VS.

UCLA passed over Al Golden in favor of Rick Neuheisel when it picked a coach two years ago. Though a superb season with Temple has improved his credentials, Golden insists he’s not leaving anytime soon. Golden has the Owls in their first bowl game in 30 years, facing Neuheisel and the inconsistent Bruins in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29 at RFK Stadium.

4:30 PM ET, December 29, 2009
RFK Memorial , WASHINGTON, DC
ESPN

UCLA Bruins have had an inconsistent season even though it has four All-Americans, opening with three straight wins before losing its next five. The Bruins had another three-game winning streak snapped in their last game, losing 28-7 to then-No. 24 Southern California on Nov. 28. UCLA was the last team to make it into the postseason, getting in following Navy’s 17-3 victory over Army on Dec. 12. Had they won, the Black Knights would be facing Temple. This is the Bruins’ first bowl game since losing 17-16 to BYU in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl. The Bruins have two second-team All-Americans, S Rahim Moore and K Kai Forbath. Moore, a sophomore, leads the nation with nine interceptions and Forbath won the Lou Groza Award honoring the nation’s best kicker. UCLA has two third-team All-Americans, junior DT Brian Price and senior CB Alterraun Verner. Price has 34 1/2 tackles for loss in his last 21 games, and Verner has five INTs this season. The Bruins have been held under 20 points six times. Freshman QB Kevin Prince has had trouble settling down, completing 56.7 percent of his passes for 1,829 yards and six tds while getting picked off seven times. Prince has not thrown a touchdown pass in his last two games while completing less than half of his attempts. This could easily mean that the Bruins offense is not going to be the strongest point in this game. UCLA is ranked better on the passing yards but the QB has been in a funk lately so this could affect his performance in the field. Other options in offense will be QB Kevin Craft, RB Johnathan Franklin, RB Derrick Coleman, WR Nelson Rosario and WR Taylor Embree will be in charge of taking the Bruins out of the flunk they are at and may be they will be able to take Temple.

Temple Owls went 4-8 in 2007, its second season under Golden. Still, Golden interviewed twice for the UCLA job that eventually went to Neuheisel. This season the Owls finished with an overall record of 9-3, way better than UCLA and their fancy coaching staff. This is the Owls’ fourth winning season in the past 30 years. They went 10-2 in 1979, 6-5 in ‘84 and 7-4 in ‘90. Due to Temple’s turnaround, Golden is widely considered one of the top targets for teams looking for a new coach. Golden insists he doesn’t have any interviews lined up, though he had been mentioned as a contender for the Cincinnati job that was given to Central Michigan’s Butch Jones. Temple had a nine-game winning streak snapped in its last contest, losing 35-17 to Ohio. That kept the Owls out of the conference championship game. Temple ran for more than 200 yards for the sixth straight game even though it was without RB Bernard Pierce, sidelined by a left shoulder injury. The MAC freshman of the year should return for this matchup after leading the conference with 1,308 yards rushing and finishing second with 15 touchdowns. RB Matt Brown, another Owls freshman, is second on the team with 455 rushing yards, 328 over his last two games. Temple is ranked 23rd in the nation in rushing, averaging 192.3 yards a contest. Also Temple’s defense is ranked 19th against the run, giving up an average of 108.8 yards. Temple’s key for success will be to run the ball on UCLA and pressure their QB, that way he will be force to run and that way control them completely. On offense Temple will also have QB
Vaughn Charlton, RB Joe Jones and WR Michael Campbell and this will be a highly effective source to put UCLA out of the game.

GAME ODDS

UCLA -5
TEMPLE 46

THIS GAME COULD BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR THE UCLA BRUINS AND THEIR RUNNING OFFENSE. TEMPLE ATTACKS BY GROWN AS WELL BUT THEIR DEFENSE AGAINST IT RANKS BETTER THAN THE BRUINS AND FOR ME THAT COULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR A YOUNG FRESHMAN QB THAT WILL BE FORCED TO THROW UNDER PRESSURE, IT WILL NOT BE UCLA’S BOWL. MY PICK WILL BE TEMPLE OWLS +5.

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