NCAA Football Odds – Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs East Carolina Pirates Free Pick & Preview
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Tulsa Golden Hurricane at East Carolina Pirates
Sunday September 5 – 2:00PM
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
Tulsa (0-0) vs East Carolina (0-0)
Moneyline: Tulsa -300, ECU +200
Spread Favourite: Tulsa -8
Over/Under: 59
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Tulsa
Tulsa had a bit of a lost season last year. Coming into the season most thought that their pinball offensive ways would continue but after averaging more than 40ppg the previous two seasons they sank all the way to 29ppg, losing an amazing 160 yards in total offense per game as well. Without a defense to prop it up the Golden Hurricane fell hard from 11 wins to 5, hurting “investors” as well with a 4-6-1 mark ATS. Injuries contributed but personnel changes were also to blame.
This year Tulsa is expecting to rejoin the ranks of the C-USA elite and gets a rare opportunity to make a statement with a road conference game to start the season. QB G.J. Kinne is back at the helm looking for redemption and hoping that the former Texas transfer can play somewhere between last season’s preseason hype and his actual performance. Prior to last year this offense was cranking out 4000 yard passers and Kinne didn’t even break the 3K mark. He is also hoping to get a little support in the run game as well as last year he was Tulsa’s leading rusher. If he is again Tulsa is looking at another disappointing season. They need senior Charles Clay to step up big time.
If Tulsa can get its offense right it will have enough firepower with Clay and returning leading receiver Demarris Johnson to compete with the other high scoring teams in the conference. If not it will be another interesting season as only 5 starters return on defense from a team that gave up almost 28ppg. Leading tackler DeAundre Brown (the other one) returns but what little pass rush they did have is gone. The defense is lucky to be facing an East Carolina squad that is a bit down to this year due to coaching and graduation losses. This is why Tulsa is the solid favourite at -8. 
East Carolina
East Carolina was a very solid 9-5 last year including a win in the conference championship game…but a lot has changed since then and nobody is expecting this to be the kind of squad that beat Virginia Tech and West Virginia two years ago. Gone are longtime starting QB Patrick Pinkney, leading rusher Dominique Lindsay and of course coach Skip Holtz (now at South Florida), whose inspirational leadership really set the tone for this underdog program. With all of them gone expectations are pretty low right now. They might even have their first losing season since 2005.
The Pirates only return 8 starters on both sides of the ball but that may be a good thing because they are making the switch to the spread offense and will feature former Boston College QB Dominique Davis. Lucky for Davis the one area of experience and production on the team is at WR where leading receivers Darryl Freeney and Dwayne Harris return. Harris was first team C-USA last year and with the focused attention on the passing game this season is a good bet to repeat. The offensive philosophy switch has been initiated by Ruffin McNeil who was on Mike Leach’s staff at Texas Tech. I was pretty sure that he was on the defensive side of things but he knows how effective the spread can be and is solidly behind the change. Whether he has the personnel to execute we will soon see.
The Pirates are going to need all the defensive prowess Ruffin can bring as only two players return to the defense. Lucky for them they have a stud at defensive tackle in Josh Smith. He had 4 sacks last year and can be very disruptive in the middle of that defense – most think he will be playing in the NFL next season, The only other starter returning is CB Emmanuel Davis who is one of the better defensive backs in C-USA and will have his opportunities to make plays with all the times Tulsa will put the ball in the air. It is the lack of experience on defence that is the reason the Pirates are such big dogs in Week 1. It may take them a while to gel with so many new starters and schemes.
The Pick: This game will tell us a lot about Tulsa as they look to respond to last year’s disappointment. There is no compelling reason to back ECU so Tulsa is the pick here at -8
College Football Gambling Trends:
Golden Hurricane are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games in September.
Golden Hurricane are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games on grass.
Golden Hurricane are 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 conference games.
Over is 5-1 in Pirates last 6 games in September.
Over is 5-1 in Pirates last 6 conference games.
Pirates are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 conference games.
Score Prediction: Tulsa 35 – East Carolina 20
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