Preparation for launch.
UCF (4-1, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) heads into its sixth annual Space Game with plenty of confidence crushing preseason dark horse SMU in the second half, leading to a 41-19 victory.
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The Knights scored 31 straight points after halftime as John Reece Plumlee had his third 300-yard passing game of the season and Isaiah Bowser scored three times from the ground. The nation’s top red zone defense held SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai without a touchdown pass for the first time in 17 games.
Next, UCF hosts Temple in another primetime game, the Knights’ fourth and final contest of the non-Saturday season. UCF has beaten the Owls five straight and seven of nine all-time.
Not to mention, the Citronauts — the nickname UCF adopted during Space Games week — are a perfect 5-0 in paying homage to the school’s roots in aerospace engineering and technology.
Temple has alternated between wins and losses in its first five contests, losing 24-3 to Memphis in the final timeout. Will the Owls be able to deliver a shock and even their own record?
For that and more, Ryan Wallen, who covers Temple for Owl Daily and 247Sports, checked in on this week’s edition of Know Your Foe.
Boyle: Temple will enter this game the fresher of the two teams, having last dressed on Oct. 1. What did the Owls focus on during the bye week?
Wallen: Head coach Stan Drayton said in his weekly news conference Monday that his team spent the bye week doing some soul searching and that they used the extra time to get better and really focus on the fundamentals of playing good football.
One of Drayton’s main goals this week is for his team to have four quarters of quality play, especially at the end of the fourth quarter on defense — an obvious nod to how Memphis’ game slipped away from the Owls when the defense gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter . He also said he and his staff have really focused on building more depth behind the defensive starters, so some of those guys will get more breaks and won’t be as gassed by the time the fourth quarter rolls around.
Boyle: Temple, which ranks 126th in scoring and 125th in total offense among FBS programs, had just seven first downs against Memphis and had three drives in eight of its first 10 drives. Was there a consistent problem throughout the first five games, or can you identify several different causes?
Wallen: Yes, the first part of the season had some constant problems with the offensive unit.
Above all, the biggest problem was the lack of scoring play, which hurt the team’s ability to establish any kind of offensive rhythm. The Owls have eclipsed 100 yards in a game just twice this season (146 vs. Lafayette and 107 vs. UMass), and in both of those games, Temple won. But even in those two wins, the Owls struggled to find success, consistently controlling the ball. Temple is averaging a staggering 2.7 yards per carry this year and has yet to have an individual rush over 60 yards in a game. Coupled with that, the offensive line started four different combinations of players through the first five games, and the unit struggled mightily with run blocking; it also made it difficult to establish any sequence of the crime as a whole.
Another problem is that Temple just couldn’t hang on to football in 2022. The offense turned the ball over a total of 11 times (six interceptions and five fumbles), while the unit also turned the ball over on downs an additional 10 times. It’s a miracle in itself that Temple was involved in four of five plays in the fourth quarter, even after losing such an insane number of drives.
Boyle: Drayton is Temple’s sixth head coach since 2011. What impact has he made in his first year in charge and how have the players responded to the new voice?
Wallen: Given the way the team has performed in the first five games, there is a new energy around the program. There was initially some skepticism about Temple hiring Drayton, considering he was only a position coach, but since taking the job, he’s done everything right, allowing the players and fans to buy into his vision. Drayton preached first and foremost back in December that he was going to build a relationship of trust with the players, and that really stood out to the team, given all the coaching changes and struggles the program has faced over the past few years. In the months that followed, it really seemed like the team grew closer and became a football family, as Drayton likes to call it. Because of this, we’ve seen more willingness and desire from players to turn the ship around, get the program back to competing at a high level, and restore the “Tough” to “Temple Tough.” With that said, it appears the Owls finally have some stability at the helm of the program, as Drayton has openly said he knew the job would be a challenge when he took the position, but that’s exactly why he wanted the position.
Boyle: EJ Warner, a true freshman, is the starting quarterback and son of former NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner. How will he adapt quickly in his first season and what plays/moments have given Owls fans hope for the future?
Wallen: Warner has been pretty solid so far in his first three and a half games in college. He has shown good awareness and composure in the pocket as he has been sacked just twice on the year and has proven to be a fairly accurate passer with a quick release like his father. Obviously, there were times when his inexperience showed (such as the fourth quarter against Memphis in which Warner had an interception on each of the Owls’ final three drives), but that’s to be expected from an 18-year-old who just joined the teams in the middle of summer. I think it’s also not ideal that most, if not all, of Temple’s offensive success rests on Warner’s shoulders at the moment due to the team’s inability to run the football. However, given the circumstances, I believe he has responded to the challenge of being Temple’s quarterback with a maturity beyond his years, which in itself is something Owl fans can be optimistic about.
As far as specific moments that show Warner’s potential, I think if you watch the entire UMass game, people will see Warner’s upside. Warner struggled early in that game, throwing two picks and taking his first career sack, which could have easily been a safety, though he managed to get out of the end zone. But Warner bounced back from a shaky start and finished the game on an absolute dime, throwing over the top of the UMass defense in front of wide receiver Adonis Sanders, leading to a 50-yard touchdown for the Owls. Warner also made some big shots against Rutgers, which was very impressive for him against a Big Ten defense in what was his first collegiate start, and it nearly led to a victory for Temple despite being the underdog with a two-digit number.
Boyle: Defensively, Temple has allowed just 31 points in its last four games — including a shutout of UMass, the program’s first since 2016. What is working from this side and which players have become stars recently?
Wallen: Temple’s defense is miles ahead of what was expected, and much of that success can be credited to defensive coordinator DJ Eliot. The Owls currently rank in the top half of all FBS programs in nearly every major defensive performance category, but the biggest improvement we’ve seen is in the unit’s ability to stop the run. In 2021, the Owls gave up over 220 yards per game on the ground to their opponents. Whereas this year, they’re only allowing 131.2 yards on the ground and forcing teams to take multiple throws to beat them. The front seven has played without attention in both run and pass defense, and that has led to a lot of good things happening for the unit. The Owls already have 45 tackles for loss and 20 sacks on the year, so they’re going to push opponents a lot throughout the game.
A few guys to look out for on that side of the ball include linebacker Layton Jordan, who currently leads the team with eight TFLs, 4.5 sacks and already has six picks on the year. Senior quarterback Kobe Wilson currently leads the team in tackles (34) and forced and recovered a fourth-quarter fumble against Memphis, along with redshirt freshman cornerback Jalen McMurray, who has a team-leading six pass breakups and has yet to give up a big game this season.
