East Carolina Tulane Predictions

Written September 10, 2008 by Jack Jones

East Carolina is the talk of the college football scene and one of the biggest surprises of the early season and they will try to remain that way when they head to Tulane in the Conference USA opener for both schools. Jack Jones will preview the college football odds on this game and get you ready to win your bets. The early spread at Bookmaker shows East Carolina favored by 13 over Tulane.

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It seems like the Pirates have surprised everyone by upsetting both Virginia Tech and West Virginia in the first couple of weeks, but this week a win for Skip Holtz’s team wouldn’t suprise anyone. The team is ranked for the first time in almost 10 years and they have their highest ranking in 17 years with their No. 14 position this week. If you go back to last year’s Hawaii Bowl win over Boise State, East Carolina has won three games in a row over ranked teams.

The coach and players still know they have a lot of work to do to reach their goals. They are only two games into a 12-game schedule and conference play has yet to begin. Obviously, the last two games they played were against ranked opponents, and that didn’t mean much for them as they left with losses. Holtz is using that on his players to keep them focuses.

One of the reasons for the early success has been the play of senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney, who has gone 41-for-51 with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions through two games. Running back Johnathan Williams is also off to a quick start with three touchdowns and rushing for 117 yards.

Last year these two teams faced off in their regular season finale, when the Pirates came away with a 35-12 victory. East Carolina had 219 rushing yards on their way to their sixth win over Tulane in the last seven matchups. However, the Green Wave have won two of three in New Orleans. If you want to bet on East Carolina this week the spread is -12.5 at JustBet.

Weather has already disturbed Tulane early in the season and could be a problem again this week. The campus was evacuated on August 30th when Hurricane Gustav was making it’s way towards New Orleans. The team had to spend a week in a Birmingham, Alabama hotel and get their practice in at nearby Samford University.

This week Hurricane Ike is threatening the Gulf Coast and even though the eye of the storm will most likely miss the city, bad weather will most likely be resulted from it.

Tulane will be taking on their second straight top 25 team after playing their first game last week against Alabama. Even though Tulane outgained the Crimson Tide 318-172 and held the ball for more than 36 minutes the ended up losing 20-6. Quarterback Kevin Moore spread the ball around to 11 different receivers in going 28-for-49 with his pass attempts.

Tulane has lost 33 consecutive games against ranked opponents, one of the reasons they are such a heavy underdog in this one. But, if you think taking the spread on Tulane +13 is a good idea, you can do it at Bookmaker and get a 20% signup bonus.

For more advice on this game and others check out our sports betting forums. If you want to win more of your bets on Saturday then look at our college football picks package available from the experts on the site.

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