It was a tale of two seasons for the Temple Owls. It looked like Temple was going to have a long season under first year head coach Geoff Collins in the month of September. The Owls were blown out by Notre Dame and South Florida and struggled to get past both Villanova and Massachusetts. However, Collins was able to get this team to respond and the Owls ended up making a bowl after winning three of their last four. Now, he is looking to secure a winning record when his team takes on the Florida International Golden Panthers.
Watch the Gasparilla Bowl live on Thursday, December 21, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Florida International +7
Temple -7
Over/Under 55.5
Odds Analysis
Florida International made some people a lot of money this season. The Golden Panthers might have gone just 6-6 ATS this season, but in each of those six wins they were an underdog and won outright. That’s an incredible number and shows that the oddsmakers were underestimating FIU all year long. Over was a nice bet near the end of the season too with FIU’s final four games going over the total.
Temple started the year 0-4 ATS, but as Collins got more familiar with the team, they started to respond. The Owls finished up be covering in six of their last eight and pulled off a nice upset win over Navy. Under hit in six straight games for Temple, but the final five games all went over the total.
Player to Watch
The other reason that the Owls fortunes started to turn around is that the team replaced Logan Marchi with Frank Nutile. Marchi came into the season as the starting quarterback, but was not particularly effective. He wasn’t bad through the first three games, however, eight interceptions in a four-game stretch moved Collins to start Nutile down stretch.
Nutile responded in a big way. He completed over 60 percent of his passes and averaged 7.9 yards per pass in the final eight games of the season. Additionally, Nutile proved that he was able to use his legs to make plays and added another dynamic to Temple’s offense.
Aside from a four-interception performance against UCF, Marchi has been just splendid. He led the team to wins over Navy, Cincinnati, and Tulsa, and helped take the team to overtime against Army.
Key Stats
Florida International was a little fortunate to finish 8-4. The Golden Panthers were actually outscored on the season and that’s despite not playing a power conference opponent. FIU was hammered by UCF, Florida Atlantic, and Middle Tennessee State, losing each of those three games by at least 20 points. The Golden Panthers were 4-1 in games decided by one possession or less though and that was the difference.
The Golden Panthers offense was decent in Butch Davis’ first season on the job, but the defense kept this team from challenging in Conference USA. FIU’s run defense was one of the worst of any bowl team and the Golden Panthers gave up 4.8 yards per carry. They weren’t good at stopping the pass either, and Bill Connelly’s S&P+ had them rated as one of the worst pass defenses in college football.
Free ATS Pick
Tropicana Field is the worst of all the bowl venues and it’s impossible for any crowd to have any sort of impact with how the field is laid out. Keep that in mind if you’re considering a bet on FIU just because you think there might be a home field advantage.
Instead, go with Temple. The Owls have really come on strong and Collins looks to be another solid hire for the program. They’ll be able to keep the ball on the ground and find holes against this front seven.
College Football Odds: Temple 31, Florida International 20
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