Temple is on the outside looking in at bowl season yet again following 46-point loss to Tulane

The Temple football team entered its game in New Orleans on Saturday afternoon with a chance to keep its hopes for a bowl game mathematically alive.

The Owls left that evening with those hopes officially dashed in a 52-6 loss to Tulane that left their record at 2-7 (1-4 American Athletic Conference). They needed six wins to become bowl-eligible, and they have three games left.

Temple’s road losing streak now stands at 19 games. Here are three takeaways from the matchup.

Tulane (8-2, 6-0) scored on eight of its 14 drives, and the Green Wave held the Owls to just 158 yards of total offense and five first downs. Running back Makhi Hughes’ 153 yards and two touchdowns led the way.

Temple’s offense has struggled at times this season, but the sixth-ranked passing attack in the AAC could not make any impact in New Orleans.

Quarterback Evan Simon completed just 11 of his 22 passes for 56 yards, which was largely due to poor offensive line play. Temple converted only one of its 13 third-down attempts and punted 11 times.

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“They played bad today, there’s no question about it,” Temple coach Stan Drayton said about the offensive line. “We need to be elevating our development on these guys, and it’s not showing up right now.”

Temple had three first downs in the first quarter. After the period ended, the Owls moved the chains just two more times, including on running back Terrez Worthy’s impressive 75-yard touchdown run that averted the shutout midway through the fourth quarter.

“As bad as it looked, I have to really look hard at the film to see if there was anybody quitting, and [Worthy] does not quit,” Drayton said. “It was well blocked, and he was able to be explosive on the edge. That’s what we’re trying to do with that kid is to get him in space, and that’s where he’s really dynamic. He showed off his speed, and it was good to see.”

Tulane entered as the eighth-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging more than 40 points per game. The Green Wave’s 52 points against the Owls came, in large part, due to its 12 big plays.

The Green Wave had five passing plays that went for more than 20 yards and seven rushing plays for more than 10. Only two of those 12 plays were scores. The Owls’ secondary struggled to keep up with Tulane’s high-powered attack. Green Wave quarterback Darian Mensah completed 14 of his 21 passes for 262 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Five Tulane receivers had more than 20 yards.

However, Tulane’s rushing attack was even more potent. Tulane had 327 rushing yards, the second-highest total Temple has allowed this year.

“They’ve invested in some players,” Drayton said. “You could tell they’re physically very, very strong, functionally very, very strong. We had a hard time tackling them. We had our guys around the football at times, and we’ve got to make plays.”

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Ultimately, the Owls were outmatched. Not much would’ve changed that.

The Green Wave’s only losses this season were to No. 22 Kansas State at home and to then-ranked Oklahoma on the road.

“They were physically stronger than us; they played better than us,” Drayton said. “It’s one thing when you’re playing against a team that’s bigger than you, stronger than you, but they played better, they executed better as well.

“We definitely lost the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. It wasn’t even close.”

Temple will return home to face Florida Atlantic (2-7, 0-5) next Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field (2 p.m. ESPN+).

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