Stan Drayton back to the drawing board, still evaluating Temple’s best players for the job

Stan Drayton knew his first season as Temple’s head coach would present its challenges. A rebuilding process could take two to three years to truly judge a team, and in Year 1, he has 11 more games to attest to that.

It wasn’t a shocker that, on Friday, Temple fell to Duke in the season opener, but the 30-0 loss marked the first time the Owls were shut out since 2007, when they were blanked by Penn State, 31-0.

After the defeat, Drayton said he had to get back to reality. He explained why the Owls couldn’t establish any kind of rhythm, starting with a new roster, pregame jitters, lack of consistency in position groups, and overall still trying to evaluate who are the best players.

“We’ve gotten nearly half of our starters out there playing Temple football for the first time,” Drayton told the media on Monday. “There are some jitters that are out there, and one thing that was telling in the second half of that game, we had some guys come and step up — shake those jitters.”

Temple’s defense did step up in the second half, holding Duke to two field goals and recording a sack. However the offense didn’t even attempt a field goal, finishing with 179 total yards on 58 plays, for just 3.09 yards per play.

As their flaws were exposed from the start, the Owls struggled in multiple areas. One underlying problem, which seemed to be the case the last two seasons, is that the program lost more depth in position groups because of players entering the transfer portal.

Drayton believes the team can only get better moving forward, with teams like Rutgers and Massachusetts awaiting the Owls later this month. However, it’s a day-to-day process, as Drayton emphasized throughout training camp. His focus is on Saturday’s home opener against Lafayette at 2 p.m.

The Leopards (1-0), who beat Sacred Heart, 6-0, on Saturday, are a winnable matchup for the Owls.

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Drayton recently met with the leadership committee that features 13 players, including offensive lineman Adam Klein and defensive tackle Xach Gill. The players reflected on the season opener by studying the film and evaluating their performances. Besides determining what the coaches could do differently, the film study allowed them to see who showed up and who did not.

While the depth chart for Week 2 remains the same, Drayton noted it’s still a competition every day. When asked if quarterback D’Wan Mathis, who was last week’s starter, would start again, Drayton spoke about why backup quarterback Quincy Patterson saw playing time in the fourth quarter against the Blue Devils.

“It wasn’t like D’Wan was demoted during the rest of the game; that wasn’t the case at all,” Drayton said. “That gave us an opportunity to get to know who our players were in a pressure situation, so we had an opportunity to get Quincy in the ballgame to see how he was going to respond, so that was the reason for that.”

Patterson completed 3 of 8 passes for 31 yards in his Temple debut. While Drayton didn’t confirm QB1 status against Lafayette, it can be assumed that Mathis, the transfer from Georgia, will be the guy.

Drayton hopes to see improvement in the running backs room, a group he formerly coached at Texas. Throughout training camp, he said the backs had to learn new schemes, but still lacked consistency. Against Duke, Drayton and running backs coach Preston Brown analyzed those players, looking to establish a clear role for them.

He rotated Edward Saydee, Darvon Hubbard, and Jakari Norwood, who combined for 32 rushing yards on 14 carries, providing each of them an opportunity to play on third down, and to see who can be a receiving back.

“A lot of times, just the running backs aren’t being disciplined in the backfield,” Drayton said. “Not hitting the landmarks properly or just getting a little impatient jumping around trying to make something happen, as opposed to allowing something to happen ... That is something that comes with time, with practice, with film study, with understanding how defense is fitting schemes.”

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When he assesses Lafayette’s strength, Drayton turns to its defense. He described the Leopards as attack heavy and always putting high pressure on the ball, a playing style that led to two fumble recoveries against Sacred Heart.

Drayton’s message to his team this week is to play with a purpose. He believes the Owls want to get better, but he is still waiting to see the fundamentals from practice carry over into game day.

“They’re disappointed, they’re hard on themselves right now,” Drayton said. “They’ve worked so hard to get to that point, to that opportunity, and they didn’t play up to their standard. ... Just getting back to the purpose of who we are, and what this thing is all about. For us, our purpose is to play for the love of your brother.”