(Photos Courtesy Temple football)

Back in 1925, a pretty decent first baseman named Wally Pipp took himself out of a New York Yankee baseball game and was replaced by a guy named Lou Gehrig.

That replacement went onto play 2,000-straight baseball games and Pipp found himself out of a job.

Temple quarterback Ajani Sheppard may have done exactly what Gehrig did as Jaxon Smolik played the role of Pipp and exited the Toledo game through no fault of his own (injury). At the time, it looked like the status quo that Temple had through the first three games would be maintained once Smolik returned and the two would alternate the starting quarterback job until one took charge.

Something happened after that first series in Toledo. Sheppard took charge of the huddle and the game and probably will be the only quarterback all year to put up 48 points on a decent Toledo team.

Unless Sheppard takes himself out of a game, it doesn’t look like Smolik is going to get that opportunity and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, from Temple’s perspective.

The status quo–alternating quarterbacks who provided little production in the first couple of games–wasn’t working. Temple needed a guy at that position capable of throwing three touchdown passes in any single game and now appears to not only have that guy but someone who can add nearly 100 yards and a couple more touchdowns on the ground as well. The Owls have had some pretty good quarterbacks in the post-Matt Rhule era (Anthony Russo, Frank Nutile, E.J. Warner and Evan Simon) but nobody who could tuck it away and run like this guy.

Now the production has amped up and Gehrig, err, Sheppard looks like he’s on his way to becoming a star in the American Conference.

#CFB Best & Worst Passing Explosiveness

BEST:
1. Michael Hawkins Jr. – West Virginia
2. Jackson Gutierrez – Navy
3. Ajani Sheppard – Temple
4. Tyler Mizzell – Ball State
5. Ashton Daniels – Florida State
6. Blake Baker – Louisiana Tech
7. Isaiah Marshall – Kansas
8. Dru… pic.twitter.com/fUUwEWSmfE

— Breton (@BretonPicks) September 29, 2026

Sheppard might be no Gehrig, but he’s hit his share of home runs since taking over in the Toledo game and that bodes well for a lot of Temple winning going forward.

In many aspects, Sheppard has proven to be the playmaker Evan Simon never was because offensive coordinator Tyler Walker now as the tools needed to execute his vision of the Temple offense–which is to put pressure on defenses with a guy who throws well enough but runs even better.

Walker had to dial that back last year with a pocket passer like Simon and, while the results were OK, the ceiling was never this high. When linebackers and safeties have to inch up to the line of scrimmage to account for Sheppard’s athleticism, the Owls’ quarterback can take a step back and hit receivers running free through the secondary.

That could result in Sheppard, JoJo Bermudez, Colin Chase, Peter Clarke and a deep halfback room led by Sam Brown turning the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard into an adding machine more often than not.

Sheppard won’t play 2,000-straight games for the Owls, but we’ll take 20 or so and sign for the results right now.

Friday: UConn Preview