The Temple Owls will visit the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Thursday night. This one kicks off before Thursday Night Football, so if you want to get the sweating started early, here’s your chance. Every week, I’ll post my top college football picks by Monday and provide an update before each game — you can check out all of my college football Week 5 picks here. Let’s dig into today’s Temple-Tulsa odds as we make our predictions and pick the best college football Week 5 bet!
Temple-Tulsa Pick & Betting Prediction | College Football Week 5
Temple-Tulsa Betting Odds
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
Temple: +134 | Tulsa: -162
Temple +3.5: -115 | Tulsa -3.5: -105
Over 55.5: -110 | Under 55.5: -110
Expert: Isaiah Sirois
Temple-Tulsa Pick & Prediction
The Temple Owls will square off against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Thursday. You might be busy watching the Packers and Lions on Thursday Night Football, but you should consider flipping over to ESPN for at least a few minutes of this game. Tulsa is trading as a 3.5-point home favorite, but new head coach Kevin Wilson, formerly the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, has been doing such an excellent job with this team that they’re underrated at this price in their home stadium.
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The Golden Hurricane have played a monstrous schedule to start the year, much more difficult than the one the Owls have played. Tulsa beat FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Week 1 before getting blown out by No. 7 Washington and No. 14 Oklahoma. They bounced back with a road win over Northern Illinois last week. In contrast, Temple beat Akron in Week 1 but then got blown out by unranked Rutgers and No. 18 Miami, scoring a win over FCS Norfolk State between those losses.
Despite the tough schedule, Tulsa leads Temple in a few key metrics. Tulsa’s quarterback, Cardell Williams, ranks 48th in ing efficiency (145.5), far ahead of Temple’s 106th-ranked E.J. Warner (112.4). Williams also ranks 69th in yards per attempt (7.2), still far ahead of 98th-ranked Warner (5.9). Tulsa runs a fast-paced, -heavy scheme that should exploit a Temple defense that ranks 99th in yards allowed per attempt (8.3).
Tulsa will also benefit from home-field advantage. The Golden Hurricane are only 7-7 at home since 2021, but they’re 7-3 as a home favorite. Meanwhile, Temple has struggled on the road under head coach Stan Drayton. Drayton’s Owls are an awful 1-11 on the road since he took over. He also failed to beat the Golden Hurricane in his last two seasons. I’m playing a five-team, two-way moneyline round-robin this week, and Tulsa is one of the legs.
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Since the early week column went up on Monday, the moneyline has moved ever so slightly in favor of Temple. However, that action is squarer than it is sharp: the Golden Hurricane have attracted 54% of the handle on only 36% of the tickets, per Pregame. Parker Fleming’s model gives Tulsa a 70.8% chance of winning, and the Fremeau Efficiency Index projections give them a 72.2% — giving us a solid edge relative to the -162 (61.8%) at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Temple-Tulsa Week 5 Pick: Tulsa ML -162 at FanDuel
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