K.C. Keeler tries to boost his team’s confidence as Temple prepares for No. 21 North Texas

Temple is reeling after its third straight loss, but coach K.C. Keeler says his team needs to keep things in perspective.

Temple (5-6, 3-4 American) will need to win its regular-season finale Friday at No. 21 North Texas (3:30 p.m., ESPN) to become bowl eligible.

“Concerned the guys are losing some confidence, and I’ve got to make sure that we don’t,” Keeler said Monday at his weekly news conference. “My point to them [Tuesday] in our team meeting is going to be, ‘When I showed up in December, if I promised you that we’d be playing for a meaningful game in November, you guys would all be jumping up and down.’ So that’s what they have to remember. We’re playing a meaningful game in November. We’re playing for an opportunity to beat a nationally ranked team and go to a bowl game.”

Temple was cruising after defeating Tulsa, 38-37, in overtime on Oct. 25. The Owls were 5-3, a win away from their first bowl game since 2019, and even had an outside shot at making the American Conference championship game for the first time since 2016. Then came the three-game skid, capped by a 37-13 loss to Tulane on Saturday.

Now comes a matchup with Drew Mestemaker and North Texas (10-1, 6-1). The redshirt freshman and former walk-on leads the conference’s top-scoring offense. Keeler said he tried to get Mestemaker to walk on when the coach was at Sam Houston State before the quarterback committed to the Mean Green.

North Texas averages 46.3 points per game, which ranks first in Division I. Mestemaker has passed for 3,469 passing yards, the most in the FBS, and 26 touchdowns.

“He’s a big, athletic kid who’s very smart and has a talented arm,” Keeler said. “You pressure him, he knows right where to get the ball. They do a good job with the screen game to where you try heating them up, boy, they’re going to really kill you with those quick screens. So, it’s not giving up the game plan, but we have to change it up.”

» READ MORE: Temple falls to Tulane, 37-13, placing its bowl eligibility in jeopardy

Temple’s defense has been banged up for much of the last month but is coming back to form for the regular-season finale. Keeler expects safeties Dontae Pollard (knee) and Avery Powell (shoulder) to play. He also expects to rotate cornerbacks, giving Adrian Laing, Denzel Chavis, and Devontae Ward-Grant some playing time.

However the priority will be getting the offense back to form. The Owls have failed to score 20 points in the last three games after three straight games scoring at least 31. Temple rushed for only 20 yards against Tulane, but Keeler expects that to change against the Mean Green, who are last in the conference in rushing defense (211.2 yards allowed per game).

“When we’ve played well, we’ve done a really good job of keeping our defense off the field,” Keeler said. “Just methodically moving the ball downfield, a couple big plays here and there, and taking that time off the clock and also getting points. Against these guys, you want to play by sevens, not threes.”

The three straight losses came against teams that rank in the top five in the American in scoring defense. Keeler hopes that with the toughest defenses behind them, the Owls offense will get back on track.

Temple was without right tackle Diego Barajas (flu) and center Grayson Mains (ankle) for much of Saturday, and they will be game-time decisions on Friday. Both saw limited reps Monday in practice, but linemen Luke Watson and Chris Smith also participated in case they need to fill in against North Texas.

“They’re a good football team,” Keeler said of the Mean Green. “When we’ve played well. We’ve played with everybody in this league. … I need to make sure that when we go into that game that our mind is set. … You know what? You kind of flush what happened last couple weeks. You’ve got to just go out and play this ballgame.”