Temple at Ohio Odds
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The Temple Owls visit the Ohio Bobcats Wednesday night in a key MAC contest. This game will be shown on ESPN at 8:00 EST in a rare national TV spot for both schools. Temple sits atop the MAC East standings, just a half-game ahead of Ohio. The Bobcats upset the Owls 31-23 on the road last year as a 10-point underdog, and they’ve now won three of the last four meetings in this series.
Taking a look at the college football spreads for Week 10, I find a line of Temple -4 over Ohio and a total set of 47 points.
Temple
The Owls have had their share of highlight moments this season, but they’ve also been prone to letdowns. Either way, this is still a quality squad and they have proven that time and time again. Among their highlights are two shutout victories and a huge 38-7 road win at Maryland. You could also count their 14-10 loss to Penn State as a highlight simply because they weren’t even supposed to be competitive in that game. But their lowlights are pretty bad, with a 36-13 home loss to Toledo, and a 13-10 road loss at Bowling Green last week.
Temple (5-3, 3-2 MAC) was held to just 284 total yards against the Falcons, which is well below their season average. Chester Stewart was limited to 7 of 13 passing for 66 yards in the loss. Matt Brown and Bernard Pierce each had solid games on the ground as they both rushed for over 100 yards, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Bowling Green quarterback Matt Schilz found Shaun Joplin on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter which proved to be the game-winning score.
Temple has been pretty good on both sides of the ball all season, especially on defense. The Owls rank 6th in the country in total defense (263.3 yards/game) and 2nd in scoring defense (10.0 points/game). They are 66th in total offense (385.4 yards/game), doing most of their damage on the ground as they are 8th in rushing (252.1 yards/game). Pierce has rushed for 951 yards and an FBS-best 18 touchdowns. Brown is a nice compliment to him with 562 rushing yards and two scores.
Ohio
The Bobcats find themselves in the underdog role against Temple again this season despite having the same record. This is a team that also has great numbers overall, but no real quality wins yet. Their 44-7 home victory over Marshall was certainly their best victory. But they also have losses to Buffalo and Ball State, and they were beaten 38-26 at Rutgers, which has been their toughest opponent thus far.
Ohio (5-3, 2-2 MAC) is coming off a 37-20 victory over Akron on October 22nd. They outgained the Zips 556-249 for the game, and their only real blemish was committing three turnovers. Tyler Tettleton led the way with 328 passing yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Donte Harden rushed for 123 yards, and LaVon Brazil caught 3 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown
This team ranks 25th in the country in total offense (449.3 yards/game) and 38th in scoring offense (31.9 points/game). The Bobcats are also 19th in total defense (320.5 yards/game) and 24th in scoring defense (20.4 points/game). Tettleton is quietly having a monster year, completing 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,983 yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also rushed for 258 yards and a team-high five rushing touchdowns. Harden leads all rushers with 514 yards and a score, while Brazil leads all receivers in receptions (37), receiving yards (575) and touchdowns (8).
Betting Trends
Temple is 12-4 ATS in their last 16 road games, including 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a road favorite of 3.5-10.0 points.
The Bobcats are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games vs. a team with a winning record, and 5-0 ATS in their last 6 games following a bye week.
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