The Temple Owls have good defensive players, good running backs and a good coach. But I’ve said before that everything will always come down to quarterback P.J. Walker, whether he likes he it not. And I don’t think he likes it.
Last season, Temple was really bad. The Owls started out 0-5 under then-starter Connor Reilly and, with nothing to lose, the coaches gave Walker a shot. He doubled their offensive production, won two games, and lost some close ones. He looked flashy, showed nice accuracy throwing 20 touchdowns (a team record for a freshman) and 2,084 passing yards (another record) in only seven games.
Naturally, fans were hopeful—they had a brand new coach (Matt Rhule) with NFL experience, a brand new quarterback that was really young and could run and pass, and some running backs that were proven. Their offensive momentum from last season carried over this year.
And what nobody expected was to also have a defense. There is no word in the dictionary that describes how well the Owls’ defense started this season. They were as efficient as anybody in the nation. In Week 1, they caused seven turnovers against Vanderbilt (one of those fancy SEC teams!) in Nashville en route to a 37-7 blowout on national TV. They had trouble stopping Navy’s run game but by Week 4, Temple’s defense still had more touchdowns than its opponents’ offenses.
The game against Tulsa was when the Owls’ batteries started running out of juice. They won the game, but by much less than we all thought they would. After that game, I wrote a piece about how we still needed to find out if the “Owls are wise.” But thinking back, why didn’t I just think that Tulsa game was a deviation? Temple had been outstanding for every game but Navy and three quarters against Tulsa. And still, we didn’t think of that game as an anomaly as much as we thought it was a transition back to reality.
We heard the alarm in our dreams. We knew all along.
There’s a psychological aspect of football that always needs to be taken into account. When Walker was named the starter last year, the Owls had nothing to lose. Their season was over already and nobody was paying attention to them. He had experienced receivers to throw to and an experienced line to hide behind. The problem last year was the defense was putrid. Despite Walker’s stellar play, it was still tough to Temple to ever win because of their defense.
This year, the supporting cast was better—but not for Walker. The defense has been huge improvement, but the offensive line took a step back, the run game became more one-dimensional around Jahad Thomas (as opposed to having situational backs), and the receivers are mostly too ripe. Walker’s job became harder while, simultaneously, the spotlight became brighter.
Temple’s offense couldn’t do anything in the past two weeks against Houston and UCF. In the second game, Walker tweaked his ankle and was benched for Connor Reilly in a move that pushes the pressure to an all-time high. This move came a week before Temple’s biggest game of the year—a home game against one of the better teams in the country in ECU this weekend.
If Temple loses, it will find itself in an 0-3 hole with still a tough schedule ahead. We’ll still say they’re a young, improved team with a chance at making a bowl.
If Temple finds a way to win, everything will change; we can call the Tulsa game an anomaly. We can say the Houston and UCF games were products of a slump. But for Temple to beat ECU, Walker will have to have the game of his life. Again, all eyes are on him.
No pressure.
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