The vaunted UC secondary will have to worry about stopping three different guys when Smith drops back to pass. The leading receiver to this point for Tulsa is senior Keylon Stokes. Stokes comes into the game with 150 yards and a touchdown. Right on his heels is junior Josh Johnson, who has 132 yards and two touchdowns. Rounding out the group is Sam Crawford Jr. who sits just shy of 100 yards with 97 and one score. It has only been two games for Tulsa on the year, but they do seem to do a good job at spreading the ball around, all three guys average 48 or more yards a game and they all have at least seven catches so UC is going to have to remain solid in coverage on both sides of the field there isn’t just one guy they need to concentrate on shutting down it will be a team effort.
As I mentioned earlier the defense is where Tulsa really frustrates teams. UC is really going to be tested on the offensive line this week as Tulsa has already recorded seven sacks, led by junior linebacker Zaven Collins who has three of them. For comparison UC has played one more game than Tulsa and their defense only has five sacks. Tulsa is a very fundamentally sound defensive team they have six guys who have already registered double digit tackle numbers because they fly to the ball. They have already played against two offensive minded teams and they were able to hold both under their average for points and yards and if you remember last years game Tulsa actually out gained UC and Ridder was held to a 12-of-22 for 172 yard performance.
I expect this game to be tough for both sides and adding in it is UC’s first time going through the travel experience in this COVID season so we have to see how that effects the players routines and all the off the field stuff. The difference in this game to me will be what did UC do during their bye week to get this team to the level they will need to be at for the remainder of the season. I know Marcus Freeman will have the defense ready, but the question mark seemingly every week is what Desmond Ridder shows up? With reports of Ben Bryant possibly not being good to go again or having very little practice over the last two weeks it is basically Ridder or bust for this game so he is going to have to dial it in and make plays downfield or they can very easily let this game slip away from them.
I *think* UC gets it done in an ugly game on Saturday, I think as good as Tulsa’s defense is UC’s offense is just better than Tulsa and our defense will overmatch their offense over the game. UC wins and covers 24-20. Go Cats!
