The Washington Huskies will welcome the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa to Husky Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Both teams are coming off big wins in their week one matchups. Washington dispatched Boise State back to Idaho with a 56-19 thrashing while Tulsa took care of FCS Arkansas Pine Bluff 42-7 playing much of the game, and scoring all of their points with backup quarterback Cardell Williams.
By all accounts this game should not be close. Tulsa was 5-7 in 2022 but their record doesn’t tell the whole story. While they did lose a majority of their games, they were within two score of some high quality opponents. They fell to Cincinnati, SMU, Tulane, and #16 Ole Miss by fourteen points or less. They also upset a Houston team in their final game in the American Conference before joining the Big12.
On the other hand Navy boat raced the Golden Hurricane to the score of 53-21 which gets to their biggest issue. They cannot stop the run. They were 10th in the conference last year in rushing defense giving up over 200 yards per game and gave up 33 points per contest.
In the offseason, there was turnover on the defensive side of the ball, but not necessarily a ton of upgrades. The front seven is still unproven and doesn’t project to be much better than a year ago. This is a major problem for a program about to see one of the best offenses in the nation.
Given all of these factors Vegas has set the line of this game as a -34 point Washington favorite and a total score right at 64 meaning Vegas sees this as about a 49-15 Husky win.
Last week I hit on taking Washington -14.5 but missed by taking the under on total points set at 58.5. That mistake will not be made again. Washington has too much firepower for a quality defense to hold below 35-40 points. Tulsa is not a good defensive team. Washington has the opportunity to find some rhythm in the running game which will be beneficial going forward.
The reality is Washington has a top three Heisman contender so Penix will get his numbers. The Huskies are too explosive at the receiver position and Penix’s deep ball is in mid-season form.
Take Washington -34 points and the over at 64. I believe that Washington will be scoring in the 50’s and 60’s on their own while Tulsa will struggle to break 14.
Prediction: Washington: 59 Tulsa: 10
