Utah State Football at Temple: Preview, Predictions, How to Watch | Sports

Utah State will hit the road one last time in non-conference play to take on Temple, a former powerhouse of the AAC in the 2010s but has since fallen on hard times with four straight seasons of three or fewer wins. This year isn’t going any better as the Owls have begun the year 0-3 and are a bottom five team in the country according to rankings from ESPN, The Athletic, USA Today and KFORD. Of course, the Aggies aren’t doing a whole lot better as they have the same number of wins against FBS teams as Temple. This will be a game of teams on losing streaks who are entering one of the easiest opponents on their schedule.

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Game Info:

• Kickoff: 12 p.m. (Mountain Time)
• Location: Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, PA
• TV Broadcast/Stream: ESPN+
• Radio: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM)

KVNU Aggie Gameday pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: Begins 10 a.m. on 102.1 FM, 610 AM

KVNU Aggie Call Postgame: Starts immediately after Coach Nate Dreiling’s post-game comments.

• Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and reactions for the game.

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Utah State Depth Chart

Utah State Injuries

• Spencer Petras (QB) – Ankle Sprain
• Robert Briggs (RB) – Broken Leg
• Tavo Motu’apuaka (RG) – Undisclosed
• Jalen Royals (WR) – Undisclosed
  • Left game vs Utah, did not return
• Kyrese White (WR) – Undisclosed
  • Left game vs Utah, did not return
• Enoka Migao (DE) – Undisclosed
  • Did not play last week vs Utah

There’s only one guarantee among all the injuries and that’s that Robert Briggs won’t play since he’s out for the year. Everyone else is up in the air as interim head coach Nate Dreiling, like all college coaches, is tight-lipped on whether guys will play and what their status is. Jalen Royals and Kyrese White could return, but after needing to leave last week’s games, it’s very likely one or both miss this week’s game to facilitate more time to heal with a bye coming up next week. Enoka Migao missed last week and Dreiling did not give an update as he wasn’t asked about the absence. Tavo Motu’apuaka has missed the entire season so far and should probably be assumed to be out until he finally shows up in the rotation and/or reclaims his starting spot at right guard.

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Top Storylines & Matchups

Temple stars to know

Even with the 0-3 start, the Owls have had their standout players. Most notable is linebacker DJ Woodbury. He’s racked up tackles the last couple of games, getting 10 against Navy and a career-best 15 last week in which he also had one sack. Woodbury is developing into a reliable leader of Temple’s defense.

“He prepares his butt off and he’s starting to diagnose what’s going on on offense a lot quicker, a lot faster,” Temple head coach Stan Drayton said. “He’s also that voice piece to get everything communicated up front and he did a good job of doing that. So he’s got a lot on his plate, and to be able to execute when his number is called is something that we expect of him. And it was good to see it.”

On offense the standout so far has been wide receiver Dante Wright. He’s leading the team by a long way with 23 receptions for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Wright’s production accounts for nearly half of the yards and completions in the pass game and two of its three touchdowns.

“He’s a very crisp route runner,” Dreiling said of Wright. “We got to make sure we get hands on him early. We can’t let him free release and work his secondary moves on our guys at 10 yards.”

Petras still QB1 if he’s healthy

It’s not as though Bryson Barnes has blown the doors off anyone this season. The Utah transfer has completed 57 percent of his passes for 524 yards (174.7 per game) and four touchdowns to four interceptions. But the offense also looked rather improved with him behind center in the game against the Utes last Saturday. With Petras having failed to score against Robert Morris in his brief showing in the season opener and Barnes having manned the offense ever since, it might be fair to think a potential QB competition may be brewing in Logan.

Well, probably not. Dreiling re-iterated on Monday that Petras is still the QB1 just as he was coming out of spring and fall camp, saying “he is our starting quarterback if he’s 100 percent.”

There is that caveat “if he’s 100 percent” and that’s been the key to whether Petras has played the last couple of weeks. Barnes started last week, likely due to Petras probably still being limited for some of the week, preventing him from being fully prepared. Coaches need their QBs to be as fully prepared as possible so while Petras dressed and was theoretically healthy enough to play, his preparation was not up to standard due (not by his fault, but because of injury). If Petras went through all practices this week and took first team snaps, he’ll start with virtually no questions asked.

Just as important as who is playing at quarterback, though, will be who he is throwing to. With the status of Royals and White uncertain, the passing offense could be significantly hampered.

Temple is facing a near-identical QB situation

For a second straight week, Utah State will face a team in a similar quarterback situation. Last week the Utes were down to their backup QB and the Owls may be down to theirs for a second week in a row.

Forrest Brock began the year as Temple’s QB1 and threw for 405 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions across losses to Oklahoma and Navy. But he ended up injuring his wrist, opening the door for Evan Simon to start in the Owls’ loss to Coastal Carolina. The offense was far more productive, producing four scoring drives (two touchdowns and two field goals) which was more than the team had produced in its previous two games combined (though Coastal Carolina is also the lowest-ranked defense Temple has faced this season, so there’s that). 

Just like with Utah State, it seems Temple is going to go with whoever has the best week of preparation. If Brock is back and healthy he can reclaim the job he won in the offseason. If not, Simon is there and after last week’s performance against Coastal Carolina, fans have much more confidence in Simon’s ability to lead the offense. Whether the coaches agree is something that will have to wait until Saturday morning to be known.

Homecoming for USU’s up-and-coming RB

The hometown of Aggie running back Rahsul Faison — Pottstown, Pennsylvania — is just 40 miles from the campus of Temple University, making this something of a homecoming for USU’s leading rusher. Although his father was able to see him play for the first time last week when the Aggies took on the Utes, many more of Faison’s friends and family will be able to watch him play on Saturday.

“It’s definitely a great feeling to get back home and play in front of my family and friends,” Faison said. “A lot of them didn’t get the chance to see me play college football in person yet because I’ve been out here for most of my career.”

As he mentioned, Faison has spent most of the last few years in the state of Utah. He played at Snow College in 2022 and then transferred to Utah State in 2023. Last year he ran for 736 yards a year ago as USU’s second-leading rusher but circumstances have led him to being the lead back this year. Davon Booth, last year’s leader for the Aggies in rushing, transferred and Briggs, the Week 1 starter, now has a broken leg.

That’s left Faison as a bell-cow back for a team that once hoped to have a three-headed rushing attack, much as it did in 2023. In this new role, Faison has begun to sprout. He ran for 115 yards against Utah which was also his third straight game of averaging at least six yards per carry. The Aggies haven’t had too much of a chance to unleash its run game — they rank 23rd in team rush yards per attempt but are 113th in rush attempts per game — but Faison is looking forward to what will hopefully be a productive season going forward.

“I felt like I was ready for this moment. All the things I’ve been coached to do all season. All the hard work I put in,” Faison said. “I feel like I’m doing a good job and I’m going to continue to get better each and every week.”

Temple on the upswing (probably)

The Owls are viewed as one of the worst teams in the country and their record seemingly backs that fact up. But they’ve also played one of the most difficult schedules of any FBS team with Temple’s three opponents — No. 15 Oklahoma, Navy and Coastal Carolina — combining for an 8-0 overall record. College Football Reference’s strength of schedule calculation (which goes beyond just records of opponents) credits the Owls with the second-hardest SOS in the nation.

Looking at just the scores of these games hints at something of an upward trend. The Owls went from a 51-3 loss to the Sooners, to 38-11 at Navy and then just 28-20 in a home contests against the Chanticleers. In each successive game the Owls have allowed fewer points on defense and scored more on offense.

“I think you look at their identity, just from the Oklahoma game to the Coastal Carolina game they feel way more comfortable. They’re more tuned in on what they want to do and the personnel that they’re playing,” Dreiling said.

So, despite the fact that most national 1-134 rankings place Temple in the bottom tier of all teams, this is a squad the Aggies should be taking seriously. Not because that’s the coach speak answer, but because Utah State can ill afford a poor performance against a team that may be better than its own record or national rankings indicate.

Potential for Aggie defense with Temple turnover troubles, poor run game

Statistically speaking, Temple is the second-worst team in the country when it comes to turnovers. Its defense has yet to secure a takeaway with the offense giving the ball away 11 times, giving the Owls the 133rd-ranked turnover margin. The type of turnover is a near-even split between fumbles lost (six) and interceptions thrown (five). It’s something the Aggies would love to take advantage of, but safety Jordan Vincent said it’s not something the team should be overly agressive about.

“If you’re in the right places the plays will come to you,” Vincent said. “Not trying to overstep your boundaries just because they may have had a little bit of struggles in previous weeks. I feel like if you hone in on your keys and you do your job that the plays will come to you. You just got to execute them.”

Similar to the turnover issues, the Owls are one of the worst teams at running the ball. They’ve gained a total of 233 yards in three games with an average of 2.5 yards per rush (see above to compare Faison’s numbers alone to Temple as a team), those numbers ranking 122nd and 126th, respectively. The Aggies are still on a run of allowing at least 200 rushing yards to each of its last five FBS opponents, dating back to last season (for a combined per-game average of 309.0 yards). This is a good chance for Utah State to finally end that run and prove it can actually stop somebody from running the ball for gobs of yards.

Stats & Facts to Know

• This is the first-ever meeting between Utah State and Temple in football.

Utah State is an even 9-9 against current members of the AAC9

• Most recent matchup was in the 2022 First Responder Bowl when the Aggies lost 38-10 to Memphis

In its last 19 road games (dating back to 2021) the Aggies are 12-7

• In those games, USU is 10-0 when scoring at least 28 points but are 2-7 when scoring less than that
• Lincoln Financial Field is the primarily the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. The last time USU played on the field that is the home of an NFL team was in 2021. That year the Aggies played in the homes of the Las Vegas Raiders (Allegiant Stadium) and beat UNLV 28-24 and also the Los Angeles Chargers (SoFi Stadium) with a 24-13 win in the LA Bowl over Oregon State.

Game Prediction

Eric Frandsen and Jason Walker both gave their predictions for the game on the Full Court Press (4-6 p.m. weekdays on 106.9 FM, 1390 AM The FAN). Vote on who you think will be the winner and by how much in the poll below.

Eric Frandsen’s Prediction — Utah State 35, Temple 17

• Correct winner predictions this year — 3/3
• *Score prediction accuracy rating — .521

“(Utah State) is showing signs of life offensively and defensively and I think the Aggies take advantage (on defense). They’ll be opportunistic against Temple, which’ll lead to a score — I don’t know if it’s necessarily going to be a defensive score. But I like Utah State in this one.

Jason Walker’s Prediction — Utah State 34, Temple 27

• Correct winner predictions this year — 3/3
• Score prediction accuracy rating — .479

“I want to be optimistic about the defense but I’m kind of in a ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ situation. So I think they’re still probably going to be giving up some yards. It’s going to be on the road, the Aggies have typically struggled on the road even against teams where theoretically they should be holding them down on defense and then scoring a few more points on offense. So I think this one’s going to be fairly close.”

*Score prediction accuracy rating is on scale of 0-1 and measures predicted score and winner for all games so far and the deviation of predictions from the actual scores of the games (NOTE: Previous weeks ratings were miscalculated and are lower than they should be)