Temple vs. Notre Dame Pick
Can Notre Dame find a way to get enough offense to hit the over when it collides with Temple on Saturday at 3:30PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Notre Dame is favored to win this game, as the Fighting Irish are getting odds of -18.5 points against Temple. The over/under total for this game is listed at 55 points. The Irish have won the last two meetings with Temple, while both games went under the total. These two meet from Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana. The game will air live on NBC.
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Notre Dame is coming off an awful 4-8 record in 2016. The Irish averaged 30.9 points per game on offense while allowing 27.8 points per contest. The Irish were 6-6 with the over/under during the season. Brandon Wimbush will be stepping in to lead the offense this year. He will be making his first start on Saturday. He has a solid pair of targets to work with in Equanimeous St. Brown and Kevin Stephenson. Those two had a combined 14 touchdowns catches last season. Josh Adams was the team’s leading rusher last year and is back after posting 933 yards in 2016.
Temple is coming off a 10-4 record last season, which included an American Athletic Conference title. Head coach Matt Rhule left to take over the Baylor football program. Geoff Collins steps in. He was the defensive coordinator at Florida prior to this. The Owls were 8-6 with the under in 2016, as they averaged 32.36 on offense while allowing just 18.4 per game on defense. Temple has a new starting quarterback, but who it will be is unknown right now. The Owls will go with either Frank Nutile, a redshirt junior, or sophomore Logan Marchi. Marchi threw six passes last season. Leading receivers Ventell Bryant and Keith Kirkwood are back. The two combined for over 1,500 yards. In the backfield, Ryquell Armstead is back to lead the offense. He rushed for 919 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2016.
Both team enter this game with plenty of questions and new starting quarterbacks. Notre Dame may have some struggles as Wimbush has his first start. Temple could have a lot of struggles as Collins works in his new system and works in a new starting QB. I think this game will be a little bit ugly, which is likely going to lead to a low scoring total.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREDICTION: TEMPLE/NOTRE DAME UNDER 55