Temple ‘needed to make one more play’ vs. Army, but coach K.C. Keeler found silver linings in the loss

K.C. Keeler called Temple’s 21-17 loss to Army a sign of growth. Six days after a collapse at Toledo that left him questioning his players’ preparation and the team’s culture, it was a striking judgment to make after another loss.

“I thought we grew up a little bit today, even though we lost the game,” Keeler, the Owls’ coach, said. “Last week was brutal — not only because of the loss, but because we panicked. This week was totally different with the preparation and the energy they brought into the game. They were excited to play.”

There is evidence for his view. Army entered averaging 394 rushing yards a game, and Temple held it to 279. After the Black Knights scored on their first possession, the Owls forced three consecutive punts. They answered Army’s long scoring drives with a 78-yard catch-and-run by Sam Brown and a 67-yard touchdown pass to Colin Chase. Those responses gave Keeler the evidence he wanted after Toledo.

Eric Stuart saw a difference from the field. Asked whether Temple’s defense was more cohesive than it had been a week earlier, the redshirt senior linebacker answered, “Yeah, 100%.”

The offense offered its own reasons for optimism.

With Jaxon Smolik sidelined by a foot injury, Ajani Sheppard threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 48 more yards, and committed no turnovers. Brown gained 96 yards on 10 carries in addition to his 78-yard reception.

Temple ran for 217 yards against an Army team accustomed to controlling games on the ground.

For all of that, the Owls scored 17 points. Their two touchdown plays accounted for 145 of their 459 yards. The other six possessions yielded one field goal. Temple had enough explosiveness to quickly erase deficits, but it struggled to turn sustained movement into points.

Three possessions got within Army’s 25 and ended empty. The first stopped on fourth-and-4 at the 23. On the other, holding and a false start against center Grayson Mains turned a second-and-10 at the Army 30 into second-and-25 at the 45.

Sheppard helped recover much of the lost ground, only for Carl Hardin’s 42-yard attempt to strike the upright. Later, an 88-yard march from Temple’s 1 produced a 29-yard field goal. The Owls reached the red zone only once all afternoon as their final drive stalled at the Black Knights’ 24.

“When we look at the film, we’re going to feel like we did a lot of good things, but they only give you so many opportunities,” Keeler said. “We needed to make one more play.”

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Army made that problem especially costly. The Black Knights held the ball for just over 38 minutes, giving Temple eight possessions. Keeler said he avoided an early field-goal attempt because of the shifting wind, which is why the Owls went for fourth down on their first drive. Hardin’s miss changed what Temple needed at the end, yet the Owls still gained 8.8 yards per play and scored on only three drives.

Temple was more cohesive defensively, by Stuart’s account, and kept Army well below its rushing average. But the Black Knights still had 20 rushing first downs. Their three touchdown drives consumed more than 23 minutes, and Temple could not force a single pass on the go-ahead 12-play, 75-yard possession.

“You need to create negative plays against them because they’re excited when they get 3 yards,” Keeler said. “That’s what they want.”

Instead, Army converted third-and-2 and third-and-1 in the red zone on its winning drive. Keeler rejected the idea that his defense had been worn down, but Stuart described what changed at the line of scrimmage.

“I think we just kind of had a little lull,” Stuart said. “They got off the ball and fired off better than we did on that last drive. I think they just got some push.”

That distinction matters to the question Keeler raised after Toledo.

A more cohesive defense can still lose a physical matchup. A composed offense can still waste the few possessions Army permits. Temple did not panic after falling behind or when Sheppard got the ball back with 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining. He moved the Owls to Army’s 24 before his fourth-down pass fell incomplete. The failure to finish was different from the collapse at Toledo, but it went into the standings the same way.

There are reasons to think the Owls can improve. Sheppard made enough plays to keep them competitive without Smolik.

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Brown has supplied a jolt to the running game. And Keeler expects left tackle Giakoby Hill back in roughly three weeks. Yet the line remains unsettled: left guard Eric King has struggled to push off his injured foot, forcing more rotation than Keeler planned.

“I told our guys going into the season that we’re a dramatically better football team than last year in terms of our talent, but there are still going to be a lot of 50-50 games,” Keeler said. “That’s this conference.”

Temple has lost two of those games in six days. It heads to South Florida at 1-3 and 0-1 in the American and needs five wins in its final eight games to reach the six wins for bowl eligibility. Friday gave Keeler reasons to believe his team is better. The missed points and the final Army drive gave him areas to improve.