Tulane vs UCF Betting Preview
Sportsmemo college football handicapper JM Sports offers his Tulane vs UCF AAC Championship betting breakdown with kickoff set for 4pm ET Saturday. These two rank 1st and 3rd in the conference on defense in points per game allowed this season.
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Tulane vs UCF Betting Odds
Saturday, December 3 | AAC Championship Betting Notes |
---|---|
Point Spread: | Tulane Green Wave -3 vs UCF Knights |
Total: | 58 (Over -110 / Under -110) |
Kickoff: | 4:00pm ET / 1:00pm PT |
Venue: | Yulman Stadium in New Orleans, LA |
TV: | ABC |
Tulane vs UCF Betting Analysis
A little interesting, uncommon take on this game is the fact that UCF already beat Tulane this season as an underdog, now they are the underdog again in a 2nd meeting against the same team, in the same season.
All the way back to 1997, this is just the 25th time that has happened. In the last 2 years it has happened 4 times, including most recently, and most memorably Georgia’s convincing win and cover over Alabama in last year’s National Championship.
In recent years this AAC conference has produced some exciting teams, Cincinnati became the first non-power 5 team to make it to the CFP last season, Houston was one of the better defenses in the nation last year, and this season UCF and Tulane are sitting inside the top 25.
Tulane finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, and while UCF finished with a slightly less impressive 9-3 record, they were one of just 2 teams this season to beat the Green Wave.
Tulane On Top Of The World
Tulane has definitely having a season to remember and a conference title, and revenge over 1 of the 2 teams that beat them in that game is a great way to close the season out going into a bowl game.
Tulane hosted their first game between top-25 teams in their history, when they host UCF the first time and they ended the longest losing streak in the nation against top-25 teams against Cincinnati in the week to follow.
Tulane has won back-to-back games, including that game against Cincinnati since their loss to the Knights. UCF has gone just 1-1 since their upset defeat over this Tulane team, including a disappointing loss against Navy, losing 14-17 and rushing for just 84 yards.
Tulane did lose to Southern Miss early in the season, which may negate this Navy loss, but that is a tough pill to swallow for UCF.
Especially because they followed that game up with a 46-39 win, which may seem uplifting, expect their defense allowed an 1-11 South Florida offense to have one of their best games of the season.
Knights Look For Continued Dominance
Although it is completely out of the ordinary for these two teams to play twice in the same season, UCF has dominated the head-to-head series in recent years between these two teams and we will see if the trend continues when they play twice in the same season.
UCF has won 8 of the last 9 meetings against Tulane and 10 of the 12 meetings in their recent history. They have to be looking for revenge, and to prove their worth this season, attempting to show their top-25 ranking isn’t a fluke.
Tulane’s offense has been exciting to watch, especially the running game of Tyjae Spears recently. Yet, Tulane’s defense has actually been better than their offense. On the defensive side of the ball, the Green Wave are holding teams 59 yards below their season average, which ranks 29th in the nation.
That is definitely in question this week though as we have already seen UCF pick this defense apart once. UCF put up 143 yards above what Tulane is allowing on average this season, not to mention, it was the 2nd most yards Tulane allowed in a game all season.
That is what has become expected of this UCF offense, the Knights rank 15th in the nation, putting up 88 yards on average above what their opposing defenses are normally allowing. Their offense may be impressive but there is no denying that both these teams are relatively even, and formidable opponents.
Tulane vs UCF Prediction
When you look at their conference rankings, both teams are in the top 5 in scoring offense, and both are in the top 3 in scoring defense. Tulane ranks 5th in the AAC in scoring offense, but rank 1st in scoring defense. Meanwhile, UCF ranks 4th in offensive scoring, and 3rd in scoring defense!
Prediction: Tulane Green Wave-3
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Meet the Author
Jeff’s hunger for handicapping began at a young age being surrounded by parents that made sports betting a daily routine. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of other Cleveland handicappers like Marc Lawrence, Phil Steele, Ralph Michaels, Ed Meyer and Bryan Leonard, Jeff started his sports betting career working for both Northcoast Sports and Phil Steele Publications learning the intricacies of sports betting and becoming a profitable handicapper. Through out his college years, Jeff’s mathematical and analytical prowess helped him develop a betting strategy that turned sports betting into a profitable venture, where he focuses on the NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball and MLB while showing strong results in the WNBA.
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