This game featured the 10th and 11th ranked offenses with Wyoming being 10th with 540 yards per game. Wyoming defense coming off a solid effort holding Texas State's pistol offense to 189 yards. It's impressive because Texas Tech gave up 331 to them the week before including 256 rushing. The main story here is Offensive Coordinator Gregg Brandon who was the head coach at Bowling Green from 2003-2008. Wyoming has a real talent in dual threat QB Brett Smith who has shown the ability to pass and run and I think that could give Bowling Green big problems. Wyoming has also had more experience with challenging games. Last year they played Texas, Boise, TCU, Airforce, Utah, BYU and San Diego State. They have played well vs. the MAC in the past on the road and actually won At Toledo last year and at Ohio two teams Bowling Green lost to on the road so we know Wyoming can win this game.
There are huge question marks on Bowling Green's team despite the hot start because their offensive line gave up 34 sacks a year ago and only rushed for 62.8 yards per game ranked 120th. On the flip side this defense that really never improved gave up 33.6 ppg and 432 ypg a year ago. They lack size and have absolutely no pass rush that would rattle Wyoming's dual threat QB and true freshmen. Their secondary is young and they have committed a lot of penalties in the early going. Both defenses have shown an ability to show up in the second half, but Wyoming's offense has been much better scoring 21 points in 2H while Bowling Green has averaged 12.5 as it seems teams catch on and the OL does not wear down defenses so far. Wyoming is 9-1 ATS in their last 10 as a road dog and 9-3 ATS in their last 12 overall road games while Bowling Green is 8-21 ATS in their last 29 home games and 6-15 ATS in their last 21 overall as a favorite.
Temple has not beaten Penn State in 70 years, but last year they had Penn State on the ropes on the road leading 13-9 in the 3rd quarter and then Bernard Pierce went down with an injury and they lost 22-13 as they were -4 turnover margin. Looking at that stat losing on the road by just 9 points with a -4 turnover margin. I'll say this team has a good opportunity to win out right at home as Penn State has looked subpar so far as they have a 1 dimensional game because the passing game is awful and if they do try to pass Temple has the athletes to get into the backfield they have 11 sacks already. This is Penn State's first road game and Temple showed the ability to run a year ago 30 carries for 159 yards they run behind a big offensive line that can get some push up front as they average 6-5 and 318 lbs. They have already rushed for 545 yards in two games between the duo of Matt Brown and Bernard Pierce.
Speaking of Matt Brown he's also taking punts back for TD and that could be an issue as Penn state's punting game is an issue going into this game. Temple is not all special teams and running their QB Mike Gerardi has the skill and accuracy to make the Nittany Lions pay over the top if they stack the box as they have future NFL TE Evan Rodriguez and size on the outside in Deon Miller and SR. Rod Streater. Temple's defensive line has plenty of experience and size to disrupt the running game of Penn State. AT the end of the day this will be an ugly run first type game which I don't think has the ability to be decided by more than a TD. Lastly Temple's new coaching staff knows this Penn State team Steve Addazio and his offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator were all at Florida which beat Penn State 37-24 in the Outback Bowl.
