2005 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

Tulsa was coming off the extremely rare occurrence, (for them anyway), of a winning season and bowl berth. The 2003 Golden Hurricane went 8-5 straight up and 7-4-1 against the odds, which by Tulsa standards, is an epic football season. In their two preceding seasons, Tulsa posted straight up records of 1-10 and 1-11, with records against the odds of 1-9 and 4-8. It is easily to see that, regardless of what their straight up record would be in 2003, a sports handicapping market correction was overdue for 2003 and that is exactly what took place. Thus, coming off such a positive 2003 season, many members of the sports handicapping community took a “wait and see” approach for the 2004 edition of Tulsa football. Many sports betting bloggers posted doubts that Tulsa could “keep it going” and were hesitant to include the Golden Hurricane on their list of football picks.

Tulsa began the 2004 campaign at Big 12 doormat Kansas as a 4-point dog and was defeated 3-21. They faced another, but far more reputable, Big 12 opponent in their next game at Oklahoma State, getting the cash in a 21-38 loss as 21-point dogs. In their next game against Navy, Tulsa was installed as a 1-point home chalk and was blanked by the Mid Shipmen 0-29, which was a sports handicapping wakeup call that this team was slipping back into its normal role of loser. After a 49-7 home win against SW Missouri State in an unlined game, Tulsa took the road for Hawaii and was splattered 16-44 as relatively light 10.5-point dogs. Hawaii was proven to be an outstanding value in this game, as Tulsa was still getting credit from the sports betting odds makers for being a bowl team in 2003. At this point the Golden Hurricane stood at 1-4 straight up and 1-3 against the sports betting line.

Tulsa hosted Western Athletic Conference powerhouse Boise State in their next game at got the cash in a 42-45 loss as whopping 21-point home dogs in a great example of a team being totally overpriced (Boise). Boise was a reputable home chalk but not so when laying big numbers on the road. Tulsa next lost a tough game at Nevada 48-54 in OT as 3-point dogs. After a 39-22 home win as 1-point dogs against Rice, the Golden Hurricane dropped three straight games against the odds before pulling of a huge upset in their season finale at home against Texas El Paso, winning 37-35 as 8-point dogs. Tulsa finished 4-8 straight up and 4-7 against the odds, and once again was point of disrespect and ridicule at online sports betting blogs.