Temple drops its fourth straight in overtime loss to Navy

It appears with or without head coach Stan Drayton, wins have been hard to come by for Temple as the Owls fell yet again, this time in a 27-20 overtime road loss to Navy.

Drayton, who missed the game and most of practice this week with a viral infection, might have been pleased with the performance of his freshman quarterback E.J. Warner, who completed 24-of-48 passes for 268 yards and one touchdown, and almost led the Owls to a comeback win.

In the fourth quarter, Warner found wide receiver Zae Baines for 35 yards and later connected with wide receiver Amad Anderson Jr. for a 20-yard touchdown to close the Midshipmen’s lead to 20-17 as nine minutes, 45 seconds remained on the clock.

On Temple’s last drive of the fourth quarter, Warner connected with Anderson Jr. for 40 yards to Navy’s five. Owls kicker Camden Price made a 22-yard field goal to send the game to overtime.

The Midshipmen’s triple-option offense ultimately prevailed when backup quarterback Xavier Arline rushed for a 23-yard touchdown on the first drive of overtime.

Two untimely blunders cost the Owls. Wide receiver Amad Anderson Jr. muffed a punt, which was recovered by cornerback Mbiti Williams at the 16. Three plays later, fullback Daba Fofana scampered 15 yards for a touchdown with two minutes, 53 seconds left in the first quarter to give them a 10-0 lead.

“That is a little bit like our offense,” said Temple’s chief of football staff Everett Withers, who was the interim coach in place of Drayton. “It is up and down. He needs to not have the issues in the first half.”

On the following possession, Temple wide receiver Malik Cooper dropped a Warner attempt that fell right into the hands of cornerback Elias Larry for an interception. Four plays later, kicker Daniel Davies made a 36-yard field goal with 36 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give the Midshipmen a 13-0 lead.

Outside linebacker Layton Jordan forced a fumble on an Arline pitch in the backfield and recovered the ball for a touchdown on the first drive of the second half — closing Temple’s deficit to three points. Jordan, who ranks among the top 10 in the FBS with 6.5 sacks, set a school record with three defensive touchdowns in a season.

Through seven games, wide receiver Adonicas Sanders, who was ruled out of Saturday’s game with a knee sprain, combined for 29 receptions for 352 yards and one touchdown. The absence of Sanders contributed to Temple’s first-half struggles as the offense failed to find a rhythm.

Defensively, the Owls held Navy’s triple-option run game to 3.2 yards per rush attempt.

Temple returns home to face South Florida next Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field (2 p.m., ESPN+, 97.5-FM The Fanatic).