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Notre Dame Football

Temple Scouting Report

August 28, 2017
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New coaches. Same old Temple.

That last sentence would have been interpreted a lot different fifteen years ago. At that time Temple was a laughingstock. Not much more than an automatic win on the schedule. They were so bad that they were expelled from the Big East and many felt that they would be better off dropping football than to continue playing at the FBS level.

Things started to turn when Al Golden took over the program in 2006. After losing his first 8 games as head coach, the Owls slowly started to improve. By his fourth year he had them at 9 wins. He had one more good season before leaving for Miami, but the foundation was there even if things began to dip a bit under Steve Addazio. It was former Golden assistant Matt Rhule, who took over for Addazio in 2013, that really took the program to new heights.

Rhule posted back to back 10 wins seasons and won the American Athletic Conference before leaving for Baylor this past off-season. Even though he is no longer there, it appears the culture he instilled has remained under new coach Geoff Collins.

He's bringing a change in philosophy on offense, but is keeping the same aggressive and physical mentality on defense that the Owls established under Rhule and coordinator Phil Snow.

Temple lost several talented football players from the last two seasons, but I expect them to present the Irish with some challenges despite the turnover on the roster.

Key Returning Players on Offense


We can start at the wide receiver position where the top four return. The number one target is junior Ventell Bryant (6'3" 189). He put up 895 last season with 16.57 yards per catch. He's got some speed to threaten down the field and the size to win in jump ball situations. The next two top returning receivers are also 6'3" and will present a tough matchup for Notre Dame's corners. Nick Watkins and Donte Vaughn are going to be important in this game and we'll see how Julian Love handles the size difference because he struggled against some taller options last season.

Last year's starting running back has graduated, but the backup, Ryquell Armstead, ran for 919 (5.9 yards per carry). Temple wasn't an overly effective red zone team last season, but they were consistent in trying to pound the rock near the goal-line. Armstead was a beneficiary of that with 14 touchdowns.

Look for the Owls to ride Armstead a lot behind a veteran offensive line that returns three starters and five total players with starting experience. Is it a great group? It's not going to be better than the one the Irish defense face in practice every day. None of the returners was named to the pre-season All-AAC team.

Speeding Up the Tempo


This is the biggest difference in Temple from when Rhule was coach. They were extremely conservative on offense, relied on ball-control, and making smart decisions to manage the game under four-year starting quarterback PJ Walker. Even though the offense was average at best (86th and 79th in S&P+ and 89th and 51st in yards per play the last two seasons), it's tough to argue that it wasn't the right move when they won so often.

Collins is looking for more from the offense than just playing it safe and that's why he hired Dave Patenaude, the OC at Coastal Carolina the last five seasons. They won a ton of ball games at the FCS level and did so with a no-huddle uptempo philosophy that was more spread than the pro-style that the Owls were running under Rhule.

Expect a lot more designed quarterback runs, more option, and more quick throws to the perimeter in this offense. Patenaude isn't overly exotic with what he calls, but his greatest strength is that he isn't married to run or the pass. If he smells a weakness in a front, he's going to keep hitting it with the same play again and again in tempo to take advantage of it. That's why his teams have been so good at running the football.

Who's the Quarterback?


It doesn't even seem like coaches know at this point with Collins stating that they may play up to three players and all four competitors for the spot were close to even throughout camp. This could be just him playing mind games with Notre Dame to try and gain an edge, but if there was a clear cut number one, there wouldn't be much harm in saying who it was. The four quarterbacks have only five career college completions.

Whoever it is, expect the quarterback be heavily involved in the running game. Sophomore Logan Marchi and Todd Centeio are dual-threat type players and I could see one or both being used on designed runs and definitely utilized running the option. I saw everything from zone read to speed option to this type of triple option that involves a pitch man coming in motion.

via GIPHY

It's a give and likely a called running play rather than a true read, but I think you can see that the Patenaude is trying to force the defense to be assignment sound or risk getting burned like they are here.

Whether it's the first two I mentioned or junior Frank Nutile or redshirt freshman Anthony Russo, I think it's fair to expect option and a lot of short, easy throws to start the game. Coastal Carolina had an inexperienced quarterback last year and it was clear Patenaude tried to set up easy completions in an early season game versus Lamar.

Notre Dame's corners may be able to jump some of them to make a play, something Shaun Crawford is very good at. There will also be opportunities for the defensive linemen to get their hands into throwing lanes to disrupt quick one-read throws as well.

Mike Elko's group should be well-prepared to face an uptempo group after practicing against one all spring and in fall camp. If the Irish win on the outside against their receivers, I think Temple may struggle to move the ball with an inexperienced quarterback (whoever that may be).

Key Returning Players on Defense


Up front the Owls have to replace a lot, although they do bring back two tackles in Michael Dogbe and Freddie Booth-Loyd (combined 10 TFLs last season) and have some promising young players ready to emerge there.

They aren't bringing back any starters at linebacker, but the defensive backfield should be very strong. Both safeties, Delvon Randle and Sean Chandler, are considered all-conference caliber players and were highly productive for the Owls last season versus the run and pass. Artel Foster is a returning starter at corner and they added an FCS transfer from North Carolina Central that is expected to start at the other corner. Mike Jones is an NFL prospect and was an all-conference player in the MEAC in 2016.

There is no doubt the secondary is a strong group and it will be a test for some of the other receivers not named Equanimeous St. Brown to step forward against a unit that will likely play quite a bit of man coverage.

Can They Rush with Four?


That's going to be a key question mark in this game for Temple because they lost so much production on the edge. Gone are 39.5 tackles for loss and 22.5 sacks from first round pick Hasson Reddick and company. The top three edge rushers are no longer there and it's probably unlikely that the new guys are going to play at the same level (at least not right away).

Although former DC Snow was not afraid to bring the heat, they could get away with rushing four often because of the talent of the guys on the edge. They were 12th in Havoc Rate last season, but with losing so many ends and three starters at linebacker, that's going to be tough to duplicate.

Collins was one of the best defensive coordinators in the country at Florida and Mississippi State, though. His track record speaks for itself. In 2013 his defense was 14th in S&P+ and there were 22nd the next. It only got better once he got to Florida with both seasons finishing in the top 10. The Gators were 7th in '15 and 4th last season.

The Havoc Rate wasn't much different from what Temple was doing either. His defenses the past three years have been 17th, 12th, and 27th. He's had fast, aggressive units that fly to the football. I don't see the mentality dropping off one bit with him and his DC, Taver Johnson, taking over in Philadelphia.

One thing that made his defense so effective at Florida was the ability to play man coverage and also get pressure with just four rushers on 3rd down. That allowed his safeties to make plays by roaming free often. He may have the defensive backs to pull that off, but does he have the D-linemen? I guess we'll see, but I'm not sure they do.

He may blitz more on 3rd down than he did at Florida and that could lead to some opportunities for big plays if the Irish can protect Brandon Wimbush.

Can They Stop the Run Without Numbers?


All defensive coaches like to think they can stop any running game with extra bodies in the box and it will be interesting to see if Temple will try to do so without doing that. That's what Florida could do because of their D-line and how good their linebackers were. They would flash a safety late and would obviously match up if teams had multiple tight ends, but Temple might be forced to show their hand often.

It should be advantage Irish with the tackles matching up with the new players on the edge and I expect Notre Dame to attack those edges with outside zone, jet sweeps, and counter trey. Unless Temple shows they can stop it or slow the running game down, they will likely have to play eight in the box.

Of course, that is when things like RPOs (run-pass option plays) and play-action should open up because of it. That could be an opportunity for the offense to make big plays down the field. I also think the quarterback run game will be there for WImbush as well.

Although I didn't see a ton of extra pressure on 3rd down from Collins in the games I watched, he did bring blitzers to help versus the run on 1st and 2nd down. If Chip Long is seeing a lot of that, I think there is a good chance we'll see some screen game to counter act it. This was the perfect call versus a corner blitz from Florida in the Alabama game Lane Kiffin had the perfect call against it.

via GIPHY

Collins versus Uptempo


There isn't a lot of uptempo offenses that Collins had to face in the SEC, but the one he matched up against last year was Missouri. They killed Mizzou's ability to play fast by causing so many three and outs. They caused so many three and outs because Florida beat the tar out of Mizzou up front.

Uptempo forces defenses to play a lot of base defense. If the line is disrupting things, then you can easily get away with not having to rely on scheme against an opponent. I'm not sure Temple's defense is going to be good enough up front against the Notre Dame offensive line if they are forced to play in base most of the time.

That's a big reason why I think the Irish could have a lot of success against this Temple defense. I have no doubt that Collins' team is going to play very hard. They'll try to make this into a dogfight and they can hang around if they can win the line of scrimmage on defense.

We'll see if that happens, but I don't think it's likely when they face off against each other this weekend. Temple will present a test for the Irish. If Notre Dame is as physical on the line as they intend to be, then it's a test they should pass.
 
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