Temple (2-1) at No. 18 Georgia Tech (3-0)

Game Time: 4 p.m.

Television: The CW

Location: Bobby Dodd Stadium

Temple-Georgia Tech history: Temple leads, 1-0.

Last meeting: Temple 24, Georgia Tech 2 on September 28, 2019.

For the second straight week, Temple will play a Top-25 opponent as the Owls head down to the Peach State to play the No. 18 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech, off to its first 3-0 start since 2016, is fresh off a win over No. 12 Clemson while Temple recently suffered a 41-3 setback to No. 13 Oklahoma.

Here’s what to look for in this afternoon’s contest.

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE

Temple’s offense, which had been dominant in early wins over UMass and Howard, came to a screeching halt in last week’s 42-3 loss to Oklahoma. Against the Sooners, the Owls accounted for just 104 offensive yards, including just 78 passing yards. If Temple is to bounce back from its worst offensive performance of the year, the Owls will have to do so against a Georgia Tech team that is No. 45 nationally in scoring defense at 17.7 points per game allowed.

Georgia transfer linebacker E.J. Lightsey leads Georgia Tech with 17 tackles after a 10-tackle performance in Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 12 Clemson last week. Defensive back Omar Daniels, a Kansas State transfer, is right behind Lightsey with 14 tackles and also has a 45-yard interception on his resume. As a result of that pick, which came against Clemson, Daniels was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Georgia Tech allowed Clemson’s offense to put up 381 offensive yards, which was the most it had allowed this season, but also turned the Tigers’ offense over two times. Georgia Tech has six sacks so far this year, but those all came against Gardner-Webb. In Georgia Tech’s two games against FBS opponents, at Colorado and last week at home against Clemson, Blake Gideon’s defense failed to sack the opposing quarterback. Against Clemson, Georgia Tech also had zero tackles for a loss.

True freshman Andrew Fuller has started all three games on the defensive line and has two tackles for a loss to show for it. On the interior, Penn State transfer Jordan van den Berg, Ole Miss transfer Akelo Stone and UCF transfer Matthew Alexander are part of the regular rotation. Jason Moore, who spent the spring 2024 semester at Temple before transferring back to Georgia Tech, has also played about 25 snaps a game.

As for Temple, quarterback Evan Simon had a rough game against Oklahoma but was nearly perfect in the first two weeks of the season. After completing 77.1 %of his passes for 422 yards and nine touchdowns in the win over UMass and Howard, the Lancaster County native completed just 52 % of his passes for 75 yards against Oklahoma.

Running back Jay Ducker was also held in check against the Sooners, as he rushed for just 24 yards in the loss. When Temple’s offense has worked, however, Ducker has been a true workhorse for the Owls. The Sam Houston State transfer averaged 107.5 yards a game and 7.4 yards per attempt before the Oklahoma game. Delaware transfer wideout Jojo Bermudez leads Temple with 11 catches for 126 yards while tight end Peter Clarke has six catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns this season.

New offensive coordinator Tyler Walker has brought a lot of pre-snap motion to this Temple offense. Those wrinkles have caught the eyes of Georgia Tech’s coaching staff.

“You have to be really disciplined with your eyes and in your keys to get aligned,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key told reporters Thursday. “They are going to try to establish the run and take calculated shots in there. They use their tight ends a lot and they have seven different guys on the team who have caught touchdowns.”

“They have an experienced quarterback who has played a lot of football, and he really knows how to run their offense already,” Key added. “From a defensive standpoint this will be a big challenge for us.”

One of the lone offensive bright spots against Oklahoma came in the turnover department. For the third straight game, Temple did not turn the ball over. For comparison’s sake, Temple had 11 turnovers in the first three games of its 2024 season.

“You can tell they’re coached the right way,” Key said. “They’re not doing things to beat themselves. Everybody’s going to make mistakes out there but I think the future is really, really bright for this football team and this coaching staff. I’ve been very impressed watching them play the game.”

WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE

In Year 4 of Key, a former offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, Georgia Tech’s offense is off to a great start to the season. The Yellow Jackets are No. 19 in the nation in total offense with 500.3 yards per game and are also No. 45 in scoring offense at 36.7 points per contest. Key’s team has put up these numbers in a balanced fashion, as the ACC program is No. 21 in the nation in rushing offense at 233 yards per game and No. 32 in passing offense at 270.3 yards.

Quarterback Haynes King missed the Gardner-Webb game but returned to the field against Clemson. Against Dabo Swinney‘s team, King threw for 211 yards and rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown. King has yet to throw a passing touchdown this year but has accounted for four on the ground. The Texas A&M transfer can throw it when needed, however, as evidenced by his 51 career passing touchdowns. Three of those touchdown passes came against Temple coach K.C. Keeler’s Sam Houston State program in 2022 when King was still at Texas A&M.

That being said, Georgia Tech definitely likes to utilize designed quarterback runs a lot more when King is on the field. In King’s two games, Georgia Tech has averaged 44.5 rush attempts per game. In his lone absence, Georgia Tech ran the ball just 28 times despite winning the game by 47 points.

“I remember him when he was at A&M and I was at Sam Houston,” Keeler told reporters on Monday. “He’s a big, big individual and he can run downhill at you. They’ve definitely got the run game going, that’s kind of what they’re living on right now.

“They’re going to be a little like us offensively in that they’re going to give you little shifts and those motions,” Keeler added. “They’re going to try to get you out of position and they also do a great job of just running the football right at you.”

King leads Georgia Tech with 259 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Running back Jamal Haynes has 183 rushing yards and three touchdowns to go along with six catches for 71 yards. Sophomore wideout Isiah Canion is a big target for King at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds. Canion has caught nine passes this year, including five against Clemson.

One area where GT’s offense has struggled is in the turnover department, as the Yellow Jackets are No. 103 in the nation in turnovers lost with five giveaways this season. To its credit, Buster Faulkner‘s group rectified that in last week’s win over Clemson. Going against the No. 12 Tigers, the Yellow Jackets did not turn the ball over for the first time this season. Prior to that, Georgia Tech had two fumbles and a pick against Colorado plus a fumble and interception against Gardner-Webb.

Temple defensive lineman/outside linebacker Cam’Ron Stewart leads The American and is No. 8 nationally with six tackles for a loss. Stewart, who is also No. 4 in The American with three sacks, pressured Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer six times last week. Defensive lineman Sekou Kromah had arguably the best game of his Temple career against Oklahoma and finished with 2.5 tackles for a loss and a sack.

Overall, Temple’s defense, much like its offense, is looking to bounce back from a forgettable performance against Oklahoma. If the Owls are going to have a chance at an upset on Saturday, they’ll need to convert more of those pressures into actual productive plays. That won’t be an easy task, however, as Georgia Tech’s offensive line has allowed just one sack this season. Georgia Tech offensive guard Keylan Rutledge was an All-ACC selection last year after transferring in from Middle Tennessee State and was named a preseason AP All American last month.

“I thought our defensive line held up really well versus [Oklahoma’s] line,” Temple coach Keeler said. “It’s going to be another great test for our defensive line…. We had some opportunities to get some sacks (against Oklahoma) and we didn’t get those sacks.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

The kickoff return game has not been a focal point of Georgia Tech’s special teams as Luke Harpring, the son of former Philadelphia 76ers forward Matt Harpring, has the Yellow Jackets’ only return this season. Harpring’s return, a 6-yarder, came off of a short Gardner-Webb kickoff.

Junior kicker Aidan Birr has been perfect this year and has made all six of his field goal attempts, including the school-record-tying 55-yarder that won last week’s game as time expired, and all 12 of his extra points. Birr has also had touchbacks on 16 of his 19 kickoffs so far. At punter, Marshall Nichols has only had to punt five times this year and has averaged 45.6 yards per attempt.

Temple, meanwhile, had a forgettable special teams performance against Oklahoma. Punter Dante Atton set the program record with 12 punts in a game but averaged just 38.3 yards per punt. Kickoff returner Tyler Stewart, meanwhile, stepped out of bounds at the 1-yard line in an attempt to force an out-of-bounds kickoff. In the event that Temple makes a change at kick returner, players like Terrez Worthy and Bermudez would be in the mix.

Kicker Carl Hardin, however, made his lone field goal attempt of the game and has yet to miss a kick this season.