If you thought a 1-3 start was bad enough for Rod Carey and the Temple football program, Well, they got some more bad news this week as starting running back Re’Mahn Davis has decided to transfer from Temple.
God has a plan 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/8iwkrmA1Iv
— Re’Mahn Davis (@MrHeisman7) November 4, 2020
Davis led the Owls in rushing yards as a freshman with 936 yards and eight touchdowns and looked to be a cornerstone in the future for the Owls. Well, he is now gone and after last week’s game, the future does not look bright for the Owls. Senior quarterback Anthony Russo missed the game and will also be out for this week’s game against SMU.
In a devastating 38-3 loss at Tulane, Temple gave two young QB a chance to show what they got, and to say the least, they underperformed greatly. Sophomore Trad Beatty got the first drive and ended up with 122 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception. He was responsible for the only points scored in the game for the Owls. Re-al Mitchell, a transfer from Iowa State, also got a few drives but he simply couldn’t throw the ball accurate past five yards, and he ended with 23 yards on 5 of 8 passing. Without Russo, it going to be extremely hard for the Owls to put up points even with good wide receiver weapons in Brandon Mack, Randle Jones and Jaden Blue.
SMU looks to keep offense rolling
SMU on the other side will have zero problems putting points on the board. Senior QB Shane Buechele has thrown for 2,226 yards, 16 touchdowns and three interceptions on 66.3% passing. Freshman RB Ulysses Bentley IV has 695 rushing yards and 10 rushing scores this season. SMU also has four receivers over 100 receiving yards, led by Rashee Rice with 34 receptions for 521 yards and four touchdowns. SMU has one loss on the season, and that was against Cincinnati at home 41-13. Even including that game, the Mustangs are averaging 39.6 points and 523 yards per game, winning its previous matchup 51-37 against Navy.
One black mark on the Mustangs roster is their ability to get stops as they give up 29.4 points per game and almost 200 rushing yards per game. Look for Temple football to pound the rock a lot in this game.
Betting info
Spread: SMU -17.5
Total: 62.5
SMU is 1-6 against the spread in its last seven road games and 1-4 ATS in its last five games as a road favorite. Temple is 22-9 ATS in its last 31 games as an underdog and 9-4 ATS in its last 13 home games. The over is 5-1 in its last six home games. The over is 4-0 in the last four meetings between these two teams.
Final prediction
SMU has a poor defense but Without Russo and with Davis now gone, I just don’t trust either Beaty or Mitchell to make plays consistently to get Temple football into any type of scoring position. Temple still allows 36.8 points per game, so SMU is definitely going to reach 35 in this game and the Owls don’t have enough firepower to make it close.
SMU 41 Temple 17
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.