The No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes host the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a non-conference affair on Saturday, September 10th. This will be the first-ever meeting between these two programs.
Ohio State (1-0) racked up a school-record 776 yards in a 77-10 romp over Bowling Green in its opener last week. It was an emphatic start for the Buckeyes, who came in as one of the youngest teams in the country with only six returning starters.
Tulsa (1-0) did some damage of its own in a 45-10 blowout win over San Jose State last week. The Golden Hurricane compiled 512 yards of total offense in the win.
Kickoff inside Ohio Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 EST Saturday afternoon with ABC providing the television coverage. Taking a look at the lines in Las Vegas, I find Ohio State as a 29-point favorite over Tulsa with a total set of 73.5 points.
The Golden Hurricane have the firepower to make this one interesting. Former Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery has this program headed in the right direction. The Golden Hurricane went 6-7 last season and made a bowl game, only narrowly losing to Virginia Tech 52-55 as 14-point dogs in Frank Beamer’s final game.
Now Montgomery has 14 starters back this season in Year 2 of his systems. The key is having seven starters back on offense from a team that put up 37.2 points and 507 yards per game last year.
The Golden Hurricane are off to a rousing start offensively in 2016 as they racked up 512 total yards in their 45-10 victory over San Jose State as only 4-point favorites. Returning starter Dane Evans threw for 198 yards and a touchdown, while they racked up 305 rushing yards on 5.3 per carry to do most of their damage on the ground.
I was equally impressed with the effort defensively, which was the Achilles’ heel of this team the past few years. The Golden Hurricane limited the Spartans to just 10 points, 287 total yards and 13 first downs. This defense should be better with seven starters and six of the top eight tacklers back.
Ohio State comes in overvalued due to having just put up 77 points in its romp of Bowling Green. But that was a Bowling Green team that lost a lot of talent from last year, and more importantly, head coach Dino Babers. I wouldn’t look too much into it.
This is one of the youngest teams in the country as the Buckeyes returned just six starters this season and lost more talent than anyone to the NFL. I don’t believe this young team will have the focus it takes to put Tulsa away by more than four touchdowns, especially considering they’ll be looking ahead to their game at Oklahoma next week.
Speaking of Oklahoma, Tulsa proved it could play with the big boys last year. It only lost 38-52 at Oklahoma as 30-point underdogs to easily cover the spread. The Golden Hurricane racked up 603 total yards on offense against what was a very good Sooners’ defense.
Speaking of Oklahoma, Tulsa proved it could play with the big boys last year. It only lost 38-52 at Oklahoma as 30-point underdogs to easily cover the spread. The Golden Hurricane racked up 603 total yards on offense against what was a very good Sooners’ defense.
Plays against home favorites (OHIO ST) – after allowing 100 or less rushing yards last game against opponent after outrushing opponent by 200 or more yards last game are 31-6 (83.8%) ATS over the last five seasons.
Plays on road underdogs of 21.5 or more points (TULSA) – after outgaining opp by 225 or more total yards in their previous game, with an experienced QB returning as starter are 26-6 (81.2%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.
The Golden Hurricane are 10-1 ATS in their last 11 road games. Tulsa is 8-0 ATS in its last eight games after scoring more than 40 points in its previous game.