Temple’s defense is stout but not enough to hold off Boston College in 28-3 loss

While Temple’s defense did its best to keep within striking distance, its offense couldn’t keep up.

The Owls fell to Boston College, 28-3, in their home opener -- and their first game without a touchdown this season -- in front of 25,290 fans at Lincoln Financial Field.

BC kick returner Travis Levy took the opening kick back 67 yards deep into Temple territory. It took just three plays for the Eagles to go 29 yards, taking a lead it wouldn’t look back on.

“[We] get really good execution at high, high levels and then really bad execution,” said coach Rod Carey. “It’s not a talent issue. We’ve got to coach them better and we’ve got to get them going better because you can’t have that good and that low.”

Temple defensive back Keyshawn Paul came up with an interception on a well-tracked deep ball from redshirt senior quarterback Dennis Grosel, intended for freshman receiver Jaden Williams.

Later in the first quarter, defensive end Manny Walker blew up the line of scrimmage, sacking Grosel. Safety MJ Griffin led the way for the defense with nine total tackles and one TFL.

As for the offense, the Owls only made their way into the red zone once, ending with a field goal late in the third quarter.

Temple (1-2) is back at home on Saturday, hosting Wagner.

Jumping out to a strong start has been Temple’s biggest crux, now through three games.

Against Rutgers, the Owls fell behind with a deficit that just kept growing as the afternoon progressed. Last week, they fell behind, 14-0, against Akron but clawed their way back, grabbing their first win of the season.

Two single-digit leaders on the defensive side of the ball, Amir Tyler and Will Kwenkeu, have both credited the slow starts to mental mistakes, not showing up ready to play. It’s an issue they’re trying to remedy.

It was more of the same for the Owls on Saturday, falling behind, 21-0, in the final minute of the first half and the offense unable to put significant points up on the board.

“We had a lot of stops on defense,” Griffin said. “We held them to 21 for a while, actually. I think we did an all right job, but obviously we could have done better.”

A mixture of miscues, penalties, and an inability to convert on third down hindered Temple from keeping the game competitive early on.

Temple and BC entered Saturday’s contest under similar circumstances.

The Owls have been without starting quarterback D’Wan Mathis since he injured his foot in the season opener against Rutgers. True freshman Justin Lynch has taken over quarterback duties.

Eagles starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec hurt his hand on the opening drive in a win over UMass last week. He was replaced by Grosel, who got his first start of the season on Saturday.

The major difference being that Grosel has far more experience than his competition, starting seven games in 2019 and seeing action in four more last year.

Lynch, in his second career start, struggled to drive the ball down the field for much of the afternoon. Offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich didn’t necessarily dive deep into the playbook to test Lynch’s arm strength until the second half. And the Owls largely kept things simple with short tosses, jet sweeps, and keeping the ball on the ground.

The running back duo of Edward Saydee and Tayvon Ruley was held in check on account of BC’s front seven really controlling the line of scrimmage. The group is led by former Temple linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley and sophomore linebacker Kam Arnold.

Lynch finished the afternoon completing 15 of 20 passes for 156 yards and no turnovers. His performance was highlighted by three lengthy drives that put Temple in a threatening scoring position. The first two resulted in failed fourth-down conversions, the third in a successful 32-yard field goal.

As for Grosel, although his numbers weren’t impressive, he was able to find more success, finishing with five completions on 13 attempts for 34 yards. He had one touchdown through the air, one on the ground, and one interception.

He connected with Williams and junior receiver Zay Flowers with some consistency, but went the entire third quarter without a first down. BC’s offense relied heavily on its run game, accounting for three of its four scores.

Two members of Temple’s defense from a year ago found their way to Boston College via the transfer portal: Graham-Mobley, who entered the game as the Eagles’ second-leading tackler, and interior defensive lineman Khris Banks.

The former was a member of Temple football’s leadership council before transferring. On Saturday, in his return to Philadelphia, he made his presence felt up front by tallying eight total tackles, six of which were solo.

His biggest play was stuffing Lynch on a Temple failed fourth-and-3 conversion attempt in the second quarter.

As for Banks, he was efficient in the pass rushing game, chipping in with four total tackles and 1.5 sacks.