Temple Football Drops American Conference Contest at Army

Saturday, November 8

West Point, N.Y.

12:00 PM

Temple University

5-5 , 3-3

Army

5-4 , 3-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Temple

Army West Point

Temple Football Drops American Conference Contest at Army

11.8.25 | Football

Box Score K.C. Keeler Press Conference Evan Simon and Allan Haye Press Conference Photo Gallery

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Temple Owls (5-5, 3-3 AMER) fell to the Army Black Knights (5-4, 3-3 AMER) 14-13 in front of a homecoming crowd of 30,594 at Michie Stadium.

How It Happened

Temple started the sunny afternoon with the ball on offense and began backed up towards its own goal line. After an incompletion on the opening play of the game, the Owls hit on three-straight first down plays, one through the air and two on the ground. The drive stalled, however, on the Army 35-yard line setting punter Dante Atton up to drop a dime. The reigning Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week hit a beauty that was downed by the coverage team within the Army one-yard line. Army's offense led by quarterback Cale Hellums had a slow start to begin the day. After a first down, the Black Knights faced a third-down-and-five that was pushed further back by an illegal shift penalty. Army would throw an incomplete pass on the next play and was forced to punt to the Owls. Jay Ducker started the ensuing Temple drive off with a bang. The running back burst for a 20-yard pickup that included a hurdle over an Army defender. The drive would not go much further than that, and Temple attempted a 45-yard field goal attempt. Carl Hardin was off the mark on the attempt as it sailed wide-right and the score still sat at 0-0 with 4:08 left in the opening quarter. The Army offense moved the ball successfully as the first quarter expired at the Temple 36-yard line.
The Black Knights marched, fittingly, down the field deep into Temple territory. From the five-yard line, Army's Jake Rendina scored the first points of the day for either side on the rushing touchdown. Much like an Army offense does, it won on the ground and ran the ball on all 11 plays of the scoring drive. The ensuing Temple drive featured the running and catching ability of wide receiver Colin Chase. Chase accounted for 23 yards on the drive on the ground and through the air. Running back Keveun Mason also shined on the drive using his speed and shiftiness to gain sizeable yardage for the Owls. After a misconnect from Evan Simon to Peter Clarke on third-and-goal, Temple was able to convert on fourth thanks to none other than Chase. Simon found Chase in the flat to tie the game at seven points with 4:03 left in the first half. The Black Knights did a great job of moving the ball as the half closed, but once Army crossed midfield, the drive came to an abrupt ending. On fourth-and-two, Temple's Jayvant Brown shot through the defensive line to tackle Hellums for a loss and a turnover on downs. Temple's offense was set up with 26 seconds remaining from its own 46-yard line and all three timeouts in hand. Simon was smart in moving the ball down the field while being aware of the clock. A 21-yard pass-and-catch from Simon to Jojo Bermudez set the Temple offense up to take a shot at the end zone from the Army six-yard line. On that shot, Simon overthrew Clarke by a touch with one second left in the half. Hardin redeemed his earlier miss by knocking through a 24-yard kick to give Temple the lead at the half 10-7.
Army started the second half with the ball on offense. Temple's defense did a good job of stuffing the Black Knights, but a fourth-down attempt by Army resulted in a 26-yard completion to Parker Poloskey. The home squad continued to push the ball down deep into Temple territory while taking sizeable time off the clock. On second-and-goal from the Temple three, Army cashed in for a touchdown. Hellums took the ball in himself to give the Black Knights the lead 14-10 with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter. The weekly long-gain from Simon to Clarke occurred on the following Temple drive. Clarke gained 34-yards for the Owls and pulled defenders on the way to that gain. A fourth-and-three arose for Temple and K.C. Keeler did not hesitate and went for it from the Army 30-yard line. Simon to Chase for five yards was the result of the gamble to elongate the drive for the Owls. The Army defense held strong on defense deep in its own part of the field and stopped Temple on a third-and-six that forced the Owls to kick the field goal. Hardin hit his second of the game this one being from 31-yards out making it 14-13 Army with 22 second left in the third quarter.
Army held the ball to start the final frame of the day from its own 28-yard line. The Black Knights committed one of its only penalties of the day on first down that pushed the offense back to its own side of the field. The Owl defense got off the field on third-and-14 and got the ball back to the offense at the Temple eight-yard line with 11:22 left in the fourth quarter. Temple's offense would not move the ball on the drive and would be forced to give the time-consuming Army offense the ball back with 9:53 left in the fourth at its own 42-yard line. The Black Knights moved the ball effectively while not allowing the clock to stop, much like one would expect. The Owls forced a fourth-and-one, but got beat by a play so synonymous with Philadelphia in the Tush Push that kept the drive going. Following the two-minute timeout Temple's defense would be faced with yet another fourth-and-one opportunity to stop Army. Yet again, Hellums and the Black Knights ran the Tush Push to give Army the first down with the clock ticking down.

Statistically Speaking

The first half was a slugfest for both teams. The teams combined for seven total possessions. Of the seven drives, four went for ten or more yards.
The Temple defense did a great job containing Cale Hellums in the first half of the game. The quarterback was held to 56 yards on the ground, which is the third lowest in a half for the junior.
Time of possession told most of the story in the second half. Temple held the ball for only 7:40 in the second half that was only a total of two drives on offense. Army on the other hand, had three offensive possessions in the second half that totaled 22:14.
Curly Ordonez notched 10 tackles in the loss today which marks the second week in a row for the linebacker with double-digit tackles.
With his lone touchdown pass on the day, Evan Simon now sits second in Temple history with 22 passing touchdowns in a single season.
Punter Dante Atton had two punts in today's game that totaled 92 yards in distance.

Up Next

The Owls will go on its second bye week of the season in week 12. The following week, however, Temple will play its final home contest of the 2025 season against the Tulane Green Wave on Saturday, Nov. 22. Fans can tune into Temple's radio broadcast by going to OwlSports.com/listen.