienced players like redshirt-sophomore David Nwaogwugwu, who started at right tackle in place of injured starter Michael Niese, and redshirt-freshman Wisdom Quarshie, who played a fair amount of snaps at right guard.
And because Mitchell played like a third-stringer, it is fair to wonder what might have happened had Russo been able to play.
Russo’s right throwing shoulder, the one that kept him out during the last two weeks, was fine, Carey said. Instead, Russo didn’t make the trip to Orlando this weekend because he’s now on the program’s COVID protocol list.
Could Temple have gained control of this game had Russo played? Again, it’s fair to wonder. Because after UCF scored touchdowns on its first three possessions to grab a 21-0 lead, Temple shut out the Knights in the second quarter, forcing punts on their next three series and a missed field goal on the fourth. At one point, the Owls had held UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel to 5 of 14 passing for just 84 yards and sacked him twice.
The problem was that Mitchell was struggling, and the only points Temple could muster in the first half came on a 30-yard Rory Bell field goal. And just as they had in their three previous losses, the Owls came undone in the second half, although not as dramatically as they had at Memphis and Tulane and at home against SMU.
So at 1-5, there will certainly be no shot at an American Athletic Conference championship. No shot at whichever bowl games will be played.
Carey may not want to articulate it in these terms, but the future is now for the Owls.
And really, it has to be.
With so many key players out due to injuries or COVID-related circumstances, Carey has either been forced to play some true freshman to fill spots on the field or get an earlier-than-he-hoped look at some others over these last few weeks when games have dropped out of reach like they did Saturday night.
Here’s how some of them fared:
It would have been somewhat inconceivable to think the true freshman would see any time this fall considering he entered the season as the fourth-string quarterback. But with Russo and Beatty out Saturday and Mitchell struggling, Carey and offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich decided to give the lefthander out of South Carolina’s Ashley Ridge High School two series – one late in the third quarter and another in the fourth quarter. He didn’t connect on either one of his pass attempts, although the second throw looked like it was complete to redshirt freshman wideout Kwesi Evans, but he did get eight yards on a scramble to pick up a first down on his first series. It was a small sample size, but Duncan didn’t look overwhelmed.
“Been impressed with Duncan this week in practice,” Carey said, “and certainly how he got up to speed pretty quick on a limited amount (of plays) that we had set for him. And then in the game, he scrambled for a big first down, and he’s a fiery guy, for sure. He’s got a ways to go.”
One of three younger backs to get some time Saturday behind starter Tayvon Ruley (90 yards on 23 carries), the East Pennsboro High School product got 12 yards on three carries, including the first touchdown of his young career on a 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter. It came against some UCF backups, but it’s still a positive considering running backs coach Gabe Infante is looking for some depth and long-term answers behind Ruley now that Re’Mahn Davis has decided to enter the transfer portal and opt out of the season.
The former South Jersey High School standout is getting a few more looks now as a redshirt-sophomore. Infante said during the preseason that Dobbins, who played at St. Augustine Prep and then Timber Creek High School, has speed and big-play ability, and he flashed some of it on consecutive runs of 11 and 16 yards in the fourth quarter. Like Neely, his notable runs came against backups, but he also logged a second-quarter carry. He also recovered his own fumble on what looked like a botched exchange.
But it is notable that perhaps the team’s most talented young back is starting to see more snaps.
The true freshman has now started the last two games. Saturday was a mixed bag. The Kingsway High School product registered three tackles, but he also missed one on a 50-yard completion from Gabriel to Marlon Williams, one of the nation’s best receivers.
Like his fellow backfield counterparts in Neely and Dobbins, the redshirt freshman from Penn Charter showed some burst. He tallied 31 yards on six carries, including a 14-yarder. Again, Ruley got the bulk of the work and that will likely continue into the Owls’ last two games, but any early answers the staff can get about Saydee, Neely and Dobbins are a step in the right direction.
The freshman linebacker will likely see more time with Isaiah Graham-Mobley and Audley Isaacs out. He recorded a tackle and a pass break-up in his second game back since returning from the program’s COVID protocol.