Tulsa vs. East Carolina
On Tuesday and Wednesday, you had choices for which college football Week 8 game you wanted to watch. On Thursday, you’ll get Tulsa vs. East Carolina and like it. This American Conference clash is the only game for those who don’t necessarily want to watch Steelers vs. Bengals, although Zachary Cohen has a preview of that if you are so inclined.
This is the second straight week for the Pirates to play in the Thursday night spotlight, as they lost to Tulane 26-19 last week in a game that wasn’t really as close as the final score would suggest. Tulsa has the rest advantage here as a big underdog in Greenville, NC.
Odds from Circa Sports as of October 15, 7:30 a.m. PT; check out our Circa Betting Splits and DraftKings Betting Splits. See all of our Week 8 College Football Picks and Predictions.
Tulsa vs. East Carolina (-17.5, 54)
7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Tulsa only has two wins this season and both have come in non-conference games. They won Tre Lamb’s first game as head coach over Abilene Christian and also have a win in Stillwater over Oklahoma State, a game that probably served as the tipping point for Mike Gundy’s tenure with the Cowboys.
In three conference losses, Tulsa has allowed 42, 31, and 45 points, but they’ve also played Navy, Tulane, and Memphis. East Carolina is a solid team, but not on the level of those three, so the Tulsa defense might get a little bit of a respite here. Navy, Tulane, and Memphis are a combined 8-0 in conference play and 17-1 overall.
East Carolina had a chance to knock off Tulane, but the Pirates gave up the game-winning TD with 35 seconds left. It would have been another statement win for head coach Blake Harrell, who got one of those when he beat NC State in last year’s Military Bowl to cap off a strong resurgence for the program after the firing of Mike Houston.
While ECU had chances last week against Tulane, they were outgained 458-340 and Jake Retzlaff had 347 yards passing for the Green Wave. Pirates QB Katin Houser was held to a season-low 180 yards and was sacked a season-high three times. We’ll see if Tulsa, who is tied 35th in the nation with 15 sacks, can get after him here.
Even though Tulsa has allowed 118 points in three conference games, the 6.0 yards per play the defense has allowed is not far off of the 5.89 YPP that ECU’s defense has allowed in their conference games against Army and Tulane. The Pirates have been the better offensive team by a decent margin, but the Golden Hurricane offense has also played three of the conference’s best.
Maybe the Pirates do go out there and cover this big number, but I made this one -13 in my Week 8 College Football Power Ratings. I’ll take my chances with Tulsa on some extra rest and prep with a good first-year head coach.
Pick: Tulsa +17.5
Check out picks from VSiN hosts and guests on this game and all of the Week 8 games on our Pro Picks Page.
