After a week off, Temple readies for the second half of the football season, starting with Tulsa

Temple enters week No. 8 of the college football season with just one victory in six attempts, remaining winless in American Athletic Conference play. They’ve lost to three ranked opponents: No. 23 Army, No. 25 Navy, and former No. 15 Oklahoma. They’ve also faced three rushing attacks ranked within the Top 20 in the country.

However, after a much-needed bye week, the Owls remaining schedule on paper is much more relaxed, and head coach Stan Drayton feels his team is ready to bounce back.

“We took a blow, but we’re back on our feet,” Drayton said during his weekly media availability earlier this week. “This is a tough, resilient football team. Player to coach, we’re not going to sit there and let a loss stop our belief in ourselves and what we’re trying to achieve as a football team.”

Drayton’s team will try to get back in the win column against Tulsa (2-4, 0-2 AAC) during Temple’s homecoming game on Saturday (2 p.m. ESPN+). Here are three things the Owls need to do to start the second half of their year on the right foot.

Temple’s offense earned more than 100 rushing yards in just three games: its win against Utah State and its single-digit losses to Coastal Carolina and UConn.

The Owls will need a balanced attack to relieve the pressure off a pair of injured quarterbacks. Drayton said Evan Simon is expected to be available after suffering a shoulder injury to his throwing arm against Army on Sept. 26, and Forrest Brock is still dealing with a right wrist issue.

Junior running back Terrez Worthy’s 95 yards against the Huskies showed he could fit in the offense, and Antwain Littleton leads the team with 168 yards on the year. Tulsa is toward the bottom of the AAC in rushing yards allowed, giving up nearly 170 per game.

Drayton has mentioned wanting to be a rushing team all season. When they are, the Owls have found success.

Temple’s defense had just one forced fumble and one interception in its first five games. The Owls forced two fumbles against UConn, recovered one, and picked off quarterback Joe Fagnano twice.

With a week off, the Owls have a healthy and rejuvenated unit looking to keep its momentum rolling.

“It’s always great to get ahead of an opponent when you’re facing them and definitely having time to recover,” linebacker Tyquan King said. “We play a contact sport; [and] a lot of guys need that time to rest and get their legs back under them.”

Tulsa averages nearly 400 yards of offense per game, which is seventh-best in the AAC. However, Temple has been using the bye to play its best offensive weapons against its defense, hoping to mimic what Tulsa wide receiver Kamdyn Benjamin and the unit can do.

On the flip side, Temple held the 14th-best rushing attack in the country two weeks ago.

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Owls quarterback Tyler Douglas had a chance to win his first college game with two seconds left against UConn before fumbling the snap. Similarly, Simon missed a fourth-down pass with 23 seconds remaining in Temple’s 28-20 loss to Coastal Carolina.

Against Army, the Owls had cut the Black Knights’ lead to 28-14 with 11 minutes left before losing control to their nationally-ranked opponent.

Tulsa’s two wins this year came against Louisiana Tech and FCS foe Northwestern State. The Golden Hurricane lost to AAC rivals North Texas and Army by a combined 101-27 and also fell to Oklahoma State and Arkansas State.

Drayton said Temple has struggled to carry out a full game, but Tulsa Owls’ first conference win since Nov. 4, 2023.

“Obviously, we need to be more disciplined at times when the ball gets extended,” Drayton said. “On defense, those are the things that have killed us. On offense, we have to be a unit that starts fast. Once those things improve, we’ll get what we want — [to] ultimately [be] in the win column.”

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