Temple overcomes numerous mistakes in 39-37 win over USF
A win is a win, no matter how ugly.
That classic cliche bore fruit for Temple in its 39-37 win over USF Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in the program's long-awaited home opener, even though it was played before a small crowd limited to players' and coaches' family.
It was far from pretty. The Owls (1-1) had to overcome special team miscues, injuries, missed opportunities in the red zone, failed two-point conversions and egregious turnovers, but they had just enough to squeeze out their first win of the season.
Sure, Temple was favored by 13 points, but second-year Owls head coach Rod Carey was insistent that they beat a talented team, despite the Bulls having just one win -- which came over The Citadel -- to show for it.
The Bulls named Jordan McCloud their starting quarterback just this week. On Saturday, he was slippery and evasive, making plays happen with his arms and his legs.
But with the game on the line, he was left on the sideline.
Games often come down to four or five plays, and Temple was on the wrong side of that in its 31-29 loss to Navy last Saturday. Seven days later, it was the Owls who were on the right end of that, Carey said. In Temple’s case, both games have been decided on two-point conversion attempts.
With just 63 seconds left in the game, USF attempted to tie the game at 39 after a Leonard Parker 1-yard touchdown run. Bulls backup quarterback Noah Johnson ran a power play to the left side and immediately was blown up and driven back by a combination of safety Amir Tyler and linebacker George Reid.
Earlier in the game, Tyler was beaten for a touchdown by USF wide receiver Randall St. Felix, who caught a 13-yard bullet, getting the Bulls on the board for the first time.
Tyler bounced back from his mistake and made perhaps the biggest play of the game.
“They scored that touchdown on me. I feel like we were just out of it a little bit,” Tyler said. “We weren’t playing like Temple defense. After we just let it go, let it go over our head and just got back to the game.”
When in need of other big plays, Temple relied on unlikely difference makers in Reid and defensive end Arnold Ebiketie.
McCloud had an unforced fumble on a read-option that popped right up into the arms of Ebiktie and into the end zone for a scoop-and-score that gave Temple a 32-31 lead with a little less than 10 minutes to go. The redshirt junior defensive end finished Saturday’s contest with six total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble, in addition to his touchdown.
As for Reid, he was called upon in relief of Isaiah Graham-Mobley, who tweaked his surgically repaired ankle pregame and tried to play through it, but it progressively got worse. A converted safety, Reid was called for a pass interference penalty deep in his own territory, but ultimately redeemed himself with a fumble recovery and then recovered USF’s desperation onside kick
On the other side of the ball, quarterback Anthony Russo was able to keep his composure despite unforced errors that would have compromised his play in the past. All in all, Russo’s performance can be summed up as one word -- maddening.
Russo’s Temple career has been marred with inconsistencies. He’s making the same head-scratching mistakes, but still has the ability to make precise throws.
While USF defensive back Daquan Evans, who came away with Russo’s second interception of the day, forced Branden Mack out of bounds, it didn’t matter. Russo had Mack wide open, but he underthrew him. While Jadan Blue was tackled and taken out of the play, that’s not a throw that Russo can make, regardless of his arm strength.
Carey didn’t hesitate to sound off on the officials following Temple’s win, calling it “amazing” that Blue was tackled on Russo’s second interception of the afternoon and that it wasn’t called. It was a throw Russo would love to have back, but he didn’t allow it to break him.
Temple’s quarterback completed 30 of 42 passes for 270 yards and four touchdown passes. He found Randle Jones on a screen pass that Jones eventually finished off for a 13-yard touchdown that ultimately provided the game-winning points that helped put the Owls ahead by 39-31.
Jones, who Carey referred to as a “flat-out stud," caught eight passes for 81 yards and a score. Blue added nine catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns, while Mack, who was held in check by USF, had just three catches for 29 yards and a score.
The Owls stuck by their quarterback, and he made the necessary plays to get their season back on track.
“This year, Anthony is definitely way more composed, he’s definitely taken more of that leadership role,” Blue said. “When things are going bad, he’s always positive and that’s one thing that I can respect about him. No matter what, if he throws a pick or whatever he does, he’s always positive and that energy feeds on to us. When you believe in your quarterback, anything can happen on the offensive side.”
Temple's offense put up 33 points on Saturday (the other six came on Ebiketie's touchdown), but the difference between a good offense and a great offense is the ability to score in the red zone.
Temple’s biggest bugaboo on the offensive side of the ball from the season before was its inability to come away with seven points in the red zone. This offseason, Russo met one-on-one with quarterbacks coach Craig Harmon and offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich, dissecting every play Temple had inside the 20-yard line in 2019, vowing to improve the unit’s red zone efficiency.
Through two games, there’s been no sign of improvement. The fade routes that have consistently given Russo problems are still not there. He airmailed two throws to Mack inside the end zone that stood no chance of being completed in double coverage.
In another instance of Russo trying to outmuscle a throw, he overthrew Mack with the ball being tipped off his fingertips and into the waiting hands of Mekhi LaPointe. Four plays later, USF used the turnover to score a touchdown and take a 21-17 lead late in the second quarter. Carey pointed to that throw being a back-shoulder ball that just wasn’t there, another one that the quarterback would’ve liked to have back.
While Temple’s red zone efficiency or lack thereof on Saturday kept points off the board, so did its inability to convert on two-point conversions. Neither play in question ended with the ball in the end zone. A trick play that involved Mack throwing a pass to Russo went nowhere after a third-quarter touchdown connection between the two, and Re’Mahn Davis was stopped short on a pitch on a 2-point try in the fourth after Ebiketie's touchdown
Temple’s offensive woes weren’t the only maddening part of its game.
After a season filled with special teams miscues, Carey vowed to get the issues fixed. Sure, they were an execution issue in 2019, but some of the same mistakes are being made with different personnel.
Temple looked unprepared on multiple instances, including when Eboketie lost a ball in the sun after USF pooched a kick his way. On another kickoff, the Owls were fooled again. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Kwesi Evans saved the day, but he still got a late jump. These were mistakes that should have been resolved, but are still affecting Temple’s ability to win the battle of field positioning.
Mobley had a 36-yard field goal blocked at the end of the first half, but he still doesn’t have the leg to get the ball in the end zone for touchbacks. The Bulls returned six kickoffs for 131 yards, which enabled them to operate on a short field and give their struggling offense a shortcut.
Taking advantage of a short field, USF had prime field position all game long. The Bulls' offense accounted for only 324 yards on the day, but it felt a lot more than that. A player that gave the Owls fits on Saturday, much akin to Nelson Smith the week prior, was Johnny Ford.
Offensively, Ford totaled 122 all-purpose yards, including a receiving touchdown that could have put the Owls away for good.
In a call that could’ve gone either way, McCloud spilled out of a chaotic pocket and found an open Ford in the back of the end zone for USF’s fourth touchdown of the game. While there was no conclusive evidence that Ford came down with a foot in-bounds, the officials stuck with the call on the field. The Bulls took a 28-20 lead over Temple and an ensuing field goal following Russo’s interception gave them an 11-point cushion
In sticking with the theme of cliches, the Owls bent but didn’t break. They erased an 11-point lead by scoring 19 unanswered points. That type of resilience is what they’ll need to show going forward. A USF team that was outscored 130-58 coming into Saturday’s game took Temple down to the wire.
The mistakes Temple was able to overcome to prevail likely won’t be forgiven by other teams within the conference.
Saturday could have been a get-right game, but it was anything but.
Still, the Owls will take it.
"We are thrilled with the win. Winning is hard, period," Carey said. "That team has a lot of talent. I know they don't have but one win to show for it, but they do have a lot of talent. They've figured themselves out offensively just in time to play us, and they played pretty good this week."