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UCF football: 3 bold predictions vs. Temple in Week 11

By Daniel Morrison

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 26: Bentavious Thompson #24 of the UCF Knights runs the ball against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on October 26, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 26: Bentavious Thompson #24 of the UCF Knights runs the ball against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on October 26, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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UCF football welcomes Temple into the Bounce House after a bye week. Here are three bold predictions that fans can expect from the game.

Neither UCF nor Temple has had the type of season they were hoping for in 2020. UCF has had major issues on defense, between opt outs, injuries, and recently even saw the dismissal of four defensive starters from the team.

In all of this, they have the best passing offense in the country, by 20 yards per game, but have suffered two close losses pushing them onto the outskirts of the conference championship race.

Temple, meanwhile, was hoping to take a step forward under second year head coach Rod Carey. Unfortunately, they seem to have gone backwards in year two, with their only win over conference bottom-feeder USF.

UCF should handle Temple without too much worry, but the Owls still have talent and anything can happen.

3. UCF has more takeaways than touchdowns allowed

Randy Shannon has been receiving heat for his defense’s performance this season. His defense showed up in a big way two weeks ago at an explosive Houston, despite the challenges they’ve faced this season. Now, against a struggling Temple team and coming off a bye week look for UCF to get back to its defensive strength, forcing turnovers.

The backbone of the UCF defense since their 2017 run has been havoc. By blowing up plays in the backfield and forcing turnovers UCF threw opponents out of rhythm, and set their offense up for success. Even early this season UCF managed to force nine turnovers through their first two games of the season.

Temple has struggled, despite having an experienced starter in Anthony Russo at quarterback. The Owls have eight turnovers in five games this season, and UCF is going to be aggressive all night long.

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