Temple Drubbed 55 – 0 by SMU
October 20, 2023 –
The Temple Owls lost their third straight game against a Texas team, and have given up more than 44 points in each game. This defeat is the worst as the SMU Mustangs win 55 – 0 at the Linc. In the American UTSA, North Texas, and SMU have rung up big victories. Temple enters a bye week, and the team needs to regroup.
“We need it,” said Temple Coach Stan Drayton. “We’re looking forward to this bye week. We have to be very smart how we go about organizing this. Some guys have got to get healthy, we got beat up out here again today. We definitely need the bye week on all fronts, we really do.”
Challenges Gaining Yards for the Owls
This was a lifeless performance on both sides of the ball for the Cherry and White. Injuries are playing a role. Offensively the team struggled that eventually resulted in another quarterback change. E. J. Warner did not play due to injury. Quincy Patterson got the start again. In the first half they gained just 84 yards on offense, 47 on the ground and 39 in the air. The team went 0 – 6 on third down conversions and made 8 first downs. Drayton made the choice. Insert Forrest Brock at quarterback.
“I saw Quincy struggling to complete some passes in the first half,” Drayton said. “Forrest had a good week of practice. We were just trying to find a way to get something going, as calling all cars. It’s trying to find the right formula, the right ingredient to get things going out there. Credit to SMU who made it very hard to make that happen.”
The team did not fare much better in the latter half putting up a total of 47 yards of offense, and lost a total of 34 on sacks. SMU had the offense bottled up.
Defensive Struggles
The Owls defense got a turnover and forced a punt on the first two Mustangs possessions. The fumble was forced and recovered by Temple line Davion Black. Then, SMU had the answers. They scored three touchdowns the next three times they had the ball. Running back Jaylan Knighton ran for a score and quarterback Preston Stone threw for two scores. SMU ended the half with a 25-yard field goal by Collin Rogers for a 31 – 0 lead.
In the second half the Mustangs opened the scoring behind a 67-yard punt return by Roderick Daniels, Jr. SMU finished the half by scoring 3 touchdowns and a field goal in the four consecutive times they had the ball.
For the game the Mustangs amassed 563 yards of offense. Stone completed 23 of 36 for 300 yards and two touchdowns. The scoring tosses went to Jordan Hudson and RJ Maryland. Backup quarterback Kevin Jennings threw a touchdown pass to Hudson. Three quarterbacks saw game action for the visitors.
“We got to get a stop, we’ve got to be better,” said linebacker Jordan Magee.
The Path Ahead
Temple falls to 2 – 6 overall and still seeks their first win in The American. A bye week awaits before Navy comes for a visit. It is time to build back
“We can’t let this affect how we practice,” tackle Victor Stoffel said. “Get back to practice harder and keep working harder, studying, get kicked back into the grindstone. I believe this is a true team and we’ll get back to work.”
The Owls are done with Texas competition for the season. Should it come to pass, let’s hope the Phillies fare better against Texans.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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