Gameday preview: UTSA vs. Temple
UTSA (2-2) at Temple (2-2)
Game Time: 1 p.m.
Television: ESPN+
Location: Lincoln Financial Field
Temple-UTSA history: UTSA leads the all-time series, 2-0.
Last meeting: UTSA 51, Temple 27 on Nov. 22, 2024.
The way Temple head coach K.C. Keeler sees it, the Owls have eight 50/50 games remaining on their schedule as American Conference play begins Saturday. Although the Owls are 6.5-point underdogs per BetMGM Sportsbook and are taking on one of the best running backs in the nation in Robert Henry Jr., there are more than a few pathways to victory for Temple Saturday.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
After spotting Georgia Tech a 21-0 lead two weeks ago down in Atlanta thanks in part to three straight failed drives that produced just 23 yards, Temple’s offense woke up and made it a one-score game before the Yellow Jackets pulled away.
If the Owls fall behind by that margin again Saturday, UTSA has a back in Henry who can help salt the game away. More on that later.
The Roadrunners’ defense has put up mostly poor numbers that would indicate that quarterback Evan Simon and his offense should be able to move the ball on them and score points. UTSA has allowed 30.3 points per game, the fourth-worst total in the American and a conference-worst 288.8 passing yards per game to go with nine passing touchdowns allowed. Only UAB has given up more scores through the air. And when it comes to red-zone defense, UTSA checks in at 120th nationally.
On the ground, UTSA sports the conference’s third-best rushing defense, having allowed 115.5 yards per game. For context, that ranks 41st nationally. In other words, the Roadrunners have been solid against the run, but they’e not the 1985 Chicago Bears. Colorado State ran for 153 yards on UTSA last week, a number that dipped in part due to three sacks of Rams quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi.
With Terrez Worthy’s decision to leave the program during the bye week, Hunter Smith, Joquez Smith and perhaps even true freshman Keveun Mason could see their workloads increase in support of leading rusher Jay Ducker, who has paced the Owls with 315 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
Hunter Smith, the Louisiana-Monroe transfer, likely becomes Ducker’s primary backup after averaging 7.0 yards per carry through four weeks, thanks in large part to his 65-yard touchdown run late in Temple’s rout of Howard. Joquez Smith, who saw limited action (21 yards on seven carries) in the Owls’ wins over UMass and Howard, missed the Oklahoma game and dressed at Georgia Tech but should be ready now if needed after working his way through an ankle injury. Mason, who gained five yards on his lone carry this season, joined Temple’s 2025 recruiting class after originally signing with Delaware before his lead recruiter, Andrew Pierce, left the Blue Hens to become Temple’s running backs coach and work for his former college head coach in Keeler.
During his media availability Monday, Temple center Grayson Mains praised UTSA’s defensive front, which includes which includes redshirt-freshman defensive end Kenny Ozowalu, sophomore nose tacklE Chidera Otutu and redshirt-junior defensive end Travon Silvester. While they occupy blocks and double teams, Mason said when asked about his film review of UTSA, the Roadrunners’ linebackers have been able to make plays. Although Mains didn’t call him out by name, linebacker Nnanna Anyanwu racked up three sacks in UTSA’s win at Colorado State and will be a player to watch.
As long as Simon gets a relatively clean pocket Saturday, he should be able to spread the ball around to his playmakers against that league-worst UTSA pass defense and find wideout JoJo Bermudez, Temple’s leading receiver through four games with 15 catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Saturday could potentially be a breakout game for fellow wideout Colin Chase, who earned a single digit as a transfer from St. Thomas, a non-scholarship FCS program. Chase, who has nine catches for 70 yards and a touchdown through four games and been used on some jet sweeps (sixcarries for 34 yards), hasn’t been 100% healthy, Keeler said Monday.
“He’s been slowed a little bit with some leg – I wouldn’t say injury – but just like tightness and just hasn’t been fresh,” Keeler said, “and I think we’re going to get him back fresh this week. So I think. He has a really high ceiling. I think there’s a lot more he can do for us. I think he and JoJo out there really present a headache for people. So I’m looking forward to getting him back more 100% than he’s been.”
And if junior tight end Peter Clarke is running more routes as opposed to staying close to the tackles to block, he presents another option for Simon after getting off to a very solid start this season with eight catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
EDGE: Temple
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
On paper, there’s obviously a matchup here that doesn’t look great for Temple.
Henry, the nation’s second-leading rusher with 624 yards, is going up against an Owls defense ranked 113th among all FBS programs against the run, having allowed an average of 180 yards per game. In the losses to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech, Temple wasn’t exactly overmatched against two of the nation’s better dual-threat quarterbacks in John Mateer and Haynes King, but the running backs did their damage. Sooners freshman Tory Blaylock tallied 100 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries three weeks ago, and Yellow Jackes running back Jamal Haynes got 107 yards on 12 carries on a day that saw Georgia Tech score four rushing touchdowns.
Henry, a 5-foot-9, 205-pound senior and former NJCAA All-American, has played his way well into the NFL Draft conversation and is already just 82 yards shy of his entire rushing total from last season. In each of UTSA’s first four games, Henry has scored five touchdowns of 74 yards or more, including a 76-yard touchdown run and a 74-yard scoring reception in the Roadrunners’ win over Colorado State two weeks ago and a 75-yard touchdown run against then-No. 19 Texas A&M in the season opener.
Keeler said Monday that Temple’s run defense can get better by simply doing its job instead of trying too hard to make a play.
“When you try to do more than your job, that’s when we get out of our gaps,” Keeler said. “That’s when all of a sudden, we have two guys in the same gap, and that’s when you get hit with those big plays.”
That’s the challenge for Saturday. Because while Henry could potentially be bad news for a struggling run defense, the good news for Temple is that UTSA has relied almost chiefly upon him and struggled to get things going through the air.
A Roadrunners offense that finished 12th among all FBS programs in total offense by putting up an average of more than 450 yards per game is now a much more pedestrian 61st in that category at 406 yards per outing. Quarterback Owen McCown, who threw for 220 yards and a touchdown to go with a 75-yard touchdown run in last year’s rout of Temple in San Antonio, hasn’t been playing at the same level through the first four games of 2025 as he was a year ago.
Part of that, UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor said, can be attributed to injuries to McCown’s receiving corps. Willie McCoy, who led the Roadrunners with 536 receiving yards and four touchdowns last season, has played in every game this season but has yet to record a catch, with Traylor telling reporters in San Antonio this week that McCoy hasn’t looked the same since undergoing surgery in the offseason. Junior Devin McCuin has been McCoy’s top pass-catching target with 22 receptions for 217 yards and two scores, but Traylor said McCuin has been playing through an injury he sustained against Texas State.
Instead of bigger chunk plays and downfield throws, McCown has relied more upon shorter routes, as evidenced by his 74-yard touchdown pass to Henry – with Henry doing most of the work – that won last week’s game at Colorado State, as UTSA denied a late two-point conversion attempt to get out of Fort Collins with a 17-16 win. Temple knows from last year that McCown can use his legs, although he hasn’t done it as much this season with 12 carries for 60 yards and just one attempt for three yards at Colorado State.
The Owls have capable pass rushers in edge rusher Cam’Ron Stewart (four sacks) and defensive tackle Sekou Kromah (two) who can generate pressure. And although McCown has taken just two sacks this season, he’s getting an average of just 2.31 seconds to throw this season, the same time former Temple quarterback E.J. Warner was getting as a freshman.
On the back end, the Owls are likely to be without safeties Javier Morton (ankle) and definitely Louis Frye (right hand) due to their respective injuries, per Keeler. Linebacker Katin Surprenant, who is also dealing with a hand injury, will be out along with Frye for “another couple weeks,” Keeler said Monday.
That will mean more snaps for safeties Dontae Pollard at free safety and Jamere Jones at the “viper” (safety/linebacker hybrid) and more time at middle linebacker for Eric Stuart and potentially Jalen Stewart.
EDGE: UTSA
SPECIAL TEAMS
JoJo Bermudez has now watched two big punt returns called back due to penalties this season. This could be the week where he breaks one, and Tyler Stewart and Hunter Smith might have their opportunities on kickoff returns.
UTSA is ranked 122nd out of 134 FBS teams in punt return defense and 124th in kickoff return defense, so their special teams coverage units have left a bit to be desired.
If the game comes down to a late field goal, both teams can feel somewhat confident in their sophomore placekickers, both of whom are getting their chance to start this season and both of whom have gone 4-for-5 on field goals and 15-of-15 on extra points. UTSA sophomore Michael Petro has a long of 40, but he also missed a 43-yarder in the season opener. Temple’s Carl Hardin, on the other hand, can chalk up his lone miss to a 61-yard attempt at Georgia Tech that was on target but fell a few yards short of the goal post.
UTSA has the better punter through four games in Caile Hogan, who has averaged 46.8 yards on 21 punts with a long of 59 while dropping six inside the 20-yard line. Temple’s Dante Atton has averaged just 39.4 yards on 23 punts, including a 19-yarder in the loss to Oklahoma.
EDGE: Temple
