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    Temple vs. Rutgers Week 1 college football odds: D'Wan Mathis, Georgia transfer, will start at quarterback for Owls

    Temple has named its starting quarterback for the season opener at Rutgers.
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    The SportsLine Projection Model released its first projections for Week 1 of the college football season today, and Temple is a 13.5-point underdog at Caesars Sportsbook for its Sept. 2 at Rutgers. The Owls made news Wednesday when coach Rod Carey officially named D'Wan Mathis – remember him, Georgia fans? – as the team's starting quarterback. Not a huge surprise as Mathis was the leader out of the spring. 

    This non-conference matchup between the Owls of the American Athletic Conference and Scarlet Knights of the Big Ten was to be played Sept. 4, the first full Saturday of the season, but was shifted to Thursday, Sept. 2, so it could be shown on the Big Ten Network.

    Temple was just 1-6 in the 2020 shortened season. Anthony Russo was the team's primary quarterback, completing 68.1 percent of his passes for 863 yards, nine TDs and six picks, but he transferred to Michigan State. Russo left Temple ranked in the top four in team history for passing yards (6,287), completions (536), attempts (899) and touchdowns (44). Another Temple QB, Trad Beatty (17-for-27, 230 yards, one TD, one pick last year), transferred to Georgia Tech. The Owls lost 15 scholarship players to the transfer portal.

    Mathis opened the 2020 season as the surprise Georgia starter but that was largely due to injuries to other QBs (i.e., JT Daniels). Mathis completed 8 of 17 passes for 55 yards with one interception in Georgia's opener at Arkansas before being benched in favor of Stetson Bennett. Mathis only saw the field sparingly in two other games and decided to leave.

    "I was familiar with Coach Carey's system from Northern Illinois, and that was a style I wanted to play within," Mathis said of his decision.

    Temple is given an Over/Under win total of just 3.0 this season at Caesars, with both options -110. The Owls are +15000 long shots to win the AAC title.

    Rutgers, meanwhile, improved by leaps and bounds in 2020 (the 3-6 record was misleading), Coach Greg Schiano's first year back. Noah Vedral returns at QB after completing 61.5 percent of his passes for 1,253 yards, nine TDs and eight picks. He started seven of nine games. Rutgers did not lose any starters on offense from last year. Because of New Jersey regulations, Rutgers futures aren't available.

    It's the first meeting between Rutgers and Temple since 2013. The Scarlet Knights haven't been at least 13.5-point favorites since Week 1 of the 2019 season when they were -17 vs. UMass. Rutgers is 3-0 ATS in its past three as at least that big of a favorite. 

    Which Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Join SportsLine now to get 2021 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Josh Allen's huge season.

    Matt SeveranceSeverance Pays

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