Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons the Irish will defeat Temple

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 01: Equanimeous St. Brown #6 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates the win over Syracuse Orange at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Syracuse Orange 50-33. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

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2. The loss of Matt Rhule costs Temple

Matt Rhule took the Temple program to new heights. Numerous Power Five programs looked to hire him before he ultimately chose Baylor after the departure of Art Briles. Every year under Rhule, Temple improved.

When he first took over with Temple, Rhule had a two-win team to work with. He gradually improved the Owls to six wins in 2014 and 10 wins in 2015 and 2016. With him gone, Geoff Collins takes over as head coach.

Kelly is a more experienced and knowledgeable coach than Collins. With a seemingly new-found level of motivation under his belt, Kelly has the ability to completely out coach Collins. He knows the Irish are better on both sides of the ball.

Sometimes it can be too much for a program to overcome a loss the level of having a top-tier head coach depart. Temple does still have quite a bit of talent left on their roster from Rhule’s recruiting. Yet, Collins might not be able to put it together as well as his predecessor.

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