No. 5 Cincinnati improved to 4-0 last Saturday as it went on the road to South Bend and took care of business against No. 14 Notre Dame. That stiff test out of the way, the premier program in the Group of Five must now carefully navigate the less-glamorous portion of its schedule as it begins AAC play at home Friday night against Temple.
The Bearcats are big-time favorites, and rightfully so, but the Owls are entering off a come-from-behind 34-31 victory over Memphis and have shown in recent years that they deserve Cincinnati’s respect. When these teams met at Cincinnati in 2019, the Bearcats escaped with a narrow 15-13 victory to snap a four-game Temple winning streak in a series the Owls lead 13-8 all-time.
For as long as Cincinnati remains undefeated, its candidacy for a spot in the College Football Playoff will be a hot topic. Winning is the most important thing, but for a team outside the Power Five, optics also matter, and the Bearcats could use an authoritative victory while in the Friday night spotlight. The AAC has already proven ripe for upsets in 2021, and Cincinnati will be looking to show the league it’s above the fray as Week 6 gets heated up.
Cincinnati vs. Temple: Need to know
D’Wan Mathis looking good: Remember that name? Mathis won the Georgia quarterback battle during preseason practice in 2020 and started the Bulldogs’ opener at Arkansas before it became apparent that, as a redshirt freshman, he wasn’t quite ready for a job of that magnitude. The former four-star prospect from the class of 2019 ended up at Temple. After a slow start to the 2021 season, he exploded last week against Memphis. Mathis completed 35 of 49 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns without an interception and also ran for 53 yards while leading the Owls back from an early 17-0 deficit. Temple’s 34-31 victory over a quality foe should give Mathis confidence and get the attention of Cincinnati’s defense.
Cincinnati needs ground momentum: Assuming the Bearcats generate an early lead, they’ll likely want to run the football and bleed some clock. That should be a common objective for this team in many AAC games this season, but the Bearcats haven’t had an elite rushing attack in recent weeks. Since averaging nearly 8 yards per carry in a season-opening win over Miami (OH), Cincinnati has averaged an unspectacular 3.74 yards per rushing attempt in its past three games. Furthermore, the Bearcats’ yards per carry figure has fallen with each successive game this season. Temple’s run defense has just been mediocre, though, and it would be a welcome sight if Cincinnati surpassed 200 yards on the ground for the first time since the season opener.
Special teams discrepancies: Don’t be shocked if a big special teams play swings the momentum in this game. Cincinnati kick returner Tre Tucker took one 99 yards for a touchdown to give the Bearcats a third-quarter lead in their victory at Indiana last month. With that big return bolstering their resume, the Bearcats rank sixth nationally in yards per kick return at 32.14. Temple, by contrast, ranks 92nd in average kick return yardage at 17.82. But it’s not all roses on special teams for Cincinnati. Senior kicker Cole Smith is just 2-for-6 this season and has missed three kicks from inside 40 yards. His only attempt longer than 40 yards was also a miss. Temple sophomore Rory Bell is 11-of-13 on field goal attempts in his career and 4-for-4 inside of 40 yards this season.
How to watch Cincinnati vs. Temple live
Date: Friday, Oct. 8 | Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Nippert Stadium — Cincinnati, Ohio
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Cincinnati vs. Temple prediction, picks
Featured Game | Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Temple Owls
The bet here is that Cincinnati’s ground game racks up more than 200 yards for the first time since Week 1 and the Bearcats defense makes life much harder on Mathis than Memphis did last week. Temple is clearly improving, but this team did lose by 47 to Rutgers in Week 1, and the Bearcats are better than Rutgers. Prediction: Cincinnati (-29)
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