The Mid-Season Report Cards are a subjective look using objective numbers with a look toward the remainder of the season as well. Teams are being reviewed in random order once they reach 6 games.
The third of our non-BCS teams that reached 6 games during midweek contests last week, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane were made out to be worthless scrubs while they gave Boise State all they could handle a week ago, mostly due to their blowout loss to now-struggling Oklahoma. But fans of non-BCS teams and conferences know that Tulsa is always dangerous and often very good, and have shown flashes of both this season too. They have a bounceback game tonight at UTEP, so consider this Part 1 of a preview there too.
- Wins: B. The reality of the situation is that Tulsa has played two very good teams, a 1-AA team, a bad team, and two very bad teams. So essentially, Tulsa has done the bare minimum that would be expected of them, but other than playing BSU close, not much more. And so we do have to keep the schedule in mind when we look at the stats.
- Offense: B. Tulsa’s offense has taken a step back, with former OC Gus Malzahn now tearing it up over at Auburn and a new QB at the reins, but they’re still playing well. 47th in total offense, at 394 per game, and 35th in scoring with almost 31. The teams on their schedule are going to get a little better, but the defenses generally are not.
- Defense: B+. Tulsa is 29th in total defense, allowing only 312 per game, and 24th in scoring defense at 312 yards per. Of the weaker teams on their schedule, none scored more than 13, which helps to offset OU’s 45 and Boise’s 28.
- Special Teams: C+. Tulsa is 19th in punt returns, 57th in kickoff returns, but down at 84th in net punting. Overall, average numbers that probably aren’t helping or hurting Tulsa much overall.
- Turnovers: A. Tulsa is +6, with 13 takeaways and 7 lost. These numbers are easier to build when you do have 4 bad teams on the schedule early on, so we’ll have to see how the trend develops in the second half.
- Grading Curve: Points off. As I’ve mentioned about 19 times so far, their schedule is weak, but that’s changing starting last week. Sagarin gives Tulsa the 119th toughest schedule so far.
- Final Grade: B-. Would have liked to see the Golden Hurricane put up a little more fight against Oklahoma after things got tough there. We have a lot to learn about this team yet, as they get into the meat of their C-USA schedule.
Remaining Games:
- at UTEP (tonight)
- SMU
- Houston
- East Carolina
- at Southern Miss
- Memphis
Best Case Scenario:6-0. There’s nobody on the slate that Tulsa has no chance of beating- they stand with the #1 defense in the league, despite the big OU loss, and a stout defense in C-USA makes anything possible
Worst Case Scenario: 2-4. That 4 game stretch in the middle is essentially the other four best teams in the league. If things go badly, Tulsa’s season could fall apart.
Prediction: 4-2. Tulsa’s pretty good, but not the class of C-USA this year. I think Houston is a tough matchup, and there’s probably at least one more loss in that late season stretch. Tulsa should be in good shape to play in the postseason to keep the string going.