Military Bowl Temple vs. Wake Forest Predictions 12/27/16

Wake Forest posted its first winning season since 2009 with a Tuesday win over Temple in the Military Bowl.

A few years later, that game was renamed the Military Bowl and moved to Annapolis.

The scene was nearly identical.

The Demon Deacons (7-6) instead finished with their first winning season since 2008 in their first game since a university investigation revealed former radio announcer Tommy Elrod had provided game plans to opponents. And when the Owls gathered after the game, coach Matt Rhule was not with them.

“It pains me right now like I can not describe because I know once it settles in it will only get worse”, interim coach Ed Foley said. It such a great feeling I really don’t know how to describe it. The Owls won the American Athletic Conference title under coach Matt Rhule, who left for Baylor. Temple also didn’t have its entire defensive coaching staff leading up to the game, but players were reluctant to say it factored into the game. The difference between this game and the matchups at the tail end of Wake Forest’s season was that, as Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said, “We were healthy…and we could run the playbook”. Wake Forest overcame a mid-game injury to starting quarterback John Wolford to take down the No. 23 Temple Owls on December 27 and become the 2016 Military Bowl Champions. He came into the Military Bowl having caught just 20 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns.

WAKE FOREST KEY TRENDS: The Demon Deacons have covered in five of their last seven games overall but are just 2-5 against the spread in their last seven non-conference games. The junior has thrown for 1,591 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions, completing 55.7 percent of his passes.

– Has Wake Forest recovered from WakeyLeaks?

“We have made significant strides in rebuilding Wake Forest football – both on and off the field”, he writes.

It threatened to completely overshadow the bowl game – at least, until the team raced out to a 31-10 halftime lead on the Owls and then held on for the kind of program-validating victory that the Demon Deacons (7-6) needed. “No player on our team has ever experienced a bowl. I’m going to end up in a really good place”, he said. Wolford also rushed for 61 yards and two touchdowns while the Deacons collected five interceptions on defense.

Taking over at their own 4-yard line and with 12:53 remaining in the fourth, Army proceeded to march 66 yards in 18 plays, bleeding a staggering 10½ minutes off the clock before turning it over to the Mean Green on downs.

His pick came on the first drive of the game. The Owls threatened again, but Walker was sacked by Duke Ejiofor and Willie Yarbary for a 22-yard loss on a second and goal.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Lindsay Allen recorded her first career triple double and Brianna Turner scored 24 to help No. 2 Notre Dame (12-1) beat Chattanooga 79-58 for its 15th straight road victory. Redshirt-freshman Kyle Kearns relieved him at quarterback for the rest of the game. “They are 10-3 and are No. 3 in the country in total defense and No. 8 in scoring defense”.

“We have high hopes for the owls, unfortunate we lost our leader, but I believe in the new guy we have coming in and I think he’ll do a good job and get us back to where we were”, one fan said.

Boumerhi hit a 32-yard field that pulled the Owls to within eight points with 9:36 remaining.

But the reason why the Owls taloned their way back into this game in the third quarter is much more concrete. The Owls fell behind 31-10 at the half and while they would outscore Wake Forest 16-3 in the second half, they weren’t quite able to completely overcome the large deficit. But the goal wasn’t just to get to the game.