Temple’s coming off a major first conference win. Can it keep it up against unbeaten Navy?

Temple did not play its brand of football for the first 30 minutes against Texas-San Antonio on Saturday. First-year coach K.C. Keeler made that known in his halftime speech.

He said he was “embarrassed” to be the Owls’ head coach, as they trailed 14-3, and the players needed to hear that message.

They responded by outscoring UTSA by 21 points in the third quarter en route to their first conference-opening win since 2021.

During Monday’s news conference, Keeler called the victory a culture win after the Owls bounced back from the 11-point halftime deficit. Now, Keeler and the Owls (3-2, 1-0 American) shift their focus to undefeated Navy (5-0, 3-0) for their homecoming game this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, which coincides with Navy’s 250th anniversary celebration.

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“Great way to go into the Navy week,” Keeler said. “Undefeated team, it’s a celebration of having a Navy in the United States. We’re going to have a lot of pomp and circumstance. We should have a great crowd with homecoming. They’re undefeated, and they’re a really good football team. So, I’m excited to have a big one, and excited that we have a great crowd.”

The Midshipmen present a unique challenge with their triple-option offense, but Keeler feels his team can carry last week’s momentum into the game with fresh legs on the field.

Temple faced UTSA without three of its defensive starters in safeties Louis Frye and Javier Morton and linebacker Katin Surprenant. Even without the trio of starters, the Owls’ depth did more than enough to contain UTSA running back Robert Henry, who entered the game as the second-leading rusher in the country. Henry finished with 42 rushing yards.

While the shorthanded defense did its job, Frye, Morton, and Surprenant are all expected to play against Navy, with expected to be cleared from injuries.

“We’ve been down a couple of safeties, and it looks like we’re going to get both those safeties back,” Keeler said. “When you play a team like Navy, you need those safeties. There’s so many times they’re filling the alleys … So we were always shooting to get them back for this game, because having played these kind of offenses, I know the value of the safeties.”

Keeler did not wait for this week to start preparing for Navy; he started looking at the Midshipmen in the summer. The coaches ramped up preparation during the bye week because of the amount of time they’d need to spend on dissecting this team.

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However, this Navy offense is different from the traditional triple-option teams he’d typically prepare for.

The Midshipmen are throwing the ball more, with quarterback Blake Horvath completing 20 of 26 passes last week against Air Force. It adds another wrinkle, but Temple’s defense has to do its job to counter it.

“There’s no question they’ll test us,” Keeler said. “One of the things we’re working really hard on is keeping your eyes on your responsibility and don’t drift, because that’s how they get you. A lot of times when we practice, we practice without a lot of football. I don’t care if a fullback has a ball or not, tackle him. I don’t care if the quarterback has a ball or not, tackle him.”

A win against Navy would give Temple its fourth win, surpassing its high from the last four seasons.

However, Keeler is not letting that become the goal for his team. He wants the Owls to have bigger aspirations than just four wins, and it starts with beating Navy.

“We haven’t talked about it at all,” Keeler said. “I really tried to get to a place where I wasn’t part of last year, so I try not to go back there too much with them. It’s more about what’s happening right now and what are we going to do moving forward. That’s something I’ve gotten from a number of people, but that wasn’t a goal. The goal is to get to a bowl. The goal is to get to the conference championship game. The goal is to win the conference championship.”