Matt Rhule, Temple Owls seek program-defining win vs Notre Dame
Temple is having its best season ever with a 7-0 start and top 25 ranking. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish seek to stay in the top ten with their match-up at the Temple Owls on Halloween.
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The Temple Owls may not have the brand name of a big powerhouse team, but this year the program is putting something special together. What was previously a game most people marked as a simple win for Notre Dame, has now become one of the top games Notre Dame plays this year. Even still, Temple is vastly underrated in this game.
Although both teams obviously have plenty at stake, I this game benefits Temple more than Notre Dame. With a win here Temple can make a great case to reach a New Year’s Six bowl if it can run the table and win the American Athletic Conference over current undefeated teams Memphis and Houston.
An Irish loss here would officially eliminate Notre Dame from making the Playoff and with a challenging game left with Stanford looming, Brian Kelly’s team may find itself playing in a mid-level bowl game this year, again.
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Notre Dame can’t go into this game thinking it’ll be an automatic win like fans in the preseason otherwise they’re going to get blown out.
If Notre Dame can impose their will and C.J. Prosise, Will Fuller and Jaylon Smith dominate the opponent, they can hand the Owls their first loss of the season, but it’ll be a tricky affair.
Temple has one of the nation’s best defenses and made a statement with a 10-sack win against Penn State in the season opener that set the tone for a potentially special season for head coach Matt Rhule.
The game will probably be low scoring. Temple’s strength comes from its high defensive performances, including a solid turnover rate (top 20 nationwide) and total sacks (top 15).
Notre Dame rates at the bottom half of the nation in those categories, but the Irish can counter with a strong offensive performance, where they rate fifth in the nation in yards per play.
With College GameDay in attendance you can expect the atmosphere to be one of the best in Temple football history and that emotion could be the difference on what promises to be a wild Halloween night that Owls fans hope will be more of a treat than an awful trick.