Independence Bowl – Duke vs Temple
The Game
POWER Five vs Group of Five, baby.
The Temple Owls come into this game with a mark of 8-4 and on SUPAH HOT FIRE winning eight of their final ten games. The two losses? On the road at Boston College and at those pesky UCF Knights who haven’t lost a game since the Nixon administration. Duke started out with their HAIR ON FIRE (4-0) but have gone 3-5 since then including an epic beating at the hands of Wake Forest (59-7) (!) in the season finale.
The Details
Temple -3.5 Duke (54.5)
MEGALOCKS LINE – Temple -3
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: Temple 29 Duke 25.5
The Match-Up:
Temple offense vs Duke defense
Yes, guy.
It appears as though QB Anthony Russo will be close to 100% and ready to rumble when the Owls take the field. Russo was a definite upgrade over Frank Nutile in terms of MATRICULATING the ball down the field in the passing game (58% 13-13 TD to INT) but the tendency towards throwing it to the WRONG TEAM is definitely a concern as we go to press. The best offensive player on the field is RB Ryquell Armstead (1,098, 5.2, 13 TD) who bagged six 100-yard games despite missing time due to injury. Armstead will ALSO be good to go in this game. The Owls have a deep WR corps led by Ventell Bryant (659, 14.0, 3 TD) and are more capable than you would think of hitting the big play. The Duke stop unit? They have been atrocious vs the run (#116 FBS) (!) and below average on 3rd downs (#75). Duke has not been that successful in achieving PENETRATION (21 sacks, #12 ACC) and Temple should be able to have their way on offense if they don’t barf all over themselves with turnovers. <grabs popcorn>
Duke offense vs Temple defense
QB Daniel Jones has been decent this season but has not performed at the level (statistically, at least) that many would have hoped (59%, 17-7 TD to INT, 6.4 yards per attempt). The WR group is nothing special but nine players on the team have at least one TD reception. The odds of Duke being able to MATRICULATE the ball down the field in the passing game without resistance are not good as the Owls are ranked #5 (!!) in the FBS in pass efficiency D. Most of the work on offense will have to be done via the air attack (Duke #116 rushing offense) although they have some potential with Deon Jackson at RB (860, 5.3, 7 TD) vs the SOFT UNDERBELLY of the Temple D (#90 run D). We can see Duke having some success moving the ball but this is far from an ideal match-up.
Trends, Intangibles and More!
The Blue Devils are 5-0 ATS as an underdog so far this season……The Blue Devils are 0-3 in FG attempts from 40+ yards…..These two teams have never met on the gridiron…..Duke was outscored 94-13 in their final two games (Clemson, Wake Forest) and was outscored in conference play to the tune of 266-176 (!)…..Former Temple HC Geoff Collins is off to Georgia Tech and will not be coaching the Owls in this contest.
Summary
We have done a FLIP FLOP on this one but still don’t have FIRM CONVICTION. Duke is from the “Power 5” conference and have a decided coaching edge. But that’s it, yo. Temple will be able to run at will on Duke (presuming Armstead is a go) and QB Russo should be able to complement things with some deep shots. It’s hard to roll with an interim HC in a bowl game (even though they are 2-0 this bowl season so far…….North Texas QB Mason Fine blew up his hamstring in the first Q in a 89,897 STAR MEGALOCKS BOWL LOSER and App St has defense like ROLL TIDE but with more speed and size….Just kidding…..not really) but Ed Foley coaches with the WHITE HOT INTENSITY OF 1,000 SUNS and at a minimum Temple will be ready to play.
Conclusion
Official play: None yet.
Side: Lean to Temple.
Total: No leanage to report.
As always:
‘Lean’ implies we are comfortable suggesting ‘small potatoes’ on the game. Nothing more. < but always stay tuned for updates >
‘Slight lean’ implies we are almost certain to avoid the game and/or total from a betting standpoint even for ‘small potatoes’. We give an opinion for those who need to get down and want advice.