The Tulane Green Wave (3-1) face off against the Houston Cougars (2-2) Friday. Kickoff from TDECU Stadium is set for 7 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook‘s lines around the Tulane vs. Houston odds, and make our expert college football picks and predictions.
The Green Wave come into this game after a tough 27-24 loss to Southern Mississippi. The loss came at the hands of a late game pick-6 that ended Tulane’s undefeated season. QB Michael Pratt comes into this game completing 63.5% of his passes (61-of-96) for 905 yards with 7 TDs and 3 INTs.
The Cougars come into this game after getting a 34-27 win against Rice University. A win that, similarly to Tulane’s loss, came down to some big 4th-quarter plays. QB Clayton Tune comes into this game completing just under 65% of his passes (83-of-128) while also posting 7 TDs and 3 INTs.
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Tulane at Houston odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 11:49 a.m. ET.
- Money line (ML): Tulane +120 (bet $100 to win $120) | Houston -140 (bet $140 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Tulane +2.5 (-107) | Houston -2.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 54.5 (O: -120 | U: -105)
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Tulane at Houston picks and predictions
Prediction
Tulane 35, Houston 28
Money line
PASS
This is a game that could go either way. Both teams are coming off close games and neither team has a clear advantage on either side of the ball. Tulane has a slightly better defense, but Houston has a slightly better offense. There is no clear way to win money because either team could win.
Against the spread
BET TULANE +2.5 (-107).
Even though I believe this will be a close game I believe that whichever teams wins will do so by at least a field goal. In the last game for each of the 2 teams, the game came down to the 4th quarter, and even in those games both teams either won or lost by a field goal or more, and I see that trend continuing Friday night.
Over/Under
LEAN OVER 54.5 (-120).
With 2 offenses that both contain the potential to score 30+ points and a Houston defense that has only once this season held a team to under 30 points, the OVER 54.5 (-120) bet is your second safest to me. Tulane’s offense this year has scored over 40 points once and over 50 points once which tells me that they have offensive firepower at their disposal. Couple this with the fact that Houston has yet to contain a team to less than 27 points and has yet to score less than 30 points themselves and this should be a high scoring game.
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