The new-look Temple Owls football team welcomed the No. 13-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and Heisman favorite, John Mateer, into Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia and were promptly shown that not all 2-0 records are created equally.
Temple knew they were moving up in weight class following impressive wins against Massachusetts and Howard where their average margin of victory was 40 points, but the Sooners- coming off a ranked win over Michigan- are a completely different animal, and that was evident from the first kickoff.
First half
After a quick Temple three-and-out to start the game, Oklahoma opened up the scoring with a 67-yard drive capped off by a Javontae Barnes touchdown run from three yards out. They tacked on two more points with a little trickery. Oklahoma drew up a fake-PAT attempt that turned into tight end, Jaren Kanak, finessing a jump pass over an Owl defender for a successful conversion. Oklahoma quarterback, John Mateer, showed great poise and command from the get-go, consistently standing tall in collapsing pockets and delivering to his receivers.
Temple's offense had a rough go of things all afternoon, struggling to maintain the momentum they had built in their first two games. Following a second consecutive three-and-out to start their day, a poor punt by Temple's Dante Atton set up the Sooners with the ball at their own 46-yard line. Temple's defense was up for the challenge, though. Charles Calhoun came up with a sack on Mateer followed by great team defense to force Oklahoma to just a field goal, extending their lead to 11-0.
Temple's offense finally was able to move the sticks on their third offensive drive, with QB Evan Simon throwing for a couple first downs on the drive. Oklahoma responded by sacking Simon on 3rd-and-1 to force the Owls into another punt, and the Sooners really began to take off from there.
On the ensuing offensive possession for Oklahoma, John Mateer once again showed why he was the best player on the field. He completed an off-platform, jumping pass over the middle of the field after escaping from another muddy pocket, for a gain of 16-yards. Sooner running back, Tory Blaylock, then found his way to the endzone with a 6-yard rushing touchdown, lowering his shoulder and delivering a big hit to an Owl defender as he crossed the goal line for an 18-0 Oklahoma lead.
Temple did not give themselves any chance to stop the bleeding. On the kickoff, Temple's returner Tyler Stewart fielded the ball and stepped out of bounds at the 1-yard line. Oklahoma's defense nearly forced a safety on first-down, and batted Simon's pass that was almost intercepted in the endzone on third-down. The Owls were fortunate enough to be able to punt the ball off but they were not fortunate enough to mend their own self-inflicted wounds.
Temple's punt only traveled to their own 45-yard line to set up the Sooner offense with great field position. John Mateer flashed more high-level quarterbacking by staying composed with pressure in his face and continuing to complete passes in the presence of danger. A Tory Blaylock drop in the flat brought up a key 3rd-and-10 for Temple's defense, but when it rains it pours, and Ben Osueke was called for a defensive hold that gifted Mateer and the Oklahoma offense a first-down and continued drive.
If the trend was not clear already, the Sooners did not fail to capitalize on Temple's miscues. Blaylock made up for his drop earlier in the drive by hitting pay dirt with an easy 18-yard touchdown run up the left sideline to further extend their dominant lead to 25-0.
Temple's offense again showed signs of life with a Jay Ducker run up the gut for 20-yards and a 19-yard completion from Evan Simon to Ryder Kusch. The drive stalled when a completion called on the field to receiver JoJo Bermudez was overturned after review on what was a lofted, and poorly thrown ball by Evan Simon. That led to a third-down sack and another punt for the Temple Owls.
But finally, Temple had something go their way. On the first play of the possession for Oklahoma's offense, Mateer's pass was picked off by linebacker, Ty Davis, to set the Temple offense back up at OU's 13-yard line.
And just as quickly as Temple caught a break, they got too cute with it and started pressing.
Simon lofted his first-down attempt to the front corner of the endzone, but the softly thrown ball allowed the defender to stick and force an incompletion going out-of-bounds. On second-down, the Owls tried their own version of the Eagles' Philly Special only to be forced all the way to the boundary before throwing the ball out of the back of the endzone.
They moved the wrong direction on third-down with a swarming defensive effort from the Sooners to take down Evan Simon 3-yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Owls had to settle for a field goal after benefitting from the good field position they were left after the interception, saving themselves from a first-half shutout, and bringing the score to 25-3.
Like clockwork, Dante Atton sent the ensuing kickoff out of bounds to give Mateer and the Sooners the ball at their own 35-yard line. The Sooners were able to swiftly march down the field led by a 15-yard run by Mateer and a 13-yard reception by Isaiah Sategna III, but were not able to find the endzone. Ty Davis made his presence felt again by closing the edge on another Mateer keeper and not allowing him to turn the corner towards the goal line. Oklahoma settled for a field goal at the end of the half, bringing their lead to 28-3 as both teams departed the field for the locker rooms.
Second half
Temple's defense was much more sound to begin the second half. Ty Davis, Cam'Ron Stewart, and Sekou Kromah all made plays on the Owls' first defensive possession to force an Oklahoma punt. After more nothingness from the Temple offense, Kromah and Ben Osueke combined to push a scrambling Mateer out of bounds after he avoided multiple sack attempts on the play and force another Oklahoma punt, good for the Owls first consecutive stops of the afternoon.
Temple's offense did not find the same success coming out after halftime. They gained 15-yards on a roughing call by Mason Thomas who proceeded to be ejected for targeting. The Owls could do nothing with the gifted yards, and even gave some of them back in what was another three-and-out drive. The quick turnaround for Temple's defense caused their momentum to dwindle, and they immediately let up a touchdown on the other end to Xavier Robinson that further extended the Sooner lead to 35-3.
It would take less than three minutes of game action for Oklahoma to put another score on the board. Another lifeless offensive possession by Temple gained a total of four yards before giving the ball back to Mateer and the Sooner offensive. Troy Blaylock ripped off a 25-yard run up the left sideline to begin their possession. John Mateer then called his own number with a 51-yard run up the middle for a touchdown, doing his best to channel former Sooner and current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Jalen Hurts- in his own NFL house- to bring the score to 42-3.
Oklahoma head coach, Brent Venables, decided he had seen enough from his star quarterback and made the switch to Michael Hawkins following (you guessed it!) another three-and-out by the Temple offense. Hawkins showed off his legs by gaining 20-yards on the ground by himself on his first two plays from scrimmage and getting the Sooners within field goal range. The 52-yard field goal attempt failed- seemingly the first misstep for the Oklahoma Sooner operation all day- but the damage had already been mercilessly done.
Evan Simon and the Temple offense still were intent on making things happen and finding a rhythm that they could carry into future weeks but the Sooner defense showed no signs of letting up and giving in to their inevitable win. The Oklahoma pass rush was giving Simon fits all game, and he really started to unravel in the fourth quarter after the game was well out of reach.
OU's Marvin Jones Jr. laid a big hit on a keeper by Simon, the pass rush then forced a hurried incompletion on the next play, and then they got home for a strip-sack, although it was recovered by the Owls. It was the finishing touch on what was an all-around demolition of the Cherry and White, as Temple turned to backup quarterback, Gevani McCoy, to finish out the rest of the game.
