KNOW YOUR FOE: Temple struggling to score ahead of matchup with UCF's No. 1 red zone D

Prepare for launch.

UCF (4-1, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) soars into its sixth annual Space Game with a ton of confidence after crushing preseason dark horse SMU in the second half, resulting in a 41-19 win.

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The Knights scored 31 consecutive points after halftime as John Rhys Plumlee notched his third 300-yard passing game of the season, and Isaiah Bowser scored three times on the ground. The nation's top red-zone defense held SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai without a touchdown pass for the first time in 17 games.

Next up, UCF hosts Temple in another primetime showcase — the Knights' fourth, and final, non-Saturday contest of the season. UCF has beaten the Owls five times in a row, and in seven of nine all-time meetings.

Not to mention, the Citronauts — UCF's adopted moniker during Space Game week — are a perfect 5-0 in paying homage to the school's roots in aerospace engineering and technology.

Temple has alternated wins and losses in its first five contests, falling 24-3 to Memphis in its last time out. Can the Owls pull off a shock and even its record?

For that and more, Ryan Wallen, who covers Temple for Owls Daily and 247Sports, checks in for this week's edition of Know Your Foe.

Boyle: Temple will come into this game the fresher of the two squads, last suiting up in a on Oct. 1. What has/have been the Owls' main point(s) of emphasis during the bye week?

Wallen: Head coach Stan Drayton said during his weekly press conference on Monday that his team spent the bye week doing some soul searching, and that they used the extra time to get healthier and really focus in on the fundamentals of playing good football.

One of Drayton’s main goals for this week is for his team to put together a full four quarters of quality play, especially in finishing out the fourth quarter defensively — an obvious nod to how the Memphis game slipped away from the Owls with the defense giving up 17 fourth-quarter points. He also said that he and his staff really focused on establishing more depth behind the defensive starters so some of those guys will get more breaks and not be as gassed by the time the fourth quarter rolls around.

Boyle: Ranked 126th in scoring and 125th in total offense among FBS programs, Temple managed only seven first downs against Memphis and went three-and-out on eight of its first 10 drives. Has there been a consistent problem throughout the first five games, or can you pinpoint several different reasons?

Wallen: Yes, there have been a handful of consistent problems with the offensive unit through the first portion of the season.

First and foremost, the biggest issue has been the lack of production from the run game, which has hurt the team in its ability to establish any offensive rhythm. The Owls have eclipsed 100 yards rushing in a game just twice this season (146 versus Lafayette, and 107 against UMass), and both of those games happened to be the ones Temple came away with the win. But even in those two wins, the Owls struggled to find success running the ball consistently. Currently on the year, Temple’s run game is averaging an abysmal 2.7 yards per carry, and has yet to have an individual rusher run for more than 60 yards in game. Paired with this, the offensive line has started four different combinations of players through the first five games and the unit has struggled mightily in run blocking; this has also made it hard for the offense as a whole to establish any sort of consistency.

Another issue is that Temple just hasn’t been able to hang onto the football in 2022. The offense has turned the ball over a total of 11 times (six interceptions and five fumbles), while the unit has also turned the ball over on downs an additional 10 times. It’s a miracle in itself that Temple has been in four of its five games in the fourth quarter even with losing that insanely high number of drives.

Boyle: Drayton is Temple's sixth head coach since 2011. What sort of imprint is he leaving in his first year in charge, and how have players responded to a new voice?

Wallen: There is a renewed energy surrounding the program given how the team has performed through its first five games. Initially, there was some skepticism about Temple hiring Drayton given that he had only ever been a position coach, but he has done all the right things since he took the job, which has allowed players and fans to buy into his vision. Drayton preached first and foremost, back in December, that he was going to build trusting relationships with the players, and that really stood out with the team given all of the coaching changes and challenges the program has endured over the last several years. In the months since, it really has seemed like the team has gotten closer and become a football family, as Drayton likes to call it. Because of this, we’ve seen more willingness and desire from the players to turn the ship around, get the program back to competing at a high level and restore the ‘Tough’ in ‘Temple Tough.’ In that regard, it appears that the Owls finally have some stability at the helm of the program now since Drayton has openly said he knew that this job was going to be a challenge when he accepted the position, but that’s why he wanted the position.

Boyle: E.J. Warner, a true freshman, is the starting quarterback — and the son of former NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner. How is he adapting on the fly in his first season, and what plays/moments have given Owls fans hope for the future?

Wallen: Warner has been pretty solid so far in his first three-and-a-half college games. He has shown good awareness and composure in the pocket, as he’s been sacked just twice on the year, while also proving to be a fairly accurate passer with a quick release, much like his father. There have obviously been moments where his inexperience has shown (i.e. the fourth quarter of the Memphis game in which Warner threw an interception on each of the Owls’ final three drives), but that is to be expected of an 18-year old who only joined the team mid-summer. I think it’s also less-than-ideal that much, if not all, of Temple’s offensive success is falling on Warner’s shoulders at the moment due to the team’s inability to run the football. Given the circumstances however, I feel he has responded to the challenge of being Temple’s quarterback with maturity beyond his years, which in itself, is something that Owl fans can be optimistic about.

As far as specific moments that demonstrate Warner’s potential, I think if you watch the entire UMass game back, people will get a sense for Warner’s upside. Warner struggled early in that game, throwing two picks and taking his first career sack, which easily could’ve been a safety though he managed to fight his way out of the end zone. But Warner bounced back from the shaky start and capped off the game with an absolute dime over the top of the UMass defense to wide receiver Adonicas Sanders that resulted in a 50-yard touchdown for the Owls. Warner also made some real big-time throws against Rutgers, which was quite impressive for him to do going up against a Big Ten defense in what was his first collegiate start, and it nearly led to a Temple win despite being a double-digit underdog.

Boyle: Defensively, Temple has allowed just 54 points combined in its last four games — including a shutout of UMass, the program's first since 2016. What's working on that side of the ball, and which players have turned in star performances of late?

Wallen: Temple’s defense is miles ahead of where it was anticipated to be and a lot of that success has to be credited to defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. The Owls currently rank in the top half of all FBS programs in almost every major defensive stat category, but where we’ve seen the most improvement is the unit’s ability to stop the run. In 2021, the Owls surrendered more than 220 yards per game on the ground to its opponents. Whereas this year, they are allowing just 131.2 yards on the ground and are forcing teams to have to make some throws to beat them. The front-seven has played lights-out, both in defending the run and pass, and it’s leading to a lot of good things happening for the unit. The Owls have already racked up 45 tackles for loss and 20 sacks on the year, so they’re going to get after opponents a lot throughout the course of a game.

A few of the guys to watch out for on that side of the ball include linebacker Layton Jordan, who currently leads the team with eight TFLs, 4.5 sacks, and already has a pick-six on the year. Linebacker Kobe Wilson currently leads the team in tackles (34) and forced and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter against Memphis, and redshirt freshman cornerback Jalen McMurray, who leads the team with six pass breakups and hasn’t given up a big play yet this season.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: Know Your Foe for Week 6, Temple Owls