Stan Drayton’s Temple tenure off to an inauspicious start as Owls get blown out by Duke in season opener

Duke hammered Temple, 30-0, Friday night in both teams’ season openers, indicating that the Owls have much further to go.

“Obviously not happy with the result,” said Temple head coach Stan Drayton. “It was really a good opportunity for us as a football family to figure out who we were — who we are. I don’t think that we really showed up in the first half, but the one positive thing that we can take from it is that we showed up in the second half.”

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On paper, Temple’s matchup with host Duke in Durham, N.C, couldn’t have been any more even, except for the part about Duke being the home team. It featured two first-year head coaches — Drayton and Duke’s Mike Elko — who were trying to turn around programs that finished last season with identical 3-9 records.

“It’s a matter of us not responding,” Drayton said. “It wasn’t like we saw something that we didn’t prepare for, that’s the thing it’s a little discouraging, but, you know, our guys made some uncharacteristic mistakes that were out there, and I know we can get better. We can only get better from it.”

Maybe it was first-game jitters, but Temple made crucial mistakes, both on defense and offense, early on that landed them in a 24-0 hole at the half — a deficit they could never make up.

While Duke quarterback Riley Leonard quickly established a rhythm — he finished with 328 passing yards and two touchdowns — Owls quarterback D’Wan Mathis never got going.

He had 11 completions for just 83 yards — and never put the Blue Devils in jeopardy — when he was pulled at the 9-minute mark of the fourth quarter for Quincy Patterson. The backup finished with three completions for 31 yards, completing the shutout.

There were some flashes for the Owls. They stopped big plays during a third down, caught passes in tough coverage, and held Duke to just two field goals in the second half, but that was not going to be enough this Friday night.

Temple will face Lafayette College (0-0, 0-0 Patriot League) at 2 p.m. Sept. 10 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Drayton said at the end of the first half, Temple played with too much hesitation, which led to self-inflicted mistakes.

Temple’s defense struggled to read routes and close open gaps throughout the entire game, particularly early on. In the opening drive, Duke’s Leonard scrambled before connecting on a 52-yard toss to a wide-open Jordan Moore.

Duke extended that drive, with running back Jaylen Coleman drilling 1 yard into the end zone for the touchdown, again nobody was there to stop him.

“There were some breakdowns on defense for sure,” Drayton said. “A lot of explosive plays that shouldn’t happen. I think our guys in some sense, were evaluating, as opposed to just cutting it loose, and probably overthinking some things. That’s what we need to find out about our guys, and we’ll be back to the drawing board.”

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A painful drive for Temple came in the second quarter when they couldn’t make a needed stop. In seven plays, Leonard threw for 72 yards in just three minutes, resulting in a touchdown that extended Duke’s lead to 24-0.

Temple’s offense did not gain a first down until the second quarter as Mathis, a former Georgia quarterback, struggled to get down the field — helming multiple three-and-outs.

Temple didn’t establish any kind of dominance when running the ball.

Drayton had expressed in spring practice and training camp that he wanted to see more consistency from the running backs, but that goal was never met.

Running backs Edward Saydee, Darvon Hubbard, and Jakari Norwood got opportunities, but none could get anything going: Temple had a total of 65 rushing yards.

“We just got to find a way to get to a more consistent level,” Drayton said. “Just learn and grow from there.”

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