Time: Noon EST, Saturday
Spread: SOFLA -4
Total: 47
Betting Odds from Bookmaker
SOUTH FLORIDA
After a nice 2-0 start to the season with wins over Chatanooga and Nevada, the Bulls have now dropped their last three, to Rutgers, Ball State and last week against No. 4 Florida State. The game against the Seminoles was a bitter pill to swallow since they kept it close until a 17-7 third quarter by the Seminoles.
It was only the second meeting ever between the two schools, and E.J. Manuel was just too much for the Bulls defense again, as the Heisman candidate went 19 of 26 for 242 yards. Comparatively, Bulls QB B.J. Daniels went for only 143 yards on 17 of 33 passing. It was his first game under 200 yards passing, and only his second under QB rating of 100.
Daniels has had some impressive games, including his 363 yard performance against Nevada on September 8th and his 312 yard performance in the loss to Ball State in week 4. Daniels must get it going early to key the Bulls offense against Temple, and win as college football oddsmakers have set the spread 4 points in the Bulls favor.
The Bulls are passing the ball well enough, but not getting a good ground game going. They rank 85th in the nation in rushing yards per game with just 144 per contest. Daniels leads the team in rushing, too, and the best running back Demetris Murray has 247 yards on 63 carries. He’s getting only 3.9 yards per carry. Lindsey Lamar is getting slightly better return with 5.3 yards per carry on 31 carries for 163 yards. Lamar also had a 35 yard TD run in the win over Nevada.
South Florida Betting Trends:
Bulls are 2-5 ATS vs teams with losing records, 3-11 ATS in their last 14 overall, 2-8 ATS in their last 10 following an ATS win, 0-6 ATS in their last 6 following a bye week.
TEMPLE
Temple sits at 1-2 as losers of their past two games. They opened the season with a 41-10 win over Villanova, but dropped contests to Maryland and Penn State. The loss to Penn State was by a score of 24-13, in which they gave up a career high 318 yards to Matt McGloin. Penn State dominated the game, with 491 total yards compared to Temple’s 237. The Owls were especially poor on third down conversions, converting only 25 percent of them. They also only had possession of the ball for about 23 minutes, compared to Penn State’s 36:52.
QB Chris Coyer hasn’t been very good. He’s throwing for only a 45.5 percent completion ratio, but still has a QB rating of 121.3 because he’s only thrown one interception. His main targets have very modest reception numbers, with only Jalen Fitzpatrick receiving over 100 yards in the three games (128 yards on 6 receptions, with a 35 yard TD catch).
Running back Matt Brown has rushed for 202 yards on 33 carries with a TD on the year, which is just slightly better than Coyer’s own rushing numbers of 197 yards on 43 carries. Brown, a 5’5″ senior, did most of his damage against Villanova, when he ran for 145 yards, including a 56 yard haul. His usage has been minimal in the other two games, with only 14 combined carries for 57 yards.
Temple Betting Trends:
Owls are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 conf games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 after accumulating less than 170 passing yards previous game, 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 following a bye week, and 15-6-1 ATS in their last 22 October games.
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