The Temple Owls and the East Carolina Pirates meet Saturday in college football action from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville. Here’s an East Carolina vs Temple prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best East Carolina vs Temple pick.
Temple Owls Betting Preview
Temple started out their season with a nice win over Rhode Island but they haven’t had much luck since. The Owls’ only win in the last six came versus South Florida. Otherwise it’s been losses to Penn State, Toledo, Army, UConn and Charlotte. That gives Temple a rough 2-5 overall record through the first seven games this year.
In the Charlotte game back on October 17, the Owls managed a couple of touchdowns in the first half but then let Charlotte back in it during the third quarter. In the end Temple couldn’t get it done and lost the game 38-31. QB Ajani Sheppard was 15-of-23 for 236 yards and a touchdown while also leading the rush with seven carries for 70 yards and two more scores.
East Carolina Pirates Betting Preview
Over on the Pirates’ side, they kicked off their 2026 campaign with a couple of losses to Alabama and App State. East Carolina then beat Old Dominion, NC Central and Rice in a three-game win streak. After that came consecutive losses versus UAB and Memphis. That gives the Pirates a 3-4 overall record in the books this season.
In the Memphis matchup last Thursday the Pirates had a 10-0 lead after the first quarter and a 16-3 lead after the second. East Carolina was up 24-10 at one point in the third but couldn’t hang on in a 41-34 overtime defeat. QB Mitch Griffis was 14-of-26 for 199 yards, one TD and two picks. TJ Engleman carried 18 times for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Temple Owls @ East Carolina Pirates Betting Trends: Week 9
East Carolina Pirates Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 9, TJ Engleman Jr. leads East Carolina for touchdowns (5) this season.
Temple Owls Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 9, Ajani Sheppard leads Temple for touchdowns (5) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- East Carolina has played in the equal-highest number of games that went to overtime this season (2).
- East Carolina ranks T134th among FBS teams for red zone percentage against this season (96.3).
- Temple ranks 128th among FBS teams for Q4 opponent points per game this season (9.3).
- Temple ranks 124th among FBS teams for 1st downs this season (127).
East Carolina vs Temple Prediction
I’ll stick with East Carolina. The Pirates took a pretty good Memphis team to the wire in their last outing, and were actually in a great position to win later on in the game. ECU had three turnovers however, and ended up going just 5-of-17 on third-down tries. The defense gave up 484 yards and 24 first downs but did pretty well on thirds (4-of-15) themselves. East Carolina has lost consecutive overtime games now but they’ve been competitive.
As for Temple, they gave up 26 first downs, 449 yards and 6-of-10 on third downs in their loss to a previously winless Charlotte squad. The Owls have given up a combined 72 points in their last two games, and it’s hard to win when your opponents are hanging those kinds of numbers on the board.