Gameday Preview: Temple vs. No. 24 Tulane
Temple (5-5, 3-3 American Conference) vs No. 24 Tulane (8-2, 5-1 American Conference)
Game time: 3:45 p.m.
Streaming: ESPNU
Location: Lincoln Financial Field
Temple-Tulane history: Temple leads, 4-3.
Last meeting: Tulane 52, Temple 6, on November 9, 2024.
Fresh off its final bye week of the season, Temple is set to host a nationally-ranked Tulane team in what could be the Owls’ last, best chance at bowl eligibility. Find out about the key matchups, statistics and players below.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
Jon Sumrall‘s No. 24 Tulane team is 8-2 and has won five of its last six games, so looking for any weakness might be nitpicking. If there is a flaw in the Green Wave, however, it could be their defense. Tulane is No. 80 in the nation in scoring defense at 26 points allowed per game and is No. 110 in total defense at 412.3 yards allowed per game.
Those numbers get even worse when you hone in on the last quarter of the season, as the Green Wave have given up 34.7 points and 476.7 yards per game over their last three contests.
Tulane has also been susceptible to giving up big plays. For the season, the Green Wave has given up 48 plays of 20-plus yards, the fourth-worst mark in The American and the 96th-worst mark nationally. Despite the numbers, Tulane still has playmakers and should not be taken lightly, Temple quarterback Evan Simon told reporters this week.
“I know they’re a little banged up, just like every other team in the country, but super talented, very good scheme,” Simon said. “But there are those voids out there and they let up some explosives. But obviously we respect them a lot and we’re going to have to play really good.”
One of the reasons Simon described Tulane’s defense as a little bit banged up is because, well, its senior leader, linebacker Sam Howard, is attempting to play on a broken leg. Howard missed two games with the injury last month after fracturing his fibula but returned to have two TFL and a sack two weeks ago. The preseason all-conference selection missed last week’s win over Florida Atlantic, however, and his status for today’s game will not be clear until the pregame availability report is released around 2 p.m.
Despite Howard’s absence, Tulane’s defense forced four turnovers against FAU and held the Owls to 24 points, nearly seven below the program’s average. FAU was able to move the ball, however, and finished the game with 472 yards and just one punt.
“I think we took a small step forward (against FAU),” Tulane’s Chris Rodgers told reporters earlier this week. “I feel like we left a lot of things out there and we messed up a lot of things.”
As for Temple, the Owls have averaged 29.6 points per game this season but just 13.5 points over their past two games. Tyler Walker‘s offense looked a bit more like its true self against Army but, due to Army’s vise grip on time of possession, managed just 46 plays against the Black Knights. When the Owls did have the ball, they averaged 5.3 yards per carry on the ground and completed 60% of their passes.
“They give themselves a chance all the time, they don’t beat themselves,” Sumrall said at his weekly press conference. “They’re one of the top teams in the country in the turnover margin. They’ve protected the football. they’ve got two turnovers all year in ten games. It’s unheard of.”
For the season, Simon is up to 22 passing touchdowns and still just one pick. With his next passing touchdown, he’ll tie the Temple mark for most in a season. Simon should have the opportunity to move the ball against Tulane, as the Green Wave have struggled in pass coverage this season.
Cornerbacks E’Ziah Shine and Jahiem Johnson have started every game this year but are part of a Green Wave defense that has given up 269.6 passing yards per game, the 125th mark in the nation. Between the two, Johnson has been the true turnover threat as he’s picked off three passes this season. Safety Javion White also has three picks. As a team, Tulane has forced 16 turnovers this season.
If Simon is able to continue protecting the ball, wideouts Kajiya Hollawayne, Jojo Bermudez and Colin Chase should be able to get open against this Tulane defense, as should tight end Peter Clarke. That foursome has accounted for 79.5% of Temple’s receiving yards this season.
On the ground, Tulane has held its last two opponents to fewer than 100 rushing yards. Earlier this season, however, Tulane allowed 190 rushing yards to South Alabama, 241 rushing yards to Ole Miss, 233 rushing yards to Army and 160 rushing yards to East Carolina.
On the ground, Jay Ducker has continued to have a strong season for the Owls. The Sam Houston transfer has averaged 5.3 yards per carry and accumulated 808 total yards of offense. True freshman Keveun Mason has earned more playing time in recent weeks and should also feature in the running game against Tulane.
Appalachian State transfer Santana Hopper has been a force on the defensive line for Tulane to the tune of 28 quarterback pressures while Texas Tech transfer Harvey Dyson III is second in The American with six sacks. Temple has allowed 16 sacks this season.
Overall, this is a much better Temple offense than what took the field against Tulane last season. In that game, a 52-6 loss, Temple had fewer than 100 yards until former running back Terrez Worthy broke a 75-yard score late in the game against Tulane’s backups.
“Schematically, it’s not even remotely the same,” Sumrall added when asked about the difference between last year’s Temple offense and this year’s. “We have to be really, really good at doing our job well, leveraging the football and playing with good vision because they give you a lot of shifts and motions and swappers. You’ve got to have clean eyes and keep your eyes where they’re supposed to be.”
Edge: Temple
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
While it might not be as prolific as last year’s, this year’s iteration of the Tulane offense is still very good. Last year, Darian Mensah and Makhi Hughes paced a Green Wave offense that put up the aforementioned 52 points against the Owls. Mensah is now at Duke and Hughes is at Oregon, but Sumrall and his staff did a decent job at replacing the duo as the Green Wave have averaged 28 points and 412.6 yards per game this season.
BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff, who did not join the team until late in the summer, has completed 61.2% of his passes for 2,195 yards, 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. All four of Retzlaff’s interceptions have come in the last four games, however. Last year, Retzlaff led the Big 12 with 12 picks, so there could be the opportunity for Temple to turn him over.
Where Retzlaff can really hurt defenses is on the ground. He leads Tulane with 557 rushing yards this season and his 11 rushing touchdowns are tied for the fourth most in the conference.
Temple’s defense has had mixed success against true dual-threat quarterbacks this year. Oklahoma’s John Mateer rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown against Temple but Georgia Tech’s Haynes King, who has 807 rushing yards and 14 scores this year, rushed for just 15 yards against the Owls.
Keeping Retzlaff in check, especially on the ground, will be crucial to stopping a Tulane offense that is starting to click.
“[Retzlaff is] a stud,” Temple coach K.C. Keeler said. “I was hoping he wasn’t as athletic as he is but boy, he can make you pay if you get out of your lanes. He can pull the ball down, quarterback draws, those kind of things.”
Outside of Retzlaff, Tulane has not relied on just one guy on the ground. Javin Gordon leads the team with 408 rushing yards as a true freshman but had just five carries for 14 yards against FAU. A group of four other backs — Arnold Barnes, Zubeir Mobley, Jamauri McClure and Maurice Turner — has combined to rush 123 times for 642 yards behind Gordon. Against FAU, McClure paced all Tulane backs with 10 carries for 94 yards and a score.
All of that could be bad news for a Temple defense that is toward the bottom of the barrel in rushing defense this year. The Owls have allowed five different opponents to rush for 200 yards in a game this year, although two of those contests were against service academies and two other were against nationally-ranked Power 4 programs.
“You’ve got to also acknowledge they played Army and Navy, who are probably first and second in the country in rushing yards,” Sumrall said.
“I think (Temple is) probably the most improved team in our conference,” Sumrall added. “They look like a completely different team and it shows in every phase. They’re well coached, they’ve got good players and they’re really disciplined. They play with great detail.”
Linebacker Curly Ordonez leads Temple with 67 tackles to go along with eight tackles for loss. Rutgers transfer Cam’Ron Stewart has 8.5 TFL to go along with four sacks. Temple has not had a sack in its last two games, however, and has just five sacks in its last five games after accumulating 11 in its first five games.
Saturday’s game should see the return of Demerick Morris, Temple’s fifth-year defensive tackle that missed the Army game. It could also potentially feature the return of Sekou Kromah, who has played just 13 snaps since Temple’s Week 6 win over UTSA. Keeler and his staff sat Kromah against Army in the hopes that he would be able to return after the bye week but he did not practice earlier this week.
Five different Tulane wide receivers have caught at least 17 passes this season, led by Bryce Bohanon’s 31 for 417 yards and Shazz Preston‘s 28 for 443 yards. FAU transfer Omari Hayes is right behind that duo with 27 catches for 391 yards, as is Kentucky transfer Anthony Brown with 24 catches for 341 yards. Regardless of who is catching or running the ball, Tulane’s offense is fundamentally sound, Temple defensive tackle Allan Haye said.
“It’s not too much bulls— gadgets and all this trick stuff,” Haye said. “They’re going to come out and play football, They’re going to do what they do and you’re going to have to go out there and stop them. That’s a good thing. I kind of like playing better opponents because, when they come out there on a Saturday, they’re not really trying to trick you. They believe in their players and they’re going to do what they’ve got to do and run what they run.”
Edge: Tulane
SPECIAL TEAMS
This could be one of the better special teams matchups of the year, if such a thing exists.
Tulane punter Alec Clark, a Marshall transfer, leads The American with 47.2 yards per punt while Temple’s punter Dante Atton was recently named one of eight Ray Guy Award semifinalists. Over the last seven games, Atton has helped Temple’s punt coverage unit allow just three returns for negative one yard. Both units are in the Top 35 nationally in net punting.
Placekicking wise, Tulane kicker Patrick Durkin has converted 15 of his 16 field goal attempts this season, including a 50-yarder. Temple kicker Carl Hardin, meanwhile, has made 10 of his 13 field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder.
As a team, Tulane has returned 20 kickoffs for 434 yards and 12 punts for 58 yards. Temple, meanwhile, has averaged just 16.8 yards per kickoff return but 14.5 yards per punt return. That latter average has been buoyed by the performance of Jojo Bermudez, who has returned 10 punts for 150 yards. Bermudez’s statline would be even more impressive if two long returns had not been called back due to ticky-tack flags earlier this year.
“He’s probably the best punt returner we’ve played all year,” Sumrall said.
Edge: Push
