Temple’s defense is unreal.
In all three wins this year, the Owls’ defense has outscored their opponents’ offense. I’ll say that again: In all three wins this year, Temple’s defense has outscored their opponents’ offense.
Temple’s defense has been more offensively productive than any running back or wide receiver in the AAC this year from a scoring standpoint. It has six total touchdowns—one more than it has given up—and more than any non-quarterback in the AAC.
This led me to think: Where would Temple’s defense be ranked in a hypothetical AAC fantasy football league?
In fact, if there was such thing as Fantasy AAC Football, what order would Temple players have been selected? Let’s say it’s traditional style scoring and setup, although it would have to be on a much smaller scale—a six team league.
Of course P.J. Walker would have been first Owl off the board and a solid option as a starting quarterback for your hypothetical fantasy team. He’s a dual-threat and the center of the offense, scoring nine of Temple’s 12 offensive touchdowns this year.
Not far behind him probably would have been running back Kenny Harper who you’d probably be kicking yourself if you drafted. Harper was the workhorse last year, producing over 850 total yards and 11 touchdowns—seemingly poised for a major role during his senior year. Instead, he’s found himself part of timeshare with two guys (Jahad Thomas and Jamie Gilmore) who are both outperforming him. Harper is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry and has only one rushing touchdown this year. For Harper, I would have expected the fourth or fifth round (and at least one Matthew Berry feature article) given his goal line role and pass catching abilities, but he had just three carries last week against UConn. Suddenly, he’s become available in 60 perecent of hypothetical ESPN leagues.
Jalen Fitzpatrick, Temple’s standout receiver, would be one of the hottest sleepers going into the draft. This assumes he’d have gone late, which he would have if: 1. You knew that he only had limited playing time prior to this season, and; 2. You read my article saying that wide receivers were the main concern for Temple going into the season. I was wrong. But somebody out there would have been right: Even Fitzpatrick’s limited role last year was bigger than any other receiver on the roster had. Plus, Temple is a pass friendly offense so somebody should have been fantasy relevant. Walker’s favorite target has a touchdown and increasing receiving yards in every game, making him a great option as a fantasy starter.
Other than that, it’s likely that no Temple players would have been taken in your standard fantasy AAC league. Maybe Bob from accounting, who is an AAC junkie, added injured freshman tight end Colin Thompson to his watch list. Or, possibly, somewhere there was a diehard Temple fan in a hypothetical AAC keeper league who took sophomore running back Zaire Williams with a late-round pick.
But it’s a stretch to make an argument that any Owl besides Walker, Harper, and Fitzpatrick would have been fantasy AAC relevant this year. That makes Temple’s defense/special teams one of the hottest waiver wire additions of the year. The Owls D struggled mightily last year, and that’s an understatement. Here’s what I wrote about the 2013 Temple defense:
Temple has more returning starters on defense than offense. And that might actually be a problem. This is a defense that allowed 6.4 yards per play to Fordham. Then, Louisville, SMU, and UCF combined to complete 69 percent of their passes for 10 touchdowns and no interceptions during a three game stretch. Defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis and linebacker Nate Smith led the team with a measly three sacks. The entire team intercepted only three passes all year and nobody had more than one pick. They led SMU 28-7 and UConn 21-0 but lost both games because the defense fell apart late.
With that said, the Owls D/ST surely would have gone undrafted with owners quickly scrambling to pick them up. The production has been downright dominant this year allowing just 12 points per game (No. 1 in the AAC, No. 5 in the nation), have eight interceptions (No. 1 in the AAC), nine sacks (No. 4), nine forced fumbles (No. 1), giving them 17 turnovers (No. 1), a safety; they’ve recovered three fumbles for touchdowns, returned two interceptions for touchdowns, and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown; along with two punts returned for touchdowns.
Four games into the season, the Owls are now the undisputed top-ranked defense in the AAC and without a doubt one of the top-10 options in AAC fantasy football.
The defense’s real-life production has been even better than their fantasy production. Here are the numbers: 123.8 passing yards per game against (No. 1), one passing touchdown against (No. 1), 175 rushing yards per game against (No. 7; it allowed 487 to Navy), five total touchdowns against (No. 1), 44.4 percent of scoring in the red zone against (No. 1), 31.4 percent of opponent third-down conversions (No. 1), 33.3 percent of opponent fourth down conversions (No. 1), and 16.2 opponent first downs per game (No. 1).
This defense is making a historic run, no matter which end of the telescope you look through—fantasy or reality.
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