Tulsa Is Better Than Houston,They Are Playing At Home,And They Are Gettin' 3 1/2 Points?

WTF? 

 I know that Houston is the #8 rated team in the BCS poll and Tulsa isn't in the Top 25 but don't be fooled Tulsa has the better football team. Both teams have essentially played the same conference schedule (6 like opp.+Tulsa played C.Fla. while Houston played ECU) and they both played N.Texas.In those 8 games both teams are 8-0. Comparing like opponants winning margin, Houston seemed to have the upper hand vs, Rice,Tulane,N.Texas, and UAB.While Tulsa seemed to have performed better against Marshall,UTEP,and SMU who had Zach Line against Tulsa but didn't against Houston. The theme? Houston plays their best against the bottom feeder teams.

 Now the three games that were OOC is where the public perception is formed. Tulsa opened up their season playing @ Oklahoma,vs.Oklahoma St.,and @ Boise St. in their first 4 games.They lost all 3 and have been an afterthought ever since.

 Meanwhile,in Houston's OOC schedule they played;

 UCLA who was a missed XP and a missed 32 yfg away from a possible win and even though their starting QB was knocked out of the game in the first half the Bruins still put up 554 yards against Houston.

La.Tech who led the Cougars 34-7 with 20 minutes left in the game before they imploded and let Houston steal a 35-34 win.The Bulldogs racked up 444 yards of offense.

 Georgia State who is a 2-8 start up program that lost to West Alabama and St.Francis.  

 It's also fair to point out that Tulsa had to overcome the suspension of the NCAA's all-time leader in total yardage Demaris Johnson right before the season began and QB G.J. Kinne was knocked out early in the first quarter against Ok.State and wasn't near 100% the following week against Boise State.

 So a team that beats up on terrible teams must be better than a team that lost to 3 teams that are in the current BCS Top 9.Right?

 Another indictment against the Cougars is the fact that their opponants average better than a 10:00 advantage in time of possession.In fact in the 11 games that the Cougars have played they have yet to control the T.O.P. in any game. This means that their defense stays on the field alot.That may not hurt them against the bad teams that they have faced so far but against a quality team that is a recipe for disaster.Go ahead and let G.J. Kinne stay on the field for 40 minutes.

 Further illustration is the fact that 4 teams had their best offensive outputs of the year (by a large margin) against these Cougars;

UCLA - 554

UTEP - 538

Marshall - 506

Louisiana Tech - 444

These four teams are the best of the teams that Houston has faced so far, again demonstrating that Houston struggles against teams that are not completely inept.

  After the Boise St. game and since Kinne has regained his health,the Golden Hurricane have won 7 in a row and are currently on a 5 -0 streak against the spread,Trey Watts is getting better every game and has broke his total yardage record in each of the last 2 weeks. So I will go with the home team that is getting points against a team that hasn't played anybody currently ranked in the Top 50 ,and who had to fight for their lives against #51 La.Tech and #54 UCLA.

Good Luck to everyone 

And in the unlikely event that Tulsa doesn't cover I will be back to accept any and all criticism. 

 Hell yeah!   The winner goes to the CUSA championship game and becomes the first team since conference realignment to complete the regular season undefeated.

 Houston is still trying for a BCS bid and Tulsa is looking for their 14th CUSA win in a row which would tie S.Miss. for the all-time mark. 

I don't know I expect that this total might be set even higher than the 83 that we saw with Baylor/Oklahoma State.

 Last week UTEP was the first CUSA team to score more than 20 points against Tulsa (28). But Houston has given up 28 to Marshall,34 to Rice,and 42 to UTEP.

"win out" would imply beating Tulsa on friday and then beating either Southern Mississippi or Marshall in the Conference USA Championship game. 

I have RJ and Big Pimpin on my side.  

Thanks guys  

nfl_brosuf 

Im on Tulsa this week too..altho, im thinking the over might be the safest bet

29-

I agree on this pick. I think Tulsa plays better defense and they have been playing good football for these last 5 games. I will gladly take the points -

bleedncrimson - Hard to argue against it.Good Luck!  

blowoutgm - I really feel good about this thing.Good Luck to us. 

Skipster - Excellent observation. 

cburk - Thanks bro'!  

 A couple of things that i failed to mention in my initial post;

Tulsa has completely dominated in Conference USA play over the past 2 seasons, both SU and ATS. They have currently won 13 conference games in a row and are on a 12-3 ATS run in conference games.