Miami looks for laugher at winless Temple

Top 25 Overview

PHILADELPHIA, PA - 1:00 PM ET Maybe Temple won't win a game all year, but you gotta admire the players for giving it all they have every week. They're playing for nothing but pride. Scouts, Inc.: Matchups to watch

Complete Top 25 Overview

Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
MIA	5-1	179	60	3-0	2-1	1-0	2-1
TEM	0-7	66	330	0-4	0-3	0-0	0-0
· Complete Standings

Record When Scoring... (Since 2001)
	20 OR MORE	30 OR MORE	40 OR MORE	50 OR MORE
MIA	44-2-0	33-0-0	21-0-0	8-0-0
TEM	9-14-0	8-1-0	3-0-0	1-0-0
	LESS THAN 20	LESS THAN 30	LESS THAN 40	LESS THAN 50
MIA	4-5-0	15-7-0	27-7-0	40-7-0
TEM	2-27-0	3-40-0	8-41-0	10-41-0

TEAM AVERAGES & NCAA RANKS
OFFENSE	TM	PER GAME AVERAGE / NCAA RANK
Total Yards	MIA	371.3 / 61st
	TEM	247.5 / 119th
Passing Yards	MIA	246.2 / 49th
	TEM	183.5 / 104th
Rushing Yards	MIA	145.3 / 58th
	TEM	82.0 / 115th
Points Scored	MIA	29.3 / 42nd
	TEM	9.7 / 119th
Full Team Stats: Miami (FL) | Temple

THIS WEEK'S LINE
FAVORITE	SPREAD	UNDERDOG	OVER/UNDER
MIAMIFL	43	TEMPLE	54
Full Daily Lines

Individual Leaders

Miami (FL) Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Harris 60.4 3003 21 17 Highsm... 66.7 53 1 0

Temple Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Charlt... 50.6 1200 9 7 Stewar... 44.2 422 3 2

Miami (FL) Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Cooper 113 583 5.2 3 Berry 77 473 6.1 8

Temple Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Pierce 224 1308 5.8 15 Brown 44 274 6.2 3

Miami (FL) Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Hanker... 42 752 17.9 5 Benjam... 28 490 17.5 4

Temple Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Campbe... 24 393 16.4 3 Jones 22 343 15.6 1

Full Player Stats: Miami (FL) | Temple

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- When asked about the Temple Owls' dreadful defense, Miami Hurricanes quarterback Kyle Wright struggles to suppress a smile.

His facial expression suggests eager anticipation.

"I guess you could say (you're) licking your chops," Wright says. "But it still comes down to execution. We want to get better each game, so once we get into those bigger games, we're clicking."

The only thing big about Miami-Temple is the point spread: The No. 7-ranked Hurricanes (4-1) are 41-point favorites over the Owls (0-6).

The mismatch of a matchup offers Wright a chance to pad his stats while he becomes more comfortable in his high-profile role running the Miami offense. The sophomore and first-year starter is rapidly growing into the job and coming off an impressive performance against Duke, when he threw three touchdown passes to double his season total.

"He keeps getting better every week," senior tackle Eric Winston said. "He'll mess something up, and the next week you won't see the same mistake. The big thing is we have to give him enough time back there, and he's going to make every throw he needs to make."

Wright has been touted as the next great quarterback for a program that produced Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Gino Torretta and Ken Dorsey. Despite only five career starts, he has the swagger of a worthy successor.

"The receivers and I think we can throw on anybody," Wright said.

The Californian has made substantial progress since a season-opening loss at Florida State, when he was sacked nine times, threw two interceptions and led Miami to only one score.

Coach Larry Coker says Wright is becoming more familiar with the offense, and as a result he's making decisions more quickly when his primary receiver is covered.

"The protection is better, but I think the ball is also being released quicker, because he knows more where to go with the ball," Coker said. "We have to get the ball in the hands of the good players, and I see that type of progress from Kyle."

Wright completed passes to five receivers against Florida State. Eight Hurricanes caught passes in each of the past two games.

"Playing more definitely helps," he said.

He threw only nine passes last year as a freshman and has already thrown 150 this year. But he was happy to sit out the final 1{ quarters of last week's 52-7 win over Duke to let understudy Kirby Freeman play.

"That's valuable experience for Kirby," Wright said. "My biggest playing time like that was against FSU this year -- that's how I got broken in."

He has bounced back well, and Wright and his teammates now have one final nonconference tuneup before facing Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in the final five regular-season games.

The Hurricanes have beaten Temple 12 consecutive times by an average score of 45-11. The Owls are allowing 49.5 points per game this year, and on Monday coach Bobby Wallace said this will be his final season.

Wright figures a fast start Saturday in Philadelphia should do the job against the Owls.

"Against a big team like Miami, they're going to play their hardest," Wright said. "We just have to shut them down early and put some points on the board and kill their will."