Temple runs into a team possessed as Army hands Owls second straight loss

WEST POINT, N.Y. — It was the fourth quarter and Temple was in desperate need of a spark against Army on Saturday. The Owls had just kicked a field goal to cut the Cadets’ lead to one point but were backed up on their next possession at their own 8-yard line.

Quarterback Evan Simon dropped back to pass and delivered to his target, third-string quarterback Tyler Douglas, who then turned around for a pass of his own. Douglas never got the pass off and was pushed out of bounds for a 1-yard loss.

An incomplete Temple pass and a punt later, the Black Knights went on a methodical 18-play drive that lasted the final 10 minutes and also secured a 14-13 win, dropping Temple (5-5, 3-3 American) to its second straight loss.

“These games come down to inches, and that’s what you saw,” said Owls coach K.C. Keeler. “They found ways to get those third-and-1s, third-and-2s and fourth-and-1s.”

With the loss to Army (5-4, 3-3), the Owls will need to wait another two weeks to see if they can get a sixth win and secure their first bowl bid since 2019.

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Temple’s offense was bulldozed last week against East Carolina, with Simon having just 80 yards passing. Against the Black Knights, however, he had Temple’s offense moving, finishing with 157 yards and a touchdown to his favorite wide receiver as of late, Colin Chase.

Chase finished with six catches for 36 yards as Temple compiled 200 yards of total offense. And while Simon looked rushed and hurried constantly, he appeared unfazed against Army’s defense front, completing 15 of his 25 passes.

However, that offensive spark vanished once the second half rolled around. Temple had just 68 total yards in the second half, 34 of which came in one play, a catch-and-run by tght end Peter Clarke. The Owls had just two drives, playing into Army’s game plan of making it a possession game.

“​​What these guys do best is they keep the ball in [their] hands,” Keeler said. “Those drives were long, excruciating drives, and I thought we did a good job. If you look at the time of possession in the first half, we did a really good job keeping the ball out of their hands. But we also had to keep our defense off the field. I thought in the first half we did a good job of that.”

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Temple’s Achilles’ heel for the past few seasons has been its rush defense. Temple had given up a season-high 358 rushing yards a week prior in a matchup against East Carolina’s vaunted triple option. Additionally, the Owls entered the game without defensive tackles Demerick Morris and Sekou Kromah, and safety Dontae Pollard.

Temple held its own against the second-best rushing offense in the conference for one half of football. Then it couldn’t contain the Black Knights.

The Owls allowed 250 yards, but many came from self-inflicted miscues rather than execution by Army. Missed tackles and assignments plagued the defense.

“It’s football, but it’s not like what you see when you play Tulane or Oklahoma,” said defensive tackle Allan Haye. “They block a little differently. It’s just a different mentality.”

The Black Knights had three drives last longer than seven minutes, wearing down the Owls’ defense. Army had 224 yards on the ground, with quarterback Cale Hellums accounting for 118 of them.

Temple was able to stay within striking distance, but mistakes in all three phases of the game set the team back. The Owls drove the ball down the field, following a 20-yard rush from running back Jay Ducker. The drive fizzled out, and they came away empty-handed after a missed 45-yard field goal from kicker Carl Hardin.

While Simon had a bounce-back game, he missed Clarke wide-open multiple times in the end zone. The second came with just a second left before halftime, to force a Hardin field goal. Temple scored just three more points the rest of the way, and the pass would have made the score 14-7.

“I threw it too soon,” Simon said.

The final nail in the coffin was the Owls’ second-half defense. The Black Knights held the ball for 22 minutes of play after the intermission, slowly siphoning Temple’s ability to defend.

Temple allowed 144 yards of offense in the final 30 minutes of play and to add insult to injury, Army converted on all four of its fourth-down tries. The Black Knights got the ball with just under 10 minutes in the game and never gave up possession to seal a win.

Temple will look to regroup during a bye week before hosting Tulane (7-2, 4-1) on Nov. 22.

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