One team just got a new head coach and basically a new quarterback room. The other didn't lose a single starter. Temple and Memphis close out the regular season on wildly different trajectories.
Bush’s Picks
TEMMEM
TEMMEM
OverUnder
Best BetMemphis
Memphis carries the higher recent ceiling into this one, projected well ahead of Temple in early rankings and holding a 5-4 series edge. That said, backing the Tigers here means betting that a brand-new coaching staff and a rebuilt quarterback room gel fast enough to still be the better team by late November. It's the safer historical lean, not a lock.
Temple
+Didn't lose a single starter to the transfer portal
+Added a 2026 class ranked 2nd in the AAC
+Tabbed by CFN as the league's sleeper team
−Finished just 5-7 last season under a first-year coach
−Blown out 52-25 in last season's finale
−Historically the weaker side in this series, trails 4-5
Memphis
+Went bowling again in 2025, higher recent ceiling
+Projected around No. 42 nationally, well above Temple
+Leads the all-time series 5-4
−Lost head coach Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas
−Quarterback room essentially rebuilt from scratch via portal
−Reports of up to 22 new starters heading into the season
Memphis enters this one having gone through the kind of offseason overhaul that makes November games hard to forecast in July. Ryan Silverfield bolted for Arkansas after last season, and the Tigers turned to Charles Huff, hired away from Southern Miss, to keep the program's recent momentum going. That momentum was real: Memphis went bowling again in 2025, even if the Gasparilla Bowl ended in a lopsided loss to NC State.
The bigger issue in Memphis is at quarterback, where the room is essentially starting over. Grant Troutman is the only returning QB on the roster and isn't expected to win the job outright, so Huff went to the portal for options in Air Noland, Marcus Stokes and Denzel Gardner. Add in reports of up to 22 new starters across the roster, and Memphis's ceiling this season depends heavily on how fast a brand-new coaching staff gets strangers playing like a team.
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TEM Temple
MEM Memphis
Temple's story is the mirror image. K.C. Keeler's first year in Philadelphia ended at 5-7, capped by a 52-25 loss at North Texas, but the follow-up looks a lot more stable. Temple didn't lose a single starter to the transfer portal, added 22 portal pieces of its own including two quarterbacks competing for the job, and brought in a recruiting class ranked 2nd in the AAC. Keeler has talked openly about the Owls being in the conversation for an AAC title, and College Football News has already flagged Temple as the league's sleeper team to watch.
Temple Owls
Nov 19?vs Rice—
Nov 13?vs UAB—
Nov 7?@ Navy—
Oct 30?@ East Carolina—
Oct 16?vs Charlotte—
Oct 9?vs UConn—
Oct 2?@ South Florida—
Sep 25?vs Army—
Sep 19?@ Toledo—
Sep 12?vs Penn State—
Sep 5?vs Rhode Island—
Memphis Tigers
Nov 21?@ Navy—
Nov 12?@ South Florida—
Oct 30?vs Army—
Oct 22?vs East Carolina—
Oct 16?@ Tulane—
Oct 9?vs UAB—
Oct 2?@ Charlotte—
Sep 19?vs UT Martin—
Sep 12?@ Boise State—
Sep 5?vs Arkansas State—
Aug 29?@ UNLV—
Recent form.
Memphis still owns this series, leading 5-4 since it began in 2013, and the two most recent meetings haven't been close — the Tigers ran Temple off the field 45-21 back in 2023. That history, plus a spring projection that has Memphis around No. 42 nationally to Temple's No. 92, says the talent gap probably still favors the home team. But projections built in July don't know yet how a new coaching staff and a rebuilt quarterback room will actually play come Thursday, November 26.
That gap between preseason numbers and on-field reality is exactly why this one's worth circling months in advance. Temple has the rare luxury of continuity in a portal era where nobody has it; Memphis has the more talented roster on paper but also the most variables. Whichever program manages its turnover better by late November has a real shot to walk out of this one with the better story.
