Owls playing for bowl eligibility Saturday against ECU
At 5-3, Temple needs just one win in its last four games to become bowl-eligible in head coach K.C. Keeler’s first season at Temple.
“I think since we made it so public amongst us in that room, we’ve all talked about it,” Keeler said in looking back to his first team meeting with the Owls. “I think we’re not going to hide from it. We know that this is a bowl-eligible game. And those guys, when I mentioned that to them this morning in the team meeting, you could see they were already ahead of me, and you could see that there is this energy level, that ‘yeah, this is an opportunity to get to a bowl.’ And it would be a big deal for this program to get back to being bowl-eligible.”
That victory could come Saturday when the Owls host East Carolina at Lincoln Financial Field (2 p.m., ESPN+), but it won’t come easy. The Pirates are 4-3 and will be working on 16 days’ rest when they get to South Philly.
Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing for ECU remains to be seen.
“To me, the season is about getting into a rhythm,” Keeler told reporters during his weekly Monday news conference, “and I think sometimes it’s really hard to get into a rhythm when you’ve got 16 days off.”
ECU’s last game, like Temple’s, came against Tulsa, a 41-27 home win for the Pirates that saw quarterback Katin Houser throw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. ECU’s strength, however, might lie in its defense, which has allowed just 17.1 points per game. That’s the best mark in the American Conference and the 16th-best total among all FBS programs.
Keeler said that number is a tribute to the Pirates’ defensive line, which is anchored by Jasiyah Robinson, J.D. Lampley and Zion Wilson. Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 252-pound fifth-year senior, has 17 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a team-best 2.5 sacks.
Listen to Monday’s interview with Keeler here.
The injury front
There was a little bit of good news and iffy news Monday when it came to Temple’s injury updates after Saturday’s win at Tulsa.
“It’s a little bit of a MASH unit,” Keeler said.
The biggest piece of good news out of Keeler’s mouth was that defensive end Sekou Kromah and left guard Eric King are expected back for the ECU game after missing the Tulsa win. Kromah, who has not played since Temple’s Oct. 4 win over UTSA, has amassed 14 tackles and is second on the team in sacks with three behind Cam’Ron Stewart’s four.
And although strong safety Avery Powell limped from the field during overtime Saturday, he was back at practice Monday, albeit in a gray, non-contact jersey, along with Dontae Pollard, Eric Stuart, Curly Ordonez and Jamere Jones. Wide receiver Tyler Stewart, who also did not play at Tulsa, practiced Monday.
Cornerback Jaylen Castleberry did not practice Monday, and Denzel Chavis and Adrian Laing practiced with the starters. Ben Osueke did not practice with the first-team unit.
“We’re going through that stretch of a lot of physical games in a row,” Keeler said. “I was more encouraged when I saw practice today in terms of what I heard on Sunday from the medical report. More guys participated than I thought.”
