In its home opener against Lafayette, Temple football is a team on the rebound

Excuse the old adage here — if only for a moment. But the following perhaps hasn’t been more true for the current state of Temple football.

The only way to shake a bad fall is to get back on the horse.

For Temple, the fall was a 30-0 season-opening loss to Duke on the road that pressed pause on what appeared to be a fresh start with new head coach Stan Drayton. The proverbial horse, in this case, would be Lafayette, a nonconference foe who by all accounts appears to be a timely opponent for the Owls to engage in their home opener Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field (2 p.m., ESPN+).

However, Lafayette enters the game riding a 1-0 start to the season after defeating Sacred Heart. The final score in that one: 6-0, making it difficult to ascertain how for real Lafayette truly is or if their season opener was just an early dogfight between two FCS opponents.

Vegas believes Temple has this one in the bag: The Owls are a 17.5-point favorite over the Leopards.

An offense that combined for just 179 yards of total offense against Duke with starting quarterback D’Wan Mathis accounting for just 83 yards passing on 11 completions. Redshirt junior Jose Barbon and Adonicas Sanders, the senior transfer from Georgia Tech were the main targets combining for 84 of the team’s total yards against Duke. Expect the 6-foot Barbon and the 6-foot-1 Sanders to be the primary targets again against a Lafayette team that allowed Sacred Heart to post 254 yards in the air.

» READ MORE: Stan Drayton’s lesson-filled path to being Temple’s head football coach

Temple rusher Edward Saydee, whose performance was less than optimal against Duke. The senior needs to prove why he was picked as Drayton’s lead rusher. Saydee, who led the team in rushing last season (399 yards, three TDs), will have a chance to show his prowess against an underdog from the FCS.

In fact, a pretty storied one that dates back to the 1930s. Lafayette and Temple were conference opponents in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) in the 1950s and 1960s, matching up 13 times, previously. The Owls lead that series, 8-4-1 all-time with Temple winning 27-12 the last time these two met, in 1965.

After Lafayette, comes a monster test on Sept. 17 back at the Linc on homecoming against Rutgers (2 p.m., ESPN+). The Owls would be looking for their first win against the Big Ten opponent, losing last year’s matchup, 61-14, in Piscataway, N.J.