Grayson Mains says it's offensive line's job to make UTSA defense "have a bad day"

By Petula Philp

Special to OwlScoop.com

In what feels like a marathon of a college football season, the bye week is an opportunity for a team to rest, recoup, and scout themselves as opposed to an upcoming opponent. 

Temple center Grayson Mains and his teammates spent the previous offweek immersed in an important phase of self-improvement before Saturday’s American Conference opener against UTSA, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field.

After transferring to Temple from South Carolina prior to last season, Mains started nine games at center in 2024 and then missed spring practice with an injury before returning for preseason camp to reclaim his starting spot. An Owls offense that produced a combined 97 points in routs of UMass and Howard ran into what is now the nation’s third-best defense in Oklahoma in a 42-3 loss to the Sooners. 

Two Saturdays ago, Temple’s offense started slow before getting within a touchdown of Georgia Tech in an eventual 45-24 loss to the Yellow Jackets. 

As the 2-2 Owls prepare to take on the 2-2 Roadrunners Saturday, Mains detailed a workmanlike approach during the break, one he said has the offensive unit feeling confident.

“It was a great week off for us. First team on first team reps,” Mains told reporters at Monday’s weekly press conference at Edberg-Olson Hall. “We’ve improved overall greatly, top to bottom.  Still a lot to work on.”

One of those things would be pass protection. Temple surrendered four sacks and 15 quarterback pressures against Oklahoma and then cut the sack total in half at Georgia Tech, although Owls quarterback Evan Simon was still pressured 10 times. 

On paper, Temple should be able to move the ball on UTSA’s defense, which enters Saturday’s game ranked 113th out of 134 FBS teams in scoring defense, having allowed an average of 30.25 points across four games. The Roadrunners have been good against the run (third in the American in rushing defense at 115.5 yards per game) but not so good against the pass, coming in dead last in the conference at 288.8 yards allowed per contest to go with nine passing touchdowns allowed, tied for the second-worst mark in the league. 

Nonetheless, Mains expressed a healthy amount of respect for UTSA’s defensive front, which includes redshirt-freshman defensive end Kenny Ozowalu, sophomore nose tackle Chidera Otutu and redshirt-junior defensive end Travon Silvester. 

“They trust their guys,” Mains said, breaking down the UTSA defensive line. “They’re hard to move. Rely on them taking up double teams and linebackers taking plays. It’s a strong defensive line, some big boys up front.”

UTSA, like Temple, is coming off a bye week. The Roadrunners, after dropping their first two games against then-No. 19 Texas A&M and Texas State, beat Incarnate Word and then posted a 17-16 road win at Colorado State back on Sept. 20. To Mains’ point about UTSA’s line occupying double teams for linebackers, sophomore weakside linebacker Nnanna Anyanwu collected three sacks.

It’s the kind of challenge Mains seems to enjoy. 

“It’s our job to make them have a bad day,” Mains said. 

If that happens, then Temple will have a great chance of moving the ball and starting conference play with a win. Mains said the Owls’ confidence level hasn’t wavered after losing to a pair of top-20 teams in Oklahoma and Georgia Tech, who are now ranked fifth and 17th, respectively, in the AP Top 25 poll. 

“Nothing’s changed,” Mains said. “We know who we played, and we know we left a lot on the table against those two great teams. We should have been in a one-score game against Georgia Tech if we execute a lot better up front. But just being able to play two great teams, the speed at which they play is great for us. We have a lot of confidence going into conference play.”