Tulsa Golden Hurricane at North Texas Mean Green

The explosive Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-0 SU & ATS) go after their second straight road win this season when they tangle with the North Texas Mean Green (0-1 SU & ATS) in NCAA college football action that is set to get underway at 7 PM ET at Fouts Field (artificial turf) in Denton, TX.

Saturday, September 6

BetUS NCAA Betting Odds: TULSA -21.5

Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* TUL has covered four of its last 13 games

* TUL has won seven of its last eight games SU

* TUL has played 18 of its last 26 games UNDER the total

* TUL has covered two of its last seven road games

* TUL has played five of its last seven road games UNDER the total

* NT has lost 13 of its last 15 games SU

* NT has five of its last seven home games SU

* NT has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total

Things were, to say the least, a little choppy for Giovanni Vizza, last season's Sun Belt freshman of the year, in his 2008 debut running Todd Dodge's wide-open offense at North Texas. In point of fact, that wide-open offense got closed shut, as the Mean Green turned meek, with Vizza throwing 29 times for a total of 100 yards, which is an average of just 3.4 yards an attempt. If you want to out that into perspective, Josh Freeman, Vizza's Kansas State counterpart last Saturday, threw for 9.7 yards an attempt.

It's a good bet Vizza, who will get the starting assignment again, will throw for more than 100 yards against a much more permissive Tulsa defense. Casey Fitzgerald, the promising wide receiver, will likely gain more than 31 yards through air connections.

But what will tell the tale in this game is that Tulsa scores just too many points for UNT to trade.

You could simply not ask for more from a new quarterback than the Golden Hurricane got out of David Johnson, the fifth-year senior who sat in Paul Smith's shadow for so long but busted out when he got an opportunity, completing 20 of 24 passes for 332 yards and three TD's without an interception (how about more perspective - 13.8 yards an attempt!), finding nine different receivers in the process, four of whom caught passes of 29 yards or more.

It may be presumptuous to say that Tulsa doesn't miss Smith, or is back to the level of offensive efficiency they were at with him, but it is fair to say they are "reloading" rather than "rebuilding." And that's too much for Dodge's team right now.

North Texas has covered just three of the last 19 times it has ventured outside of the conference, and that is just indicative of the class differences that exist between the Sun Belt and the rest right now (with notable exceptions, of course). This is a defense that gives up 45 points a game, going back to last year. And after yielding 471 yards, along with 9 of 15 in third-down conversions to Kansas State, there is not going to be any relief here.

We're laying the points with Tulsa, the 21.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA football betting odds.