Temple Football Relying On Defense, Finding Identity On Offense

Temple Football played No. 16 Penn State tough on Saturday, Sept. 12, scoring the game’s first points and making a pair of goal line stands in the first half against the Nittany Lions’ veteran offense. The Owls (1-1) eventually wore out against Penn State’s depth and lost 27-9, however, and head coach K.C. Keeler said he and his team don’t plan on patting themselves on the back for the performance.

“No moral victories in our world,” Keeler said. “It’s more about us playing clean than anything else. We didn’t play clean enough… I think we had a chance to have been in a tight one in the end.”

Temple committed five penalties for 60 yards, extending the Nittany Lions’ drives and shortening their own. While their defensive performance stood out most, the Owls also benefitted from another strong day from second string running back Keveun Mason (14 carries for 76 yards). Starting quarterback Jaxon Smolik broke off a 47-yard run on Temple’s first scoring drive, and Ajani Sheppard, option 1B at quarterback, completed a 39-yard deep shot to Jayce Freeman on the final drive of the game.

Smolik took the majority of the snaps but Keeler remained coy on the quarterback battle, saying that he distributed playing time based on how he thought the two signal callers matched up against Penn State. They rotated Sheppard in near the goal line on a field goal drive, and Keeler said the Owls had specific play packages ready where they thought they could put Sheppard in a strong position to succeed.

Offensive Identity

Smolik and Sheppard combined for 107 passing yards and, while Temple still managed to fall back on their running game, that one dimensional offense is a two-edged sword. If teams sell out to stop the run, that could open up shots for the Owls’ quarterbacks to succeed… or it could shut down the one thing they can rely on.

Tight end Peter Clarke, who caught six passes for 31 yards and helped convert a third-and-12 on Temple’s first scoring drive, said that the number of playmakers the Owls have on offense leaves them confident that other teams can’t make them one dimensional.

“The one thing we fall back on is we’ve got Jayce [Freeman], Colin [Chase], JoJo [Bermudez], me, Kev[eun Mason], Sam Brown,” Clarke said. “You can’t double everyone, you can’t fill the box every time because there’s going to be guys open. We’ve just got to rely on our playmakers to make plays when they’re called upon, but it’s all about doing your job, week in, week out, no matter what they throw at you.”