Temple Football’s Shallow Offensive Attack Leads to Shallow Results Against Boston College

Written By: Luke Meli

Photo Courtesy of: @Temple_FB

The Owls came into Saturday’s matchup with Boston College, looking to push its record above .500 for the first time since August of 2019. But for the second time in three games, Temple’s offense came out sloppy and out of sync. A scoreless first half, in an eventual 28-3 loss to the Eagles, was not out of the ordinary for the cherry and white.

The Owls have only put the ball in the endzone twice over the three first halves they have competed in. 

“No one was playing well offensively in the first half,” said coach Rod Carey. “The two games we’ve lost here, I think, have more to do with us than the other team.”

The Temple offense had no success pushing the ball down the field early against the Eagles. True freshman quarterback Justin Lynch, in just his second career start, had only two completions for a combined seven yards in the first half. 

“His mechanics were all over, he was rushing things,” said Carey of his young quarterback’s first-half play. “He said he was fine but he obviously wasn’t.”

Following the game against Akron in which Lynch threw for 245 yards, playing against a more formidable opponent on defense had an effect on the 18-year-old. Oftentimes, when his first read was unavailable, he put his head down and ran the ball. Lynch totaled 17 rushing attempts, more than his first two appearances combined.

Despite the struggles, his teammates were still able to keep things in context for the quarterback in his first game in front of the home crowd, which totaled over 25,000 fans. 

“At the end of the day he’s a true freshman, he did as much as he could with what he could, so I’m not upset with him at all,” said redshirt junior receiver Jadan Blue. “As receivers we are always going to tell him, ‘we got you, just put it up for us.’”

Lynch did pick things up in the second half, totaling 154 passing yards in the final two quarters, highlighted by a 32-yard completion to Blue.

Earlier this week, Carey updated the injury status of D’Wan Mathis, saying he was now “day-to-day”, as opposed to the “week-to-week” title he initially applied to the Georgia transfer. The potential return of Mathis means the offense could see a new leader next week against Wagner. 

The Owls will look to turn things around in the passing game, with whoever their man under center is, against a winless Wagner team that allows over 200 passing yards per game.