The Owls were destroyed Saturday in Dallas against SMU by the score of 45-21. The usually stingy Temple defense gave up 655 yards with SMU’s Shane Buechele throwing for 457 yards and had six touchdowns. The Mustangs jumped out to a 17-point lead and Temple never recovered. It was a poor performance by Temple’s offense as well as they only gained 273 yards. Expect a much better effort as they return home for a big game against the high-powered Knights. Temple is 4-0 at home with two wins over Top 25 opponents. UCF has been a different team on the road losing their past two games to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The temperature could also be a factor come kickoff. It will be in low 50’s Saturday night in Philadelphia, which isn’t freezing but quite cold compared to the mid 80’s in Orlando. Temple is allowing 14 points per game at home and the Knights average 16 points less away from home. UCF may also be down their two top running backs Saturday night. Temple will hope to control the clock with the running game and then try and take some shots down the field with their talented receiving core. Owls quarterback Anthony Russo has played much better at home throwing for over a thousand yards with nine touchdowns and only three interceptions. I think this is a great bounce back spot for Temple and I still favor UCF to win, but I like Temple and the points.

 

Temple +11.5

Follow Shawn on Twitter @SBurnsFootball

19 NCAAF 40-30 +9.5 units