Temple’s Thursday game with SMU moved to next Saturday
The date was adjusted to give the game the best chance of being played in its scheduled week, the American Athletic Conference said Friday.
Temple’s football game against SMU at Lincoln Financial Field has been pushed from Thursday night to Saturday, Nov. 7 at noon, the American Athletic Conference announced on Friday.
“The date of the game is being adjusted to allow for the best chance of it being played in its scheduled week,” The AAC said in a statement.
The AAC referred all further comments to Temple.
Temple is still scheduled to play this Saturday at Tulane. It’s the fourth straight week the Owls (1-2) are scheduled to play.
» READ MORE: Temple QB Anthony Russo to be a game-time decision vs. Tulane
“We were undermanned going into this week but had enough to play, but there was concern if we suffered more injuries, especially to [one position],” said Temple spokesman Larry Dougherty, explaining the movement of next week’s game. “And there is always the possibility of losing players if they have positive tests when we return. The league wanted to make sure we got the whole week and thought the best chance was if the game was moved a few days.”
When asked if there were enough players to compete against Tulane, Dougherty said, “We are OK to play this game, but a little undermanned.”
Dougherty pointed out that players don’t have to test positive for COVID to be sidelined.
“You can also lose players for contact tracing,” he said. “With COVID protocol, one guy can knock out an entire position group.”
While Temple wouldn’t say which position groups lack depth, it is known that the Owls will be starting their No. 3 tight end Aaron Jarman against Tulane.
First stringer David Martin-Robinson will miss his second straight game due to COVID contact tracing.
“He is out a few weeks and hopefully he doesn’t get it," head coach Rod Carey said on Monday.
Temple’s second tight end, Darius Pittman, suffered an injury in last week’s 41-29 loss at Memphis and won’t play against Tulane.
Originally, Thursday’s game with SMU was supposed to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. and air on ESPN. The rescheduled game for next Saturday will air on ESPN+.