On Friday night, September 15th, the UMass Minutemen travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to take on the Temple Owls. Will the Minutemen get their first victory of the season, or will the Owls win this game as easily as the experts predict? Kickoff inside of Lincoln Financial Field is at 7 P.M. ET.
UMass (0-3) comes into this matchup trying to get their first victory of the season. Although they have failed to get that “W,” the Minutemen have been competitive in each of their three contests. However, they have not won on the road since November 2015.
Temple (1-1) barely escaped their second game of the season with a victory over Villanova 16-13. They look to make it a second win in a row at home against the Minutemen. The Owls are only scoring 16 points per game so far, which is a huge concern despite playing against an inferior opponent last week.
The spread for this game opened with Temple as a -13 point favorite. It has since come down to -12 points.
It’s hard to feel confident in either team as Temple has looked awful this season despite narrowly beating Villanova. The Owls are only scoring 16 points per game, which will get you more losses than victories throughout the season. Right now, the Owls can’t seem to get any ground attack going as they’re only averaging 82 yards per game. Fortunately for Temple, UMass might just be what the doctor ordered.
The UMass defense is giving up 210 rushing yards per game, which means that Temple will have plenty of chances to get Ryquell Armstead going this week. In total, UMass is giving up 423 total yards per game. Sadly, Temple’s defense is giving up over 500 total yards per game, which is embarrassing at any level of football. If there’s a silver lining to this horrific stat, it’s that the Owls gave up over 600 yards of offense in their 1st game of the season at Notre Dame. However, that also means that they gave up 400 yards to Villanova.
For UMass, they played fairly well in their first two contests vs Hawaii and at Coastal Carolina, but they were handled by Old Dominion last week. They have the potential to move the ball on offense, especially in the passing game where Temple is giving up 283 passing yards per game.
Despite the numbers appearing to give UMass a puncher’s chance in this game, their recent road trip woes is too much to ignore.
Temple is 12-3 ATS in their last 15 games, 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games at home, and 5-0 ATS against teams with a losing record. UMass is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall, 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games on grass, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Friday games.
I’m not excited with taking Temple to win by nearly 2 touchdowns, but UMass hasn’t won on the road in 22 months. Additionally, the Minutemen have played a relatively soft football schedule so far, and lost all of their games. Temple rebounded after their bad loss at Notre Dame and should continue to get better as they take on UMass this week. Look for Temple’s rushing attack to open up passing opportunities and the play action.