Temple finishes 3-9 for third straight season after falling to Memphis in season finale
Sophomore quarterback E.J. Warner broke the school record for passing touchdowns in a season and became the first Temple player to have multiple seasons with at least 3,000 passing yards.
Memphis stormed into Lincoln Financial Field on Friday and put together a dominant 45-21 victory over Temple, which was missing three of its five leading tacklers because of injuries and struggled to convert on fourth down.
“It’s tough,” head coach Stan Drayton said of the depleted secondary. “We had a really good quarterback that we were facing today that took advantage of us downfield. They got a couple of [pass interference calls], and that didn’t help us. We missed some tackles in the run game, so I have to go and really assess that.”
Safeties Tywan Francis and Alex Odom missed the game because of concussions, and linebacker Jordan Magee, the team’s leading tackler, had triceps surgery this week. Memphis gave the Owls fits and took advantage of their inexperience with multiple deep balls.
The loss marks the third consecutive season in which Temple went 3-9 and 1-7 in the American Athletic Conference.
What we saw
Memphis (9-3, 6-2) started with a bang. Seth Henigan and Joe Scates connected for a 54-yard score on the Tigers’ opening drive, but the Owls answered right away with a 49-yard touchdown run by Darvon Hubbard.
Hubbard took advantage of strong blocking and ran untouched on an inside run for his scamper, which was the longest of his career, though Temple still trailed, 7-6, after missing the extra point. Hubbard finished with a career-high 95 yards on 10 carries.
Henigan, who threw for 250 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception on 18-of-28 passing, connected with Sutton Smith for an 11-yard touchdown to stretch the Tigers’ lead back out, but the Owls trailed by just one score until midway through the second quarter. They were unable to chip away at the deficit, however, as they turned it over on downs on consecutive first-half drives. Temple went 0-for-3 in the first half and 2-for-8 overall on fourth-down conversions on Friday.
“We did some aggressive fourth[-down] calls,” Drayton said. “Just knowing what Memphis can put out there from the production of their offense. I really put my defense in a tough situation [in the second half] where they found a way to hold onto a field goal, which, again, is another example of resilience.”
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Late in the second quarter, Memphis linebacker Chandler Martin intercepted a pass by Temple quarterback E.J. Warner on a tip drill at the Tigers’ 10-yard line. They took over at their own 2-yard line but drove 95 yards in 1 minute, 20 seconds and scored on a 13-yard pass from Henigan to Blake Watson. Further hurting Temple’s cause on the drive were two pass interference calls and a face mask, which spotted Memphis 45 yards.
The Owls started the second half with a picture-perfect drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass off Warner’s back foot to senior Amad Anderson Jr., who broke two tackles to get into the end zone. Warner threw two touchdowns to bring his season total to 23 and break P.J. Walker’s record for passing touchdowns in a season. With his 330 passing yards (on 56.2% passing), he also surpassed 3,000 passing yards for the second consecutive season and is the first Temple player to do so.
Breakthrough play
The Tigers came out of the gates red-hot. Smith returned the opening kickoff 43 yards, which left the Tigers at their own 46. Smith looked to be wrapped up around the 35, but he got an extra 10 yards with a push from multiple teammates.
Henigan’s 54-yard touchdown pass to Scates came on a go route on the first offensive play of the game.