The Bearcats are arguably coming off their best win in program history after defeating No. 9 Notre Dame in South Bend last weekend. The Bearcats big victory on the road last weekend was so big it jumped them into No. 5 in the latest AP Poll, the highest the Bearcats have ever been since joining the AAC. The Bearcats have an opportunity to move up even higher than No. 5 potentially as the No. 3 ranked Penn State Nitty Lions host the No. 4 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend. It will all have to start when the Bearcats welcome Temple to Nippert Stadium to this Friday at 7 pm for what fans now historically as “Nipp at Night”.
The Temple Owls have played the Bearcats very well in the past. The Bearcats didn’t play the Owls in the 2020 season, but back in 2019 the Owls gave the Bearcats a fight for their money, but they Bearcats held on for a 15-13 victory on Senior Day. During the 2018 season where the Bearcats went 11-2 on the season, the Temple Owls actually gave them their first loss of the season, after defeating the Bearcats 24-17 in overtime. Temple is always an interesting matchup for the Bearcats as they throw multiple different looks at you every time.
Some things to keep an eye on for tomorrows matchup as the No. 5 Bearcats welcome Temple to Nippert Stadiums are below.
The Temple owls have been known to rotate quarterbacks, similar to what Notre Dame did with Jack Coan, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner. This is something that will be interesting to watch for the Bearcats as quarterback D’Wan Mathis was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll this past week for the Owls as he lead the Owls to a big victory over Memphis last week. Mathis is coming off arguably one of his best performances of his career as he completed 35 passes for 322 yards for three touchdowns in the Owls win over Memphis. However, Mathis missed some time at the begining of the season with an injury, but has put up some big numbers the last two games where he has thrown for 615 yards and five touchdowns over the last two games. The Bearcats will look to see him run the show in tomorrows matchup.
Temple is known to be a pass heavy offense as the Owls threw for 50 times in their victory over Memphis last weekend. Their leading rusher though is redshirt freshman Edward Saydee. Saydee leads the team with 43 carries for 182 yards on the season. Look for him to be the featured back for Temple as he has been looking like he will get the workload for the Owls in tomorrows matchup versus the 5th ranked Bearcats.
The Owls leading receiver is Jose Barbon, a redshirt sophomore, averaging 13.3 yards per catch, has 21 receptions on the season, tallying 280 yards and a touchdown. The Owls will also look for Randle Jones and Ahmad Anderson as both are also 2nd and 3rd on the team in receiving. These three will look to be the main targets for the Owls offense.
