The Cincinnati Bearcats are riding high, having won their last five games, but will now face a tough test when they travel east to take on the Temple Owls.
While the Bearcats have beaten East Carolina (at home) during their current winning streak, the competition they’ve beaten on the road over these last five games haven’t exactly been top notch. Cincinnati has played on the road three times during its current winning streak, defeating SMU, Tulane and UConn, three of the worst teams in the AAC.
But now, the Bearcats will square off with Temple Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field, and they can’t sleep on the Owls if they wish to win a sixth straight game.
Temple enters Saturday’s contest on a two-game losing streak, having fallen to Penn State and Memphis. The Owls could have, and one could even argue they should have, beaten the Tigers when the two teams met three weeks ago.
Temple jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter against Memphis, but the Tigers rattled off 13 straight points to take a three-point lead into the fourth quarter. Though the Owls were able to tie the game back up on a 46-yard field goal by Austin Jones, Jake Elliott answered with a 31-yard field goal of his own as time expired to give Memphis the victory.
The Tigers are poised to capture the AAC title, and yet it still took until literally the final second for them to defeat Temple, so the Bearcats simply cannot underestimate what the Owls are capable of.
Temple’s greater strength is definitely its defense, which should make for an interesting matchup as the Owls try to slow down Gunner Kiel and the Cincinnati offense.
The Owls rank 21st in the FBS in pass defense, surrendering just 191.8 yards through the air per game. They even managed to stifle Shane Carden and the high-powered East Carolina offense, holding Carden to just 217 yards, his lowest total of the season.
Junior defensive back Tavon Young has been especially impressive for Matt Rhule’s team, recording four interceptions (including one pick six) so far on the year. Young has one fumble return as well this season, which he also returned for a touchdown.
Young and the Temple secondary will be tasked with trying to slow down Kiel and the Cincinnati aerial attack. The Bearcats are putting up 308 passing yards per game in 2014, 13th in the nation, but the Owls will likely need to hold Kiel well below his season average like they did to Carden if they’re to pull off the upset.
Cincinnati seems to be peaking at just the right time in the season, but all the momentum the Bearcats have built over their last five games could be derailed if they aren’t ready for a battle Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
Edited By: Ali Balchunas
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