Temple’s offense sputters again in 37-8 loss to Houston

Temple extended its losing streak to five for many of the same reasons as the previous four.

The Owls’ 37-8 loss to Houston at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday featured an inability to execute offensively, struggling to convert on third down and helpless tackling efforts.

Their defense did limit the Cougars early on, but things got out of hand on the scoreboard in the second half while the Owls’ offense failed to find the back of the end zone to remain competitive.

“There were some encouraging signs,” coach Rod Carey said. “We just didn’t execute nearly well enough on offense. Defense, I thought, played well enough to win. They gave up 30, but they were put in a lot of bad positions.”

Temple did have a fourth-and-1 opportunity at its 25-yard line trailing by 10. With 5 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the first half, it would have been a reasonable opportunity to go for it, attempt to extend the drive, and maybe cut the deficit.

Carey opted to punt and the hole the Owls had to dig themselves out of only got deeper.

Houston just about doubled Temple’s time of possession (39:34 to 20:26), total offensive yards (437-218), and first downs (23-10).

Next Saturday will be Temple’s last road trip of the season, heading southwest to take on Tulsa at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

With D’Wan Mathis ruled out after reinjuring his left ankle in Temple’s loss to East Carolina last Saturday, Justin Lynch was named the starter by Tuesday’s practice. Saturday was just his third career start, with a previous loss to Boston College and a win over Akron filling out his resume.

Temple’s offense went three-and-out on six of 12 drives led by Lynch. He completed 11 of 23 passes for 119 yards and threw two interceptions. Carey credited some of Lynch’s misses to physical mistakes and others to mental mistakes.

The relatively uninspired unit crossed into Houston territory just four times all game.

Lynch’s day was highlighted by a four-play, 45-yard touchdown drive in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

A 1-yard rush from redshirt freshman running back Edward Saydee proved to be their only score of the day. Temple’s ensuing two-point conversion attempt featured a bit of trickery fooling the defense to the right while Lynch found a fading tight end Jordan Smith at the opposite corner of the end zone.

Temple’s defense entered Saturday’s contest having given up 180 points over the last four games, dating back to its loss to Cincinnati. But the D was fairly stout for the first 30 minutes against Houston.

Defensive tackle Darian Varner strung together two sacks early on, a single-game career high for him. Safety M.J. Griffin chipped in one sack and the Owls went into the half trailing by 10.

Houston quarterback Clayton Tune fired a 14-yard strike to Seth Green with 11 minutes left in the third quarter that resulted in a Keyshawn Paul targeting penalty. Green caught the ball over the middle of the field at the Temple 12-yard line. Safety Amir Tyler brought him down from behind while Paul, coming from the opposite direction, lowered his shoulder into him.

The confirmed targeting call disqualified the junior cornerback for the remainder of the game and the first half of the Owls’ matchup with Tulsa next Saturday.

It took one play for the Cougars to punch in a 6-yard touchdown, extending their lead.

Three of Houston’s touchdowns came on the ground. Freshman running back Alton McCaskill accounted for two of them, burning the Owls for 129 yards on 21 rushes.

Tune completed 20 of his  33 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns.