I leaned heavily towards Miami Oh shocking Temple here as they have played good defense all year long and have won the close games. Also Temple has got to be coming in very deflated after losing to Ohio at home in what was their game to get to the Mac Championship and now they are out with only a Bowl game left to play for but that wasn't what this team wanted. Either way Miami Ohio is still a suspect 7-4 team in my opinion. They are without their star QB Zac Dysert, so I can really call Miami Ohio a solid play even as a home dog.
I like the under with Temple having a solid defense will shut down Miami Ohio. Temple will struggle to without their work horse in Bernard Pierce in the game. Matt Brown is a capable back up, but he's 50lbs lighter than Pierce and if he can't get outside I don't see many explosive runs. He's a nice compliment but can only be that compliment when Pierce is healthy. Temple also has some shuffling of the offensive line by Al Golden that has me scratching my head. That shows doubt in the running game already and if Temple can't run you can't ask QB Mike Gerardi to make the plays they just don't have the weapons.
Miami Ohio won't turn the ball over and that's what will keep this game close and low scoring. The back up QB getting his second start is more than capable of keeping his team in the game. QB Austin Boucher plays mistake free and was accurate 22 of 32 throwing balls away instead of forcing the issue. Miami Ohio is calling this their game of the year so expect them to come up big defensively. They may even have a little running room with Thomas Merriweather who ran for a career high 141 yards as Temple lost arguably their best defender in MLB Elijah Josehp who likely out.
