GBK Opponent Preview: Temple
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GoBlackKnights.com previews Army West Point’s opponents in the 2016 season, starting with their opponent in the opening game, the Temple Owls.
When: 7 PM, Friday, September 2nd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (PA).
Series Record: Temple leads 7-4 with dominant wins in each of the last 6 meetings.
Last Meeting: October 19, 2013; Temple entered the game with a dismal 0-6 record starting their first season under Matt Rhule as HC, but Army was riddled with injuries. Shaquille Tolbert replaced Geoff Bacon at Safety, Kyle Maxwell was in for Bobby Kough at DE, Justin Trimble replaced Tom Holloway at Rover, and Colby Miller made his first start as the 4th man to start at MLB in 2013. Chevaughn Lawrence, Raymond Maples, and AJ Schurr were sidelined on offense. Angel Santiago was injured early in the second quarter, and Army had to make do with its 3d and 4th string quarterbacks, both of whom were getting their first varsity experience.
The Black Knights turned the ball over 4 times on 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions, allowing Temple to score the first 33 points of the game. Army came back to score 2 second-half touchdowns, but Temple held on for the 33-14 win. That game, more than any other, demonstrated the need for additional depth at the quarterback position. The game was also a turning point for Temple as they went on to beat Memphis before losing close contests to SMU, UCF, Rutgers and UConn.
Temple’s 2015 Record
Temple had its best season since 1979 with a 10-4 record earning its first bowl appearance under head coach Matt Rhule.
Upset Penn State 27-10 in the season opener, their first win in the series since 1941.
Upset Cincinnati 34-26 in Cincinnati
Pulled out a last minute 25-23 win over UMass in Foxborough
Trounced UNC Charlotte 37-3 in Charlotte
Rolled over Tulane in the homecoming game, 49-10
Beat UCF 30-16 at home
Beat ECU 24-14 in Greenville
Lost a close game to Notre Dame 24-20 at home
Outscored SMU in a 60-40 shootout in Dallas
Were soundly defeated by USF in Tampa 44-23
Held #21 Memphis to 4 field goals in a 31-12 win at home
Cruised to a 24-3 win over UConn at home to clinch the AAC East Division
Lost the AAC championship game to Houston 24-13
Lost to Toledo in Boca Raton Bowl 32-17 to drop them out of the Top 25
Temple Offense
Temple runs a balanced offense that relied more on the run (54%) than the pass (46%), with 517 rushing attempts and 439 passing attempts in 2015. Their typical lineup features a running back lined up with a blocking fullback in the backfield, two wide receivers, and a tight end. Temple returned 6 of its 11 starters from an offense that finished 60th in Scoring, 96th in Total Offense, 95th in Rushing Offense, and 72d in Passing Offense. Temple ran the ball 517 times last season with an average of 4.1 yards per attempt and passed the ball 439 times with an average of 6.29 yards per attempt. Temple has a new offensive coordinator this season as quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas was promoted to OC in January when Marcus Satterfield left to take the HC job at Tennessee Tech.
Quarterback: PJ Walker returns for his 4th year as the starting quarterback for Temple. Walker is Temple's all-time leader in TD passes (52), completions (601) and total offense (8,237) and is on the Manning Watch List in 2016.
Running Backs: Temple’s leading rusher in 2015, senior Jahmad Thomas was on the Paul Hornung Award Watch List; Doak Walker Award Watch List; CFPA’s Performer of the Year Midseason Watch List. Thomas rushed for 1385 yds on 276 attempts (4.6 ave). He will be joined in the backfield by junior fullback Nick Sharga, who had 4 starts for the Owls, with no rushing stats.
Receivers: Temple lost 3 of its 5 top WRs from 2015, including Robby Anderson who was with the NY Jets. Returning receivers include probable starters, sophomore Ventell Bryant (39 receptions for 579 yards) and junior Adonis Jennings (14 receptions for 167 yards and 2 TDs). RS-Senior Colin Thompson (5 receptions for 67 yards) is the projected starter at TE. Thompson was a Rivals 4 star prospect in 2012 and spent two years at Florida before transferring to Temple, where he was redshirted in 2014. He is likely to share time with another RS-Senior, who got a medical redshirt in his sophomore season and has appeared in 37 career games with 41 receptions for 401 yards and 6 TDs.
Offensive Line: The Owls employ a 6 man rotation on the offensive line and have ample experience to replace 3 of their starters who were lost to graduation. They may not fully replace the talents of Kyle Friend who is currently with the NY Jets and Shahbaz Ahmed who is now with the Atlanta Falcons. The returning regulars are led by 320 pound All-AAC Sr Tackle Dion Dawkins, who is on the Outland Trophy Watch List, and 300 pound RS-Sr Brendan McGowan is on the Rimington Watch List at center. RS-Junior Brian Carter (304 lbs,10 starts) returns at one Guard and 300 lb. RS-Freshman Jovahn Fair, the only rookie, fills in the other guard spot. Another 320 pound lineman, RS-Jr Leon Johnson (8 career starts) is projected to start at the other tackle. Rhule was an offensive line coach for the NY Giants before taking over as HC at Temple; so we’d expect the OL to be well coached.
Temple Defense
Temple runs a 4-3-4 defense with a NT, DT and two DEs on the front line. Temple’s success in 2015 was due in large part to a very stout defense, but they took a major hit in the loss to graduation of consensus All American LB Tyler Matakevich (Pittsburgh Steelers 6th round choice and winner of the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards), as well as 2 of their 4 starting defensive linemen, including DT Matt Ioaniddis who was drafted in the 5th round by the Washington Redskins. They also lost both starting safeties and their top cornerback.
Defensive Line, 2 of 4 starters returning: DE Haason Reddick, honorable mention All AAC returns to anchor the defensive line along with NT Averee Robinson, who played in all 14 games last season and shared the starting role with Hershey Walton. The Owls are hoping that DE Praise Martin-Oquike will regain his 2014 level when he was selected first team All AAC. RS-Sophomore Michael Dogbe, with 16 games but no starts takes over for Ioanniddis at DT.
Linebackers 2 of 3 starters returning: Returning starters include Sr MLB Jarred Alwan who was the #2 tackler last season and has appeared in 36 games including 19 starts with a career total of 118 tackles including 9.5 TFLs and 2 sacks. Alwan was selected to the third team All-AAC this year. He will be joined by RS-Sr SLB Avery Williams who has appeared in 33 games with 12 starts and has 88 career tackles including 9.5 TFLs and a sack and RS-Senior WLB, Stephaun Marshall, a converted strong safety who shared starts at SLB with Williams in 2015, has appeared in 38 games with 21 starts and has 113 career tackles including 4.0 TFLs and 2.5 sacks.
Defensive Backfield 1 of 4 starters returning: Pre-season All-AAC and Thorpe watch list selection, Sean Chandler returns as the only starter from the 2015 defensive backfield, but he was moved from CB to Safety in pre-season to enhance his pro prospects. The most experienced cornerback on the roster is RS Senior Nate Hairston, who converted to defensive back from receiver last summer and was the team’s nickel corner for most of last season. Hairston has appeared in 29 games with 2 career starts and is credited with 11 tackles and 1 pass defended. The other CB spot will most likely be filled by Artrel Foster, a RS Junior with 26 games and 1 start or RS Sophomore Derreck Thomas. Foster has 15 career tackles, including 0.5 TFLs while Thomas was redshirted last year. The second safety in the Owl defensive backfield will most likely be Sophomore Delvon Randall who saw action in 14 games as a freshman and registered 16 tackles. RS-Senior Nate Smith is likely to compete for playing time at safety as well. Smith has appeared in 28 games with 67 career tackles and 5 passes defended.
Temple Special Teams
Temple returns both of their kickers from last season. Junior punter Alex Starzyk was the Owl punter in 2014 and 2015 and has an average of 40.3 yards per kick with 1 blocked punt. Junior place kicker Austin Jones returns for his third season. He converted 13 of 22 FG attempts in 2014 with a long of 47 yards and he made 23 of 28 attempts in 2015 with a long of 42 yards. Junior Sean Chandler handled punt returns last season with an average of 12.12 yards per return, and sophomore Jager Gardner returns as the leading kick returner with and average of 22.44 yards per return.
Outlook for the Game
We at GBK don’t try to predict the outcome of any games, leaving that task to our readers. As might be expected, given the recent history of the series, comparative 2015 records, and the fact that the game will be played at a stadium in which Army West Point has never won, we aren’t surprised to see Temple rated as 16-17 point favorites. At the beginning of any season, analysts rely heavily on previous season records in rating teams, and Temple clearly had a much better season than Army West Point in 2015, but as the saying goes, past performance is not always a reliable predictor of future performance, although we certainly agree with the oddsmakers that Army West Point faces a stiff challenge in the opening game this year. Unfortunately, Temple has plenty of time to prepare for the triple option, and more incentive than usual to do so with Navy now a conference foe. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll be looking ahead to their next opponent on the schedule, which is Stony Brook; so the intangible factors all favor Temple in this game.
This game could be a bellwether game for Army’s 2016 season and perhaps a test of the basketball adage that defense travels. Temple will not be running against the decimated Army defense they faced in 2013, and we expect the new and improved defense to have better success in stopping the Temple running game than they’ve shown in recent meetings. Temple’s defense has surely been weakened by the loss of Matakevich and Ioannidis, and their defensive backfield is relatively inexperienced with the exception of Sean Chandler. The last time Temple faced a triple option offense was in a 31-24 loss to Navy on Temple’s home field in September of 2014. Navy rushed for 487 yards against the Owls that day, and the Owls have lost several of their key defenders from that year. Army’s best chance for success is to grab an early lead and have the defense hold on for the win.
We think that the defense will be up to the task of holding down Temple scoring, and the outcome could hinge on the ability of the offense to control the ball and move it against a Temple defense that is in a bit of a rebuilding year. In his three years, Matt Rhule has established a reputation as one of the up and coming coaches in the Group of Five; and now we feel it’s time for Monken to make his mark.
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