The Tulsa Golden Hurricane snapped a seven-game losing streak with a win over SMU, the worst team in FBS, in their last game, but oddsmakers are not exactly expecting a winning streak. The Hurricane travel to Orlando as big underdogs against the UCF Golden Knights. The Knights are coming off of one of the most embarrassing losses in recent years, a 37-29 defeat at the hands of UConn. The national spotlight will be on these two teams as Friday’s only college football contest.
Tulsa vs. UCF College Football Preview
Date/Time: Friday November 14, 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
College Football Betting Odds from WagerWeb
College Football Betting Favorite: UCF -21
Total: 55
After some initial success after Todd Graham bolted for Pitt, Bill Blankenship has fallen on some very hard times at Tulsa. The entire program has seen some turmoil, after the athletic director was fired for his alleged role in a gambling ring out of Oklahoma City and that incident seems to be a microcosm of what’s happening at Tulsa. Blankenship is 24-24 straight up in his career at Tulsa, but holds a 6-15 ATS mark over the last two seasons. George O’Leary is 77-60 straight up in his UCF head coaching career. Since 2005, the Knights are 69-53 ATS.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane:
It’s been a very long couple of seasons for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. They’ve regressed almost every way imaginable and even their wins aren’t much to celebrate. SMU, who has the worst offense in the country, scored 28 points and racked up 463 yards in Tulsa’s 38-28 win last week. Tulsa won with big plays, averaging nearly 18 yards per completion, and Dane Evans threw five touchdown passes out of 16 completions. Keevan Lucas is the star of this offense with 79 catches for 1,017 yards and 10 of Tulsa’s 19 receiving touchdowns. The defense is terrible. The 28 points that Tulsa allowed to SMU was the fewest that they have allowed this season. SMU converted 50 percent of their third down attempts. Not a whole lot more needs to be said.
UCF Knights:
It seemed that one of these games was coming for UCF. Justin Holman has thrown 10 interceptions this season in his quest to fill the shoes of NFL first round draft pick Blake Bortles. Holman has completed less than 57 percent of his passes and has a 13/10 TD/INT ratio. Holman hasn’t been the only problem for the offense. The Knights are seriously missing Storm Johnson and it’s clear in their rushing statistics. UCF is averaging 2.8 yards per carry. William Stanback, who leads the team in rushing attempts, is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. Up until the UConn game, the defense had played pretty well, but some turnovers and big plays made the defense’s job very difficult in that game. UConn hadn’t scored more than 21 points before last week’s game. The defense certainly has something to prove this week.
Free Pick: Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa is one of the worst teams in FBS, but this is a Central Florida team that doesn’t appear poised to blow anybody out. Their offense lacks efficiency and their quarterback turns the ball over too much. Tulsa got a taste of winning last week and it had to taste better than losing, so they should come with a pretty big effort in this game. UCF is clearly the superior team, but this is a big number for a team that has one blowout win out of their four wins over FBS foes. Three touchdowns is too much to lay. Grab the points.
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