Last week, we had 14 games with non-BCS schools on Thursday night. This week, just one, and it should be a good one. Now, if you’d rather watch Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift than two of the best low-profile non-BCS teams go at it at 7:00, so be it, but it’s your loss.
7:00 PM, ESPNU- Central Michigan at Temple: Your 2009 MAC West Champions come across to Philly to take on the 2009 MAC East runners up (they’ll tell you Co-Champions, but they lost the tiebreaker, so there). Both teams beat FCS competition of varying levels last week. The CMU offense looked strong against Hampton, posting 427 yards while the defense held to only 129 in a shutout. Temple’s offense went over 300 yards, but Villanova was a much tougher test for the Temple defensive unit. The real question is whether or not Hampton prepared the Chippewas for what should be the best team in the East.
The winner of this one takes the mantle of early favorite to win the conference, but the losing team is by no means out of the race. Both teams have games left against Northern Illinois, and the Owls have to get past Ohio and Kent State in a long season.
Players to Watch: Ryan Radcliff for the Chippewas has the unenviable task of replacing Dan LeFevour, but did so admirably in the opener, 242 yards, a passing TD and another on the ground. On Temple’s side, WR Michael Campbell caught 127 of the team’s 200 passing yards, and will look to build on the success as his QB builds confidence.
Line: Temple by 7.5. That seems like a lot to me. I predicted Temple to win this preseason, and I’ll stick with that, but it’ll be by a touchdown or less. Temple wins, but 28-24, not 8 or more.