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Published Dec 27, 2018
Temple dominated by Duke in blowout bowl loss
Kyle Gauss  â€¢  OwlScoop
Assistant Editor
Twitter
@kylegauss

SHREVEPORT, LA --- Coming out of halftime of the Independence Bowl against Duke, Temple interim coach Ed Foley had a lot of reasons to feel confident in his team.

His offense, which set the program record for points in a season, had racked up 227 yards and 27 points. His defense had allowed 20 first-half points, but the Owls had also picked off two Blue Devil passes, including one that was returned 51 yards for a touchdown by senior safety Delvon Randall en route to a 27-21 halftime lead.

All that changed in a hurry, however, as the Blue Devils racked up 21 third-quarter points as part of 42 straight points in a 56-27 blowout win over the Owls.

In the second half, Duke outscored Temple by 35 points, outgained Temple by 245 yards and dominated the time of possession by nearly a 2:1 ratio.

Simply put, after Temple looked like the better team in the first half, the Owls did not look like they could come close to competing with the Blue Devils in the final 30 minutes.

So, what changed?

"I told the kids at halftime, 'Guys, we have to make more plays than they do. We're in good shape, but let's go and play like it's 0-0,'" Foley said. "They came out in the second half the way that I was hoping to come out. They had a couple of kids that went and made plays and we weren't able to do that."

The plays that particularly damned Temple happened early in the third quarter. After falling behind by eight points, Temple's offense was forced to punt and attempted a trick play out of the punting formation. Unlike what happened during the regular season, however, Temple's trick play led to disaster as punter Connor Bowler was forced to fall on a botched attempt at his own 10-yard line.

"We've been able to make plays on special teams all year, so I went to the well with a fake punt and we didn't execute it," Foley said. "I just gave them another score. That was the turnaround right there."

Duke quarterback Daniel Jones was named the bowl's offensive MVP after he completed 30 of 41 passes for 423 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions, one of which came when the game was well out of reach. Duke wide receiver TJ Rahming set an Atlantic Coast Conference bowl record with 240 receiving yards off of 12 catches and two touchdowns.

Outside of the three interceptions it forced, Temple's defense was consistently beat in the passing game. One of the reasons Duke was able to have its way through the air was the absence of Temple senior cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, who was a late scratch from the game due to an undisclosed ailment. While the absence of Ya-Sin, who will play in the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl games next month in anticipation of April's NFL draft, hurt the Owls, the issues were deeper than that, Randall said.

"To be completely honest, it was just miscommunication coming from me and the corners," Randall, who was named the game's defensive MVP, said. "It's on us for not communicating. We didn't have matching communication that we had all season, so a couple of plays really killed us."

While the defense will take the brunt of the blame for giving up 56 points, Temple's offense also went stagnant in the second half. After scoring with 4:26 left in the first half, the Owls never scored again and looked lost without senior running back Ryquell Armstead, who was also held out in what would have been his final game. Armstead left Temple's blowout win over UConn in November after being tackled by the ankle and ended his senior season having played in just 10 of the team's 13 games but will participate in next month's Senior Bowl.

Without Armstead, Temple rushed for just 53 yards off of 29 carries.

Elsewhere in the offense, Temple quarterback Anthony Russo completed 25 of 46 passes for 228 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Senior wideout Brodrick Yancy had a season-high 57 receiving yards. The offensive dropoff from the first half to the second half was self inflicted, Russo said.

"It wasn't any different looks," Russo told reporters after the game. "They brought a little more pressure and that's on us and the O-line to get picked up. We just weren't able to find our groove in the second half...We can't put our defense into situations like we did today."

For players like Yancy, Randall, Ya-Sin and Armstead, the blowout loss marked the end of their time at Temple. While the last result was far from desirable, the senior class did leave with a conference championship ring, a bowl victory and the record of being the winningest class in Temple history. Still,

"[The realization of his Temple career being over] hasn't hit yet," Randall said. "I was just trying to go out here and give 100 percent for my team...There was no way I could leave those guys out there... When I get on the plane and I fly home, it will probably hit me."

For guys like Russo, however, they are now tasked with going into an offseason with the memory of an embarrassment on national television overshadowing an otherwise memorable season.

"As soon as we get back from break, I can promise you that we're going to get right back to work," Russo said. "We're going to get the things that we need to get fixed fixed and work our buts off..I promise you we're going to come back next year as a stronger team, a closer team and we're going to do everything we need to do to come back next year and win our conference."

Listen to postgame interviews here.

Ed Foley, Delvon Randall and Anthony Russo


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