Pinned
Link copied
After two games on the road, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane are heading back home. Tulsa and the Temple Owls will face off in an American Athletic battle at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday at Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium. The Golden Hurricane will be strutting in after a win while Temple will be stumbling in from a defeat.
It may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Tulsa ultimately got the result they were hoping for last week with a 20-13 victory over the Tulane Green Wave. No one had a standout game offensively for Tulsa, but they got scores from WR Ezra Naylor II and RB Shamari Brooks. Tulsa's win came on a 15-yard rush from Brooks with only 0:00 remaining in overtime.
Meanwhile, a win for the Owls just wasn't in the stars last week as the squad never even grasped a temporary lead. Their bruising 37-8 loss to the Houston Cougars might stick with them for a while. Temple was down 24 to nothing at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. QB Justin Lynch had a pretty forgettable game, throwing two interceptions with only 4.96 yards per passing attempt.
Since the offense as a whole struggled to get points on the board, Temple's defense had to pick up the slack, as it got past Houston's offensive line to sack the quarterback four times for a total loss of 25 yards. Leading the way was DT Darian Varner and his two sacks. Those were the first sacks for Varner through ten games.
Tulsa is the favorite in this one, with an expected 22-point margin of victory. But bettors beware: they are only 2-5 against the spread when favored.
Tulsa's win brought them up to 4-6 while the Owls' defeat pulled them down to 3-7. A couple defensive stats to keep an eye on: The Golden Hurricane are 193rd worst in the nation in touchdowns allowed, with 28 on the season. Temple has experienced some struggles of their own as they are stumbling into the game with the 243rd most touchdowns allowed in the nation, having given up 48 on the season. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
