I tried to warn them...

I really did. I posted on Tulsa's football fan board and got no responses that made any sense. Really. Someone would nominate another person and then two more would snicker, followed by a post or two that I couldn't understand. I told them I wouldn't be nearly as kind as one of their own fans, but they forced me.

Tulsa Breakdown by a non-fan

Since I really don't know too much about Tulsa, I will be relying heavily on other articles about the team. If you are interested in my sources, check out:

ESPN C-USA breakdown
Scout Spring Preview

Tulsa is heading into its first year under new head coach Todd Graham, formerly of the always scary Rice Owls. He is joined by Gus Malzahn, formerly of Arkansas, and part of the whole Mitch Mustain episode. Malzahn will most likely stick to what he knows best and we should see a form of the spread this year from Tulsa.

Tulsa returns 12 total starters from last year's 8-5 squad, including 5 on offense and 6 on defense and their kicker. Tulsa's QB, Paul Smith, returns but has lost his top 2 receivers. He was ranked #29 in the country in pass efficiency and threw a measly 15 touchdowns. He will have to gel quickly in the offseason with the new bunch if they are going to move the ball on BYU through the air because they won't on the ground. Tulsa lost 4 of their starters on the offensive line. That is a huge loss and they will only have one game (and a bye week) to gel before BYU. Last year behind 4 senior OL they rushed for around 162 yards per game (#36). BYU held them to 96 last year, and it took 5 players to get there, none of them rushing for over 25 yards (and none over 3 yards per carry compared to Vakapuna's average of 8.9 yards and Brown/Tonga average of 6.)

Defense lost some starting linebackers and safeties, but maybe it's for the best: They couldn't tackle BYU last year, maybe the new guys will be more motivated. They were ranked #62 in the country last year giving up an average of 137 yards a game (BYU last year gained 235 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground.) Their secondary is considerably better, ranked #27 in the country with a pass defense efficiency of 113 (ie. the average QB against them had a 113 rating.) They only allowed 14 TDs through the air last year. Sadly, for them, 4 of those were tossed by John Beck.

Why Tulsa might win (I can't come up with 5 reasons):

3. If BYU loses to UCLA the week before and can't get up for the game.
2. Tulsa has a bye week and will have 2 weeks to prepare for BYU.
1. BYU forfeits.

See Tulsa fans, I told you I couldn't be as nice as you would have been. Tune in tomorrow for my rebuttal...to myself.

My 3 Cents update: Just got word from a Tulsa fan and they are sending me a real breakdown. I'll have it up as soon as possible, probably in the next several days.