Stan Drayton, Temple Owls believe they’re better than 2-5 record: ’You can tell by our play’

Fresh off a much-needed bye week, Temple coasted past Tulsa for a 20-10 win Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field to improve to 2-5 and keep its slim bowl game hopes alive.

“I can honestly tell you that our record does not define us,” linebacker Tyquan King said. “You can tell by our play. The back end of our season is just like the beginning. We still got to go 1-0 every week from here on out. That’s our objective.”

The Owls believe they have a chance at salvaging what seemed to be a lost season. Of their five losses, three came against Oklahoma, Navy and Army — teams that were nationally ranked when they played Temple or became ranked soon after. Army and Navy are also among the nation’s last undefeated teams.

» READ MORE: QB Evan Simon, defense star as Temple tops Tulsa for first conference win

The Owls lost their other three games by one possession. They fell to UConn on the final play of the game when third-string quarterback Tyler Douglas fumbled the snap on a quarterback sneak that could have won the game. They lost to Coastal Carolina after falling short on what appeared to be a promising game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter.

If a couple of small things went differently, Temple could be entering Week 9 at 4-3. And the team’s final five games are against beatable conference opponents. Only Tulane and North Texas — both at 5-2 — have winning records.

“We do feel like we’re better than what our 2-5 record shows,” said coach Stan Drayton. “But all of that is in the rearview mirror. I think we’ve learned some lessons from those games, and, win or lose, that’s what you need to do. You’ve got to be able to flush it and get on to the next game, and that continues to be our mindset.”

Temple will now shift its focus to the next challenge as it prepares to face East Carolina on Saturday: earning its first road win since Drayton was hired in 2021. The Owls are 0-13 away from the Linc under Drayton.

“I know that it’s not from a lack of effort,” Drayton said. “It’s not from a lack of trying or anything like that. Our players don’t feel like there’s a stigma on us when we go to travel. UConn was the last road game we had and we were on the 1-yard line to win that ballgame and we fumbled the football.”

» READ MORE: Here’s how Temple kicker Maddux Trujillo is watching his boyhood dreams play out in real time

ECU (3-4) will be playing in its first game since firing coach Mike Houston on Sunday following a 45-28 loss to Army. Drayton said the coaching change could actually energize the Pirates and his team needs to be prepared to stop a foe that is desperate for a win.

“I didn’t address [ECU firing its coach] with my team but they already know,” Drayton said. “They read it on their social media feeds and all that stuff. And that’s not something we are going to motivate our kids with. We have so much work to do for ourselves that we really can’t invest a whole lot of energy on what’s happening with ECU.”

Owls leading receiver Dante Wright was held out after the first quarter Saturday. Drayton said Wright is “day to day” and is questionable against ECU. Offensive lineman Kevin Terry was also helped off the field in the win. Drayton said he is “a bit banged up” but should be OK.

Quarterback Evan Simon, who missed the UConn game two weeks ago, returned to action against Tulsa and threw for a season-high 297 yards. Simon said his shoulder is still sore, but he feels comfortable enough to keep playing. He also wore a brace Saturday to treat a swollen knee that “just won’t go away,” but it shouldn’t impact his availability against ECU.