Coach Carey Looks Ahead To A Road Trip At Memphis

Ismail Taylor-Kamara
​OwlSports Update Staff Reporter

The Temple Owls defeated the South Florida Bulls in a 39-37 homecoming victory this past weekend. Anthony Russo passed for 270 yards and four touchdowns, and receiver Randall Jones caught eight passes for 81 yards and one touchdown. Head Coach Rod Carey had a lot to say regarding his team’s performance and the team’s agenda for this week. He noted linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley and offensive linemen Adam Klein as very questionable ahead of their matchup at Memphis this week, with Wednesday being the determining day for their status. In terms of a critique in play, defensive improvements are made a priority for this week:

​“Our angles were bad. Part of that was the USF's speed. Part of it was us. If we can continue to improve, we’ll have the opportunity to execute at a high level,” Carey said.

While Carey is emphasizing areas where the defensive unit can improve, it might be hard to find any parts of Arnold Ebiketie’s performance that could be much better. The AAC Defensive Player of the Week had a field day against the Bulls, racking up 5 tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery for a touchdown that gave Temple a 4th quarter lead.

“His practice habits are exactly what you’re seeing on the field,” Carey said. “With his god-given ability, when you put those two things together, you’ll get a good performance. We’re looking for more from him.”

The junior defensive end will play a pivotal role in Temple’s next game on Saturday at Memphis (2-1, 1-1).

“They do so much offensively and on defense. They have some really good personnel upfront defensively.”

This is the same Memphis squad that put 50 points on the board in a one-point win over UCF over the weekend. Tiger quarterback, Brady White, has thrown for 1,062 yards and 13 touchdowns in just three games this season. Six of those touchdowns came in the UCF game.

Saturday’s game starts at 12pm on ESPN+.