There is no doubt that the Temple Owls took a few steps forward this season after last year’s 10-loss leap backwards.
The first few steps were smooth and swift: a win at Vanderbilt (the SEC’s finest, I tell ya!), finding their defense, freshmen excelling immediately, and growing confidence in head coach Matt Rhule. But then the steps became limps: failure to find a core offensive line, no real depth at wide receiver, quarterback P.J. Walker’s rapid decline, and frustrating inability by the offense to convert a first down.
Obviously, the ultimate goal for this team is to make (and win) a bowl game.
A bowl game is huge for every school. You already know that because you’re on the third paragraph of a college football article published on a college football website. But for a young team like Temple, a bowl game is colossal.
The Owls find themselves needing just one more regular season win to become the 80th bowl eligible team in the nation. To achieve this feat, they need to win this Saturday against the sometimes-underestimated but mostly underwhelming 3-8 Tulane Green Wave. What’s working for Temple’s offense is that Tulane’s defense hasn’t been all that good (30.1 points against per game). That’s good news for Walker, who has an opportunity to partially cloud his decline and try, one last time, to get something going on offense this year.
To put it simply, the Owls offense started out the season as a sub-par unit with a lot upside and has since gone in the wrong direction. It’s kind of like when your older brother pulls you up a hill on a wagon, gets close to the top, and then just lets go.
Making a bowl game means an extra month of practice. That’s key for any young squad like the Owls. I’ve gone over their youth many times—they have no seniors consistently starting on defense and only two on offense. Their inexperience on offense has quelled Walker’s progress.
As I’ve said before, Walker’s decline isn’t completely his fault. He was surrounded with more talent last season when he set Temple freshman records in passing yards (2,084) and passing touchdowns (20).Walker had some better-than-average targets to throw to and the offensive line was a lot more experienced too. In fact, the Owls were pretty much the opposite team last year—very few impact players on defense and a decent offense that just never completely ripened.
But this year, Walker is seemingly always under pressure whether the Owls’ opponents are blitzing or not. In the game against UCF, Walker took a couple sacks and injured his ankle, forced out of the game. Since that injury, he’s completing just 45 percent of his passes and has thrown just one touchdown to five interceptions. The ankle probably isn’t a lingering issue, as evident by him running the ball more since that injury.
Since Walker’s ankle injury, he’s become much more animated—he’s visibly worried about taking another sack, which greatly affects his decision-making. He throws the ball into coverage, rather than just going down. Walker is also noticeably frustrated, evident by the looks he gives to the sideline throughout the game. He has resorted to tucking the ball and running more often, especially on third down when Temple has been disastrous.
Walker’s confidence is shot and another month of practice for this young team is vital to restoring it, finding their offensive line, and maybe developing a rapport between Walker and the receivers.
A bowl appearance would give the Owls more exposure and help with recruiting. Two Owl commits, running back Chappelle Cook and defensive back Kareem Ali, were already committed to Rutgers and Maryland but they flipped their commitments to Temple earlier this year. Both players indicated that the switch was because the Owls are an up-and-coming program. Things like that make me happy. I want more of that.
And they’re also right. Temple’s football program has been historically not great. Actually, let me be blunt: It’s been pretty bad. The Owls have an all-time winning percentage of 43.7 percent. They’ve only been to four bowl games in 120 years. They claim that their rivals are Penn State and Villanova, although I doubt either of those teams consider Temple to be their rival. Maybe Villanova does, but they’re FCS so that almost makes it worse if they are truly rivals.
But for a second year head coach like Matt Rhule to bring Temple to its third bowl in 35 years, well, the ripple effects could be paramount.
Win or lose, hopefully we will remember this Temple unit as the ultimate transition team.
As they have all year, Walker and the Owls find themselves in need of just another conversion.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
