Evan Simon says Owls will "dive deep" into film study to learn from ECU loss
In what turned out to be a very long day, Evan Simon broke his eight-game streak without throwing an interception in Temple’s 45-14 loss to East Carolina.
Simon’s interception, a pass thrown behind wide receiver JoJo Bermudez, was picked off by a diving ECU safety Ja’Marley Riddle in the first quarter. On the very next play, the Pirates scored on wide receiver Anthony Smith’s 45-yard touchdown run, so Simon’s first pick of the season turned out to be a costly one.
Simon was asked how he felt about the errant throw.
“Only a matter of time, I guess. Ticked off,” Simon said. “We talked about adversity. That’s the first thing I thought of.”
With 16 days’ rest ahead of Saturday’s game, you could say ECU came in off the bye with Temple’s number, jumping several routes, as head coach K.C. Keeler noted, and forcing Simon to uncharacteristically throw into triple coverage on at least two occasions.
Simon’s struggles were evident all afternoon in what was arguably his worst game of the season. He threw for just 80 yards on a 55% clip (11-of-20), with his longest completion a 14-yard pass to Colin Chase.
Temple’s inefficiency on first down, Simon said, played a big part in the offense’s struggles.
“You look at every game we’ve played, and when we do well is when we do well on first down,” Simon said. “We’re not hurting ourselves and going second-and-10. OK, now we’re off schedule, and they’re probably going to drop eight on a passing down, so it’s very uphill when you’re not efficient on first down, and it’s all over the tape.”
Temple’s offensive problems started early, coming off an interception by Owls safety Pooh Lawton across the middle in the end zone after a Katin Houser pass bounced to Lawton with cornerback Ben Osueke in coverage. But Simon handed the ball right back to the Pirates.
The interception seemed to shake Simon’s confidence, and it showed through the rest of the game. ECU’s corners began to play underneath on the short routes, causing Simon to throw into tight and triple coverage on multiple occasions as the game went on.
This caused Simon to miss receivers who were open downfield for big gains, most notably in the second quarter while the Owls trailed the Pirates by 28-14. points. Simon rolled left, where Bermudez beat the press coverage on the outside and had five yards of separation down the sideline. Instead of letting loose downfield, Simon decided to play it safe and throw the ball away, ending the drive in a punt, one of the seven that came that afternoon, just before halftime.
The run game, for the most part, didn’t help Simon open up the pass game. The 15 negative yards that Simon and backup Gevani McCoy ate into Temple’s rushing total and left the Owls with 82 yards on 30 carries, an average of 2.7 yards per attempt. True freshman running back Keveun Mason broke off an electric 29-yard touchdown rush in the second quarter, but it turned out to be the Owls’ final touchdown of the day.
After the game, Keeler said it looked like ECU’s bye week left it very prepared to prepare for the Owls’ offense.
“They took advantage of the 16 days (off),” Keeler said. I thought they sat on a lot of our routes. I thought they were a pretty physical front in our run game. We were struggling there.”
A win over ECU would have given Temple its sixth win and bowl eligibility for the first time in five years. Instead, the Owls fell to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in American Conference play. Now a trip to West Point for next Saturday’s road game at Army is Temple’s next chance to put Saturday’s loss behind them and get that elusive sixth win they are chasing.
“We’re going to dive deep,” Simon said. “We’ll be all right.”
