Owls Drop Home Opener to Navy, 31-24

Saturday, September 6

Philadelphia, PA

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

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Navy

1-1

1st

2nd

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4th

NAVY

Temple

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Owls Drop Home Opener to Navy, 31-24

9.6.14 | Football

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PHILADELPHIA - A little over a week after Temple lit up Vanderbilt Stadium, the team seemed to dim a little in a 31-24 loss to Navy. The defense could not contain Navy QB Kennan Reynolds and the Midshipmen's explosive offense in the Owls home opener, in front of 28,408 fans.

In their 11^th meeting, and the last one with Navy as an independent team, the Owls allowed the Midshipmen to rush for 487 yards on 63 carries, while Reynolds was 4-8 for 30 yards and no touchdowns in the air. Reynolds also led Navy in rushing, with 21 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

For the Owls, the game started off strong, as Sharif Finch was able to force a fumble during Navy's first possession and recover the ball in the end zone. That play gave the Owls their second defensive touchdown of the season, which doubles the amount the team had last year. Finch also had another fumble recovery in the second quarter.

On the ground, the Owls were able to rack up 156 yards, with sophomore QB P.J. Walker leading the herd, with 13 carries for 71 yards. Walker also went 29-49 and threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns, includng one to Romond Deloatch in the very back of the end zone. Originally, the call was that Deloatch was out of bounds, but a review of the play saw the Owls collect a score.

Walker threw his first interception of the season, when his pass was picked off by Parrish Gaines in the end zone less than a minute left in the first. From that turnover, Navy was able to capitalize and score itssecond touchdown of the game.

Two seniors led the Owls both statistically and emotionally as Temple mounted a comeback after being down 31-14. Kenny Harper led the team with eight receptions for 64 yards, while also picking up 55 yards on 13 carries. Jalen Fitzpatrick caught five passes for 59 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively for the Owls, LB Nate D. Smith led the team with 13 tackles (9 solos), while LB Tyler Matakevich had 11 solo tackles and a forced fumble. However, the struggles were there for Temple, as it allowed 27 first downs, 24 on rushing plays, and didn't force a Navy punt until early in the fourth quarter. Reynolds proved to be the "tremendous player" that head coach Matt Rhule described earlier this week.

To Coach Rhule, stopping Navy's triple option wasn't something that the defense failed to compete with.

"I don't think anyone blew it or missed an assignment. They just blocked those guys. They run a series of plays. If you do something, they have an answer for it. At the end of the day, you have to get off blocks and make plays, and we just didn't make any plays today."

In total, the Midshipmen had 517 offensive yards, which is almost double what Temple allowed in week one at Vanderbilt. Navy also had three fumbles, all of which were recovered by Temple. On their second field goal attempt, Nick Sloan missed wide right from the Temple 26-yard line, which allowed the Owls to try and get down the field to tie the game before the quarter ended.

For the Owls, freshman Alex Starzyk had another set of great numbers, as he had three punts of over 50 yards, with one being for 62 yards. The special teams continued to be consistent, as freshmen Austin Jones made three PATs and one field goal from 28 yards. Last week at Vanderbilt, Starzyk had a 58-yard punt and Jones was the leading scorer with 10 points (two field goals and four PATs).

Temple went four of five in fourth-down conversions and scored in three of its four trips to the red zone. The team, however, committed six penalties for 56 yards. The Owls only had one fumble, which was committed by OL Brendan McGowan as the Owls attempted to score with laterals with no time left in the game.

Coach Rhule goes into a bye week with his team, wanting to make sure that the team is ready to overcome the losing season they had last year.

"We're beyond the point of it's okay to lose. That was last year. This year, it's about finding ways to win. I don't mind losing to teams that are significantly better than us, and Navy very well might be, but that was not the way we wanted to play. It wasn't crisp, clean or physical enough and our guys knew that."

The series with Navy is now 6-5 in favor of the Midshipmen. Both Navy and Temple are 1-1 on the season.

The Owls will resume play at home against Delaware State on September 20.