Gameday preview: Temple at Charlotte
Temple (3-3) at Charlotte (1-5)
Game time: 3:30 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Location: Jerry Richardson Stadium
Temple-Charlotte history: The Owls lead the all-time series, 2-0.
Last meeting: Temple 48, Charlotte 20 on Sept. 24, 2016.
If Temple’s 32-31 loss to Navy last Saturday was a bitter pill to swallow, then this weekend’s game at 1-5 Charlotte will be the perfect antidote to help the Owls move on.
When Temple is on offense
Temple put up 518 yards of total offense against Navy.
Saturday in Charlotte, the Owls will face a 49ers defense that is among the worst in the country. Out of 134 FBS teams, Charlotte ranks 132nd in rushing defense (224 yards allowed per game), 128th in red-zone defense, 125th in total defense (447.5 yards allowed per game), 124th in third down conversion percentage defense (opposing offenses have converted on nearly 46% of their third downs) and 122nd in scoring defense (32.5 points allowed per game).
A Temple offensive line that has been able to start the same five players all season – left tackle Giakoby Hills, left guard Eric King, center Grayson Mains, right guard Jackson Pruitt and right tackle Diego Barajas – helped pave the way last week for 173 rushing yards and three touchdowns, with the Owls getting a respectable 4.3 yards per carry. Jay Ducker tallied 97 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, and true freshman Keveun Mason had two important carries on the Owls’ first and second-to-last drives of the game, including a 23-yard run on the late fourth-quarter drive that helped put Temple ahead before Navy’s game-winning series.
If this game is all but decided after halftime, as it should be, Mason and Hunter Smith should be seeing the bulk of the work in the third and fourth quarters, and backup quarterback Gevani McCoy should be under center in relief of Evan Simon, who threw for a career-high 346 yards last week on 25-of-36 passing. He spread the ball around to seven different players, including wide receiver Kajiya Hollawayne, who has posted 16 catches for 256 yards and two touchdowns this season. Hollawayne, fellow wideout JoJo Bermudez (21 catches, 266 yards, four touchdowns) and tight end Peter Clarke (17 catches, 276 yards, three touchdowns)
Charlotte is ranked at a somewhat respectable 71st nationally in passing yards allowed at an average of 223.5 per game, but the 49ers have produced just five sacks and two interceptions, with the picks coming from linebacker Kadin Scmitz and safety Ja’Qurious Conley.
Senior linebacker Reid Williford leads Charlotte with 42 total tackles and two sacks, with his tackle total bolstered by the 17 stops he needed to make in last week’s 24-7 loss to an Army team that ran the ball 64 times.
The 49ers are led by first-year head coach Tim Albin, who brought some impressive credentials with him to Charlotte in December following a 33-19 record in his four seasons at the helm at Ohio, where he led the Bobcats to last season’s MAC championship, the program’s first since 1968.
As such, Temple offensive coordinator Tyler Walker said he is not taking Charlotte lightly this week.
“They’re probably not where they want to be right now, but that’s not from a lack of talent or a lack of schematic things that could give us an issue,” Walker told reporters Monday. “They’re going to play hard. They’re going to be four down. They’re going to bring some pressure. They’re going to give us some different looks, and I promise you, they’re definitely going to change the picture for us, and they’re going to take some things that Navy probably did well and try to implement it into what they do. And so it’s not like we’re going up against a team that doesn’t have the ability to beat us, because they do. Every single team we’re going to play has the ability to win, so they have our full attention.”
EDGE: Temple
When Temple is on defense
Temple’s defense is facing a hurting Charlotte offensive unit.
Redshirt sophomore Duke transfer Grayson Loftis and redshirt junior Zack Wilcke have been splitting time under center ever since starter Conner Harrell succumbed to a season-ending ACL injury in the second quarter of the 49ers’ Sept. 18 loss to Rice. Charlotte’s lone touchdown at Army came with eight seconds to go last week when Loftis connected with KD Hunter-Gibson for his first reception of the season. Javen Nicholas, an LSU transfer and the 49ers’ leader in receptions with 29, had two catches for minus-2 yards last week.
Albin told reporters after the Army loss that Loftis and Wilcke would compete in practice this week for the right to start against Temple.
“We’ll see who practices better,” Albin said. “We’ll see where the game plan takes us.”
Strong safety Avery Powell has paced Temple’s defense with a team-high 33 tackles and one of the Owls’ five interceptions, although he’ll look to redeem himself after lining up too wide on Navy quarterback Blake Horvath’s 51-yard touchdown run last Saturday that helped set up the game-winning two-point conversion.
Five days after Temple head coach K.C. Keeler said he expected them to play, safeties Javier Morton and Louis Frye dressed and went through warmups last Saturday but ultimately did not play against Navy. Keeler said Monday he would be “shocked” if they didn’t play at Charlotte.
Keeler said he also expects to get defensive tackle Sekou Kromah back in the lineup after he missed the Navy game with a shoulder injury. The return of Kromah, who has 14 tackles and three sacks this season, would certainly be a plus, but Temple would likely be in solid shape if he had to miss one more game against a Charlotte rushing offense ranked 127th nationally and one averaging just 2.8 yards per carry and 91.8 yards per game.
EDGE: Temple
Special teams
Here’s where Charlotte has a little bit of something going for it, as the 49ers, Nebraska and BYU are the only three FBS programs to rank among the top 40 in all four special teams return categories. Charlotte ranks 20th in punt returns (13.83 yards per return), 21st in kick return defense (15.33 yards allowed per return), 38th in kickoff returns (23 yards per return) and fourth in punt return defense, having allowed an average of just 4.73 yards per return.
That last number will provide a fun test for Temple’s Bermudez, who seems primed to break a big punt return after he has had three long returns called back this season due to penalties. Nicholas, Charlotte’s punt returner, has 83 yards on six returns this season, with a long of 26 yards, while freshman Derrick Eley does have a 51-yard kickoff return to his name this season.
Charlotte kicker Liam Boyd, a North Carolina transfer, is 6-of-8 on field goals this season with a long of 42 yards. He missed a 26-yard field goal against his former team earlier this season. Temple kicker Carl Hardin is 7-for-9 on field goals, having missed a 61-yard attempt at Georgia Tech and a 39-yarder last week that looked accurate most of the way before veering outside the upright.
EDGE: Even
EXTRA POINTS
Charlotte fired athletic director Mike Hill on Thursday after he had been in the position over the last seven years. Thirteen months ago, Hill signed a four-year contract extension that would have taken him into 2030.
