On Saturday, (10/24) the Owls fell 41-29 to conference opponent Memphis. The loss puts Temple at 1-2 (1-2) for the 2020 season thus far, which puts Temple in a tie for 8th in the AAC.
The Owls at one point lead 9-7 & 15-10 in the first half, but those leads evaporated quickly. The Tigers 5th ranked offense (ypg in FBS) dominated the Owls defense in the third quarter, with 17 unanswered points. Temple’s defense has struggled all year, now giving up a least 31 points in each contest.
It would be remiss to not mention that Memphis scored 24 of their 41 points off of Temple turnovers. A Re’mahn Davis fumble and three interceptions from Anthony Russo gave Memphis short fields to work on, leading to a shift of momentum in the second half.
Head Coach Rod Carey, as expected, was not thrilled with his teams’ inability to protect the football:
“You turn the ball over four times on the road against a good team……it’s going to be really hard to win.”
Russo’s 3 interceptions brings him to 6 altogether on the season, yet coach Carey is not concerned about his quarterback’s play:
“We’re going to put a little more emphasis on it (in practice/film study) this week. I think that we can get that corrected and (Russo) has given me every reason to believe that we can. “
Wide receiver Jadan Blue was one of the few bright spots in Saturday’s loss. The redshirt junior completed 13 catches, for 115 yards and a career high 3 touchdowns. Blue now has 5 touchdowns on the season, more than the 4 touchdowns he had all of last year.
Blue is one of three Owls receivers to average more than 8 yards per catch or more on Saturday. (Jones, Mack) Coach Carey had noting but praise for his receivers group:
“We keep talking about how Randle (Jones) is a stud. Blue is a stud and B-Mack (Branden Mack) is one too.” Those three are playing at a high level.”
As we look ahead, the Owls travel to New Orleans to take on a struggling Tulane team who is 2-4 on the season and winless (0-4) in conference play. The two teams last met in November of last year, where the Owls escaped with a 29-21 victory.
Temple’s defense looks to have a turnaround game against a 65th ranked offense (FBS) in terms of yards. And speaking of defenses, Tulane has given up an average of 45.6 points in their last 3 games, including 51 last week vs UCF.
The game will air on ESPN+ and 97.5 The Fanatic at 12pm.
Be the first to comment