The #23 ranked Temple Owls (7-1) are heading to Dallas this week for a Friday night matchup against the Southern Methodist University (1-7) Mustangs. The Mustangs are coming off a tough loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, having fallen 40-31, while the Owls are coming off a close game against #8 Notre Dame, in which Temple led late but ended up falling, 24-20. It’s only been two years since the Mustangs hung 59 points on Temple in a win, but these Owls are good on both sides of the ball. While SMU can score with anyone – they put up 37 points against #8 TCU on the road – their defense has been awful this year as the time looks to rebuild under new head coach Chad Morris.
This will end Friend’s streak of 41 consecutive starts, the longest in the school, and 43 consecutive games played, will come to an end on Friday. Quarterback P.J. Walker termed Friend’s absence a major loss for the Owls, but he is confident that McGowan can do the job as a fill-in. McGowan is 6’4” and 300 pounds, and is a redshirt junior. Friend came in with the coaches on Monday night to draw up all of the protection schemes for Rhule, taking a little of the work off him.
Date/Time: Friday, November 6, 8:00 PM
Location: Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, Texas
TV: ESPN2
NCAAF Spread: Temple -14
The game can be live streamed here.
#TUFB coming in at No. 22 in the first College Football Playoff ranking of the year. pic.twitter.com/NN02vqUeju
— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) November 4, 2015
On the Temple side of the ball, the team will be without center Kyle Friend. Friend was spied limping around wearing a knee brace during practice, and Owls head coach Matt Rhule said that Friend will be out of action “for a while.” As Rhule told CSNPhilly.com, “That’s a significant injury for us. Brendan McGowan got in the game (Saturday) and played well. He’s got 13 starts in his career. We’re very confident in McGowan going in. Friend was injured on a 3rd-and-2 play in the Owls’ first offense series against Notre Dame, coming up lame after tailback Jahad Thomas was stopped for no game. However, he finished the game.

Betting Trends
- Temple is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
- Temple is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Temple’s last 10 games
- Temple is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
- Southern Methodist is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games
- Southern Methodist is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 13 of Southern Methodist’s last 19 games
- Southern Methodist is 3-8 ATS in its last 11 games at home