Temple @ Tulane Preview

BY JAKE WEINSTOCK

Saturday afternoon, before a sellout crowd, the 7-2 (5-0) Tulane Green Wave will host the Temple Owls, who head to New Orleans at a slightly less-impressive 2-6 (1-3), in a rematch of the 1935 Sugar Bowl. Oddly enough, the schools have not played since the Green Wave defeated the Owls 38-3 on Halloween, 2020, in a completely empty Yulman Stadium, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that meeting, however, the Owls had taken four straight, from 2014-2019, by a combined score of 119-34.

Long gone are the back-to-back ten win seasons for these Owls under Matt Rhule. Temple will need to win two (2) of their final four (4) games to win more than three (3) games for the first time since 2019. Tulane enters as a 26.5 point favorite, at the time of this writing. The Green Wave have won six (6) straight after slipping to 1-2 with consecutive losses to Kansas State at Yulman and to Oklahoma, in Norman. Now, they'll be seeking their 16th consecutive regular season conference victory, having last lost to UCF on November 12, 2022. One could argue that their performance against Rice, three (3) weeks ago, coming out of a bye, was one of their weakest of the season. Now, the Green Wave are off of a "mini-bye" having last played on Thursday, October 31. It will be interesting to see how sharp and crisp Tulane is, this time around.

The Owls have struggled mightily on offense, as they rank 108th in the country (out of 134 qualifiers) in points per game, 109th in points per play, 122nd in yards per play (4.7), 128th in yards per carry (2.9), 95th in yards per attempt (6.7), 111th in yards per game, 116th in punts per offensive score, and are 133rd in fewest giveaways per game. The Owls are averaging 2.4 turnovers per game, which trails only the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles for most in the country, this season. Temple's offense is led by quarterback Evan Simon, who has posted a 61.9% completion percentage on the season, with an average of 7.4 yards per attempt. He has been rather good, believe it or not, but has not gotten a ton of help; his adjusted completion percentage (which counts drops as if they had been completed) is a very strong 78.1%. Additionally, his pressure-to-sack percentage is respectable 14.5%. In recent weeks, his average depth of target has risen dramatically, going from 5.6 and 6.0 in his first two starts (Coastal Carolina and Utah State) to 9.2, 8.1, and 9.2 over his past three starts (Army, Tulsa, East Carolina), evidencing a willingness and courage to be more aggressive pushing the ball down field.

And to whom does he push the ball? That would primarily be receiver Dante Wright, who missed last week's contest and is questionable for Saturday's game, according to Temple Head Coach Stan Drayton, in his Monday press conference. Despite missing some time, Wright still leads Temple in targets (58), receptions (43), yards (518) and touchdowns (4). The next highest Owl in each category? 28 targets (Antonio Jones), 17 receptions (Jones), 228 yards (Ashton Allen), and 2 touchdowns (Allen). Temple has done a nice job of moving Wright around, as he has spent 68.6% of his snaps in the slot and 29.4% out wide. Look for them to get him in motion and find ways to avoid press coverage from Tulane's increasingly confident and physical corners.

As mentioned, the Owls have produced one of the nation's weakest rushing attacks through 8 games. Temple has been paced by Antwain Littleton II, a Maryland transfer, and Terrez Worthy, a junior college transfer, on the ground. Worthy has been much better, statistically, and carried the way last week against East Carolina with a career high 20 carries. For the season, Worthy has turned 51 carries into 280 yards (5.5 YPA) and Littleton has turned 59 carries into 181 yards (3.1 YPA), but neither has eclipsed an average after contact of even 2.5 yards.

Defensively, no one has come on stronger than edge rusher Diwun Black. Over the last three (3) games, his only starts of the season, he has totaled sixteen (16) pressures. No other Owl has more than ten (10) pressures over the course of the entire season. He has been one of just a few bright spots for the Temple defense, as they're surrendering 35.4 points per game (119th fewest nationally), rank 118th in points per play against, 80th in yards per game allowed (394), 86th in yards per play allowed (5.8), and 70th in opponent punts per offensive score.

Prediction: I don't think there's terribly much to see, here. This is a bad Temple team. Tulane is at home, in front of a sellout crowd, with all of their goals still in play and everything still in front of them, and may just be peaking at the right time. Tulane 41-13.