As he talked to reporters following Temple’s 54-28 rout of USF Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, Edward Saydee was flanked by his center, Adam Klein, and his left tackle, Isaac Moore.
And for one week, at least, the redshirt-sophomore running back had a reason to smile and thank his two teammates, and they had a different story to tell about what had previously been the second-worst rushing offense in the FBS.
Saydee, who had never run for more than 69 yards in a game (that came two weeks ago in Temple’s loss to Tulsa), obliterated that total against the Bulls with career-highs of 265 yards and three touchdowns to go with four catches out of the backfield for 69 receiving yards.
And while it came against a USF rushing defense ranked 122nd in the country, Saydee’s breakout performance was the equivalent of the Owls exorcising eight week’s worth of demons. An offensive line that once again started a different combination of five players blocked much better, and Saydee was more decisive and displayed some breakaway speed on touchdown runs of 75, 40 and 27 yards.
He even earned some national recognition for his offensive outburst later in the day.
First-year Temple head coach Stan Drayton was more than encouraged by what he saw from Saydee. And although Drayton himself maybe could not have predicted the 54-point outburst by his offense or Saydee’s 334 yards of total offense, he did see it as the byproduct of of a player and a team that kept chipping away week after week, even if they didn’t always get the desired results.
“He broke tackles, there was great effort with the football, protecting the football, and confidence,” Drayton said. “There has been a lot of growth that took place for this young man today. But again, it's been a constant deal with him.”
Again, Saydee had seen little success in running the ball prior to Saturday’s contest against USF. There were, in fact, four out of the Owls’ previous eight games this season where the Penn Charter graduate saw less than 10 carries.
Things finally broke through Saturday.
“I know I had to just do my job, to stay composed, just trust my O-line,” Saydee said Saturday afternoon. “I just believe in them and trust them and stayed patient. And when it opened up, I hit it.”
Saydee did it behind an offensive line that was missing Richard Rodriguez and James Faminu at the guard positions due to injuries. Instead, Bryce Thoman was at left guard, Wisdom Quarshie was at right guard after playing center last week for an injured Klein. Klein was back at center, and Victor Stoffel was at right tackle again with Moore at left tackle.
Freshman quarterback E.J. Warner had a successful day along with Saydee, throwing for a career-high 344 yards and two touchdowns while completing 27 passes to seven different receivers on 36 attempts.
The offensive line’s ability to open up holes and Saydee’s ability to run through them decisively obviously made Warner’s job easier and opened things up downfield for the Owls.
“The run game was fantastic today,” Warner said. “My job was easier to hand the ball off and become a fan just watching the ball,” Warner said. “I got to watch these huge holes open up, and watch Saydee run through them.”
In the process, Saydee climbed his way into the program’s record book. His 265 rushing yards are the fifth-highest single-game total in program history, and the 334 yards of total offense are the fourth-most in a single game by a Temple running back.
Saydee’s 75-yard rushing touchdown to open up the second half for Temple was the longest rush of his career and also the longest rushing touchdown since Ryquell Armstead’s in 2018 at Boston College. Saydee was also the first Owls running back to post a 200-plus-yard rushing game since Armstead racked up 210 yards and six touchdowns later in that 2018 season in a road win at Houston.
Saydee also made good on a request from his roommate, Owls linebacker Jordan Magee.
“I tell him before every game I need 100-plus (yards),” Magee said, “and he outdid himself.”