Temple football: Will Owls continue bowl streak in 2020?
Expect better and more consistent offense
Temple’s offense a season ago was largely based on how successful the passing game was. If quarterback Anthony Russo was having a good game, so would the rest of the offense. It uses the quick passing game to set up shots down the field and that resulted in the offense being a hit or miss for most of 2019 because of the inconsistency.
The Owls finished the year ranked 86th in scoring offense, but they return enough experience at quarterback and the skill positions to improve upon that number.
Russo is back for his senior season and he is going to need to be more consistent with his accuracy and not turn the ball over so much. He threw for nearly 2,900 yards last season with 21 touchdowns. He has thrown for 26 interceptions combined during the last two seasons and those numbers are going to have to change for Temple’s offense to improve.
Temple had one of the worst rushing offenses in the country last season, but they have hope for improvement with leading rusher Re’Mahn Davis returning after having nearly rushed for 1,000 yards last season. He needs to be able to show more consistency and be reliable from game to game for this offense to improve.
The Owls are unproven behind Davis as their other backs from last year have graduated and they will have to have someone step up to be a complement to him.
The receiving corps is returning their top two threats in Jaden Blue and Branden Mack and that should help the offense to improve. Blue and Mack are one of the best receiving duos in the conference and they will need to keep that going in 2020.
Behind those two players, the receiving corps is unproven with last years third-leading receiver Isaiah Wright is gone, as is tight end Kenny Yeboah. Davis was a decent receiving back last year and you may seem him get more targets this season. This group is a bit top heavy with only Blue and Mack being proven entities and they will have to have some young guys step up to give this group the depth it needs if it wants to challenge for a conference title.
The offensive line has been a strength in recent years, but they are losing some serious talent from last year’s team.
All-American center Matt Hennessy is gone and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in this past years NFL draft and replacing him will not be an easy task. Jovahn Fair was a solid starter and he is gone as well up front. There is some returning experience however with Adam Klein coming back and moving over to center to replace Hennessy and Isaac Moore is back at left tackle.
The Temple offense has experience, but this group is lacking depth and consistency and both are question marks heading into the year.