Wednesday NCAA: Tulsa Golden Hurricane at UTEP Miners
It’s the second Wednesday night game in a row for Tulsa, which nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the season last week against No. 5 Boise State. UTEP, meanwhile, has pulled off a sizable upset already this year, beating No. 12 Houston a few weeks ago in a shootout.
Tulsa appears to be the better team, and it is an 8-point betting favorite on WagerWeb.com, but it has lost the past two trips to El Paso in the final minute.
The Tulsa defense leads Conference USA and is 21st nationally in scoring defense, giving up just 16.2 points per game and a league-best 299.2 yards per game. UTEP is 84th nationally in scoring offense at 24.5 points per game.
The Miners are led on offense by running back Donald Buckram, who had a career-high 262 yards on 32 carries and scored four touchdowns in that upset of Houston. Buckram ranks 19th nationally in rushing at 103.0 yards per game and has half of the Miners’ 12 rushing touchdowns. He has 21 carries of 10 yards or more, and has been tackled in the backfield only seven times. Tulsa has been successful against the run, and hasn’t allowed a rushing touchdown this season.
UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe is No. 2 in school career passing yards (7,610) and career TD passes (63). He has seven TD passes in two games against Tulsa, including game-winner in final minute of 2007 win over the Hurricane. Meanwhile, Miners WR Jeff Moturi leads the team 24 catches for 360 yards in 2009, coming off his first back-to-back 100-plus receiving games since 2007.
On defense, the Miners rank second-to-last nationally in total defense and 116th in sacks. That could mean a big night for Tulsa QB G.J. Kinne, who is 10th in the nation in passing. Kinne struggled in Tulsa’s 28-21 loss to Boise State. He passed for 154 yards and was sacked four times.
Tulsa leads the series 10-7 and is 5-3 in El Paso overall. Tulsa won 77-35 last year in a game that was 28-28 at the end of the first quarter. Tonight will be the first time UTEP has ever been on ESPN (it has been on ESPN2).
NCAA Betting at WagerWeb.com
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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