Picks For Week 12's Biggest College Games

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/20...all-games/

No. 12

Memphis at Temple

Line: Memphis -1.5

Over/Under: 59.5

Three weeks ago, this matchup offered up potential playoff implications. That is, until both schools suffered a pair of defeats — one close, and the other of the embarrassing variety. Temple displayed every bit of the defensive form expected in a heart-breaking defeat to Notre Dame, but allowed a surging South Florida program to rack up 556 yards of offense en route to a 44-23 shellacking. Last week, Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. was injured early in the Tigers’ much-anticipated AAC meeting, but Memphis allowed the Cougars to score 21 unanswered points to close out the game, and culminating in replacement QB Kyle Postma’s seven-yard TD run to seal the comeback.

The Owls’ success will hinge on the health of RB Jahad Thomas, who injured his ribs against the Fighting Irish, and has fought through the pain with decent results. The Temple offense is entirely dependent on the success of the running game and they will need that area to excel in order to keep up with Memphis’ national sixth-ranked scoring offense. The Tigers are also hoping that one of their top playmakers is available and healthy, as WR Anthony Miller left the Houston game with a hamstring injury.

The Vegas intellect hit the nail on the head in predicting this exciting matchup and it wouldn’t surprise me if the spread were to approach even prior to kickoff. Consider that Temple can be found as PFF’s 39th-highest-graded overall team and Memphis at 41st. There should be zero doubts that the impressive Temple defense will be present, but the Owls will be simply unable to properly exploit Memphis’ highly vulnerable secondary, and that will be the deciding factor.

Prediction: Memphis 27, Temple 23.

I think it'll be a bit higher scoring than that.

Memphis - 41
Temple - 27