Temple suffers blowout loss to No. 13 Oklahoma: ‘Any bad habits we had, we got exposed’

For the entire week, it felt like an upset could be brewing for Temple against No. 13 Oklahoma at Lincoln Financial Field.

From a hot-mic blunder to the Sooners opting not to send their marching band — having the St. Joseph’s band perform in its place — it looked as if there was a chance the Owls could use these slights as motivation to pick up their first Top 25 win since 2019.

Long story short, that didn’t happen.

Temple ran into a brick wall on Saturday afternoon, resulting in a 42-3 loss, the first under head coach K.C. Keeler. Quarterback Evan Simon was under constant pressure and only had 75 yards on 13-for-25 passing. Sooners quarterback John Mateer diced up the defense, finishing 20-for-34 passing for 282 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, by Ty Davis. Oklahoma had 515 total offensive yards, while Temple had 104.

“It’s tough right now because we had one of our best weeks of practice, no doubt about it,” Simon said. “It’s really disappointing, but we did some good. We hurt ourselves more than we helped ourselves today.”

» READ MORE: Punter Dante Atton makes Temple history as first special-teams player to earn a single-digit jersey

The game plan was to get into the end zone early and often. Through Temple’s 2-0 start, the offense scored 59 of its 97 total points in the first half. The Owls needed another fast start.

Instead, Owls had their wings clipped from the opening kick, going three-and-out on their first drive. In fact, four of their first five possessions lasted just three plays before punter Dante Atton had to trot onto the field.

“All week, I talked about getting a fast start, and thought that was really important for us,” Keeler said. “You play an SEC team, you know, the 13th-ranked team in the country, you want to make sure you believe. I thought we put ourselves in the hole early.”

Simon was consistently pressured as the offensive line was unable to hold up. He had just 51 passing yards on 7 of 15 attempts in the opening half. When he did get the ball out, it didn’t lead to much. Wide receiver Kajiya Hollawayne had back-to-back catches for 12 and 9 yards late in the first quarter, but that drive ended with another punt.

» READ MORE: Sekou Kromah wants to change the misconceptions about Temple’s football program — and himself

And the running game wasn’t able to provide relief. Running back Jay Ducker found himself being tackled in the backfield rather than gaining positive yards. He had 21 first-half yards, but 20 came on a single rush, which ended up being the only possession in the half where the Owls got into Sooner territory.

Temple mustered a field goal to head into halftime trailing 28-3.

Temple’s defense went into the game knowing it had to contain Mateer in the hope of stopping the OU offense. The unit was able to get pressure on the Heisman contender, but couldn’t bring him down, especially when it mattered.

Mateer made magic in the backfield for the entire game, poking holes into Owls defensive coordinator Brian L. Smith’s defense. The Sooners were backed into a third-and-19 from the Temple 32 on the first drive, but Mateer scrambled for nearly seven seconds before lofting a pass to tight end Jaren Kanak to get a first down.

“That was on me. I took a bad angle,” said defensive tackle Sekou Kromah. “I took an angle I wasn’t supposed to take, but I’m going to get that fixed for sure.”

That trend continued the rest of the way. The Sooners had 29 first downs to keep the Owls’ defense on the field. Whenever the defense had to make a big third-down play, Mateer extended the drive.

Mental errors also kept drives going. Cornerback Ben Osueke was called for holding on a Mateer incompletion. The Sooners capitalized two plays later, when Tory Blaylock darted for a 16-yard touchdown.

Temple’s defense was seemingly finding its stride heading into halftime. Linebacker Ty Davis picked off Mateer with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left in the second quarter.

However, Temple’s offense couldn’t match its counterpart in production. The interception set them up in the red zone, but Temple only mustered a 34-yard field goal.

“We would make a mistake in the previous games. We’ll get away with it. We’re not getting away with those mistakes now,” said Keeler, whose team outscored UMass and Howard by 97-17 in its first two games. “Sometimes you get some bad habits because you’re getting away with some things. Any bad habits we had, we got exposed.”

The Sooners were held without a touchdown for five straight drives, but Temple gave the ball back like a game of hot potato. The Owls never picked up a first down in the third quarter and had just nine plays in the frame.

» READ MORE: Former Temple running back Ray Davis hopes to grow into a larger role with the Buffalo Bills

Then, the defense collapsed.

Following two straight punts to begin the second half, Mateer and Co. put the game to rest. He orchestrated a six-play, 65-yard drive that was capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Robinson. After a Temple three-and-out, the Sooners needed just two plays to find paydirt as Mateer had a 51-yard touchdown scamper to essentially ice the game before a scoreless fourth quarter.

Temple will head to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech (3-0), coming off its upset of No. 12 Clemson, next Saturday. (4:30 p.m., CW).