Memphis Football: 3 takeaways from interdivisional loss at Temple

Division leaders Memphis football and Temple played a close American Athletic Conference battle. Here is what we learned from the Owls’ Week 7 win.

It lined up as one of the better games in the early Saturday action on the Week 7 slate. Memphis, ranked in the AP Top 25 after improving to 5-0 in Week 6, traveled to Philadelphia to square off against AAC East co-leader Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. The battle offered a potential glimpse at the upcoming American Athletic Conference championship game in a few months, and it turned into a thriller as the hosts held on for a 30-28 victory.

Temple had the advantage of jumping out to a 16-0 lead in the first half, as Memphis continued to trip themselves up with a slew of turnovers. The Tigers clawed back in the second half to pull within two points of their interdivisional rivals, but a series of laterals on the final play of the game ended with Memphis getting dragged down behind the line of scrimmage.

With the win, Temple has the potential to take Memphis’ place in the AP Top 25 this week as the Tigers are almost certainly going to tumble from their No. 23 position. The Owls claimed their second win over a Top 25 team this year, joining the victory over the Tigers with their earlier takedown of Maryland when the Terrapins were ranked early in the season.

Memphis and Temple might still meet again in December. But the midseason loss for Mike Norvell’s team puts a serious damper on their New Year’s Six hopes and drops them down the list of Group of Five contenders. What else did we learn about these two teams on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia?