Game notes
- Time and date: Saturday, September 13 at 12:00 p.m. ET
- Network: ESPN2
- Location: Lincoln Financial Field — Philadelphia, PA
- Spread: Oklahoma (-23.5)
- Over/under: 52.5
- All-time series: Oklahoma leads, 2-1
- Last meeting: Oklahoma 51, Temple 3 — August 30, 2024
- Current streak: Oklahoma, 1 (2024)
Setting the scene
The City of Brotherly Love is the home of football royalty, as the Philadelphia Eagles are the reigning Super Bowl champions. The Eagles have done their fair share of winning throughout the 2020s, and now those in the area are excited to see those winning ways spread to Temple.
After a dominant 2-0 start under new head coach K.C. Keeler, Temple is set to host its 10th ranked opponent in 10 years. The
Owls eye their first victory over AP Top 25 competition since 2019 when No. 13 Oklahoma rolls into town. The Sooners are fresh off a marquee primetime victory over Michigan, proving they have the goods to be a firepower once again. Temple hopes to stop the Sooner Magic in the midst of the Owls’ strongest start of the 2020s decade.
Oklahoma Sooners outlook
After two losing seasons in a three-year span, 2025 is a massive one for Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables. The longtime Clemson defensive coordinator earned one of his best victories since arriving in Norman, picking apart Michigan’s defense in a 24-13 wire-to-wire win.
When Oklahoma was a perennial Big 12 champion and College Football Playoff mainstay during the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley eras, the Sooners were renowned for high-flying offenses and defenses with more to be desires. But for the second-straight season in Norman, defense appears to be the identity of this team. The Sooners only surrendered one touchdown in two weeks, and that was a 75-yard Michigan touchdown run. In other words, no team has shown the ability to sustain long touchdown drives on Venables’ defense.
Oklahoma currently leads the FBS in opponent completion percentage, limiting teams to connecting on just 43.2 percent of passes. Michigan went 9-of-24 in an offensive struggle as the Sooners provided immense backfield pressure to force the Wolverines into some errant throws. All parts of the defense have aggregated together to form a powerful product. The commanding defensive line features All-SEC star R Mason Thomas who racked up 9.0 sacks and 13 tackles for loss a year ago. The linebacking corps retains a strong contributor in Kip Lewis, who now joins forces with Oklahoma State transfer Kendal Daniels — a backfield menace against Michigan with 2.5 tackles for loss. Finally, the secondary features the established safety tandem of Peyton Bowen and Robert Spears-Jennings. Spears-Jennings was among the chief turnover promoters in 2024, forcing four fumbles in last year’s Sooner defense.
As sharp as the Sooners’ defense has been, the number zero is featured in the takeaway column. Oklahoma has yet to intercept a pass or recover fumble and sits at a -4 in turnover margin. Perhaps that’s a good sign for the Sooners as the turnovers will likely ramp up, but the No. 10 scoring defense in the country already found a reliable method of producing stops.
Offensively, Oklahoma eyes to become leaps and bounds better than the 97th-ranked scoring offense it fielded a year ago. Adding new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and his quarterback John Mateer from Washington State serve as a major help to that effort. Mateer’s dual-threat abilities were well-noted in Pullman, and through two starts in Norman, he averages 331 passing yards and two touchdowns per game, producing a total of 98 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the side.
Mateer is the Sooners’ leading rusher by over a 30-yard margin, and what they hope to establish at Temple is a viable No. 1 tailback. Jaydn Ott was expected to hold the role preseason, but the Cal transfer has only seen five carries for six yards in his new home. So far Jovantae Barnes and Tory Blaylock have carried the load, but Oklahoma is only averaging 3.4 yards per rush this year, and not a single Sooner who has toted the ball multiple times averages as many 4.0.
Oklahoma’s offense faced countless adversity last year, and wide receiver health was at the forefront of its issues. This year’s receiver room opens with a clean slate, and it’s showing on the gridiron. Last year, tight end Bauer Sharp led the team with 324 receiving yards. Through two weeks, three Sooners are at 155+ in the yardage department — wide receivers Deion Burks and Keontez Lewis and tight end Jaren Kanak. One year after finishing 119th in passing yards per game, Oklahoma is tied for 14th — an excellent development for Venables and Co.
Temple Owls outlook
You’ll have to flip back the calendar to 2019 to find the last time vibes were this high on Temple’s campus.
Temple did exactly as expected, defeating UMass and FCS Howard to win its first two games. But what’s different about the 2025 Owls compared to the 2020-24 Owls (which combined for a 13-42 record) is how they’re winning these matchups. Temple straight-up eviscerated both challengers by a combined score of 97-17, ranking first in the American Conference in both points and fewest points allowed. It was the perfect warm-up for the Owls to get settled into the K.C. Keeler era. Now the team can exude much more confidence hosting Oklahoma, equipped with the nation’s 13th-best scoring offense and scoring defense.
One of Temple’s important revelations through the first two weeks was the rapid progression of quarterback Evan Simon. Simon was involved in a preseason camp battle and now he has solidified starting duties. The quarterback tied a Temple record six touchdowns in the opener on an efficient 19-of-25 showing, and in Week 2, he only needed 10 throws to record 174 passing yards and a hat trick of touchdowns. He’s tied for third nationally in passing touchdowns and his mobility hasn’t been too shabby either, taking the Temple offense to heights it hadn’t seen previously in the decade.
Simon has established two noteworthy connections through the Owls’ 2-game win streak. Big playmaking tight end Peter Clarke currently leads the Owls with 119 yards and two touchdowns while wide receiver Jojo Bermudez has a team-high eight receptions for 111 yards. The skill position success extends to the running back room where Temple logged three preseason Doak Walker Award watchlist candidates. So far, Keeler’s former Sam Houston running back Jay Ducker has shined wearing cherry and white, rushing for 215 yards on a 7.4 average. Hunter Smith and Terrez Worthy have provided great complementary work, each picking up at least 6.5 yards per carry as secondary and tertiary options in a loaded backfield.
But above it all, they recognize the importance of the offensive line. Temple brought its entire first and second team offensive line to last Saturday’s postgame press conference after they paved the way for 329 rushing yards in the Owls’ 55-7 curb-stomping.
Defensively, Temple has not surrendered a single second half point this season, adjusting on the fly as the games progress. Its Week 2 FCS opponent Howard saw six second half possessions and only one saw more than four offensive snaps. Temple showed some flaws early on against UMass, but the unit has dominated for much of 2025, producing a collective 3-0 victory in the turnover margin and yielded only 185 rushing yards through two games.
Defensive end Cam’Ron Stewart has been the rapid riser thus far. In his first four collegiate seasons (three at Rutgers, one at Temple), he racked up just 0.5 sacks, but now he’s one half of a sack away from the top spot on the nation’s leaderboard, registering 3.0 in two games. Middle linebacker Eric Stuart and free safety Javier Morton are standouts to watch on the other levels of defense, combining for 17 tackles during Temple’s run to a 2-0 start.
The Owls have bottled up quarterback mobility extremely well so far, but Mateer presents a different type of test for the Temple defense. And although the personnel contrasts on both sides, Temple’s defense did much better against Oklahoma in 2024 than a 51-3 box score suggests, holding the Sooners to 1-of-12 on third downs.
Prediction
The level of competition ramps up exponentially for Temple, which faced an FCS program and maybe a bottom-5 FBS program to kick off its season. Those games were needed as a confidence-booster heading into this home matchup, but the Owls are about to see a different level of defense from the Sooners.
Oklahoma’s disruptive defensive front can counter any offense in the country with effectiveness. The Owls’ offensive line has shown sturdiness to date, but players like R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones Jr., Damonic Williams, and Jayden Jackson will test them to a level previously unforeseen. Michigan couldn’t deal with the pressure and struggled to complete anything to its receivers.
Even with the backing of homefield at The Linc, it’ll be an uphill climb for Temple’s offense, while the defense must contain a dual-threat in John Mateer and a revitalized receiving group.
Prediction: Oklahoma 35, Temple 10
