Temple runs out of time in loss to Army
PHILADELPHIA – Temple Football walked back into Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night hoping to carry the momentum from its first win just five days earlier against Utah State.
However, week five brought a much bigger challenge in American Athletic Conference-leading Army, who was trying to extend a seven-game win streak.
Temple (1-4, 0-2 AAC) fell to Army (4-0, 3-0 AAC) 42-14 Thursday after its fourth-quarter comeback attempt ran out of time.
“We did everything out there today that warrants losing the ball game,” said Temple head coach Stan Drayton. “Army was the most physical team today.”
Army traveled to Philadelphia with earned confidence since leading its new conference this season. The Black Knights entered the game as the second-best time of possession team in the country, owning the clock and the run game in each contest this year.
Thursday was no different. Army dominated the Temple defense with 417 rushing yards and 10 more minutes on offense.
“Those guys are a veteran group over there that no one has stopped the run against all year,” Drayton said. “We’ve got to find a way to materially be a lot more stout than what we showed today.”
Army scored on its first two drives of both halves, putting Temple behind early thanks to a three-play, 86-yard drive and a 13-play, 89-yard possession. The Black Knights have now scored on the first two drives of every game they have played this season.
The Black Knight’s triple-option offense is somewhat similar to Navy’s, and Temple struggled to contain both service academies’ offenses this year.
“They just had a great plan,” said linebacker D.J. Woodbury. “They executed. I wish we could get some runs back, but we’re going to watch film and see what we can get fixed.”
Offensively, Temple struggled in multiple ways. The Owls have consistently been their own worst enemy as dropped passes, falling on routes, and penalties disrupted several drives.
On Temple’s first drive of the game, quarterback Evan Simon found wide receiver Antonio Jones on a 49-yard catch-and-run touchdown, seemingly snapping the Owls’ streak of slow starts. Then, the players noticed the officials’ flags, and the referees waved off the score for a holding on tackle Diego Barajas.
Simon noticed that play halted Temple’s momentum and became a tough obstacle to overcome through the rest of the contest.
“It was definitely a killer,” Simon said. “We talked all week about us starting off fast because we struggled with that. It’s part of football; penalties happen, and you have to be able to adjust and figure it out.”
Temple’s offensive line also failed to hold up against an Army team that walked into The Linc without a sack in its three games. Army walked off the field with seven sacks, the most Temple allowed since 2010.
“It wasn’t like they were bringing pressure we hadn’t seen or practiced,” Drayton said. “We have to figure out why we’re not executing the things that we practice.”
Army forced Temple to be one-dimensional with such a big lead, and the Owls finished with 22 rushing attempts for minus-five yards. Simon had 30 passing attempts, the second-most from a Temple quarterback this season, and completed 19 for 224 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Owls wide receiver Dante Wright once again led the pass catchers with nearly 100 yards and a touchdown, but the big plays were too few and far between for the offense. The Owls tried to fix this at times going tempo, but could not find a rhythm.
“Anytime you have a team that takes up a lot of the clock, you want to maximize on your end,” Wright said. “Going to tempo, I think it’s one of our better offensive play styles.”
Temple now sits in an all-too familiar hole at the bottom of its conference after its 0-2 start in the American.
The Owls will look to turn things around next week as they travel to Storrs, Con., to face UConn (2-2) on Oct. 5 (3:30 p.m. WHIP). The whole team–staff and players–have taken accountability in the loss and know they need to do more to find success.
“I believe in that team and in that room and we are a much better football team that we put on display today,” Drayton said. “We’re just going to buckle up and go back to work and try to figure it out.”
