A quick look at the Owls:Temple is coming off two seasons that included a record of 20-8, the best in Owl history. Temple lost the last game of the 2016 season, a 26-34 loss to Wake Forest in the Military Bowl. They also lost their HC Matt Rhule.
The Owls return four starters on offense and four on defense. Temple was great on defense in 2016 finishing 3rd in total defense in the nation. They were 11th nationally in scoring defense and were 1st or 2nd in the AAC in all defensive categories. The offense was more average. They were 66th in total offense.
The Owls have a new QB in Logan Marchi (39-69-519 2 TD's 129.7 EFF). Their best offensive threat is WR Ventral Bryant. Temple gave up 606 yards of offense against Notre Dame and lost 16-49. The Owls struggled against Villanova, which may have FCS' best defense. It took a FG with a minute left to break a tie against the Wildcats. Bryant had seven catches for 79 yards against Villanova. Temple is 4-1 all time in Friday night games.
So far, the UMass defense has played one-and-a-half good games. The Minutemen defense looked good against Old Dominion and they played the run well against Hawaii. Temple does not seem to be an offensive powerhouse. The UMass defense needs to not allow those broken coverages that doomed them against Hawaii.
The UMass offense will need to generate some points against what will probably be a stout Temple defense. So far, Ross Comis has not added any offensive capability to the 2017 season. Perhaps because of limited opportunity or just rust from his off season. The Minutemen could really use another weapon other than Andy Isabella and Adam Breneman.
An upset would go a long way to removing the sour taste generated so far in the Minutemen's 2017 season.
I'll be watching. Go UMass!
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The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Temple game.
Kevin Dillon of MassLive reports the Minutemen are seeking their first win of the season.
Matty Vautour says UMass is treating the Temple game as an opportunity.
Philly.com remembers Temple's wild last win over UMass.
Geoff Collins faced the UMass offense as Florida's defensive coordinator in 2016 and calls the Minutemen offense an "absolute pain".
The Boston Herald says UMass QB Andrew Ford returns home in a search for win.
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The Hartford Courant has a post on the scheduling changes and UMass AD Ryan Bamford gets a lot of coverage. Can you imagine any previous UMass AD being that fast on his feet? I can't.
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