For the second straight year, Temple’s shot at the MAC East title disappeared in a 31-23 loss to Ohio. The Owls dominated the box score but didn’t dominate play on the field. They totaled 402 yards but many came in the second half when this game had been decided. Mike Gerardi had a big yardage night but missed way to many throws, going 28 of 48 for 311 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. The Owls rushing attack has been banged up all season and with Benard Pierce nursing a bad hamstring, Matt Brown was the workhorse with 72 yards on 20 carries but he is not 100% and they weren’t winning this on the ground.
The Temple defense gave up a winnable 287 yards and held Boo Jackson to 4 of 12 for 84 yards so on the surface we see a big score on minimum production. The problem was when the Owls gave the ball away, Ohio was there to score. A short field meant points as the Temple defense came up small in those situations, similar to this match up a year ago.
Miami (OH) struggled by last place Akron 19-14 to keep them in the running for first in the Eastern Division of the MAC. The statistics weighed heavily in favor of the Redhawks who logged nearly 400 yards of offense which was an impressive total with Zac Dysert out and Austin Boucher taking the snaps. He was solid, going 22 of 32 for 213 yards, especially considering he hasn’t seen the field very often. Miami (OH) also had the running game working behind 141 yards by Thomas Merriweather. The problem they had was a failure to convert on third down when they were sniffing the end zone as they were just 3-14 and the result was kicking four field goals instead of extra points, although they dominated TOP, holding the ball for over 35 minutes.
The one big advantage the Redhawks had was a strong defensive game which is no big surprise considering they are ranked at number 35 in the country. Squaring off against a Zips offense that is dead last didn’t hurt although Akron gained 318 yards which is 50 yards above their average. The key was they had to work for every yard and couldn’t score which has also been an issue in 2010.
While Miami (OH) has played a tough out of conference schedule, they have played the conference schedule close to the vest with five of their wins by a single score. Temple has played their conference schedule more impressively but I remain concerned about their performance in big games, especially on the road…
Temple +8
CORRECTION: MIAMI OHIO +8 
Temple -6.5 Medium Play
...Temple is making the temples on my head pound 
...I can live with that.
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