College Football ATS Picks - Temple at South Florida Game Preview

The Temple Owls might be one of the least impressive 2-1 teams in the country. Temple got blasted by Notre Dame in its opener and only barely squeaked by FCS Villanova and lowly UMass the last two weeks. This week, the Owls will face another ranked team, but they too have disappointed. The South Florida Bulls have been ranked in the bottom of the Top 25 all season long, but have yet to put forward a quality first half of football. They will try to do that for the first time all year this week.

This matchup in Week 4 of the regular season will take place on Thursday, September 21, 2017,

at 7:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.

College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu

Temple +20.5
South Florida -20.5

Odds Analysis

Geoff Collins is not off to a good start in his first year as Temple’s head coach. The Owls have yet to cover a game and nearly lost to Villanova before holding on at the end against UMass. Temple’s offense has not been able to score at the rate it did during the Matt Rhule era and that has led to the under cashing twice this season.

South Florida finally let Quinton Flowers loose last week and he responded in a big way. He averaged over 10 yards per pass and ran for over 100 yards to lead the Bulls to their first cover of the season. Flowers found the end zone five times on the evening.

Key Stat

Charlie Strong is going to give his Bulls an earful this week at practice. South Florida and Illinois played one of the ugliest first halves you will ever see last week as penalties marred the occasion. No team was able to get into a rhythm or pick up any momentum because of the frequent whistles and that led to a slow start.

The first half had 26 penalties in it. That’s a record as far as anyone can tell and shows you how disjointed the game was. It’s a wonder that the Bulls were able to rally and end up looking good in spite of the poor performance in the initial half of cation.

Matchup to Watch

Owls fans, the hundred or so that there are, have to be very worried about the team’s defense through the opening three games. Under Rhule, the defense was always rock solid, but its performance has been pretty awful this year.

Although Temple has had games against Villanova and UMass, they are still in the bottom ten of defenses in the FBS. The Owls are giving up 488.7 yards per game and 314.3 yards per game through the air.

That should be music to the ears of Flowers, who is looking to reaffirm his position as the best quarterback in the AAC. Flowers finally started to look like his old self last week against Illinois and he should light up Temple’s defense this week.

Free ATS Pick

This line is indicative of the Bulls early season struggles. South Florida would be a bigger favorite if it didn’t struggle as much as it has in the first half this season. Temple has been bad at the two things it’s supposed to do the best, running the ball and playing defense. The Owls rank among the worst teams in college football at both things.

I don’t typically like laying a ton of points, but will in a game like this. South Florida is playing at home, has far better talent, and has looked much better this season than Temple. The Bulls played their best football last week in routing a Big Ten opponent and look set to go on a run. I’ll be at the front of the stampede.

College Football Odds: Bulls 45, Owls 17

BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!