Temple Football’s Bowl Game Odds Shrink After Loss to UConn

Temple Football’s odds of making their first bowl game since 2019 plummeted 31 percent following the Owls’ home loss to UConn, per ESPN’s Football Power Index. The Owls entered the game with a 75.9 percent chance of hitting six wins; now, their chances are at 44.8 percent.

After running more than 10,000 simulations, the metric gives them an expected record of 5.4-6.7. However, Temple has a favorable schedule the rest of the way: outside of their Friday, Nov. 27 road date with Memphis (5-1, 2-0 American), the current favorite to win the conference), each of their other five opponents has a record at or below .500.

They’ll avoid the worst of the travel options on their schedule, hosting Rice (1-5, 0-2 American) on Nov. 19 and UAB (3-3, 1-1 American) on Nov. 14, but the Owls’ road matchups are also against the toughest teams they have remaining: East Carolina (3-2, 1-0 American) on Oct. 31 and Navy (2-3, 1-2 American) on Nov. 7; while the Midshipmen are below .500, their triple option offense always makes them a dangerous draw.

This week, Temple has a chance to get right against a putrid Charlotte team that hasn’t won a game… but given how the Owls’ season has gone so far, they should know not to take any opponent for granted. A 4-2 record the rest of the way isn’t impossible, which is why their chances of hitting six wins hovers around .500. However, the Owls will need to take care of business in the games they’re favored to win as well as knocking off one of East Carolina, Navy and Memphis in order to go bowling.