Temple Owls vs UCLA Bruins
Bowl: EagleBank Bowl
Location: Washington, D.C. (TV on ESPN)
Tuesday, December 29th 2009, Kickoff 4:30 pm

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The final top play of the early going has Temple taking on UCLA.

Temple Owls (9-3)

It's been a storybook season for Al Golden and the Temple Owls as they reached the postseason for the first time in 30 years.

However, Temple had one of the easiest schedules in the entire country with just four of the 12 games against teams with winning records.

The Owls went 1-3 in those games with the lone win coming vs. a Navy team that played the majority of the contest without its starting quarterback.

Moreover, Temple needed a late touchdown by freshman running back Bernard Pierce to even pick up the victory.

UCLA Bruins (6-6)

UCLA improved by two games from last season's 4-8 record but if Army had upset Navy a couple of weeks back, the Bruins would be home this postseason.

Still, even with the disappointing 6-6 mark, Rick Neuheisel's club will not be taking this game lightly since they are able to play another game, something the team did not accomplish last year.

The extremely young, but talented Bruins opened the season with three straight wins, then UCLA had to battle through a mid-season losing streak to perhaps the five best teams in the Pac-10, and they won't meet the same level of competition here.

The Betting Veridct :

Both Temple quarterbacks - Chester Stewart and Vaughn Charlton - finished the regular season completing fewer than 50% of their passes and that came against questionable competition.

Imagine what will happen when they face a UCLA secondary loaded with the likes of Alterraun Verner and Rahim Moore. Needless to say, it won't be pretty.

Look for the Bruins to take it to Temple early and often as they win this one by at least a touchdown.
Go with UCLA minus the points.

The Pick :

Go with UCLA minus the 5 points.

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take UCLA Bruins to win and cover the -5 spread