Tonight’s game features a pair of teams coming off lackluster seasons.  With just 7 wins and 17 losses between the two of them, you can bet that either team will be happy to walk away with a victory to start their 2008 season.
Army took last year’s game against Temple by a score of 37-21 and the Black Knights have won 4 of the 5 games in the series history, even though Temple ended 2007 with a better overall record.

Temple is an interesting team because they have all 22 starters back from the 2007 season.  This experience could be just what the doctor ordered for a team that lacked in consistency throughout the course of the season.  The Owls have shifted some of their skill players on offense to new positions with hopes that they can better utilize the talent that they do have.  It will take a few games to see if these moves will payoff for Temple, but you can’t fault them for trying to improve their team after last year’s 4-8 record.

A program that hasn’t been known for their football in a long, long time, Temple will need to continue to improve on both sides of the ball.  Their defense has been steadily improving over the past few seasons and while they still well beyond where they would like to be, with all 11 starters returning you have to believe they will continue to improve.

Looking at Army’s offense from last season, you can clearly see there is a lot of work to be done.  Ranked 111th in rushing offense and 95th in passing offense, Army probably feels like they have nowhere to go but up.  All indications are the Black Knights will make a return to the option style offense, which could reap them some benefits in the ground game, but may cause them to slip even further down the ranks in passing offense.

Defensively, Army was one of the worst in the country last season, allowing 423 offensive yards per game, including ranking 117th in the nation against the run.  The Knights had no signs of a pass-rush last season, and that ranking near the bottom of College Football in rushing defense tells you why.  If you can’t stop the run, you can’t run blitz packages as often to keep the opposing team’s QB off-balance.  The defensive line returns some experience, but their secondary could be in trouble with many young faces starting in 2008.

Based on last season’s performance you might lean toward Army in Friday’s game, but this Temple squad has much more experience and should be the more improved of the two teams.

Game Odds: 
Temple -7 (-110)
Army +7 (-110)

Spread Report Prediction:  Temple 31  Army 13

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