Tulsa Football

All times Eastern.

BYU vs. Tulane
Free Pick: Tulane +17.5 (-110 odds) - Click here for point spreads
Visit Touthouse.com for more NCAA football picks from Craig Trapp

Trap games usually happen when a team is looking ahead or coming off a very tough fought win. Well BYU is coming off both of these. BYU pulled a huge upset in week 1 of college football beating power house Oklahoma. They have moved up in the ranking to #9 earning a ton of respect from voters. Tulane was beat very handily at home verse Tulsa this past Saturday so I am sure BYU will be thinking this one is in the bag. Even more likely is BYU is looking forward to Week 3 and a huge home game against Florida State.

Pretty hard to just smell the perfume that everyone is spraying and this young team has to be tempted to drink the perfume. Now I am not saying that BYU is going to lose to Tulane but do think that the Green Wave will be pumped and give them a good first half.

BYU is one of the most penalized teams in College Football and with all the distractions and media attention has to make it tough for BYU to concentrate on preparation this week. They better not sleep on Tulane as they are much better than they looked against Tulsa.

Don’t fall into the Trap this week instead take the +17.5 and Tulane.

Get all of Craig Trapp’s Premium picks and witness the GUARANTEED Profits! opening weekend Craig was 3-2 in CFB and his hot run continues in MLB going 8-3 the last 10 days!! Below is Craig’s “TRAP GAME OF THE WEEK”

RANK	TEAM	COMMENTS	DELTA
1.		The Gators season will get interesting in two weeks against Tennessee. Until then, they sit here untouched.	-
2.		I am careful not to put much too much stock in one game, but if they find a dependable running game: Beware.	-
3.		Let's be clear, San Jose State sucks. But something looked a little different in the USC running game. Nobody wants to hear that.	-
4.		The defense was—dare I say it—more dominant than last year. If the ground game performs that well every week Florida may have a game on its hands in the SECCG.	2
5.		With all the pressure on the Cowboys, they took down a major SEC opponent. Beating Georgia is always impressive.	2
6.		If you stayed up to watch this one you saw a LSU team that you would not want to face down the road. It was not always pretty but the Huskies were way improved.	1
7.		The schedule is horrendous but Penn State was in control the whole time. Compared to many around them, there were no noticeable problems.	5
8.		If they get solid QB play all the way along (a BIG if), Jahvid Best can do the rest. You should watch him play as much as possible.	3
9.		They did not play especially well but the ground game was dominant. Now, it gets even better with Roddy Jones coming back this week.	1
10.		The OSU defense played better than it is getting credit for and the offense scored on six of 10 possessions. Still, the killer instinct did not appear to be there.	2
11.		BYU played a great game but the Sooners were shell-shocked when Bradford went down. With a week to adjust, expect to see a nasty running game and a very tough defense.	7
12.		This is likely waaaaaay too high (and I did pick Michigan to beat them this weekend), but they did more than was expected by crushing Nevada.	9
13.		Don't be deceived by the score, it took Ole Miss far too long to finish Memphis and it was not until late that Jevan Snead and the offense woke up.	-
14.		The pure talent on the Hurricanes is impressive. They will blow a couple games this season but the skill is there to be terrific.	5
15.		This may be too harsh but if you watched the game you saw VT get manhandled all night. On the positive side, they hung around when they had no business being in that game.	1
16.		They did everything they had to do to win but Oklahoma was mentally destroyed by Bradford's injury. They are two spots ahead of FSU...for now.	10
17.		UNC has been getting great recruits and that is going to start paying dividends. I really believe this is a team to keep your eye on.	1
18.		The defense was disappointing but we already talked about Miami's skill. Somebody had to lose on Monday night, but I would not be shocked to see those two meet in the ACCCG.	1
19.		The skill positions looked weak and Sturdivant's injury may cause an unraveling on offense. You will find out this week against a good Gamecock defense.	4
20.		First things first, they have no defense. Who cares? That offense should score at will.	2
21.		The total offense—passing and running—needs to prove it against a real team, but there were certainly some encouraging signs this past weekend.	2
22.		Mizzou delivered the beatdown of the weekend. But let's be honest, you are not totally surprised the Zookers laid an egg.	4
23.		Boise played well but Oregon was horrible and it was not all BSU's doing. We may never know if they are for real...unless they lose to Tulsa.	3
24.		They did not play. Nothing to see here.	-
25.		I watched this game for about 10 minutes and instantly wondered why Schiano stayed.	1

OK Cougar fans, it is now Wednesday and I think it is time for us to shift our focus onto the Green Wave from Tulane.  Hopefully the Boys in Blue made that shift Monday morning, but since we don’t need to run drills or watch scout tape, I figure we should get a few extra days.

The OU win was incredible and has its place in history.  But it will be meaningless unless we take care of business in the SUPERDOME!

What another great stage for a great football game.  Two concerns from the BYU side.  An emotional win over a powerhouse and then a game against an also-ran that come up and nip you in the butt.  We better strap it up.  As worried as everyone was about the guys being pumped for the OU game, I am worried about them being pumped for this game.  But I think that Coach Mendenhall knows how to rein them in.  The past 4 years have ben a great progression in BYU football and I look at the OU as being comparable to the game at TCU when they had that huge home winning streak and #17 ranking and knocked them off.  At the time for the BYU program that was an emotional win and a huge game!  Good news is that Coach brought us back down to earth and we got back to work and ran the table.  No doubt the boys will be ready.

On with the scouting report…

Defensively they will not be as good as OU.  They run a standard 4-3 defense and while they are athletic they will not play with the same speed and tenacity as OU did.  They are capable and we do need to set the tone early with run game.  They are experienced on D with 7 Seniors, 2 Juniors and 2 Sophomores.  Good news for us is that the young pups are at DT which is where we need to pound the ball early and often.  With a secondary that has been playing together for 4 years and with guys who know the system we will have to run crisp routes and Max will need to make good reads and distribute the ball evenly like he did in Dallas.

Offensively they have some legit weapons and we need to respect them.  They tried to spread Tulsa out and get their WRs 1-on-1 or in open space.  They like handing the ball on the fly sweep to Williams or throwing him little swing passes and letting him make guys miss.  I think that their RB, Anderson is better than his stats showed against Tulsa (19 carries 49 yds 2.6 ypc).  That being said we should still shut him down.  They have two WRs who are very good.  Big Play good! #19 Robottom and #20 Williams.  Both had huge games (Robottom 6 rec – 82 yds 13.7 ypc; Williams 5 rec – 139 yds 27.8 ypc).  Both are fast, elusive and good at what they do.  They QB, Kemp will put the ball where it needs to be.  An interesting thing about the OU was that they did not test us on the deep ball (odd since that is how they beat TCU last year).  I would expect Tulane to take their shots downfield and try and isolate Robottom or Williams 1-on-1 with our DBs.  They have to go for some big plays to try and swing momentum.

On that note, be ready for trick plays galore!  ala Tulsa in 2007.  We came out and stoned them 3 and out 3 times in a row against their base stuff and then all the tricks came out and we got flustered and didn’t play assignement football.  Look for Tulane to do the same.  The coaches at BYU know the Tulane guys and they are expecting a lot of tricky.  ASSIGNMENT FOOTBALL will be the key to victory this week!

Markell Staffieri

Bradford out

Sam Bradford will likely be out when Tulsa comes to Norman on Sept. 19. The last time Tulsa beat Oklahoma was on Sept. 28 1996 in Norman. Before the season began, Tulsa had a stated goal of going 14-0 and their coach said they would be in a position to be able to win every game. Tulsa will not only be capable of competing with OU, they will have what it takes to leave Norman with a win.

The last time Tulsa came to Norman?

It was 2005. Sooners led by a marginal 17-15 score with four minutes left in the fourth quarter...in Norman. Tulsa will again be very motivated to play. Some are saying the 2009 Sooners are a lot like the 2005 Sooners. Tulsa is also showing similarities to its 2005 team with a balanced offense and defense. Tulsa finished that season at 9-4 and won the C-USA championship. 

What's in it for Tulsa?

After BYU beat OU, they were propelled into the top-10. After Houston beat Oklahoma State, they entered the AP top-25 for the first time since 1991. Tulsa knows the significance this game could have for their program. Additionally, it is an oppurtunity to beat an in-state opponent. Tulsa has plenty of motivation.

Oklahoma Sooners' Woes

Besides the Bradford injury, there are many concerns for OU. Star TE Gresham is officially out for the season. Backup LB Wort is out for the season. Balogun will be out as well. Starting Center, Brody Eldridge who is a converted TE, has a broken finger. As some predicted, the offensive line is the weakness of this Sooner team.

Even before Bradford went out, the Sooner offense was barely able to move the ball and the team was plagued by incessant penalties and poor play of the offensive line. The defense looked good, but they gave up a touchdown when it was most crucial.

Tulsa's season-opener troubles?

Tulsa has had trouble in the season opener in each of the last three years against much weaker opponents. In 2007, they posted a meager 35-17 win over Louisiana-Monroe. In 2008, they were down 22-21 at halftime to UAB!

Tulsa was vastly better in each of those seasons than the first game would indicate. Although there is still plenty of room for improvement, Tulsa played a decent first game. The defense improved in week 2 and the offense began to show signs of greatness as G.J. Kinne passed for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Tulsa's defense

In the season opener, Tulsa had a formidable defense. Overall, it was not excellent, but it showed signs of excellence. MLB Mike Bryan was brilliant. He had 10 tackles, five for loss, a forced fumble and an interception. He could be a difference maker.

In game 2, Tulsa's defense was dominant. So far, Tulsa's defense has allowed only 1 touchdown. They are #2 in the nation in tackles for loss and #2 in sacks. They forced 6 fumbles against New Mexico. They have allowed only 84 rushing yards on 59 carries.

OU's rushing game, which is now the cornerstone of their offense, struggled against BYU. If Tulsa can hold OU's running game in check and force OU to be one-dimensional, they will have a chance at pressuring the brand-new quarterback into making some mistakes. Look for Tulsa to blitz through the middle and challenge Eldrige.

Tulsa's Offense - The Sleeping Giant

Tulsa's offense played very conservatively in their first two games, but still won 37-13 and 44-10. After the first game, coach Todd Graham said "We weren't as flashy as you'd think or want...This game was never in Jeopardy." As the Tulsa World reported, the first-time starting quarterback "Kinne was asked before the game just to manage Tulsa’s offense. He wasn’t expected to have a superstar effort."

G.J. Kinne exceeded expectations as a first time starter with 75 percent completion, 211 yards, 77 rushing yards, a couple of touchdowns and zero interceptions. He only threw the ball 20 times. To date, G.J. Kinne has 521 yards passing and leads the team in rushing with 130 yards. He has 6 TD's and zero INT's.

His zero interceptions is no anomaly. He had 47 touchdowns to 1 interception during his senior year in high school. After that he was heavily recruited by several major programs including OU and also Texas, where he signed on before transferring to Tulsa.

Tulsa has played a very conservative offense so far. Todd Graham hinted that they are not using too many big-yardage plays until they need them in the more important games (OU, Boise State). Look for the Tulsa offense to come into the Oklahoma and Boise State games stretching the field, similar to the Tulsa-offense we've seen the last two years.

Oklahoma Sooner Defense vs Dual-threat Quarterbacks

Its interesting to note that in recent history, OU has had trouble against dual-threat quarterbacks... Before BYU, their last three losses were to teams with dual-threat QB's: WVU with quarterback Pat White, Texas with Colt McCoy and Florida with Tim Tebow.

Their other two "scares" in 2008 were to teams with dual-threat QB's including the lowly Kansas State with Josh Freeman and Oklahoma State with Zach Robinson. G.J. Kinne's scrambling might be the biggest part of Tulsa's running game, as he led Tulsa in rushing in the first two games.

Tulsa's Offense vs Oklahoma Defense

So far OU has only allowed 6 yards rushing. That is no typo, but don't get too excited Sooner fans. Idaho State, held to -22 yards rushing against the Sooners, had -5 rushing yards against Arizona State. BYU was without star running back Harvey Unga.

The OU defense may be absolutely dominant, but there is a legitimate chance of an upset, if Tulsa can come out early and put the OU staff in a bad mood.

Tulsa's offense will have a tough time with the improved Sooner defense, but they should be able to win if they can get at least 3 TD's (which would be the lowest total since OU held them to 21 in 2007 when OU had the best defense in the Big 12).

Considering how the Sooner offense played against BYU (with or without Bradford), it is not too much of a stretch to say Tulsa could win the game with 21 points. Tulsa's backfield is very fast - faster than OU's. Several of Tulsa's receivers could compete for a starting WR spot at OU.

 Bottom line

A Tulsa victory over OU (which would have sounded comical a couple weeks ago) would bring OU down more than it would bring Tulsa up. Nevertheless, if there ever was an opportunity for the Golden Hurricane to beat the Sooners, this is it.

Well, it’s that time of year again…time to start dog-earring preview magazines, lowering productivity targets, and alienating significant others.  That’s right, our beloved college football is large and in charge as the calendar turns to September.  We received a teaser last night and let’s hope that the offenses are not a sign of things to come because that would suck.

I am tempted to reprint my rant from last season because the networks seem to be ingraining their neglect of the early time slot.  And, I will also not pontificate on the fact that ignoring that time slot may be beneficial to eastern time zone teams by limiting the number of different times a team may have to play.  The one thing I will say is that the all-day viewing experience is much less enjoyable when the  games are bunched up at 3:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

College Gameday
10:00am, ESPN
Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit

Yeah, this is not a game and no I am not planning on hurling nerf balls at the screen every time Desmond Howard appears.  I grew up watching this show and I think it has a lot to do with my love for the greater sport, not just Ohio State or the Big Ten.  This weekend has added significance for it is not just the first weekend of the season but it is also the first week for Lee Corso, the patriarch of the broadcast’s fun-loving spirit, after his stroke—a stroke we now know to be more serious than initially reported.  It is still unclear if the Sunshine Scooter will be full strength this weekend, but just having him there, on the road to recovery is plenty. Welcome back, Lee!

Navy v. (6)Ohio State
12:00pm, ESPN
Dave Pasch, Bob Griese, Chris Spielman

You will watch this game because your soul contractually obligated you shortly after birth. But you will also be watching because Chris Spielman, newly inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, will be calling the game…without Pam Ward! I would not have been surprised if ESPN had a rule against alums calling games, especially after Herbstreit’s Fiesta Gate.  If you listen to Spielman on the radio then you know he is expecting a tough opponent in Navy.

Per my previously cited rant, there are no other watchable games at noon.  If you are in desperate need of a flip-game, you can head over to the BTN and catch some of Penn State’s bludgeoning on Akron.

(13) Georgia v. (9)Oklahoma State
3:30pm, ABC/ESPN2
Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Holly Rowe

This may not be the best game of the week, but it is certainly the most intriguing after the apparent rumors regarding Zac Robinson’s health.  Assuming he is healthy, you will want to tune into this one to watch one of the best offenses in the country.  The problem for OK State is that they lost the taste for playing defense some time ago.  Mark Richt is 30-4 on the road (not counting neutral sites), which is an unbelievable stat, but he has a new starting quarterback in Joe Cox. If you are looking for a reason to cheer for Georgia, look no further than Oklahoma State’s horrible pregame song (what is with horrible music and college football this season).

Illinois v. Missouri
3:30pm, ABC
Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham

Juice torched Mizzou for 451 yards passing last year.  Seriously, think about that. With Arrelious Benn back and new addition Jarred Fayson it is very possible that he will do it again, which would ease Illinois marginal running game.  I picked Illinois to finish second in the Big Ten and today’s game will tell you a lot about how formidable they will be on Sept. 26.  If they are clicking on all cylinders, Ohio State is likely to see two of the best offenses in the country in the first four weeks.

Baylor v. Wake Forest
3:30pm, ESPN2
Dave Lamont, Shaun King

I know you are wondering why this is on here.  (1) It is a good flip game because you will not watch these teams again all year.  (2) Robert Griffin is a comparable talent to Terrelle Pryor and it is interesting to watch the way another team uses that ability.  He passed for 2,091 yards and 15 touchdown while rushing for 843 yards and 13 scores as a true freshman last season.  If you love college football, do yourself a favor and pat attention to Griffin all season.

If you are a masochist, a.k.a. Notre Dame you can watch the Irish barely squeak by (or lose) to Nevada.  I am not suggesting this will be a good game to watch, however.  The production value on NBC is poor.

(20)BYU v. (3)Oklahoma
7:00pm, ESPN
Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Heather Cox

This has place holder written all over it.  The afternoon games are done and it the nightcap is still an hour away.  If this game were on Versus I would suggest ignoring it entirely, but Nessler and Blackledge are a nice team and will make the one hour you really pay attention worth it.  Of course, if you are famished and need alcohol reinforcements, skip it.  It’s not like this is going to be a competitive game.

(7)Virginia Tech v. (5)Alabama
8:00pm, ABC
Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters

This game will be exactly like you expect it to be as long as that is a really low scoring game.  Both teams sport fast, tough defenses against shaky new quarterbacks.  VT has more experience along the line and at QB but I tend to think they will wilt against the Sons of Saban. Either way, this is a nice finishing touch to the opening Saturday.

MONDAY, SEPT. 7

Miami v. (18)Florida State
8:00pm, ABC
Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge

It is impossible for me to accept that this is the opening game of the season for these teams or that they are shadows of their former selves.  You can watch this game for posterity’s sake but you should watch it to see what Ohio State will be facing next season when the Hurricanes come to town.  That program has tons of young talent and if it looks good on Monday night, it is going to look really good in 2010.

Maryland vs. California
Free Pick: California -21 -110 odds (Click here for football point spreads)
Visit Touthouse.com for more college football predictions from John Ryan

Ai Simulator 3* graded play on Milwaukee Brewers as the face the NY Giants set to start at 8:05 EST. Supporting this graded play is a system that has gone 59-23 making 31.8 units since 1997. Play on home teams with a money line of -100 to -150 with a NL starting pitcher whose WHIP is 1.650 or worse on the season and with a cold starting pitcher sporting a WHIP >= 2.000 over his last 5 starts. Giants coming off a very tough loss at Philadelphia as their ace Lincecum certainly pitched well enough to win, but Pedro Martinez clearly showed he still has it on the big stage in a big game. Now, the Giants have had to travel to Milwaukee and must try to recover from losing 2 of 3 in Philadelphia while Colorado still plays in their home confines. Milwaukee is also 20-7 (+15.3 Units) against the money line when playing against a good team posting a win percentage of 54% to 62% this season. Take the Brewers.

Ryan started off winning big with his 7* Titan and now is on a 16-1 ATS run extending back to his 15-1 ATS Bowl season last year. Join him, once again, for a 7* Titan featuring Tulsa against Tulane. This play comes with Ryan’s extensive research showing you exactly why he knows who will win the money in this game.

Tulsa vs. Tulane
Free Pick: Tulane +14.0 (-110 odds) - Click here for football lines
Fri September 4th 2009 8:00p
Visit Touthouse.com for more college football betting picks from Mike Rose

Last season, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane had one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. QB David Johnson threw for 4,059 yards, and RB Tarrion Adams rushed for 1,525 yards and 15 touchdowns. In total, Tulsa made NCAAF betting fanatics thrilled by averaging an NCAA-best 569.9 yards of offense per game. The unit ranked ninth in passing (301.9 yards per game), fifth in rushing (268.1 yards per game), and second behind Oklahoma in the country in points scored (47.2 points per game). However, there is a lot of offensive turnover on the team, but HC Todd Graham should still have his unit moving at a rapid pace.

The Tulane Green Wave probably won’t be keeping up with Tulsa’s offensive pace, as the unit only averaged 16.7 points per game last season, the eighth worst mark in the country. The Green Wave haven’t won a game since September 25th of last season, and the team is only 2-6 ATS since then. Even though Tulane’s defense was strong against the pass last season (172.8 yards per game, 14th in the NCAA), the unit ranked 107th in the country, allowing 34.5 points per game.

This appears to be a one-sided battle, but Tulsa’s lack of continuity on offense may come back to bite it. The Golden Hurricane may have destroyed the Green Wave 56-7 last season, but we’re talking about a Tulane squad which nearly knocked off East Carolina SU last season at home. Take the two touchdowns all the way to the bank.

This is a feature I started on my old blog last year – the complete FBS college football schedule for the coming week, complete with TV info from MattSarzSports.com. I originally intended to post this after at least the first part of my kickoff to the college football season, but that’s taking a while to write. College football is the second-most highly watched level of every-year sport in America, and quite possibly the majority of games, at least involving BCS teams, are available to a reasonably national audience, if not on TV then online.

I maintain my own college football rankings, which (this year) I’ll start putting out after Week 3. That means that starting Week 4, the rankings will start being ordered by the top teams in those rankings for teams in the Top 25 (and those slightly below), followed by the games available in HD, followed by non-HD games listed by conference. Until then I’ll list games by day and HD games for Saturday.

At the top of the list will be games for holders of the college football lineal titles. This is a fairly simple concept (and one not just proposed by me, either): each game the titleholder plays, the title goes to the winner. The Princeton-Yale title, which traces its history to the first football game between Rutgers and Princeton, is in the hands of Florida after what happened last season.

A split title is created whenever a team goes undefeated (or wins the BCS title game) without holding any lineal title – but only one such title has not been merged with Princeton-Yale, the 2007 Boise State title, in the hands of last year’s mid-major darlings, Utah. This section will list the Princeton-Yale holder first, followed by the 2007 Boise State holder. Titleholders will be marked by asterisks.

Also, I was going to list DirecTV channel numbers for all games this year, until I learned that ESPN GamePlan doesn’t release channel numbers for games until just one to two days before game time, which defeats most of the purpose I originally had for it. Instead I’ll list announcing teams from Awful Announcing.

All times Eastern.

What happened to Tulsa?

Nearly every preseason ranking for C-USA has Tulsa finishing 3rd or worse. Most predict Tulsa will go 7-5, but several have listed them at 6-6. This is for a team which went 10-4 in 2007 and 11-3 last year. 

Tulsa has gone to the C-USA Championship game 3 of the last four years and made a mockery of the No. 18 12-1 Ball State Cardinals in January with a 45-13 roasting at the GMAC bowl. Tulsa hasn't gone anywhere and they certainly won't sit out this season.

Why no love?

Tulsa lost an invaluable off-the-field asset, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, to Auburn. Time will tell how that affects the team. While it will change things some this year, the real effects will be later on (especially in recruiting). Meanwhile, the core of Gus' recruits are just beginning to sprout for Tulsa.

What about the players?

Many believe Tulsa lost too much on offense. With 2008 starters QB David Johnson, RB Tarion Adams, and WR Brennan Marion gone, some think Tulsa isn't capable of continuing the success. History lesson: Tulsa lost their starting QB in 2007, yet the offense drastically improved in 2008 and they won 11 games.

Last year, the back-up QB's, WR's and RB's were just as talented if not more talented than the senior starters, they just didn't have the experience/seniority. This year, they do.

• The No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 & No. 5 RB's had a combined 223 carries for 1551 yards (6.96 ypc) and 12 TDs. They each had over 300 yards and they ALL return.
• With the WR's, its the same situation: the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 & No. 6 WR's had a combined 177 catches for 2570 yards (14.5 ypc) and 32 TDs and they ALL return.

So what about the quarterback? Last spring, a four-star recruit, and top-20 QB, who was headed to Michigan changed his mind and joined Tulsa. He is considered third place in the starting quarterback competition. G.J. Kinne, a redshirt sophomore Texas transfer, is set to take over from David Johnson.

He apparently has the ability to be every bit as good as his predecessors, plus the ability to scramble. He played very well in the spring scrimmage.

Tulsa also lost three linemen, and that is the biggest question mark on offense. The replacements show promise and could be nearly as good as last year, but the line will, at least initially, be worse.

Defense?

Tulsa's defense was No. 1 in C-USA in 2006 and No. 2 when they won the championship in 2005. In 2007, they implemented the spread no-huddle hurry-up offense (the name does justice to the complexity of the offense). The defense dropped to No. 7. In 2008, the offense remained No. 1 while the defense improved to No. 5.

Nationally speaking, you can see the transition in Tulsa from a balanced offense and defense (in '05 and '06) to the top offense in the nation two years in a row with bad defense. The defense drastically improved from '07 to '08.

2005	Total Defense	#40	Total Offense	#39
2006	Total Defense	#21	Total Offense	#24
2007	Total Defense	#108	Total Offense	#1
2008	Total Defense	#74	Total Offense	#1

The defense returns nine starters. Coach Todd Graham has historically been a defensive guy (he was a defensive coordinator at West Virginia). This year, I'd expect the improving-D trend to continue as Tulsa returns nine starters.

Tulsa may not be the No. 1 offense in the country this year, but they will improve defensively and should be at least No. 2 in defense in C-USA (and at least in the 50s nationally).

Season Prediction

As for the season, I'm predicting two losses (OU & BSU) and then one more against either ECU or Southern Miss (Yes, UofH beat Tulsa by 40 in Houston last year, but Tulsa slaughtered UofH at home by 49 in '07 and it should be similar in '09).

I predict 9-3 for the regular season. That may or may not be good enough to beat Houston for first place in the West.

What will be answered on Gameday?

The question is how quickly the new QB clicks with the offense. Another question is how well they play through the stretch. Last year Tulsa started out 8-0 only to finish 3-3. They will play three tough games in in November against ECU, Southern Miss and Houston. 

That won't be easy. The good news for Tulsa is they are playing most of the road games early on so they will be playing mostly at home at the end of the season when they typically don't play as well.

If the new QB comes out (like Johnson did) immediately playing great, and the defense has improved some (as it did in 2008 over 2007) TU could go 10-2, but if the offense doesn't click (due to the loss of Marion, Adams, Johnson, Malzahn and the offensive linemen) the season may be as bad as 7-5 like others have said. 

All will be shocked and amazed if TU can get through that schedule with only 1 loss (OU). Tulsa's out-of-conference schedule is among the toughest in the nation. OU's OOC is top-10 and includes: Tulsa, Miami (top-25 in some polls), BYU (No. 20) and Idaho State. Tulsa's schedule is comparable from top to bottom with OU (No. 3), Boise State (No. 14), New Mexico, and Sam Houston. OU's OOC includes a cupcake and 3 tough games while Tulsa's OOC includes 1 cupcake and two elite opponents. Tulsa's home game against Boise State on October 14 could be huge. Tulsa can make a big statement by winning or by giving Kellen Moore and the Boise State Broncos a hard time.

We will find out if TU has lost its offensive edge in the C-USA. TU's recruiting ranking is pretty low (ranked in the 70s), even for a C-USA team. Tulsa has relied on its ridiculously productive offense based on Malzahn's creative schemes to propel it beyond other, "more talented" teams (i.e. those with higher ranked recruits like SMU).

Other teams have started to mimic Tulsa-style spread-no huddle hurry-up offense and produced similarly impressive numbers. The secret is out and that could be bad for Tulsa. 

Nevertheless, any team who thinks Tulsa's offense is inexperienced or can't hang half-a-hundred on them could be in for a surprise.