Record FG kick-starts Temple’s comeback to first win over season, 45-29 over Utah State.

In the week leading up to Saturday’s game against Utah State, Temple exuded the most optimism it had all year — despite still searching for its first win of the season.

It took a while; in fact, it took until the final minutes of the third quarter for the Owls to take their first lead in a game all season en route to their 45-29 win Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Owls (1-3) also made a bit of history when senior kicker Maddux Trujillo drilled a 64-yard field goal to close out the first half and cut Utah State’s lead to 21-17. It was the longest field goal in Lincoln Financial Field history, the longest in Temple history, and the longest in college football since 2008. The previous longest field goals at the Linc were Jake Elliott’s 61-yarders for the Eagles in 2017 and 2023.

“Huge adrenaline surge,” said Trujillo, in his first year at Temple after three at Austin Peay. “You go out, you make the field goal, and you just go, ‘Oh my goodness,’ I thought I was going to lose my voice. I don’t think I’ve ever had that big of an adrenaline rush.”

The Aggies (1-3) jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Temple erased an early deficit for a second straight week. This time, it scored 24 unanswered points to pull away with a convincing win.

It took until the final minutes of the third quarter, but Temple took the lead when quarterback Evan Simon hit wide receiver Dante Wright for a 91-yard touchdown pass to put the Owls up 24-21. Once they took the lead, the floodgates opened.

“I thought our offense did a phenomenal job,” coach Stan Drayton said. “Just staying within the game plan, but just staying with belief in their hearts and playing with a purpose out there today. I’m proud of those guys. They’ve earned this victory.”

Temple has slowly improved during its nonconference schedule and now enters conference play with a win under its belt and the most offensive momentum it has had in quite some time.

Here are three main takeaways from how Temple picked up its first win of the 2024 season.

It was a slow start, but Simon has twice done something displaced starter Forrest Brock didn’t do in his two starts this season — move the ball down the field and keep the Owls in the game when they got down early.

Simon, a transfer from Rutgers, completed just one of his first eight passes, but Temple was dealt some bad luck with early starting field position. A punt and a defensive stand on fourth-and-goal set up the Owls at their 1-yard line twice in the first quarter. Once Simon and the offense were given some room to work, the ball started to move.

Simon finished the game with 271 passing yards and five touchdown passes without turning the ball over — the first time this season a Temple quarterback didn’t throw an interception. Simon also was active in the ground game, racking up 49 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

“What people forget to look at is [Simon’s] heart,” Drayton said. “He’s got a real chip on his shoulder, and he loves the game and he loves the people around him. He’s exactly what we need right now, especially on the offensive side of the ball. He just gives a sense of calm to all the people around him.”

» READ MORE: Temple Owls remain confident that they’re better than their slow start depicts

The Owls defense finally picked up its much-awaited first turnover of the season — a fourth-quarter interception by Torey Richardson. The unit also delivered its most complete performance of the season Saturday. Linebacker Tyquan King and edge rusher Tra Thomas each picked up a sack, and defensive end Cam’Ron Stewart had two tackles for losses.

Utah State ran the ball at will against Temple in the first half, and running back Rahsul Faison finished the game with 148 yards on 5.5 yards per carry, but the Owls held the Aggies to 25 rushing yards in the second half. The Aggies scored just eight points in the second half, despite 154 passing yards in the half by Spencer Petras, who returned from injury after missing the last two games.

“We just play defense,” said safety Javier Morton. “That’s what comes with playing defense; you’ve got to always respond. Everything on offense isn’t always going to go right, and as a defense, you have to respond. It’s complementary football.”

Temple’s Achilles heel has been its inability to effectively run the ball under Drayton. The team has shown improvement recently — it notably picked up 129 yards on the ground in Week 3 against Coastal Carolina. But Saturday marked the Owls’ best all-around rushing performance this season.

They finished with 180 yards on the ground, averaging 4.4 per attempt. Nine Owls had carries, and transfer running backs Terrez Worthy and Antwain Littleton ran for 48 and 42 yards, respectively. Worthy, a junior-college transfer, particularly impressed by averaging 9.6 yards per attempt.

“[Worthy] was huge,” Drayton said. “He’s a dynamic football player [who] we have not been able to find ways to cut him loose. Today was a game where we had to get on the perimeter in the run game. He’s a guy that’s probably the fastest on our football team.”

Seemingly hitting its stride at the right time, Temple will look to make it two wins in a row — something that hasn’t been done under Drayton — when it hosts Army (3-0, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) in a nationally televised game on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

» READ MORE: Check out more of the Inquirer's coverage of Temple athletics