Temple Football Trying to Maintain Positives From East Carolina Game Down the Stretch

After shaking up his coaching staff during the Owls’ bye week, Temple Football head coach K.C. Keeler said that he’s held this year’s team to a more exacting standard than many of the other groups he’s coached because of the potential he sees in them. While that potential hasn’t translated into wins — Temple sits at 2-6 (1-3 American) with four games to play and would need to run the table in order to qualify for a bowl game — Keeler said their performance in a 17-9 loss to East Carolina marked a step in the right direction… for all it counts with time running out.

“I got a little emotional talking to the kids. It’s been a rough two weeks,” Keeler said. “The whole theme was just, when we walk off that field, we want to win. Losing’s not the standard here. But we’ve gotta be able to say that we fought every snap, all day long, to the very end… we played that way.”

Keeler expanded on that point, saying he wasn’t sure how his players would respond to the changes he made during the bye week: firing defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun, promoting Henry Baker to call defensive plays and demoting former defensive coordinator Brian Smith to safeties coach. He also dismissed defensive lineman Quante Gillians from the team and suspended defensive tackle Kevin Hornbeak Jr. for two games.

“I was really proud just how hard and physical we played. And again, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna see,” Keeler said. “What I saw was a bunch of guys who became a family and fought their asses off, and I was really, really proud of them…Every snap, they were all engaged, they were all rooting each other on, they didn’t panic.”

What Happens Next?

Linebacker Curly Ordoñez and cornerback Asa Locks both downplayed the switch in play-calling duties from Smith to Baker. Temple allowed less explosive plays in their 17-9 loss to the Pirates than they had in other games this season, but both defenders chalked the change up to executing their assignments, a major point of emphasis after the loss to Charlotte that triggered the staffing changes.

Halftime adjustments were another improvement, as the Owls kept East Carolina off the board for the final 25 minutes of play; Keeler praised Baker for his debut performance as a play caller while noting that the next step is to translate that improvement into actual wins.

Temple’s terrible injury luck continued against East Carolina, with leading tight end and NFL Draft hopeful Peter Clarke suffering a season-ending injury. For a team already decimated by injuries, the loss of a senior leader is another gut punch, although Keeler praised Clarke for how he’ll continue to help the team prepare.