Temple football (1-2) and the Tulane Green Wave (2-4) meet in AAC college football action from Yulman Stadium on Halloween on Saturday afternoon.
Temple looking to bounce back
While the Temple Owls lost 41-29 to the Memphis Tigers, the game was much closer than the final scoreboard entails, leading at half 15-10 and had a chance to take the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Simply put, turnovers cost Temple football again. This game had four turnovers overall, and three of them were interceptions thrown by Senior quarterback Anthony Russo. Russo has now thrown an interception in every game this season.
The bright side once again is the offense looked explosive. Jaden Blue had 13 catches for 115 yards and three touchdowns. Blue has five touchdowns on the year already passing his last year’s mark of four. While the defense was once against horrific, the one bright spot was forcing an experienced Memphis offense to turn the ball over three times even confusing senior QB Brady White multiple times with unique coverages. White was uncharacteristically 17 of 36 (47.2%) on his pass attempts, way below his career average at 63.1%.
Tulane looking to find early season form
After starting the season 2-1, the Green Wave dropped three straight, all in conference play. In those three games, they are giving up a whopping 45.7 points per game. The other side of the ball has had some life as it is averaging 33 points per game in those three losses.
Tulane has shown the firepower on offense including in Week 3 when it scored 66 points at Southern Miss. Even with how well the offense has been playing, the QB play could really improve. It is hard to win consistently when both quarterbacks who have suited up for the Green Wave are completing passes under 50%.
Freshman Michael Pratt has thrown for 690 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions on 47.4% passing. Senior Keon Howard has thrown for 299 yards and an interception on 42.1% passing. One interesting note on the Green Wave is brothers Deuce Watts and Phatts Watts, both wide receivers for the Green Wave. Deuce Watts leads the team in receiving yards with 192, and Phatts Watts leads the team with receptions at 11.
Betting info
Temple football is 13-5 against the spread in its last 18 games against a team with a losing record. Tulane is 16-5 against the spread in its last 21 home games and 9-3 against the spread in its last 12 games as a favorite. The over seems to be the play again as the over is 4-0-1 in Temple’s last five games. For Tulane, the over is 5-0-1 ATS in its last six games.
Prediction
This is a tricky one to predict. Both teams are nearly identical with very solid offenses while their defenses are basically swiss cheese. The over is definitely the smartest bet at 59, as I expect a very high scoring game. While Temple has the better roster top to bottom, it hasn’t gotten stops all year no matter the opposition’s talent. If Russo can find a way not to turn over the ball, Temple’s defense made some progress last week against Memphis and will win the turnover battle in a close game. Temple 34 Tulane 31
Date: Saturday, Oct. 31
Time: Noon ET
Spread: Tulane -4
Over/Under: 59
Hi, my name is Jason Greene I am a 21-year-old college student at Temple University. My dream goal is to become a sports radio host. I host my own podcast called NoBlockSports and I am a content creator for TheWooderboys podcast.