Temple will stick with a two-quarterback approach in its second game, against Howard

Temple coach K.C. Keeler walked to the dais for his Monday press conference in high spirits. The Owls picked up the first win in his first game roaming the sideline, routing Massachusetts, 42-10, on Saturday.

However, there is still work to be done. After a check on the game film, Keeler noticed that there are things to clean up. Next up is a 2 p.m. home game Saturday against Howard, a Football Championship Subdivision opponent.

“The thing we emphasized this morning, in our meetings, was [this is] such a critical week because this is where you make the most improvement,” Keeler said. “Every college coach will tell you, since you can’t simulate a football game, there’s some things that are just going to happen in Week 1.”

One of the things he won’t change is the quarterback situation.

After playing both Evan Simon and Gevani McCoy against the Minutemen, Keeler will do the same against the Bison. Simon seemingly snatched the reins, tossing six touchdown passes and earning American Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.

McCoy played just 19 snaps compared to Simon’s 50 and completed 3 of 4 passes. His drives often fizzled out, as he went three-and-out on his first series and his second one stalled. But for now, the plan is to keep the dual-quarterback system.

“[Last week] it was really more that we’re going to roll Evan out there first, and we’re going to play Gevani and we’re just going to see how it unfolds,” Keeler said. “I think it’s pretty much the same way we’re thinking about this week, too.”

The Owls hope to carry the momentum from the opener. Temple got a spark after a forced fumble by linebacker Katin Surprenant on UMass quarterback Brandon Rose. Temple quickly responded with Simon’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Kajiya Hollawayne and proceeded to score 35 straight points.

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Temple was plagued by missed tackles and botched opportunities in the first quarter against the Minutemen, but those problems vanished after the fumble. The defense finished with two sacks of Rose.

Keeler talked about his team’s ability to quickly move past mistakes.

“That’s something we also talk about,” Keeler said. “It’s like, listen there are going to be things that are going to happen during this game. It’s never going to be perfect. When it’s a negative play, just flush it, move on. But when it’s a positive play, feed off that energy.”

Keeler still wants to see consistency when it comes to playing a clean game. Self-inflicted wounds plagued the Owls on both sides of the ball.

Temple will look for improvement when Howard (1-0) visits on Saturday. The expectation is for the Owls to open the season 2-0 before hosting No. 18 Oklahoma on Sept. 13, but they’ll still be taking the Bison seriously in the home opener.

“It’s really more about us than them, and that’s my approach,” Keeler said. “I think the team is going to start understanding how I communicate with them, and one of the big things is that I don’t get really caught up with is who we’re playing. It’s more about taking care of us. These guys haven’t won a lot, so I think because they haven’t won a lot, they’re not going to take anything for granted.”