O-line woes continue

September 9, 2007

O-line woes continue

Kenny Walter
OwlScoop.com Staff Writer

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Temple's offensive line looked like it had made some progress in last week's season opener against Navy.

But Saturday's 42-7 loss to Buffalo showed the unit still has plenty of work to do.

The Bulls' defense was in the Owls' backfield all game, holding Temple to minus-36 yards rushing and collecting five sacks in the rout. Owls quarterback Adam DiMichele felt pressure bearing down on him all game and suffered through an afternoon that saw him go 13 for 23 for 160 yards and two interceptions.

"We've got to get some continuity in our offensive line," Temple head coach Al Golden said in his postgame press conference. "Honestly, we've got to settle on an offensive line that's going to be around here for a while. We've got to start training some guys who are going to be around and do it the right way and are tough. I don't know who that is, but I'm going to evaluate that (Saturday night)."

Perhaps the lone bright spot of the afternoon was a 10-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jason Harper that saw him break a tackle after cutting back to create some running room. The second quarter score brought Temple to within two touchdowns at 21-7.

The Owls had an opportunity to cut into that deficit right before the half, but the offensive line woes doomed Temple again. DiMichele completed four straight passes, the last of which was a 27-yard strike to freshman wide receiver Marquise Liverpool, to bring the Owls from their own 14-yard line to the Buffalo 23. But after an incompletion on first down, the pocket closed in on DiMichele again, forcing him to scramble and toss an errant pass to the sideline. The play resulted in a 17-yard intentional grounding penalty and pushed the Owls out of field goal range after they failed to convert on a difficult third-and-27 from the Bulls' 40-yard line.

The second half was not much better. Buffalo added three more sacks to its total, and Temple's line was flagged for two holding penalties early in the fourth quarter.

The frequent blitzes and stunts got the better of the Owls all afternoon. Buffalo was bringing pressure from the edges, forcing DiMichele to either take the hit or scramble.

He did a lot of both on Saturday.

"They did nothing today that we didn't see on film," junior center Alex Derenthal said. "They just worked harder then we did."

Buffalo's edge rushers prevented Temple from establishing any offensive flow, forcing the Owls to use some two tight end sets on an afternoon when they were already without Matt Balasavage. Golden said the freshman tight end, who caught his first career touchdown last week against Navy, wasn't able to make the trip to the game but didn't elaborate on any injury.

Buffalo outside linebacker Larry Hutchinson was someone the Owls simply could not stop. He collected eight tackles and three sacks and forced two fumbles. Defensive end Trevor Scott added two sacks and six tackles of his own.

The minus-54 yards from DiMichele's sack totals made Temple's rushing yardage an ugly statistic in the books, and Harper led four Owls' ball carriers with just 25 yards on six carries.

"We never got any run game going," a visibly disappointed Golden said. "That's the understatement of the year, maybe the decade."

Life my not necessarily get easier for the Owls when they travel next week to East Hartford to play Connecticut. The Huskies haven't exactly had the toughest of schedules so far, rolling to easy wins over Duke and Maine, but they've done what they're supposed to do. In a 45-10 drumming of Duke, UConn allowed just 23 rushing yards, and it held Maine to 64 yards on the ground in a 38-0 rout Saturday.

Golden hasn't been afraid to shake things up and try different combinations on the offensive line. Aside from Derenthal, no one's starting job on the line would be considered safe. Neither Devin Tyler nor Jabari Ferguson has done enough to stake a firm claim at left tackle, and freshman Lloyd Codada is still learning at left guard. Brison Manor and Andre Douglas were listed as Saturday's starters at right guard and right tackle, respectively, but perhaps Dwavon Battle and freshman Derek Dennis could see some time there in the future.

A team as young as Temple is bound to go through some growing pains, but Saturday's rout at the hands of Buffalo was a step backward for the Owls, literally and figuratively.