Week 4 of the college football season kicks off with an American Athletic Conference clash between the Temple Owls and the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Game time is set for 7:30 EST on Thursday, September 20, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The game will be available nationally on ESPN.
Early odds have Temple favored by 6.5 points at home. Click here to see a full list of college football odds for this week’s games.
The Owls have had a rough start to the season but they scored a massive win last week when they knocked off Maryland on the road 35-14. Temple more than doubled Maryland it total yards, as the Terrapins only scored via a pick-six and a blocked punt. Unfortunately for the Owls, such a big win came on the heels of back-to-back losses to Villanova, an FCS program, and Buffalo, a mid-level MAC team. Temple can only hope last week was a sign of things to come heading into conference play.
Tulsa also enters this game with a 1-2 record but on the heels of back-to-back losses. The Golden Hurricanes squeaked past FCS opponent Central Arkansas in their opener before falling to Texas and Arkansas State the past two weeks. Both losses were by single-digit margins and came against quality teams. However, Tulsa is already in a tough position as far as making a bowl is concerned. With a few more tough games ahead of them, the Hurricanes may need this win over Temple to make it to a bowl. They also don’t want to fall to 1-3 after last year’s 2-10 campaign.
Speaking of last year, the Owls knocked off the Golden Hurricanes 43-22 when they traveled to Tulsa the last week of the regular season. Temple recovered from a slow start and was able to seize control of the game in the 2nd quarter, giving them a win that secured a bowl birth. The Golden Hurricanes are hoping for some redemption as they make the return trip to Philadelphia on a short week.
This is a difficult game to call because we don’t know if last week’s win over Maryland is an aberration for Temple or not. I also suspect that Tulsa is a little better than their 1-2 record would indicate. However, with the Golden Hurricanes having to travel on a short week, I have to give the edge to Temple, so I’ll lean toward the Owls to win by at least a touchdown.
The biggest difference between Temple’s win over Maryland and their first two games was quarterback Anthony Russo, who started last week in place of the injured Frank Nutile. Despite throwing one pick-six, Russo was impressive in his first career start, going 15 for 25 for 228 yards. Doing so on the road against a team that beat Texas a couple weeks previously makes it all the more impressive.
The Maryland defense is plenty talented, and the fact that the Temple rushing attack was modest at best last week, it’s hard to deny that Russo was the biggest catalyst for Temple’s 35-point outburst. I’m going to choose to believe that Russo’s performance is a sign of things to come.
Moreover, Tulsa’s defense has a limited amount of video on Russo and a limited amount of time to prepare for him. The Golden Hurricanes also haven’t proven to be that strong defensively this season. They’ve given up at least 27 points in every game this season, and that includes their opener against an FCS team. That tells me Russo and the Owls should find their way to the end zone at least a few times on Thursday.
Naturally, that leads us to the Tulsa offense, who will be tasked with keeping up with the Owls in order to beat the spread or win the game. The Golden Hurricanes have been a run-heavy team in recent years, but their productivity on the ground is down from recent years, even last season when they only won two games. Meanwhile, Tulsa isn’t getting enough out of quarterback Luke Skipper, who has failed to reach the 200-yard mark in each of the first three games of the season. That lack of productivity through the air is putting too much pressure on the under-achieving rushing game.
The Golden Hurricanes will also be facing a Temple defense that was outstanding last week. The Owls allowed less than 200 yards against Maryland, including just 63 yards through the air, which is no small accomplishment. Of course, Temple gave up 36 points the week before against Buffalo, although Buffalo appears to be a rather potent offensive team early in the season. Against a Tulsa offense that isn’t that proficient through the air, I expect Temple’s defense to continue playing at a high level.
Swallowing the points in this game means trusting that the Owls can show some consistency from one week to the next on both sides of the ball. I’m not completely sold on that being the case. However, Tulsa has lost the last two weeks by at least a touchdown and is playing on the road with a short week of preparation. That gives me enough confidence that Temple can cover the 6.5-point spread.