Temple Owls Football Offseason Preview

The 2021 Temple football season was a complete disaster. Some teams across the country had a good offense but a really bad defense. Others had a good defense but an offense which couldn’t take advantage. A number of schools in the American Athletic Conference fit that profile. The Temple Owls were bad on both sides of the ball, even more than South Florida, which went 2-10 in 2021. Temple actually managed to go 3-9 (one of those wins was over a lower-division school) as a consequence of having a few very easy opponents on its schedule, but over a 12-game season, the Owls were worse than South Florida. USF had a minus-11 point differential between its average amount of points scored per game and average points allowed per game. Temple was minus-21, a total catastrophe. The Owls averaged just over 16 points per game and allowed over 37 points per game. The team lost its last seven games of the season, by these following point margins: 49, 20, 42, 42, 29, 34, and 24. Temple was a non-competitive team. Accordingly, big changes were made, which you can read about below.

Incoming transfer cornerback Dominick Hill is the most promising new player on a team filled with fresh faces. It will be interesting to see what this team is capable of in 2022 after the ruinous 2021 season.

Key Personnel Lost

The Owls fired 2021 head coach Rod Carey and replaced him with Texas running back coach Stan Drayton. Carey came to Temple from Northern Illinois, where he did a good job of maintaining the Huskies as a successful program in the Mid-American Conference after taking over from Dave Doeren, who followed Jerry Kill in building NIU’s power base. Carey’s foray into the AAC simply didn’t work. He couldn’t replicate at Temple what he had done at NIU. Drayton comes from Texas, where he spent time under coach Steve Sarkisian. Texas has faced hard times as a program, so Drayton looked for an escape hatch. Instead of landing a job as a position coach somewhere else, he was able to convince Temple to give him a head coaching job. It’s a real gamble by Temple administration.

Among Temple players no longer with the program, tackle Michael Niese is the best player who won’t be coming back this year. He is off to the pros. Incoming transfer James Faminu will try to provide reinforcements on the offensive line and replace Niese.

Important Incoming Freshmen

Offensive lineman Jackson Pruitt and linebacker Corey Yeoman will try to provide heft and power on both sides of the ball. Temple’s roster needs all the bodies and physical players it can get.

Key Position Battles

The Owls have to start with the defensive line. This was a team which got pushed around last season. That’s how a defense gives up 37 points per game and is utterly helpless week after week. Temple needs to get tougher and stronger on its defensive line, and also its offensive line. Position battles need to unearth who is ready to play on the line and who is not cut out for line play or, at the very least, who must accept a second-string or backup role on this team.

Biggest Offseason Goal(s)

Stan Drayton, in Year 1 of his tenure, has to cultivate toughness and identify the players he is willing to go to battle with this year. Identifying talent and developing players are his main job as he takes over the program. Then he can build next year.