Temple set to face Cincinnati in yet another big test for Stan Drayton’s rebuild

Coming off a 43-36 loss at Houston, Temple (3-7, 1-5, AAC) returns home this weekend for a matchup against Cincinnati (8-2, 5-1, AAC).

Temple kept it close with Houston and held a 36-35 lead with less than a minute remaining. However, busted coverage allowed the Cougars to score the eventual game-winning touchdown with about 40 seconds left.

“You can’t win ballgames like that, making the mistakes that we’re making,” said Temple head coach Stan Drayton. “There are things that are principal.”

» READ MORE: E.J. Warner continues to show he could be the long-term answer at quarterback for Temple

After last week’s loss eliminated the Owls from bowl eligibility, they now have a chance to play spoiler to Cincinnati’s or East Carolina’s, two teams with conference championship hopes.

Most of all, Temple has to properly execute in the fourth quarter. The growing pains of Drayton’s rebuild have cost the Owls potential wins against Rutgers (4-6, 1-6 Big Ten), Navy (3-7, 3-4 AAC), and now Houston — which would have been enough to send Temple bowling.

“We need to lock in and focus on our job,” Drayton said. “Focus on what we have to do, not necessarily what we’re seeing or what we’re going against or the outside noise.”

Temple also needs its offensive line to contribute on Saturday. After bullying a South Florida (1-9, 0-6 AAC) team that has won just one game against an FBS opponent in Jeff Scott’s tenure — which happened to be against Temple in 2021 — the Owls came back down to Earth.

After rushing for 265 rushing yards against USF, sophomore Edward Saydee was held to 20 yards on 17 attempts against Houston. It forced Temple to throw the ball 59 times with freshman E.J. Warner. Luckily, Warner was only sacked once by the Cougars’ defense. However, Cincinnati’s defense is tied with Temple for the conference lead in sacks, and those tackles have resulted in a loss of 39 yards.

If Temple repeats its season-long trend of failing to establish the run, it better be able to keep Warner’s jersey clean against the conference champions of the last two years.

Interior lineman Darian Varner and edge rusher Layton Jordan lead Temple’s defense with 7½ and 6½ sacks, respectively, good enough for second and third place in the AAC. With Ben Bryant being the first traditional pocket passer Temple plays against this season, the Owls need Jordan to come back to life.

Through three games, Jordan had 4½ sacks and looked like a potential late-round NFL draft prospect. He then went three straight games without recording a sack until picking up two and a pick-six against Tulsa. Now, Jordan is on another three-game sack drought, allowing Varner and Cincinnati linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. to surpass him on the leaderboard.

“Cincinnati is a very tenacious ballclub,” Drayton said. “They play very, very hard. Defensively, [Pace] will be the best linebacker we’ve faced all year.”

Temple is 13-9-1 against Cincinnati, having lost last season’s matchup 52-3 at Nippert Stadium.

Temple ends its season at home next Saturday against ECU (1 p.m., ESPN+).