Coming off a brutal 34-14 loss on the road at USF Saturday night, Temple head coach Rod Carey gave his weekly press conference Monday afternoon in which he recapped the team’s loss and talked about UCF, the Owls’ upcoming opponent Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.

“A number of small things that led to a disappointing loss we need to get corrected,” Carey said about the USF game. “We are well on our way to doing that. We had a good team meeting yesterday. Look forward to a good one tomorrow and then get back on the practice field and get moving forward with a good opponent in UCF.”

Carey also provided several injury updates for ailing Owls. Right tackle Michael Niese, cornerback Keyshawn Paul, safety M.J. Griffin and offensive guard Joseph Hooper are all considered “day to day.”

The third-year head coach also mentioned safety Amir Tyler is “seeing the doctor” today, but his status for Saturday’s game is unknown.

Here are a few other quotes from Carey’s press conference.

Carey on how the team bounces back from the USF loss:

“The same way that we bounce back from every loss: you get back to work. Correct the things that are correctable and, you know, do this thing together.”

Carey on UCF as a whole:

“Good skill all over the field, really aggressive defense. Offense that will challenge you and then really sound on special teams as well with good skill in the return game for certain.”

Carey on why the team struggled to tackle against USF:

“I think we took bad angles quite a few times and then didn’t run through the tackle quite a few times as well. Then there were some times we lost leverage that caused those bad angles from people up front. Certainly, at times, got them down but not nearly enough. Had too many of those bad angles or not running through or lost leverage.”

Carey on the team’s depth in the secondary at safety:

“[Corey Cuascut-Palmer] will get in there and [Alex] Odom, and obviously [Jalen] Ware. That is the one thing about that position, we are pretty deep. That is getting tested right now for sure. Feel good about our depth at corner too but that’ll get tested as well. Certainly feel like we have people to go out there and play, it is a part of the game.”

Carey on some of the similarities between UCF and USF:

“I certainly think that there are some similarities that apply to us. Not necessarily to UCF and USF, but certainly some similarities that apply to us as far as we get a chance to fix. We just put it on film that for the last couple of weeks people can run it on us. We have to get that stopped so we can get off the field.”

Carey on if he saw anything different watching the USF game on film vs on the field:

“No. I think watching it on film just confirmed what we were seeing on the field. We just, in key situations, we were missing tackles, and then in non-key situations, we were missing tackles. Then offensively, we were not staying on the field. It all works together. It is not the defense’s fault, the offense’s fault, special team’s fault. That is a team loss. We certainly have to own that, stay together and understand one part can help the other. We weren’t able to offensively help the defense. It’s a together thing.”

Carey on dealing with UCF’s offensive tempo:

“Certainly think they play with more personal groups this year than they have in the past and that allows us to have substitute chances right there with the rules of college football. When they do decide to go fast, it is fast. You have to have your automatic calls. You have to have your adjustment calls, your blitz calls on the ready. Guys have to communicate at a fast tempo.”

Carey on if one player is responsible for making on the field calls on defense:

“No. Everybody with the way college football is. Everybody is responsible for seeing and communicating the signal.”

Carey on UCF’s quarterbacks Mikey Keene and Joey Gatewood, both of whom played against Memphis Saturday and have been part of the group that has replaced an injured Dillon Gabriel.

“They’ve played a couple of them. One is a little bigger than the other. They both have a similar skill set. They both throw the ball very well but can move and run. That running really puts a lot of pressure on your defense. You gotta account for it, but you certainly have to stop both aspects of the run game. The tailback and the quarterback.

Carey on the team’s offensive line competition:

“There is always competition. If your view is that there isn’t real competition at other times, then I can’t help you with that. There is always a real competition there. I’m hopeful [Niese and Hooper] can get into the competition, but they have to be available to get onto the field to get into the competition.”

Carey on using offensive tackle Jimto Obidegwu’s redshirt this season:

“We take that into account for each individual person on where it is and what the team needs. You know, it is not just an individual thing. It is a team thing. What does the team need? What is the individual, what is best for them? We take that into account. We start out thinking you’re going to play and then we adjust from there.”

Carey on if the team will use more four-down fronts against UCF:

“It is something we are definitely looking at. That has to match with what they are doing. It is not just something that you can do. You have to go ahead and have the ability to implement it inside of a game plan. Certainly, looking at that and exploiting those things. We always have that at our disposal. It is how much of it fits versus the game plan.”