After the craziness of last week's Tulane game, it is doubtful Tulsa will take any lead or any team for granted.

When Temple plays at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., the Owls arrive playing at an incredibly inept level over the past few weeks.

Tulsa (4-6, 3-3 AAC), given what happened last week against Tulane, combined with bad home losses to Navy and UC Davis this year, is the last team that should think any win is going to be easy.

But still, Temple has been really, really bad while fighting injuries and other setbacks. Tulsa is favored by 21.5 points.

No way TU should lose to these guys? Right?

Just like Tulsa should have had last Saturday's game at Tulane wrapped up before the end of the game. Certainly after the way TU was dominating Tulane.

But Tulsa's failure to recover an onside kick, combined with bad turnovers, kept Tulane hanging around. If Tulane had made a straight-in, 25-yard field goal at the end of regulation, the Green Wave would have beaten their first FBS opponent of the season.

And Tulsa would have left New Orleans incredibly demoralized. But as it is, Tulsa still has a chance to have a .500 regular season and become bowl eligible if it wins against Temple and at SMU in the final week of the season.

"I'd like to see us do a better job of putting teams away when you have the opportunity," said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery. "We haven't been in those situations many times throughout the year. We've got to seize the moment when it comes to that and be able to extend and really take some of the hope out of the other side."

Temple (3-7, 1-5) is coming off an absolutely dreadful five-game stretch where it has been outscored 217-35. That is an average score of losing 43-7. It is really difficult to play any worse football.

With Temple having a bad offense and bad defense, Tulsa should be able to blow these guys out. But never say never after the UC Davis and Navy losses this season.

At least the game will be played on Saturday, where Tulsa is 4-3, with its three losses coming in very close games against Top 10 teams on the road.

Realistically, Tulsa should not lose this game. Really, there is no reason for this game to be even remotely close.

Temple has some ability, as evidenced by defeating Memphis earlier in the season. But due to penalties, turnover, injuries and more, they appear to be awful now.

Playing two freshmen quarterbacks - D'Wan Mathis and Justin Lynch - never helps. As their running quarterback, the 6-1 Lynch was the quarterback last week, completing 11 of 24 passes for 119 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.