Temple College Football Preview 2024: Key Players, Game Schedule, Season Predictions

Temple College Football Preview 2024

Temple needs to show a little bit of a step forward.

It doesn’t have to win ten games like it did in both 2015 and 2016, and no one is expecting a conference championship, but it needs to bust out of the three-win rut the program has been stuck in over the last three seasons.

The American Athletic Conference overall has become easier after losing Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and now SMU over the last two seasons, but Temple needs more winnable games - there aren’t any FCS games on the schedule - and there isn't a rock-solid sure-thing victory to count on.

Here’s the positive, in a weird way. The program didn’t have enough indispensable players to lose to the transfer portal - there were a few, but not a ton of key losses - and it loaded up with lots and lots of players looking for a chance to play.

Head coach Stan Drayton is trying to find the right mix. He’s a coach who knows how to get a ground game going, but hasn’t been able to do it yet.

There’s a chance close to half of the starting 22 will be transfers, and that’s not a horrible thing. Drayton and the staff brought in a ton of players to come up with more options, and somehow it has to translate into more consistency and more production.

A bowl game is the goal, but a five-win season would be good, a winning season would be amazing, and …

This won’t be easy, partly because ..

NOTE: The previews were published early this summer. We tried to catch the changes, but if we missed anything, please let us know at @ColFootballNews and we'll fix it right away.

Temple Football Preview 2024: Offense

- There’s a lot of starting over for the Temple offense, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is supposed to be a good running team, but it was the worst in the AAC. However, the offensive line was great at keeping defenses out of the backfield.

There might be an overhaul up front, but it’ll still be a plus around OT Luke Watson and South Carolina transfer Grayson Mains at center. They need to power away more, though, because …

- The backs will be fine if they have room. Maryland transfer Antwain Littleton should shine now that he’ll be a main back, and Joquez Smith is back after finishing second on the team with 325 yards. They need to be more involved because ...

- QB EJ Warner is gone to Rice. Rutgers transfer Evan Simon and backup Forrest Black will be the main battlers for the gig, and they have a decent receiving corps to work with.

Dante Wright is a veteran who finished second on the team with 39 catches, and Zak Baines is an okay threat on the outside. Overall, it’s an older bunch that should create a good rotation - the passing game will spread around the wealth.

Temple Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The defense continues to need plenty of work, and it’l be all about the transfer portal to improve. Bad against the run, awful and coming up with third down stops, and without a lot of big plays or takeaways to turn things around, this group has to be more aggressive.

- There isn’t a ton returning up front, but end Tra Thomas knows what he’s doing on the outside, and transfers Latrell Jean (Florida Atlantic) on the inside and Cam’Ron Stewart (Rutgers) on the end will fill in right away.

The pass rush, though, should come from the linebackers. Diwun Black is the most disruptive returning option at the edge, and JUCO transfer Latrell Jean should be one of the team’s leading tacklers in the middle. East Carolina’s Tyquan King has the range to move at one outside spot.

- Can the secondary come up with anything big? The defensive backs generated just two picks - both from former Owl Tywan Francis - for a defense that came up with just three in total. Again, it’s all about the transfers here, but veteran corner Elijah Deravil should be in for a big year.

UTEP transfer Torey Richardson isn’t tested, but the skills are there to be a high-end corner on the other side of Deravil. Be stunned if Western Carolina transfer Andreas Keaton doesn’t lead the team in tackles.

Key To The Temple Football Season

Takeaways, takeaways, TAKEAWAYS
The defense will never be a rock, but it has to embrace the bend-but-not-break philosophy. That means more third-down stops, and it has to help the cause by forcing a lot more turnovers.

The Owls picked off a pass in the opener against Akron and came up with just two more the rest of the way. Even worse, there were only two fumble recoveries, making it a grand total of just five takeaways on the year. Florida had the second-fewest with seven

Temple Key Player

Forrest Brock, QB Jr.
Or Rutgers transfer Evan Simon. The offense was inconsistent last season, and it needs more out of the ground game. But it also has to bomb away when - not if - the defense starts to struggle.

Brock is a former JUCO transfer from California who can wing it around the yard, but he’ll be doing his job if he’s hitting 60% of his throws

Temple Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Andreas Keaton, S Sr. Temple needs playmakers in the secondary, and it got one in the 6-2, 200-pound senior from Western Carolina. He made 184 tackles with five picks and 19 broken up passes in his three seasons - he’ll get in on everything

Top Transfer Out: EJ Warner, QB Jr.
He threw too many interceptions - 24 over the last two seasons - but he also bombed away for more than 6,100 yards, too. Kurt Warner’s son was the offense when nothing else was working, but now he’s off to Rice.

Temple Key Game

Army, Sept. 26
It’s one of those moments when Temple will know where it stands. It should have a few ups and downs over the first five games of the season, but this - a conference date now against Army - is the end of a three-game stretch of home dates. With four away games in the next six, the Owls have to take advantage of this.

The last meeting was in 2017 - a 31-28 Army win.

10 Best Temple Football Players

1. Dante Wright, WR Sr.
2. Diwun Black, LB Sr.
3. Andreas Keaton, S Sr.
4. Elijah Deravil, CB Sr.
5. Antwain Littleton, RB Jr.
6. Zak Baines, WR Jr.
7. Tra Thomas, DE Jr.
8. Luke Watson, OT Soph.
9. Torey Richardson, CB Sr.
10. Grayson Mains, C Soph.

Temple 2023 Fun Stats

- 2 Point Conversions: Temple 5-of-7 (71%), Opponents 1-of-2 (50%)

- Red Zone Scores: Opponents 45-of-53 (85%), 25-of-35 (69%)

- Interceptions Thrown: Temple 16, Opponents 3

Temple Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

Can the Owls be better against the bad teams?

They went 3-9 last season with a blowout loss at Tulsa - that’s a home game this year. There was another lopsided defeat at North Texas - also a home game this time around - and late in the year, there was a ten-point loss to UAB, who’s not on the schedule.

However, Temple doesn’t have a Norfolk State this year - a 41-9 victory last season - with no dates against FCS teams to count on as a sure win. Most of the winnable games - UConn, East Carolina, Navy - are on the road, and it’s possible the team won’t be a favorite at any point.

Even so, it’ll piece together a few wins, but not enough to go on any sort of big run.

Set The Temple Win Total At … 3.5

Likely Wins: No apparent sure-thing wins

50/50 Games: Army, Coastal Carolina, at East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, at Navy, North Texas, Tulsa, at UConn, Utah State

Likely Losses: at Oklahoma, at Tulane, at UTSA

2024 Temple Football Schedule

Aug 31 at Oklahoma
Sept 7 at Navy
Sept 14 Coastal Carolina
Sept 21 Utah State
Sept 26 Army
Oct 5 at UConn
Oct 12 OPEN DATE
Oct 19 Tulsa
Oct 26 at East Carolina
Nov 2 OPEN DATE
Nov 9 at Tulane
Nov 16 Florida Atlantic
Nov 23 at UTSA
Nov 30 North Texas
Missing: Charlotte, Memphis, Rice, UAB, USF