Bowl game predictions for all 41 bowls and College Football Playoff
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl
FIU vs. Temple
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Date: Thursday, Dec. 21
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Fortunately for Florida International (8-4), it doesn’t have to travel very far to play in its bowl game. Unfortunately, it’s arguably the worst named bowl of all. That’s out of the Golden Panthers’ control, though, as they were one of a number of Group of Five teams in Florida to exceed expectations in 2017.
Temple (6-6) lost its head coach in the offseason to Baylor, but even without Matt Rhule, the Owls found a way to make the postseason. They finished the year with three wins in four games to become bowl eligible and despite the defense not being what it was last season, the Owls found a way to reach six wins.
Although Temple is the bigger name in this matchup, I just don’t see the Owls holding red-hot senior quarterback Alex McGough in check. He’s had a breakout season for FIU and has plenty of weapons at his disposal. Temple doesn’t have much offense, which plays in the Golden Panthers’ favor.