Sultan Badmus had a hand in Temple's defensive turnaround last Saturday
Coming off a 27-21 win over UTSA last Saturday, the Temple Owls and defensive end Sultan Badmus are turning their attention to a homecoming matchup against the undefeated Navy Midshipmen, a game that will kick off at 4 p.m. and be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Temple arrived at its 3-2 record heading into the weekend with the help of a defense that came alive in the second half against the Roadrunners, holding the nation’s second-leading rusher, Robert Henry Jr., to just 42 yards, a season low.
The unit also forced two turnovers and allowed only seven points after halftime, including a key defensive stand late in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
“We knew we had to play fast and physically,” Badmus said during Monday’s media availability at Edberg-Olson Hall.
Badmus, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound sophomore, had a steady hand – quite literally – in Temple’s defensive effort against UTSA. He teamed up with linebacker Jayvant Brown for a first-quarter sack of Owen McCown and later turned in his biggest play of the day when he tipped a McCown pass that was intercepted by safety Avery Powell in the red zone at the 9:34 mark of the fourth quarter.
Temple was holding on to a 24-21 lead at that point, but UTSA had a first-and-10 at the Temple 15 with a great chance to tie the game or take the lead prior to Badmus’ deflection and Powell’s interception.
Badmus said he applied some wisdom from Temple defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun when it came time to deflect McCown’s pass at the line of scrimmage.
“Coach Calhoun always tells us, ‘When the quarterback takes his other hand off the ball, that means he’s about to release it,’” Badmus explained. “I saw him getting ready to throw, so I jumped and batted it. I’m just doing my job.”
As for Navy, the Midshipmen come into Philadelphia following a 34-31 win over Air Force. Navy features its trademark triple-option offense led by standout quarterback Blake Horvath, but Horvath is throwing the ball at a much better clip than any Navy quarterback in recent memory. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior completed 20 of his 29 passes for a career-high 339 yards and three touchdowns to go with his 130 rushing yards and a fourth score on the ground.
Horvath’s 469 yards of total offense set a program record.
Temple head coach K.C. Keeler has emphasized carrying that same energy and execution from the second half into the first this weekend.
“I got some text messages pretty early Sunday morning from some of the players about how we’re not playing well enough on special teams,” Keeler said, “about how we had got up. If we don’t come out fast against these guys, it’s going to be a long afternoon. And that was very encouraging. The defensive guys came in here at 11 o’clock to watch the tape as a group by themselves, without the coaches, because Sunday is their day off. So I think we’re working in the right direction.”“I have major respect for the academy, we are going to have to fight until the end and get pressure on the quarterback,” Keeler said, “They are a great team on first down to get it in a second and manageable, if we don’t come out fast it’s going to be a long day.”
While Temple got interceptions last Saturday from Powell and fellow safety Jamere Jones, they’ll welcome the return of starting Viper (a safety/linebacker hybrid position) Louis Frye and starting free safety Javier Morton, both of whom missed last week’s game with hand and ankle injuries, respectively.
“The trainer’s report today (Monday) was awesome,” Keeler said. “And it was what we need going into Navy. Having those two safeties back will be a big deal, because, again, you never have enough fresh bodies in the back end with the way those guys have to make tackles. You know you’re going to be getting those guys off the field eventually, so having Javier back and Lou back is a big deal.”
