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Who: The Tulsa Golden Hurricane, who at 2-0 have already matched their win total from last season, will travel to take on the 2-0, 16th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, fresh off a thrilling comeback win over Tennessee.
When: Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12 p.m. E.T.
TV: Fox Sports 1
Line: Tulsa +30. Over/Under: 71.5
On Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane are off to about as good a start as could be expected, as they pulled away from New Mexico on the road after topping FAU in a week one thriller. Now they've got a different sort of test, as the Sooners are likely far and away the best team Tulsa will play all season.
Tulsa's got the weapons on offense to make this a vaguely interesting matchup. Quarterback Dane Evans is enjoying an impressive start to the season, averaging over 370 passing yards per game along with four total touchdowns. He's got a pair of talented targets in Keevan Lucas and Keyarris Garrett, both of whom are on pace for almost 1,500 receiving yards. Add in a perfectly capable one-two punch at running back, and there's reason to believe that the Golden Hurricane can move the ball against Oklahoma.
Stopping them, however, will be a different story. Tulsa had a horrendously leaky defense last year, and while early returns are slightly improved, the Golden Hurricane D is still giving up 32.5 points per game thus far. The Sooners shouldn't have any issues putting up big numbers.
On Oklahoma: Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield has been solid behind center for the Sooners thus far, tossing a trio of touchdowns in OU's comeback win over Tennessee. Perhaps the biggest worry for the home team has been the lackluster start for all-everything true sophomore running back Samaje Perine, who's averaging just 3.3 yards per carry so far.
The defense has carried the Sooners early and done a splendid job of it, holding their first two opponents to just 20 combined points in regulation and limiting Tennessee to 254 yards of offense-- in a double overtime game, no less.
Prediction: It's tough to see Tulsa hanging with the Sooners for long given how poorly they've played on defense, but this is a fun, win-win game for the Golden Hurricane. It'll give Evans and company a chance to test their chops against an elite defense, and perhaps build some confidence heading into AAC play. Anything more than that is gravy. Don't expect to see Tulsa within a couple scores in the second half, but that doesn't mean they won't have played a good game.