Hoping to extend their flawless record, the No. 22 Temple Owls (6-0) travel to take on the East Carolina Pirates (4-3). The game kicks off Thursday, Oct 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be shown on ESP2.
In last week’s matchup, East Carolina defeated Tulsa 30-17. Davon Grayson had a good performance in the victory, grabbing four receptions for 84 yards. Chris Hairston put up 82 rushing yards on 18 carries. Temple also won last week’s performance, defeating UCF 30-16. Jahad Thomas had a huge game running the ball for the Owls, rushing 31 times for 199 yards and three TDs.
This week’s matchup between the Pirates and Owls has even odds and the Over/Under (O/U) is currently not available.
With a 4-3 record both Straight Up (SU) and Against The Spread (ATS), the Pirates will look to improve as they head into Week 8. During their last five games, the Pirates gave up 248.0 passing yards per game. Special teams is a weakness for Temple that the Pirates may use to their advantage. On average, the Owls have allowed 122.8 return yards per game.
In the other locker room, the Owls head into Week 8 with records of 4-2 ATS and 6-0 SU. The Owls have the eighth-ranked run defense in the nation, giving up just 91.7 yards per game on the ground. The Temple defense will take advantage of every opportunity the Pirates give it. The Owls generate 2.2 turnovers per game, 20th in the country. It’ll be hard to get the ball out of the hands of Temple’s offense this week. The team’s average time of possession is 34:06, ranking them eighth in the country.
Predictions: SU Winner – Temple, ATS Winner – Temple
Notes
East Carolina is 5-11 ATS in its last 16 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of East Carolina’s last 6 games.
East Carolina is 12-1 SU in its last 13 games at home.
Temple is 4-0 SU when leading at the half this season. East Carolina is 3-0 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
Remarkably, East Carolina is only 2-3 SU in games where it comes out ahead in the turnover battle, yet undefeated (2-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle.
The Temple rush defense is ranked eighth in the country, and will look to contain the 95th-ranked ground attack of East Carolina.
