Temple @ Tulane preview

Temple gets its fourth and final chance to qualify for a bowl game Saturday when it visits Tulane in the regular-season finale for both American Athletic Conference schools. The Owls picked up their fifth win Nov. 1 against East Carolina but have since lost to Memphis, Penn State and Cincinnati, scoring a total of 32 points in the process. Temple played in a bowl game in 2009 and again in 2011, but those are the Owls' only postseason appearances since 1979.

"I want to go to a bowl game," Temple coach Matt Rhule said, via Philly.com. "That's one of the stalwarts of what we need to get done. So I'm planning on it and if we don't, then I would be disappointed." Tulane, meanwhile, has lost four of its last five games and has not won at home since defeating Connecticut on Oct. 11. “I had my mind set on a bowl game, and obviously we didn’t reach any of our goals this year,” quarterback Tanner Lee told the New Orleans Advocate. “It’s just tough. That’s a huge negative. We know what it’s going to take, and sometimes it takes even more. We want to win. We don’t want any more seasons like this, and that’s what guys understand.”

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2. LINE: Temple -3.5

ABOUT TEMPLE (5-6, 3-4 AAC): If the Owls fail to reach a bowl game, it won't be the fault of the defense, which has given up 18.8 points - the 11th-best mark in the nation. They held a quality Cincinnati team to 255 total yards last week in a 14-6 defeat. Jalen Fitzpatrick has 50 receptions for 702 yards while nobody else on the Owls' roster has more than 22 catches or 270 yards, and Fitzpatrick's six receiving TDs match the rest of his teammates combined.

ABOUT TULANE (3-8, 2-5): The Green Wave have been outscored 72-13 in their last two games, although they have had two weeks to prepare since a 34-6 pounding at the hands of East Carolina. Lee passed for a career-high 301 yards in that contest but failed to throw a TD for the second straight game, a span during which he has four interceptions. Lee is a non-factor in the running game with only three rushes of more than five yards all season, but Tulane has three capable runners - Sherman Badie, Lazedrick Thompson and Dontrell Hilliard - who have combined for 1,538 yards and 10 TDs.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Temple has scored one touchdown in its last 11 quarters.

2. Owls QB P.J. Walker threw for 200-plus yards in five of his first six games this season but has not surpassed 196 yards in any of the last five contests.

3. The only touchdown Tulane has recorded in the last two games was a meaningless score with 1:55 left in a 38-7 loss to Memphis on Nov. 15.

PREDICTION: Temple 22, Tulane 19