The Tulsa Golden Hurricane may finally be righting the ship. Following five wins between 2013-14, Tulsa made a change and brought in Philip Montgomery to run the show. Things immediately improved and Montgomery had Tulsa’s offense rolling once again. Now Tulsa will look to tally its first winning season since 2012 and will start the season with the San Jose Spartans on deck for College Football Week 1 action. Any game involving Tulsa has the potential for a lot of points and this one is no exception.
The contest in Week 1 of the regular season will go down Saturday, September 3, 2016, at 7 p.m. ET at Skelly Field at HA Chapman Stadium. This game will be broadcast on the CBSSN.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
San Jose State +3.5
Tulsa -3.5
Over/Under 70
Odds Analysis
Tulsa opened up as a 5-point favorite in this one, but the line has slowly trickled down to 3.5-points over the course of the month. The over/under opened at 68, but has risen slightly to 70 points as of this moment.
Player to Watch
Dane Evans doesn’t get a lot of attention because he’s doing it at Tulsa, but he is one of the more talented passers in the country. He filled up the stat sheet against most of his opponents, even foes like Oklahoma and Memphis. His performances in those games were most impressive as he put up 420 yards and four touchdowns in each and kept the Golden Hurricane relatively close.
What was even more impressive about his performance was that he did it with one of the shakiest offensive lines in the country. Tulsa started two freshmen at interior linemen positions and the result was that he ended up getting sacked 41 times on the season. The numbers are actually worse than that too. Evans isn’t much of a mobile threat but had 96 carries last season, meaning that many of those other runs were very short gains that were the result of the pocket collapsing. He needs his O-Line to play well for Tulsa to best San Jose State.
Key Stat
With Tyler Ervin carrying the ball last season, San Jose State’s strategy was pretty simple. Run, run, and run some more. The Spartans have made the transition over the last few seasons from a pass-happy side to a run-heavy side and that has worked out somewhat. Now the question is with Ervin gone whether or not this remains the case.
The Spartans have a pretty good offensive line and that should lead to a continued emphasis on the run game, even if a lot of the running is done by QB Kenny Potter. Tulsa’s weakness last season was stopping the run and San Jose State might have a big day if it stays loyal to running the ball.
Free ATS Pick
Tulsa is a pass first, pass heavy team and will try to turn this game into a track meet. The Golden Hurricane have never been particularly good at stopping offenses and rather than shutting down San Jose State, they will just try to simply outscore them.
In the Mountain West, not nearly as many teams are pass happy and San Jose State doesn’t face many attacks like the one Tulsa has. The good news is that the Spartans have had a month to prepare for it, but legendary defensive coordinator Bud Foster had a month to prepare as well and still gave up 52 points at the end of the season.
This will be one of those close back and forth games where it feels like the last team to get the ball wins. Each side has a strength to exploit over the other, but Tulsa can move the ball down the field quickly if it needs to. That factor and the home field are enough to pick Tulsa to cover the spread.
College Football Odds: Golden Hurricane 41, Spartans 36
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