The No. 21 Tulane Green Wave (7-1, 4-0 American) travel to Oklahoma for a battle with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (3-5, 1-3) Saturday. Kickoff from Chapman Stadium is set for noon ET (ESPNU). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook‘s lines around the Tulane vs. Tulsa odds, and make our expert college football picks and predictions.
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Tulane comes into this game as the highest-ranked Group of 5 team at No. 19 in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Green Wave will need to take Tulsa seriously and not fall into a trap game before its big showdown with No. 25 UCF in 2 weeks.
At this point in the season, Tulsa is looking to play spoiler and the first chance it will have is at home Saturday.
Tulane has made it difficult on itself since entering conference play. In 4 non-conference games, the Green Wave gave up an average of 11.8 points per game. In conference play, this number has nearly doubled to 22 points per game. Tulsa averages 25.8 points in conference play and with this game being played in Oklahoma, it will look to put even more on the board and pull off the upset.
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Tulane at Tulsa odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 9:42 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Tulane -300 (bet $300 to win $100) | Tulsa +230 (bet $100 to win $230)
- Against the spread (ATS): Tulane -7.5 (-107) | Tulsa +7.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 57 (O: -112 | U: -112)
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Tulane at Tulsa picks and predictions
Prediction
Tulane 31, Tulsa 27
Moneyline
PASS on the moneyline.
There is too much juice on one side and not enough value on the other to feel comfortable either way in this game.
Against the spread
BET TULSA +7.5 (-115).
Tulane has averaged an 8.4-point margin of victory in conference play, but with this game being on a road and perhaps a bit of a trap game it looks to be a closer contest.
Tulsa will hope the Green Wave are looking ahead to their showdown with UCF next week and catch them napping. Tulane will start slowing in this one and hang on for the victory. I like TULSA +7.5 (-115) as my favorite play in this game.
Over/Under
LEAN OVER 57 (-112).
If Tulsa does come out and go up early as expected, Tulane will be forced to push for a comeback. They should be able to do so as the better team, and this will mean putting points on the board.
The Green Wave can score and are averaging 33.7 points per game in conference play. But giving up only 23 points per game, I do not see Tulsa getting to 30. This game is going to be close to this total, but I do lean slightly to the OVER 57 (-112).
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