TEMPLE OPENS WITH A WIN

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

College Football Editor

PHILADELPHIA – What looked like it might become a shootout between Temple and Rhode Island at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday afternoon turned into a relatively easy 38-14 win for the Owls in their season opener. Temple running back Keveun Mason ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns, while the Owls defense started slowly but contributed with a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns.

KEVEUN MASON RAN FOR 158 YARDS AND A PAIR OF TOUCHDOWNS IN THE OWLS' WIN.

With Jaxon Smolik, the transfer from Penn State, starting at quarterback, the Owls scored on their first two possessions. Taking the opening kickoff, the Owls went lightning quick, covering 75 yards in five plays with Smolik hitting Jayce Freeman with an 18-yard touchdown pass. Temple got a 33-yard field goal from Carl Hardin on their second time with the ball, after a penalty wiped out a touchdown.

In between, the Rams scored a quick touchdown of their own. They went 75 yards in six snaps with Marquis Bachanan catching a 35-yard touchdown from Tyler Budge.

The Owls put in their other transfer quarterback, Ajani Sheppard, who joined the team from Washington State, but the offense stalled. In the first two possessions, the Owls gained 134 yards on 13 plays and scored 10 points. In the next two, they ran 10 plays, gained 28 yards, and didn’t score.

“I think it's more of an ongoing competition,” said Owls head coach K.C. Keeler on the quarterback situation. “It’s hard to comment until you watch a tape; I don't have a feel right now for how both the guys played. I'm in the middle of doing a million other things in terms of just managing the game. Ideally, we’d prefer not to play two equally, but we're not gonna live by any sort of like creed. It's basically, we're gonna play whoever's gonna help us win. If that means playing each of them 50-50, I'm good with that. If it's one and then a package for the other, I'm good with that too.”

This is where the defense stepped in. After allowing the touchdown on the initial drive, they held the Rams, who were coming off a week-zero win over Merrimack, to 38 yards on their next three possessions. The last of which ended with Jamarcus Pierre picking off Budge and taking it 35 yards for a 17-7 lead.

“I feel like it was a momentum swing,” said Pierre, a redshirt freshman safety, about his pick-six, “but I wouldn't say a big momentum swing. I feel like you have got a program here where we’re playing off each other. We've been doing that all week and just preparing ourselves for this day. It's just the simple fact that the opportunity presented itself and I made a play.”

Budge responded by taking the Rams on a nearly seven-minute drive, which he finished with a one-yard plunge.

However, there was enough time for the Owls to go back down the field, and in the final minute of the half, Mason went in from a yard out, and it was 24-14 at the break.

The Owls dominated the third quarter with a drive of over eight minutes, which led to Mason’s second score, this one from three yards.

The second pick-six came in the fourth quarter when Tyree Alualu went 63 yards to cap the scoring.    

Temple will host Penn State next Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.