The Tulsa vs. BYU game on Saturday is looking to be one of the most anticipated of the weekend.  Tulsa was originally a +5 1/2 road dog before heavy action on that team forced the line movement down to +4, where it will probably remain just prior to game time.

There is some potential for a further movement towards +3 however with nearly 70% of the action still on Tulsa at

Jeff Call of the Dessert News writes about Tulsa:

"(Coach Steve) Kragthorpe has put the "Golden" back in the Golden Hurricane.
Consider this: He took over a program that was coming off of 11 consecutive losing seasons, and a 2-21 mark in the previous two, and turned in a winning record in his first season, in 2003.

"In four seasons, he's posted a modest 22-17 record, but Tulsa enjoyed a breakout season a year ago, as the Hurricane went 9-4, won the Conference USA title and defeated Fresno State in the Liberty Bowl. Three of its wins were by seven points or less."

Fresh off their gut-wrenching loss in Tucson last week, BYU (0-1, 0-0) looks to rebound as they challenge the University of Tulsa (1-0, 0-0) in the Cougars' home opener this Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006, in LaVell Edwards Stadium at 2 p.m.

The game will be the first meeting between the Cougars and the Golden Hurricane since 1997, when both teams were members of the 16-team WAC mega-conference.

Tulsa, the reigning Conference USA champions (9-4, 6-2), beat a stellar Fresno State team in the Liberty Bowl last year and come to Provo on the heels of their first win of the year against I-AA Stephen F. Austin. Led by quarterback Paul Smith, a preseason Davey O'Brien Award candidate, the offense scored on their first six possessions on their way to a 31-0 halftime lead that culminated in a 45-7 victory.

The Tulsa offense gained much praise by BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"When you watch the game coming up, its not the volume of plays that they run, it's the presentation before the play that makes it very difficult to predict what they are going to run," Mendenhall said. "This offense does not rely on talent as much as it relies on execution and the coaching style (referring to all the motion Tulsa runs before the play) that presents you with difficult challenges. To have the results they've had in such a very short time has been very impressive."

"Their talent is similar to last year," Mendenhall continued. "They're exceptional on offense, and their defense is good as well."

That defense, which was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in turnover margin and interceptions, and in the top 20 in passing defense and fumble recoveries, returns nine defensive starters. Anchoring the defense will be linebacker Nick Bunting, a 6-1, 230-pound senior who is on the preseason award watch for the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Bronko Nagurski Award and the Butkus Award. Also look for Nick Graham at cornerback. He is a Thorpe Award candidate and has a knack for finding the ball, finishing eighth in the nation last year in interceptions.

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Sports911.com News Wire

Originally published September 8, 2006 10:36 pm EDT