Temple Football Favored to Make Their First Bowl Game Since 2019

Temple Football sits at 2-3 (1-1 American) through five games this season and, while the Owls have shown plenty of fight in taking down undefeated South Florida on the road following slugfests against Toledo and Army that came down to the final seconds, they need to hit six wins in order to qualify for their first bowl game since 2019.

At least one metric, ESPN’s College Football Power Index (FPI), likes the Owls chances to get it done. FPI gives Temple an expected record of 6.4-5.7 and a 75.9 percent chance of hitting six wins after running 10,000 simulations of their schedule; they currently have a 2.6 percent chance of winning the American Conference and are ranked No. 87 out of 138 FBS teams. FPI takes into account factors like player production, travel distance and rest in their simulations. As of Oct. 7, the rest of Temple’s schedule check in at No. 98 (UConn), No. 135 (Charlotte), No. 86 (East Carolina), No. 97 (Navy), No. 123 (UAB), No. 117 (Rice) and No. 57 (Memphis).

In a down year for the American, Temple has a chance to go on a run.