Temple Owls (3-6) vs. Houston Cougars (5-4)
November 12, 2022 3:00 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Cougars -19 / Temple Owls +19; Over/Under:
(Get latest betting odds)
The Houston Cougars and Temple Owls meet Saturday in week 11 AAC college football action from TDECU Stadium. Temple played South Florida this past weekend. The Owls ended up winning in a blowout. As for Houston, they’re coming off a game versus SMU. In that one the Cougars lost by 14 in a shootout. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Temple opened up the year at 2-2 with wins over Lafayette and UMass mixed with losses to Duke and Rutgers. The Owls would then hit a losing streak, falling to Memphis, UCF, Tulsa and Navy over the next quartet of outings.
In the South Florida matchup, the Owls were up 33-28 going into the fourth quarter. Temple posted a 21-0 edge from there in a 54-28 win. QB EJ Warner managed 344 yards and two touchdowns. Edward Saydee did most of the work with 265 rush yards and three scores, though.
Over on the Houston side, they also started out at 2-2 this year with wins over UTSA and Rice among losses to Texas Tech and Kansas. Houston then lost to Tulane before taking wins over Memphis, Navy and South Florida.
Matched up against SMU, the Cougars were down 56-35 after a wild first half. Houston scored 28 more in the second half but ultimately lost 77-63. QB Clayton Tune put up 527 yards with a whopping seven TDs and three picks while also rushing for 111 yards and a score.
Temple is 6-2 ATS in their last eight overall and 4-1 ATS in their last five after an ATS win. Temple is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 on turf.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are 2-5 ATS in their last seven overall and 19-9 ATS in their last 28 after an ATS loss. Houston is 0-4 ATS in their last four at home.
PICK: I’m staying with Houston. The Cougars are coming off a wild game versus SMU, giving up a whopping 642 yards, 31 first downs and 10-of-14 on third-down tries. Houston posted 710 yards with 34 first downs themselves but couldn’t overcome their mistakes. So long as the defense rallies I think they’ll be fine.
As for Temple, they bagged 621 total yards with 28 first downs and zero turnovers in their win versus USF. Houston is likely going to be a considerably tougher team to keep pace with, but considering the Cougars’ defensive performance last weekend I’m probably staying away.
