My next team in my 12 part series is the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. I and my friends have a funny nickname for them if you want to ask me about it comment on the article and I will tell you what it is. In all reality, this was one of the surprises in the American Athletic Conference they finished 10-3 and could have been the surprise team for this season in the West Division. The problem is they lost their QB and some other key players.
Best Case Scenario- Tulsa opens against BIG 12 opponent and in-state rival Oklahoma State. This will be a shootout but I believe Oklahoma State is too good for Tulsa. After they lose though they go on a roll and take out Louisiana, Toledo, New Mexico, and Navy. I actually see them being favored in all of those games. They will be sitting at 4-1 with Tulane, Houston, UConn and SMU their next 4. They should go 4-0 but I will say 3-1 which puts them at 7-2 after 9 games but now comes the 3 toughest games of the year in the conference. Home against Memphis which could very well be the deciding game in the West Division. At USF and then finishing up at home against Temple. As it lays now they will be favored in only one of those games but I believe they will find a way to win 2 out of 3 of those and finish the season once again at 10-3. It will be the second time in team history that Tulsa will have won back to back 10+ games in a season. The only other time was in 2007-2008 when they won 10 and 11 games respectively.
Worst Case Scenario- After getting smoked by Oklahoma State they then drop games to Toledo, New Mexico, and Navy. Getting them off to a 1-4 start. The next 4 games 3 of them are road games and they very easy could drop 3 out of 4 of them. That will leave them at 2-7 with the 3 tough games still to come. Even with 2 out of 3 in the last 3 wins they still finish 4-8. This is the problem with this team they can finish 1st in the West or at the bottom of the West.
Players to Watch for-Jesse Brubaker DE, Jordan Mitchell S, Craig Suits LB, Chandler Miller C, and De’Angelo Brewer. Where do I think Tulsa will end up? I think they will end up closer to the 4-8 record unfortunately and they will not get to 10 wins in back to back years.