Rutgers looks great in the third year of Greg Schiano’s second stint at Rutgers. Beating Boston College as 9-point road underdogs is a huge feat. They should have no issue dispatching Temple, who is still projected to be one of the worst FBS teams this season despite beating Lafayette 30-14.
But Rutgers has a desolate offense and is laying 17.5 points on the road in Philadelphia. Can the Scarlet Knights score enough to cover this spread? Perhaps there’s value to be found elsewhere.
Rutgers vs. Temple Football Week 3 College Football Betting Picks
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Schiano’s defense has been great. They’ve forced defenses into passing downs at the highest rate in the nation during the first two weeks of the season, ranking among the top five teams nationally in standard downs and against the rush. The defensive line has rocked opposing lines.
Boston College finished with a 30% success rate on standard downs and was stuffed close to 40% of the time while rushing. That’s all with a dual-threat quarterback in Phil Jurkovec. Plus, Rutgers did it while on the road. This defense is legit.
The offense is an issue. It’s good that Rutgers is in the Big Ten because they’ll have to win games on defense and on special teams.
It seems like there’s still a quarterback battle in New Brunswick, but Evan Simon seems to have the job. But that’s still not a good thing, considering he managed just 4.8 yards per attempt against Boston College.
The Scarlet Knights managed to rush for over 200 yards against Boston College, but they needed seven different rushers to get there. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, but a serious No. 1 rushing candidate needs to emerge eventually, especially in the Big Ten.
The Scarlet Knights will take care of business against Temple. But going forward, Rutgers will be a target as an underdog and as an under team. They will be frisky catching points but don’t have the firepower to cover numbers.
Temple Owls
Temple returned 14 starters from last season, seven on both sides. But they also made a coaching change, bringing in Sean Drayton for his first year. That marks the sixth coaching change in seven years.
So it’s not surprising that Temple got shut out in a 30-point blowout to Duke. But Duke looks better than expected, so there’s room for optimism with Temple.
The question for Temple is at quarterback. There are three guys that could potentially snag the starting spot, and E.J. Warner looks to be that guy after the Lafayette game. Warner went 14-for-19 with two touchdowns in three quarters after D’Wan Mathis was benched for fumbling twice. Warner is now the top quarterback on the depth chart.
Warner is the son of NFL great Kurt Warner, and he’s a true freshman. Drayton sees something in the young gunslinger and is ready to give him the first-team reps.
Temple should pull off an upset or two this season, but it will rely on Warner stepping up in big spots. It’s a tough situation for him this week, considering the Owls return just two offensive line starters from last season.
Rutgers vs. Temple Pick
Rutgers faced Temple last season and won 61-14. Despite the level of offensive incompetence from the Scarlet Knights, they have just enough firepower to get past this number on Saturday.
Warner probably has a high ceiling, but he definitely has a high floor. And he’s starting his first game in the FBS with just two experienced offensive linemen against one of the better defensive lines in the country. This is going to be a bloodbath, so lay the points.
Best NCAAF Bet: Rutgers -18 (-110)
