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Disappointed With Temple’s Defense After Such a Good Performance Against USF
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Not to be outdone by the Eagles and Flyers, Temple football also decided to disappoint this past weekend.
They lost 34-20 at home to UConn, falling to 2-4 on the season while allowing:
- 248 rushing yards on 39 carries (6.4 yards per)
- four rushing touchdowns
- 257 receiving yards on 17 completions (15.1 yards per)
- 505 total yards
- a 17-23 passing mark from quarterback Kalieb Osborne (73.9%, his best percentage of the year)
It’s hard to believe that Temple gave up more points and more yards to UConn than Penn State at Lincoln Financial Field this season. Sure, PSU shot themselves in the foot a few times in that first half, but it’s such a goofy thing to consider when you write it out –
“Hey going into this season, who do you think will score more points and gain more yards at the Linc? Penn State or UConn?”
It’s especially irksome since Temple’s defense played so well in Tampa last week.
This time, the D allowed UConn to first score on a zone read from 12 yards out. Then they gave up a 39-yard TD run on an inside zone play where nobody could shed a block and a defensive back ran into a ref. The third scoring drive was lowlighted by a guard and tight end pull with more bad angles and bad tackling that allowed the guy to spring free for 51 yards. They did a lot better in the third quarter, then a strip sack of Ajani Sheppard killed off a promising drive and UConn scored again on a bounce-to-the-outside TD after the D line had Cyncir Bowers contained.
Bad angles. Bad tackling and block shedding and really frustrating fundamental stuff.
Offensively, the two fumbles killed the Owls. They both took place in UConn territory. The O had some big explosives early and showed some nice moments, but they were in an early position of having to trade scores and fell behind with the turnovers.
“It starts with me, in terms of what we’re asking these players to do,” said head coach K.C. Keeler after the game. “I go to the coaches and say, ‘Do we have too much on the menu? What’s too expensive? What do we have to take off?’ Because we’re just not playing clean. That was that first half defensively. We just did not play clean at all. Not at all. We settled down, and I think we played a pretty good defensive game second half. Offensively we matched them score for score in the first half and then the turnovers killed us. Those two turnovers was on the fringe going in and were big on the outcome of the game.”
Keeler said he was “disappointed” in a game that would determine which team gains some momentum going forward, and he’s right about that. Beating UConn at home gets you to 3-3 and salvages your season after a great win down at USF, but now they’re behind the eight ball again and they need to go 4-2 in the second half to make a bowl game and improve upon last year’s 5-7 record.
What’s also disappointing is that the Owls are just 1-3 at home this season. They were expected to beat Rhode Island and lose to PSU, but they dropped winnable games against Army and UConn. I couldn’t help but thinking while watching both games – there is no home field advantage for this team… how much different would it be with a smaller stadium and fans that actually care?
I think it would make a big difference! Every home game for Temple feels like a neutral site game.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com