Sputtering offense, penalties doom Temple in 24-3 loss at Memphis
At one point, Temple’s 24-3 loss at Memphis Saturday was a tight game and a defensive battle that offered some signs of promise for the Owls’ future under first-year head coach Stan Drayton.
Defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot’s group was getting consistent pressure on Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan, sacked him three times, and had added to its total of six straight quarters of shutout football, dating back to last weekend’s 28-0 win over UMass.
But after clinging to a 3-0 lead at halftime at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, the Owls allowed the Tigers to reel off 24 unanswered points in the second half – including 17 in the fourth quarter – while their offense faltered for a number of reasons, including poor offensive line play, a stagnant running game, some forced throws from true freshman quarterback E.J. Warner and some untimely penalties.
Warner, who continued to throw from a less-than-clean pocket while playing behind another different offensive line combination, finished 18 of 37 passing for 245 yards and three interceptions, all of which came in the fourth quarter. This all came as Temple again struggled to run the football, gaining a meager 52 yards on 22 attempts, a paltry 2.4 yards per carry.
To further illustrate Temple’s struggles, the Owls were just 2 of 16 on third down, 0-for-3 on fourth down (including a key failed red zone attempt in the first quarter), and were penalized nine times for a total of 74 yards.
All of this was too much to overcome on an afternoon when the defense produced five sacks, nine tackles for a loss, nine pass breakups and played an impressive first half that would have otherwise set up Temple’s offense to build a lead. Memphis instead finally broke down the Owls in the fourth quarter with the help of good field position and a bit of a questionable pass interference penalty.
At the end of the day, Temple dropped to 2-3 following its American Athletic Conference opener with plenty to work on heading into its bye week. The Owls’ next game, a Thursday night Oct. 13 road game at UCF, is 12 days away.
Turning point(s)
This one is debatable, but you could point to a couple of moments.
Drayton and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf again decided to call an aggressive game, and an opportunity to do so came their way on the Owls’ second offensive possession.
After a 78-yard catch-and-run connection between Warner and wideout Jose Barbon set Temple up at the Memphis 7-yard line, the Owls got three yards from running back Darvon Hubbard, followed by two incompletions, the latter of which was a failed end zone fade route to quarterback-turned-wide receiver D’Wan Mathis.
On fourth-and-4, Drayton elected to go for it instead of kicking a 21-yard field goal, and Warner couldn’t connect with Barbon in the end zone, turning the ball over to Memphis on downs.
The Tigers didn’t turn that turnover into points, but a touchdown there – or maybe even three points – could have given some sort of boost to an offense that went three-and-out on its next three possessions before placekicker Camden Price capped a 10-play, 54-yard drive by converting a 47-yard field goal that gave Temple a 3-0 lead with 35 seconds left in the second quarter. Price, a Miami transfer, replaced previous starter Rory Bell, who came into Saturday having missed both of his attempts this season.
Looking for another turning point? You could also turn to a couple of mistakes on the Temple possession in the third quarter before Memphis scored its first touchdown.
On second-and-7 from their own 15-yard line, the Owls had Mathis in the game again at wide receiver. In what looked like a miscommunication, Warner threw incomplete Mathis’ way on a route where Mathis never turned around. On the next play, Warner had what initially looked to be a 15-yard completion to Barbon that would have given Temple a first down at its 30-yard line, but the Owls were instead hit with a penalty for an ineligible receiver downfield on Barbon, a flag that appeared to come because Mathis lined up incorrectly and covered up Barbon on the formation.
There are of course no guarantees that Temple would have kept that drive going much past its own 30 on a day when its offense struggled, but Mackenzie Morgan had to punt two plays later, and Zae Baines was flagged for kick catch interference on that play.
That 15-yard infraction allowed Memphis to start the ensuing drive at the Temple 45, and running back Brandon Thomas capped the Tigers’ 10-play, 45-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run that, coupled with Chris Howard’s extra point, got Memphis on the board and ultimate ahead for good at 7-3 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Penalties, penalties and more penalties
Another flag cost Temple in the second half and ultimately cut Memphis a big break and allowed the Tigers to take control of the game.
Still within reach and trailing by 10-3 around the midway mark of the fourth quarter, the Owls appeared to have come up with a key defensive stop with Memphis facing third-and-10 from its 40-yard line when redshirt freshman outside linebacker Balansama Kamara got some pressure on Henigan, who initially threw incomplete to Gabriel Rogers with cornerback Cameron Ruiz in coverage.
But a late flag indicated that Ruiz was being penalized for pass interference, giving the Tigers 15 yards and the first down into Temple territory at the Owls’ 45.
Four plays later, Henigan found his 6-foot-5, 255-pound tight end Caden Prieskorn on a four-yard touchdown pass, and Howard’s PAT made it a 17-3 ballgame with 7 minutes to go. The Tigers put the game on ice almost three minutes later on Thomas’ second two-yard touchdown run of the game.
Memphis played Saturday without it starting left tackle in Austin Myers and left guard Jonah Gambill, both of whom sustained injuries last week in the Tigers' win over North Texas.
More run game struggles, another offensive line combo and more growing pains for Warner
With Richard Rodriguez returning to the starting lineup at center, Adam Klein moved from center – where he had played last week against UMass – back out to right tackle, with Isaac Moore starting once again at left tackle, Bryce Thoman at left guard and Wisdom Quarshie at right guard.
Drayton said two weeks ago that his running backs need to do a better job of running through contact, but it could be a chicken-and-egg thing in that they’re also not getting the best of running lanes.
Jakari Norwood (four carries, 18 yards), Edward Saydee (four carries, 13 yards), Hubbard (six carries, 11 yards) and backup quarterback Quincy Patterson (five carries, eight yards) all took a crack at getting something going on the ground with little to no success. Whether they’re getting the running lanes they need will be left to the discretion of Drayton and his staff when they watch film of this game, but the lack of any juice in the running game, regardless of the reason, makes it virtually impossible for Langsdorf and his freshman quarterback to set up anything in the way of a play-action passing aspect of the offense.
Warner’s three interceptions were likely a combination of some poor decisions rooted in trying to make something happen late in the game. Barbon broke out to the tune of five catches for a career-high 134 yards, marking his biggest game since Warner took over the quarterback job. Warner has some viable options around him at wide receiver in Barbon and Adonicas Sanders (four catches for 57 yards Saturday), and tight ends David Martin-Robinson and Jordan Smith could become viable safety valves, although they combined for just three catches for 22 yards Saturday. And Warner still has plenty to learn and work through as a true freshman with the Owls just five games into the season.
But Warner also needs a lot more to go right around him.
Stat stuff
Temple’s five sacks Saturday give the Owls 20 this season. That’s three more than they had all of last season. … When Temple came up empty on the first-quarter fourth-down try, it marked the first time this season that the Owls did not score in the red zone. … Linebackers Kobe Wilson and Yvandy Rigby led Temple with nine tackles apiece Saturday. … Linebacker Jordan Magee had one of the Owls’ five sacks Saturday. That TFL gave him a career-high seven this season, and the redshirt sophomore out of Delaware’s Dover High School still has more than half a season left to build on that total.