Temple Owls (0-0) vs. Duke Blue Devils (0-0)
The college football season takes off with two clubs looking to turn things around after disappointing 2021 seasons as the Temple Owls take on the Duke Blue Devils on Thursday. Both teams are coming off 3-9 records, with Temple losing their last seven games of the season. Duke lost their final eight games of the year, so both teams will be looking to try to get off to good starts to break losing streaks.
These clubs have played each other just one time in the last 20 years, a 56-27 victory for Duke in December 2018. The Blue Devils enter as 7.0 point favorites with the total set at 51.5.
It was believed that Rod Carey was the answer when he was hired three seasons ago, but that did not prove to be the case, after going 4-15 over the last two seasons. Now the club turns to Stan Drayton, hoping he can find the formula that turns this team around. This is his first opportunity as a head coach, but he has proven to be an exceptional assistant.
This just in: a message from @StanDraytonTU from @Temple_FB ?? Join us September 12-18 for #TempleHC22 and @JasonWingard's inauguration ?? Visit https://t.co/j8KllJKNNt for more info. Go Owls ??@TempleUniv pic.twitter.com/iJ8DkBQfuq
— Temple Alumni (@TempleAlumni) August 26, 2022
There is a lot that needs to be improved with this team, starting with the offense. They were 125th in total offense last season and scored 14 points or fewer in nine of their 12 games, including the last seven. There is a lot of veteran experience with this group, but the number one job is going to be to work with this group of running backs. The club got Darvon Hubbard from Texas A&M and Jakari Norwood from Illinois. That should help to make them a lot more formidable on the ground. The question is if former Georgia quarterback D’Wan Mathis will be the guy who can lead this offense through the air.
The defense is a little more experienced and has more players returning from last season. They did not do a very good job of getting after the quarterback, and Alex Odom will be looked upon as the leader of this club, taking over for safety Amir Tyler who graduated. The secondary should be the strength of this team, but there is not a lot of upfront to slow down opposing ground games.