Tulsa Golden Hurricane at East Carolina Pirates, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville, NC
Sunday, September 5, 2010, 2:00 pm EST, TV: ESPN2
Opening Line: Tulsa -4 1/2
Current Line: Tulsa -7
Opening total: 57
Current total: 59
Money line: Tulsa -295/East Carolina +245
Odds from above taken from Bookmaker Sportsbook who is offering a 20% signup bonus to all new accounts this season.
Coach Todd Graham leads the Golden Hurricane to Greenville as they open the Conference USA season at East Carolina. Quarterback G.J. Kinne returns for his junior year after throwing for almost 2,800 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. Kinne was also the teams leading rusher with 399 yards and 5 touchdowns. Kinne’s top target will continue to be junior receiver Damaris Johnson, who is on the pre-season watch list for the Biletnikoff and Hornung awards. Trey Watts who walked on last year was named the starting tailback, but the Hurricane don’t really run the ball a lot. You don’t have to when you throw the ball 50 or 60 times a game. Like most teams in the high powered Conference USA, Tulsa has some serious questions on defense. They are especially vulnerable against the pass. they are better against the run as they gave up only 9 rushing TD’s all last season.
It is a new era as Ruffin McNeill takes over the program for Skip Holtz who left for South Florida. McNeill was the interim coach at Texas Tech last year for their bowl victory over Michigan St after Mike Leach was fired. Though the Pirates are coming off back to back conference titles, this year is expected to be a rebuilding year as the Pirates install a new system, the spread. as of press time McNeill had not named a starter to replace Patrick Pinckney. It will either be Junior Dominique Davis who transferred from Boston College, and sophomore Brad Wornick. running backs Giavanni Ruffin and Brandon Jackson are expected to replace Dominique Lindsay who rushed for almost 1,200 yards and 6 touchdowns last year. However the best player on offense is senior wide receiver Dwayne Harris who is considered one the best receivers in the country. On defense the Pirates will gamble a lot by blitzing, and can be had by a good passing team.
The weather will be hot and humid with very little chance for rain. The conditions are optimum for scoring. I see a shootout as both teams have good offenses and mediocre defenses. actually you could say that for any match-up involving two Conference USA teams. Southern Miss is the only team that has a decent defense in the whole league. the rest of the teams all have powerful offenses and middling at best defenses. It will make for some exciting football if you like shootouts and games that last 4 hours. Tulsa and East Carolina should be no exception to that. and the fact that it is one of only two college games being played on Sunday, means good exposure for the teams and the league. And you get to see two of the best wide receivers in the country, who will probably be playing on more Sundays in the future. This game will be entertaining and is worth taking a few hours out of your holiday weekend to check out.
Maddux Sports is releasing at least 1 college football pick on the slate of Sunday games so dont miss out. After cleaning up on Saturday for members expect the winning to continue today.
