Temple Can Cover at Home over Tulsa

Tulsa vs. Temple, 7:30 ET

Friday night lights are focused in on Tulsa and Temple this week. While these teams aren't some of the premier in the country, this will still be a nationally televised game and one that should see a bit of excitement with Tulsa's strong offense and two bad defensive teams.

Tulsa comes into the game with just a 2-4 record, and they haven't really been in most of the games. Their past three games came against a Navy team that does nothing but run the ball, a Cincinatti team that is somewhat underperforming for the year, and then #16 Ole Miss. The game against Ole Miss was their best of the three and it was only a one-score game. So what is going right for Tulsa? Their offense hasn't scored a ton over the past few games, but they are still getting decent yardage. Davis Brin is playing pretty well on the season at quarterback with 1,800 yards passing already. Unfortunatley, he has just three touchdowns over his last three games and four interceptions. In his first three games of the season, he threw 11 touchdowns and one interception. Not coincidentally, Tulsa played significantly better in those three games.

Temple also comes into the game with a 2-4 record. They haven't had to face really significant competition lately. The last two games, both losses, came against UCF and Memphis. Neither are bad teams, but they also aren't top tier either. They looked particularly awful against UCF allowing 70 points. On the season, Temple only averages about two touchdowns a game but are allowing 25 points. They don't have any real standouts on their offense aside from maybe receiver Jose Barbon, but he is suffering through E.J. Warner throwing him the ball. On defense, they are allowing almost 200 yards passing and 160 rushing yards. One word of support for Temple backers here: they have either won or played a close game in all of their home games this season.

Tulsa is definitely the better team, I think they could easily win this game, but I'm not sure it makes much sense to lay the points with them on the road. I'm going to take Temple +13 for the game. At home they play better, Tulsa has the better offense, but they do allow a lot of points - and even a bad Temple offense should be able to score against them.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024