Week 8 Friday games feature SMU vs. Temple
The calm before the storm is really calm this week, as we only have one Friday night game in college football. It will be SMU vs. Temple in an AAC clash, where a pretty mediocre Mustangs team is a three-touchdown favorite on the road in Philly. Are there any angles worth betting in this game? Let’s find out.
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Odds as of 10/18, 3:30 a.m. ET
SMU Mustangs (-20.5, 54.5) at Temple Owls
SMU is 4-2 on the season and it would be fair to say that their results are pretty much exactly what you would expect. The Mustangs have lost to Oklahoma and TCU. They’ve beaten Prairie View A&M, Louisiana Tech, Charlotte, and East Carolina. Temple definitely falls in that second group, so a win is the expectation. Covering a big spread like this is another question.
In two AAC games, SMU has scored a total of 65 points, but they’ve also only allowed 26. Temple comes into this game with just two wins in seven tries and they’re both effectively against FCS teams. Norfolk State is an actual one and Akron is the closest thing that FBS has to an FCS team.
Temple has allowed over 40 points in four straight games, so this might be the game that SMU really needs to get the offense going. SMU QB Tanner Mordecai transferred to Wisconsin prior to the season, leaving Preston Stone as the signal caller in Dallas. Stone has only completed 57% of his tosses and has a 14/5 TD/INT ratio.
EJ Warner, who was the incumbent starter for the Owls, has actually thrown for nearly 300 more yards than Stone, but that’ll happen when trailing all the time. Temple’s offense hasn’t converted much of that production to points, as they are 110th in the nation with 21.9 points per game.
SMU is actually in the top 20 in yards per play on defense, so this is a good chance for them to flex their muscle. I don’t have a strong opinion on this game, but I would be more interested in laying it than taking it.
Lean: SMU -20.5
