The Temple Owls defense had been the subject of criticism after allowing 45 points to SMU and 63 against UCF in back-to-back losses. A far cry from the unit that held Memphis, Georgia Tech and Maryland in check.
The Owls got back into early season form Thursday night as the defense tormented USF quarterback Jordan McCloud with nine sacks, and linebacker Sam Franklin’s 39-yard fumble return for a touchdown secured a 17-7 win for Temple.
Temple defensive end Quincy Roche had 3.5 of the nine sacks, the most since the Owls had 10 sacks in the 2015 upset win over Penn State.