Coming off a tough loss when they traveled to Boston College, Temple looks to rebound when they come back home this weekend. Costly mistakes hurt Temple down the stretch last game resulting in a scoring surge from both teams with the Owls falling 45-35. Now they travel back home to host the Pirates of ECU. Both teams are coming in with two wins on the year looking to pass each other in the conference standings.
East Carolina (2-2), is coming off a win in their last game 37-35 when they took on Old Dominion. On the ECU offensive side of the ball, they like to get the ball deep over the head of the secondary with 8 passes from their quarterback Reid Herring going for 25 or more yards. He’s been consistent this year averaging 290 yards in the air. Herring has also thrown for six of his clubs touchdowns this season while their running back, Holton Ahlers, has racked up four scores this year.
The offensive line will need to buckle down hard against the Pirates. Their defensive front has gone on a tear the last two weeks, recording a combined 15 sacks. Temple linebacker Chapelle Russell talked about the offensive attack from ECU.
“ECU does a lot of things very well, they play within the scheme of the defense. They like to get downhill a lot so that’s what they’ll try and attack especially on the perimeter.”
For the Owls, Ryquell Armstead has been on a dominant tear over his last few games. He’s coming into this weekend rushing for over 100 yards in his last four games. The Owls offense has kept their scoring effort consistent this season. Averaging 31.4 points per game, they’ll look to continue receiving key contributions from all three quarterbacks who offer a unique perspective to the opposing defense. “If we were to play tomorrow, Anthony would get the bulk of the work and he’s doing a really nice job but I’ve got complete confidence in Frank Nutile, absolutely love him, and the same thing with Toddy as well,” Coach Collins said.
Temple will need to capitalize on the poor road play the Pirates have been playing. East Carolina have lost their last four road games so the defensive strength of the Owls will need to be in full force. A strong defensive front will open up opportunities on the offensive end to attack the ECU defense who’s allowing 25 points per contest. Controlling the ball in the first half will be necessary for Temple, with ECU winning 33 of their last 36 games leadIng after the first half.
The series between these teams coming in is all tied up at 7. The last matchup between these teams came last year in week six, when temple pulled off a strong offensive outing, winning 34-10. The Owls (2-3), look to bump their record back to .500 and tally their third win this season.
Game time for the matchup is set for 12:00 on ESPNew, and on 97.5 The Fanatic.
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