Temple Preview
October 30, 2002 11:10 AM | General
October 30, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – The more West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez watches the Temple defense the more he likes it.
The coach said Tuesday that he believes the Owls “play as hard as anybody in the country.”
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is concerned about Temple's senior-dominated defense. |
Temple, 3-5, is coming off a surprising 20-10 loss at No. 3-ranked Virginia Tech last Saturday despite not having its best defender Dan Klecko for the entire second half due to a neck stinger. Temple coach Bobby Wallace said Monday that he has a hunch that Klecko will be ready to go for Saturday’s game against West Virginia.
That’s not good news for the Mountaineers.
A preseason candidate for almost every defensive award, Klecko has already accepted an invitation to play in the 2002 East-West Shrine Game. The 6-foot-1, 276-pound senior has racked up 42 tackles, 12.5 tackles for losses and six sacks through seven games. The Colts Neck, N.J., native has 22 career sacks and 55 tackles for losses.
“If he’s not an All-American then I haven’t seen one,” said Rodriguez. “He’s been the most dominant defensive player we’ve seen on film this year and he plays the game like you would want every one of your players to play.”
Because Klecko usually lines up in a three-point stance, the Mountaineer player more than likely assigned to block him will be senior center Zack Dillow, although he is certain to get help from others.
Having Klecko drawing double teams allows his teammates the freedom to make plays. Free safety Jamal Wallace (6-0, 195, Sr.) is the team’s top tackler with 66 stops including 48 solos. Cornerback Terrance Leftwich (6-0, 190, Sr.) shows 49 tackles while the other corner, Yazid Jackson (5-10, 175, Jr.), has 48.
Temple has seven senior starters in a defensive scheme similar to Virginia Tech’s with eight men in the box. That philosophy has enabled the Owls to have the nation’s 21st-ranked defense against the run giving up just 108.9 yards per game. Four times this year against Richmond, South Carolina, Cincinnati and Connecticut the Owls have held the opposition to less than 100 yards rushing.
However, Temple’s desire to stop the run has opened up the passing lanes and teams have taken advantage. Temple’s pass defense is ranked 87th this week allowing 241.4 yards per game. The Owls have given up more than 200 yards passing in five of eight games this season including a season-high 365 against Miami on Sept. 14.
Temple has also had trouble with turnovers giving up 20 this year. Six have come in the last two games against Connecticut and Virginia Tech.
Offensively, the Owls have gone to a no-huddle, spread system implemented by new offensive coordinator Dave Brock. Unlike West Virginia’s spread system, Temple’s is geared more toward the passing of sophomore quarterback Mike McGann.
“We’re a different style,” said Temple coach Bobby Wallace. “We’re more of a throwing spread offense and they’re more of a quarterback running-type spread offense. We don’t run quite the same plays. Some of them we do, but some of them are different.”
McGann, a 6-foot-6 Havertown, Pa., native, has only completed 48.5 percent of his passes this year, but he does have 1,331 yards and nine touchdowns. He is coming off a 17-of-32, 230-yard passing performance at Virginia Tech.
Senior Zamir Cobb (6-0, 185, Sr.) is Temple’s top receiver with 34 catches for 386 yards and five touchdowns. Senior Sean Dillard (5-10, 180, Sr.) has also been a pass catching threat with 17 catches for 243 yards and a score.
The Owls also boast one of the better running backs in the Big East in senior Tanardo Sharps (5-11, 196, Sr.). He ranks third in the Big East in rushing with an average of 114.4 yards per game. Through eight games, Sharps has carried 195 times for 915 yards and five touchdowns. He has posted five 100-yard games this year including a career-high 223 on 35 carries against Connecticut.
“The thing about him is that he is a powerful guy,” said Rodriguez. “He’s got good size to him and he’s a load when he gets in the open field.”
Brock’s no-huddle system has also helped take pressure off of Temple’s offensive line. Last year the Owls gave up 39 sacks in 11 games to rank eighth in the conference in that category. This year through eight games Temple has allowed a very respectable 10 sacks to rank third behind just Miami and Boston College.
Seniors Dave Yovanovits (6-3, 300, Sr.), Donny Klein (6-3, 295, Sr.), Anthony Bolden (6-5, 300, Sr.) and Damian Hendricks (6-4, 285, Sr.) team with junior Joe Laudano (6-2, 290, Jr.) up front.
Temple has a solid place kicker in Cap Poklemba, who is seven-of-12 this season and has scored 38 points. Last year Poklemba kicked a 35-yard field goal that proved to be the difference in Temple’s 17-14 victory over West Virginia.
That victory snapped a 10-game Mountaineer win streak against the Owls.
In that game, West Virginia missed two field goals, had four turnovers and committed several dumb penalties.
Rodriguez downplays last year’s loss as any additional motivation for his team.
“I think we were doing so bad last year that I don’t think our players were overlooking anybody,” he said. “From the standpoint of knowing how physical these guys are and how well they play defensively and know that they have some players, there is no question that we know we have to play very well this weekend.”
Because Temple is going to gear its defense to stopping Avon Cobourne and West Virginia’s No. 1-ranked rushing offense, there will be passing lanes for Mountaineer quarterback Rasheed Marshall.
However, the West Virginia passing game has failed to get on track recently and Marshall’s completion percentage has dipped below 50 percent for the first time this year. Rodriguez says some of the blame must be placed on West Virginia’s wide receivers, which caught just two passes for 13 yards against Miami last weekend.
West Virginia’s top pass catcher against the Hurricanes was tight end Josh Bailey, who snagged two for 35 yards. Rodriguez says that having some semblance of a passing attack is a must this week against Temple to keep the safeties honest.
“We’ve got to be able to pitch and catch better,” he said.
On the other side of the ball, West Virginia’s defense must rebound from giving up 422 passing yards to Miami’s Ken Dorsey last weekend. The Mountaineers have slipped to 51st nationally against the pass.
Saturday’s game will kickoff at noon. There is no live television for the game but MSNsportsNET.com will carry the live radio broadcast through Yahoo! Sports.
