Temple @ South Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 6, 2012 ) South Florida 28, Temple 37

Temple showed a great deal of character its last time out, recovering from a heart-breaking loss to Notre Dame by authoring the best offensive performance by an Owls team in more than 40 years. No. 21 Temple hopes to deliver another strong performance Saturday in its final road game of the season against USF.

The Owls can clinch the East Division and a berth in the first American Athletic Conference championship game with a win Saturday. They would love to match their effort against SMU last week, when they rolled to a 60-40 victory behind five total touchdowns from quarterback P.J. Walker. "Defensively, this will be the best team we face other than Florida State," USF coach Willie Taggart said to reporters this week. The Bulls are the only team with a chance to catch Temple in the division race - a position USF is in thanks to four wins in its last five games.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network. LINE: Temple -3

ABOUT TEMPLE (8-1, 5-0 AAC): Walker has 14 TDs against four INTs this season, but Jahad Thomas is clearly the best offensive player for the Owls. Thomas has 970 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns, including at least one rushing score in every game this season. The Owls, who are aiming to go 6-0 on the road for the first time in school history, have given up only 12 sacks all year.

ABOUT USF (5-4, 3-2): Quinton Flowers has accounted for 19 touchdowns this season - 12 passing scores - while ranking second on the team in rushing yards. Backfield mate Marlon Mack has surpassed 100 rushing yards in four of his last five outings - a key for the Bulls, who are 4-0 this year when he runs for at least 110 yards. Rodney Adams (24 catches, 428 yards) is capable of big things, as evidenced by his numbers against Connecticut last month (five catches, 118 yards, three TDs).

EXTRA POINTS

1. USF is 5-0 when scoring more than 17 points and 0-4 when failing to surpass that figure.

2. The Owls won the only previous meeting, 37-28, in 2012.

3. Temple has not won in the state of Florida since December 3, 1938.

PREDICTION: Temple 17, USF 16