HOUSTON -- Something was in the air at TDECU Stadium when Houston faced off against Temple, and not in a good way. Maybe it was the surprisingly nippy weather, or lackluster Homecoming crowd, but the energy was nowhere to be found.

Two weeks ago, the Cougars put together a tremendous game against South Florida to move into the AP Top 25. On Saturday, the Coogs took a full quarter to show up against the Owls, and fell 59-49 against Temple to pick up a third loss of the season.

With star defensive tackle Ed Oliver sidelined with his knee injury, the offense needed to come out strong against a streaking Temple squad. The opposite happened. Instead, it was Oliver with a towel over his head on the sideline looked dismayed as the Cougars let a winnable game slip away.

Houston put itself in a hole almost immediately. The Cougars started with the ball, but went three-and-out after two incomplete passes and a lost yard on a run. Then, Temple blocked the punt and set up a short field for the first of Temple running back Ryquell Armstead’s touchdowns.

“Participants in special teams know we take pride in executing our job,” linebacker Austin Robinson said. “We just didn’t get it done that play.”

One minute later, Temple forced a fumble and recovered it at its own 34-yard line. The Owls drove 66 yards in four minutes, and Armstead punched it in for another touchdown. It was one of six scores Armstead accumulated against the hapless Houston defense. He added his first 200-yard rushing game since the 2016 season.

On the next drive, Houston finally found its AAC-best offense. The Cougars drove 75 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-7, and the shootout was officially on. Unfortunately, the Cougars had already spotted Temple two free touchdowns.

From there, it was a cat-and-mouse game. Temple scored a touchdown to make it 21-7, and the Coogs responded. Temple scored twice, and Houston did too. That continued all the way to the fourth quarter, when Houston scored twice to cut the lead to 56-49. But then, Temple hit a field goal with 1:41 remaining and the two-score lead was too much to overcome.

“We just didn’t play well,” quarterback D’Eriq King said. “Came out slow, didn’t play well.”

That was partially true. King was as divine as ever. After a slightly slow start to the game, King dominated a strong Temple defense. The junior completed 28-of-46 passes for 322 yards, five touchdowns and one interception that wasn’t his fault. He also added 19 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown to by far lead the team in rushing.

Freshman wide receiver Bryson Smith had a strong performance with seven receptions for 117 yards and three touchdowns. He also added an onside kick recovery to make it a game.

Unfortunately, that was about it for Houston against the feisty Owls. King posted 447 yards and five touchdowns. The rest of the offense mustered just 80 total yards on 3.1 yards per play. No running back mustered more than 44 yards.

Defensively, the Cougars couldn’t get stops. The Owls had 16 drives. Just four ended in punts. Most damning, all eight of Temple’s red zone drives ended in scores. Seven of them were touchdowns.

“We’ve been able to overcome it a little bit and get wins,” Houston coach Major Applewhite said. “As you get later in the year, it becomes harder, especially as your roster goes down too. You can dig out of some holes early in the season when you’re feeling fresh, but especially when people go out, it’s very difficult to come out of that.”

Houston had its chances, especially in the second half. The Owls took a 35-14 on the first drive after the half, but Houston scored two touchdowns in two drives to cut the lead to 35-28. Later, the Cougars cut the lead to 49-35 and forced a pair of punts. The Houston offense got nothing on the drives following those stops.

“We knew we had three defensive starters out so we knew we were gonna have some issues. When we did get some stops in the third quarter, we didn’t do anything with it offensively,” Applewhite said. “You knew going into this game that you’d have to play lights out offensively because of what you’re missing up front and the type of back that you’re playing. When we had those opportunities in the second half, we didn’t make use of them.”

Now, what seemed to be a virtually guaranteed trip to the American title game looks tenuous. The Cougars are tied with Tulane, which they play in a short week on Thursday, and SMU, which has a tiebreaker over them. Houston needs to win out and have SMU lose a game.

Four teams are very much still alive for the American West division. Things are just as crazy on the other side, where UCF, Cincinnati and Temple all have a shot at the title game. But for Houston to have a chance at a conference championship, it can’t spot teams 14 points six minutes into the game. That’s not good enough.

Houston football faces off against Tulane at 7 p.m. Thursday at TDECU Stadium in Houston. The matchup will serve as senior night for the program. Click here to buy tickets to the game.