Houston at Tulsa Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Friday the No. 8 Houston Cougars will go on the road to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in huge Conference USA showdown. Both teams are a perfect 7-0 inside the conference, and the winner of this game will win the West Division and lock in a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game. If this game is anything like the last two times these two teams have played, you can expect this contest to go right down to the wire. Houston won 46-45 at Tulsa back in 2009, but the Golden Hurricanes responded with a 28-25 win at Houston last season.

Taking a look at the week 13 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have Houston favored by 3-points over Tulsa.

Houston:

With Oklahoma State’s loss at Iowa State this past week, the Cougars are just one of two teams left without a loss this season. But even if they were to win this week and go on to win the Conference USA Championship Game, they will more than likely be left out of the National Championship Game. However, they are still in the mix for a BCS bowl game if they were to win out.

The Cougars come in averaging 53.1 ppg and just over 618 yards of total offense, but showed they can also play some defense every now and then. Houston won 37-7 at home over SMU this past weekend. holding the Mustangs to just one touchdown and 263 yards of offense.

Offensively they had a bit of an off game with just 37 points and 513 yards of total offense, but it was more than enough to bring home a win. Case Keenum finished 30 of 45 for 318 yards and three touchdowns, and also scored a touchdown on a 16 yard run. Justin Johnson had a game-high nine catches for 99 yards and a score, and Michael Hayes led the ground attack with 68 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts.

The offense knows they are going to have to do more if they are going to beat Tulsa this week, but that shouldn’t be problem. The Golden Hurricanes come in allowing just over 409 yards of total offense, and are 102nd in the country against the pass, giving up 272.5 ypg.

Tulsa:

The Golden Hurricanes are 8-3 overall, but they played a much more difficult non-conference schedule. Their three losses are against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Boise State. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say Tulsa would be 11-0 if they faced the same 11 teams Houston has went up against. There’s no question they are going to lay everything on the line to win this game and let everyone know they are the best team in C-USA.

In order to beat Houston you have to be able to match them offensively, and the Golden Hurricanes are more than capable of doing just that. They backed up a 59-17 win over Marshall with a 57-28 blowout win at UTEP on Saturday. While Houston primarily attacks with the passing game, Tulsa has a very balanced offensive attack. The Golden Hurricanes average 255 ypg through the air and another 210 ypg on the ground.

In their last game against the Miners, starting quarterback G.J. Kinne threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns on 19 of 25 passing, while Ja’Terian Douglas and Trey Watts combined for 178 yards on the ground. Watts also had 72 yars receiving and ran a kickoff back 94-yards for a score.

While Kinne and the passing attack figures to have some success against Houston’s 42nd ranked pass defense (211.8 ypg), I expect Douglas and Watts to be the difference makers in this game. Houston is allowing 169.5 ypg on the ground, and it’s hard to forget the 359 rushing yards they gave up to Rice earlier this season.

Betting Trends:

Houston is 8-21 ATS in their last 29 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.

Tulsa is 13-3 ATS in their last 16 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football.

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