Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Temple Offers Tough Matchup On Saturday
September 16, 2021 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Don't let the record fool you, this isn't the same old Temple team.
A first glance at the 2020 football season conjures old, unkind memories for Temple's football team.Â
The Owls went 1-6 and surrendered 30 or more points on six different occasions, including in their lone win, as they battled through a season-long struggle. They finished second-to-last in a conference devoid of divisions and ended the year with five consecutive losses in October and November.Â
It drew comparisons to the "same old Temple" that Boston College fans conceivably remember from their old Big East days, but the larger truth was that the Owls were better than their record indicated and were simply victimized by a weird football season impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"They didn't have so many players because of COVID," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said., "so I kind of threw a lot of that out. They lost so many guys, and so many other guys were hurt that at one time they had a wide receiver playing quarterback. Their record was not indicative at all of how good a football team this team was."
It makes predicting Temple more of a mystery box than either of Boston College's first two opponents this season. The Owls are barely two years removed from an 8-5 season under head coach Rod Carey and are more likely to resemble the team that posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons in the years prior to 2020. They went 8-5 in 2018 when they last played BC and won 10 games in both 2015 and 2016 with the latter representing a full conference championship season. That came after Temple won eight games annually in the Mid-American Conference.
The Owls resemble nothing of the team sent adrift by its ejection from the Big East and will swagger into their home opener with momentum from a 45-24 win over Akron last weekend. It came one week after a blowout loss at Rutgers and in a game in which Temple trailed, 14-7, after the first quarter before hitting the afterburners to score 31 points in the second and third quarters.
"They started off so slow against Rutgers [before] some crazy things happened," Hafley said, "but people don't realize that the score to that game was not how close that game was. Then last week, they go down really quick [to Akron] before they put kind of turned and put their foot on the gas."
The Zips actually led that game 17-7 after kicking a field goal to start the second quarter, but two defensive touchdowns on consecutive touchdowns and a field goal by the Owls turned the game into a 24-17 advantage at the break.
The offense took over from there, and Temple engineered two, 11-play touchdown drives to salt the game away in the second half. The Owls perfectly executed their offense and used a dual running back approach with Tayvon Ruley and Ra'von Bonner to gain 115 yards on the ground on 15 carries. It softened the Akron defensive front, and quarterback Justin Lynch and wide receiver Randle Jones capitalized from there for 170 yards and two touchdown receiving as part of a larger, 245-yard day in the air.
It was a breakout performance for the pair and was the biggest day of receiving in the sixth-year senior's collegiate career. He had only caught 69 passes over the past five years for less than 1,000 yards, and his two touchdowns against the Zips matched his total from all of last season. It was his biggest game since Temple's 41-29 loss to Memphis last October.
"It's not just one [guy]," Hafley said. "It's two - [Jones] and [Jadan Blue]. Those are two legitimate guys. I think they're both going to get drafted, and I think both will play in the [NFL]. We cannot just focus on one because if we just focus on [Jones], then [Blue] is going to have 150 yards. We have to know where those two are at all times."
Blue has only made six catches this season, but he was a monster with just under 100 catches during Temple's 2019 season. He went over 1,000 yards during that season and averaged just under a touchdown per game during the seven-game experience last season. Three of those scores came in that same Memphis game last season when he caught 13 balls for 115 yards, a performance more reminiscent of four games from the 2019 season.
"These early games are tricky because you're relying on old film and old personnel," Hafley said, "and you'd like to get into Week Four or Week Five when what you're watching from everybody is what you're going to see. We have to prepare just as if we were playing North Carolina or any of those teams with good receivers. They are good receivers, and I have a ton of respect for them."
Temple is a long way removed from the one-win seasons of years past, and last year's COVID year is easily overlooked given the Owls' recent history. Head coach Rod Carey led Northern Illinois to an Orange Bowl appearance in 2012 and won four division championships and two conference titles in the Mid-American Conference. More than a dozen of his alumni players have gone onto play in the NFL, including a number of valuable undrafted free agents.
This is going to be a tough game - Temple TUFF, even - and that's exactly what Hafley would want as the final non-conference game and the ACC schedule looms.
"We have a lot of guys that had never played together," Hafley said. "If you look at all of those defensive linemen, we have a ton of freshman and young guys in there. At linebacker, [Isaiah Graham-Mobley] is an older guy but has ever played in our scheme. But you can kind of feel [the experience] with getting guys lined up. There is a veteran presence in our system, and I'm hoping we will get to use [players like Deon Jones] quite a bit in this game."
Boston College and Temple will kick off at noon on Saturday from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The game will be broadcast on national television and can be viewed on ESPNU.
The Owls went 1-6 and surrendered 30 or more points on six different occasions, including in their lone win, as they battled through a season-long struggle. They finished second-to-last in a conference devoid of divisions and ended the year with five consecutive losses in October and November.Â
It drew comparisons to the "same old Temple" that Boston College fans conceivably remember from their old Big East days, but the larger truth was that the Owls were better than their record indicated and were simply victimized by a weird football season impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"They didn't have so many players because of COVID," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said., "so I kind of threw a lot of that out. They lost so many guys, and so many other guys were hurt that at one time they had a wide receiver playing quarterback. Their record was not indicative at all of how good a football team this team was."
It makes predicting Temple more of a mystery box than either of Boston College's first two opponents this season. The Owls are barely two years removed from an 8-5 season under head coach Rod Carey and are more likely to resemble the team that posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons in the years prior to 2020. They went 8-5 in 2018 when they last played BC and won 10 games in both 2015 and 2016 with the latter representing a full conference championship season. That came after Temple won eight games annually in the Mid-American Conference.
The Owls resemble nothing of the team sent adrift by its ejection from the Big East and will swagger into their home opener with momentum from a 45-24 win over Akron last weekend. It came one week after a blowout loss at Rutgers and in a game in which Temple trailed, 14-7, after the first quarter before hitting the afterburners to score 31 points in the second and third quarters.
"They started off so slow against Rutgers [before] some crazy things happened," Hafley said, "but people don't realize that the score to that game was not how close that game was. Then last week, they go down really quick [to Akron] before they put kind of turned and put their foot on the gas."
The Zips actually led that game 17-7 after kicking a field goal to start the second quarter, but two defensive touchdowns on consecutive touchdowns and a field goal by the Owls turned the game into a 24-17 advantage at the break.
The offense took over from there, and Temple engineered two, 11-play touchdown drives to salt the game away in the second half. The Owls perfectly executed their offense and used a dual running back approach with Tayvon Ruley and Ra'von Bonner to gain 115 yards on the ground on 15 carries. It softened the Akron defensive front, and quarterback Justin Lynch and wide receiver Randle Jones capitalized from there for 170 yards and two touchdown receiving as part of a larger, 245-yard day in the air.
It was a breakout performance for the pair and was the biggest day of receiving in the sixth-year senior's collegiate career. He had only caught 69 passes over the past five years for less than 1,000 yards, and his two touchdowns against the Zips matched his total from all of last season. It was his biggest game since Temple's 41-29 loss to Memphis last October.
"It's not just one [guy]," Hafley said. "It's two - [Jones] and [Jadan Blue]. Those are two legitimate guys. I think they're both going to get drafted, and I think both will play in the [NFL]. We cannot just focus on one because if we just focus on [Jones], then [Blue] is going to have 150 yards. We have to know where those two are at all times."
Blue has only made six catches this season, but he was a monster with just under 100 catches during Temple's 2019 season. He went over 1,000 yards during that season and averaged just under a touchdown per game during the seven-game experience last season. Three of those scores came in that same Memphis game last season when he caught 13 balls for 115 yards, a performance more reminiscent of four games from the 2019 season.
"These early games are tricky because you're relying on old film and old personnel," Hafley said, "and you'd like to get into Week Four or Week Five when what you're watching from everybody is what you're going to see. We have to prepare just as if we were playing North Carolina or any of those teams with good receivers. They are good receivers, and I have a ton of respect for them."
Temple is a long way removed from the one-win seasons of years past, and last year's COVID year is easily overlooked given the Owls' recent history. Head coach Rod Carey led Northern Illinois to an Orange Bowl appearance in 2012 and won four division championships and two conference titles in the Mid-American Conference. More than a dozen of his alumni players have gone onto play in the NFL, including a number of valuable undrafted free agents.
This is going to be a tough game - Temple TUFF, even - and that's exactly what Hafley would want as the final non-conference game and the ACC schedule looms.
"We have a lot of guys that had never played together," Hafley said. "If you look at all of those defensive linemen, we have a ton of freshman and young guys in there. At linebacker, [Isaiah Graham-Mobley] is an older guy but has ever played in our scheme. But you can kind of feel [the experience] with getting guys lined up. There is a veteran presence in our system, and I'm hoping we will get to use [players like Deon Jones] quite a bit in this game."
Boston College and Temple will kick off at noon on Saturday from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The game will be broadcast on national television and can be viewed on ESPNU.
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