Friday college football and we will see the Tulsa Golden Hurricane take on the Central Florida Knights at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Current Vegas odds have Central Florida listed as 19 point favorites, while the total is set at 56.5.
Analysis: The Tulsa Golden Hurricane come in having a bad year, as they are just 2-7 overall and 0-4 on the road. They did snap their 7 game losing streak last week, with a 38-28 win over lowly SMU. Tulsa is 4-0 ATS the last 4 at UCF and 8-0 ATS their last 8 after playing SMU, but they are also 1-8 ATS in the first of BB road games vs a better than .400 opponent. This is not a great offensive team, as they come in ranked 45th in total offense, 20th in passing, 92nd in rushing and 91st in scoring (25.4 ppg). Defensively they have many issues, ranking 116th in yards allowed, 110th vs the pass, 108th vs the run and 121st in points allowed (39.2 ppg).
The UCF Knights come in with a 5-3 record, but they are off a shocking 37-29 loss at Connecticut two weeks ago. That loss stopped a 5 game winning streak for the knights and now puts them in a three-way tie in the AAC with a 3-1 record. UCF is 7-1 ATS on weekdays and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 home games, but are also 0-5 ATS vs. a team with a losing record. UCF has struggled on offense this year, ranking 115th in total yards, 70th in passing, 117th in rushing and 88th in scoring (25.8 ppg). The defense has been excellent for this team, ranking 8th in yards allowed, 17th vs the pass, 17th vs the run and 25th in points allowed (21.4 ppg).
Pick: Gong to go with the Under in this one. The Tulsa defense has been very bad this year, but UCF is not the kind of offensive team that can score a ton of points even on a bad defense like this year one. For the year they have scored just 25.8 ppg and 30 ppg at home. I expect no more than 35 from them here and that means that Tulsa has to score 21 for this game to go over. Not going to happen as UCF has allowed just 16.8 pg at home and they are coming off a game in which they allowed 37 points to a weak UConn offense, so you know that their defense will be fired up even more for this one. Tulsa does average 20.5 ppg on the road, but I don't see them hetting there in this one. 35-14 sounds about right for this one.
Get Scott Spreitzer's CBB FRIDAY BLOCKBUSTER BEATDOWN!!! For Free- No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Stay on top of the latest odds and line moves for Football Season with our real-time odds from Las Vegas and offshore!
College Football Playoff Update
Dave Cokin, Bryan Leonard and host Ken Thomson take a look at how the race for the 4 team playoff in college football is going.