There weren’t many positives to take away from Temple’s 42-3 loss against No. 13 Oklahoma on Saturday. The Sooners tallied 515 total yards, while the Owls’ offense managed just 104.
Head coach K.C. Keeler assessed the film following the game and instead of hanging their head, the team is using it as a learning experience.
“I thought we prepared better, but that’s one of the real things I’m discussing with our leadership group,” Keeler said. “Like, ‘Ok we prepared better, but are we preparing like a championship team?’ I’ve had a real positive talk just now with my leadership group, but I think there are some things they want to do to add to our preparation.”
» READ MORE: Temple suffers blowout loss to No. 13 Oklahoma: ‘Any bad habits we had, we got exposed’
Temple will put that new preparation to work when Owls travels to Atlanta to face No. 18 Georgia Tech on Saturday (4:30 p.m., CW). The Yellow Jackets are fresh off an upset win against then-ranked No. 12 Clemson. While Temple showed some bright spots against the Sooners, there are still things to clean up.
One of those things is the defense.
While the unit was the biggest positive from the blowout, the Owls’ defense had holes poked in them by Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer. He evaded Temple defenders with ease for much of the game with his arms and legs, finishing with 282 passing yards, 63 rushing yards, and two touchdowns (one rushing, one passing).
Keeler also spoke about Temple’s inability to get off the field on third down. Whenever it set Oklahoma’s offense back, Mateer found a way to keep the drive alive. Most notably, a third-and-19 when he got out of defensive tackle Sekou Kromah’s grasp to find tight end Jaren Kanak for a first down.
“I think there’s some opportunities that we felt like we didn’t capitalize on. I think some of their explosive plays were more us not being in position than anything else,” Keeler said. “That’s something we have to get fixed. We have to play cleaner on defense. I thought our defensive line held up really well vs. their offensive line.”
» READ MORE: Penn State holds at No. 2 in AP college football poll; No. 6 Oregon is up next
Oklahoma gave Temple its hardest test of the season. The Owls are still looking to build on their consistency as conference play nears.
“You’ve seen us look really good at times. Obviously, Oklahoma did not make us look very good,” Keeler said. “We have a real good feel where we are right now. But the challenge is if we want to be the best version of who we can be, we have to play cleaner. So how would that play cleaner? Well, players have to do that little bit extra.”
Keeler is expecting to face a Yellow Jacket team similar to the Oklahoma. Quarterback Haynes King brings the same dual-threat attack as Mateer, something that Temple struggled with last week.
The Owls are looking to return to Philadelphia with an upset win and their first ranked victory since 2019. Saturday’s game is Temple’s last nonconference matchup before a bye week.
Once conference play begins, Keeler feels like the team has the chance at growing and reaching its ultimate goal — a conference championship.
“The ultimate goal is for us to be conference champions,” Keeler said. “Every game that we play is an effort to just keep on getting better and we want to win those games. We didn’t come here to lose games. We came to win games. [At the] same time, there’s a growth that needs to take place. We need that. We need to get that growth process sped up.”