Temple defensive end Dana Levine expected to be out 4-6 weeks

The junior suffered an unspecified injury late in the second quarter and was not able to put weight on his leg as he was helped off the field.

Geoff Collins has lost a player to injury just one game into the season.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Marc Narducci | Columnist

Published Sep. 3, 2018, 1:27 p.m. ET

Temple defensive end Dana Levine will probably be out 4-6 weeks after suffering an undisclosed injury Saturday in a 19-17 loss to Villanova, coach Geoff Collins said Monday.

Collins stated the news on the American Athletic Conference media call. Levine, a redshirt junior, suffered the injury late in the first half. He wasn't able to put any weight on his leg as he was helped off the field.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Levine had two tackles against the Wildcats.

Collins said redshirt junior DeAndre Kelly and redshirt freshman Arnold Ebiketie "will be more part of the rotation. [Levine] was playing really well in the game and went down and hopefully he will do well in rehab. He is a tough kid, and it is unfortunate it happened."

Temple received a huge game from defensive end Quincy Roche, who had five tackles and two tackles for loss, including one sack.

Collins says his team has had a good attitude in regrouping and preparing for Saturday's 3:30 p.m game at Lincoln Financial Field against an explosive Buffalo team. Buffalo is coming off an opening 48-10 win over Delaware State in which quarterback Tyree Jackson threw six touchdown passes before being pulled after the first series of the third quarter.

The second-year Temple head coach said his team made too many mistakes but credited Villanova for its execution.

"Villanova did a good job taking away the deep ball," Collins said. "We have guys who stretch the field vertically, and they were preventing that."

The Wildcats outgained Temple, 405 yards to 251, in total offense. A total of 81 of Temple's yards came on four receptions, the longest being 22 yards.

Villanova also stymied Temple's running game, limiting the Owls to 2.1 yards per carry.

"Give credit to Villanova," Collins said. "They run a neat scheme that a lot of teams don't run."

Collins said nobody was feeling sorry for himself.

"The attitude was great, and the incentive to get things right was there," Collins said. "Everybody looked at themselves, coaches included, to fix what they did wrong on Saturday."