Navy Blows Out Temple in Season Finale

By Michael Lipinski, Sports Talk Philly Contributor

The 2021 season is mercifully over for head coach Rod Carey and the Temple Owls football team.  The Owls were on the receiving end of another blowout loss, this one a 38-14 beatdown by the then 2-8 Navy Midshipmen.  The Owls finished the season losing seven straight games by an average of 34.3 points.  The Owls record falls to 3-9 and 1-7 in AAC play.  Carey’s record at Temple now sits at a paltry 12-20 and is firmly planted on the coaching hot seat.

Navy used an 11-yard rushing touchdown from running back Carlinos Acie and a 15-yard receiving touchdown by running back Chance Warren to take a 14-0 lead into the second quarter of today's AAC game in South Philadelphia   The Owls closed the gap when Ra’Von Bonner scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 8:30 to go in the half.  Navy extended their lead to 10-points thanks to a Bijan Nichols 32-yard field goal with :10 remaining.

The second half was very much a mirror image of the first half.  Navy’s Isaac Ruoss capped off an 11-play, 60-yard, 5:22 drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.  The Owls answered with a rushing touchdown of their own right before end of the third quarter when Tayvon Ruley scored from 4-yards out to keep the Owls within 10-points.

But it was not meant to be. 

The Midshipmen took over in the fourth quarter and used their triple-option offense to smother the Owls.  Navy scored twice, another rushing touchdown by Ruoss and another receiving touchdown by Warren to close out the scoring.  The two scoring drives took up nearly 13-minutes of clock during the quarter alone. 

The win moves Navy’s record to 3-8 overall and 3-5 in the American.  The Midshipmen will travel to New Jersey next week to take on the Army Black Knights in the annual Army-Navy Game. The Owls will turn their attention to the early signing period and potentially a new head football coach.