Louisiana Tech has edge over North Texas in C-USA matchup

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – The travel, along with a short week, might take its toll on Louisiana Tech Thursday night, but the Bulldogs are superior to North Texas in every other way.

Coach Skip Holtz’s squad bounced back from a poor performance against fourth- ranked Oklahoma to trash preseason Sun Belt favorite Louisiana, 48-20, piling up 533 yards in the process.

The Bulldogs are 2-0 against the spread this year. It is true they benefited from three Louisiana turnovers, but all three of them came after the Bulldogs built up a 24-7 lead.

North Texas opened its season losing by 31 points to Texas in a game the Mean Green picked up just 94 yards. They failed to score an offensive touchdown and did not have a play that totaled more than eight yards.

Last week, the Mean Green took out their frustration on SMU, whipping the Mustangs, 43-6. In fact, June Jones, SMU’s head coach, resigned after the game. Still, North Texas outgained SMU by just 79 yards, and benefited from a plus-5 turnover differential.

The first turnover set up the Mean Green inside SMU’s 15-yard line, and five plays later, the score was 10-0 in their favor. The second miscue resulted in a 31-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. The third turnover gave them the ball at SMU’s 31-yard line and resulted in three more points.

In addition, the Mustangs lost their starting quarterback with an injury and the backups were forced to play the entire second half. Two more turnovers led to 10 more North Texas points.

The Mean Green are not an offensive powerhouse and will get gobbled up by Louisiana Tech’s defense. Don’t forget, North Texas brought back just 20 percent of last season’s total offense.

On the other side of the ball, look for the Bulldogs to move the chains on a consistent basis versus a North Texas defense that lost seven starters from 2013, including all four defensive linemen.

Take Louisiana Tech to get the outright victory in this week’s lone five-star play.

THREE-STAR PICKS

BYU hosts Houston in the other Thursday night matchup and the line is extremely high. The Cougars are favored by 17.5 points against a team that gave them fits last season.

Houston, a 10-point home underdog in that contest, led BYU by six points heading into the fourth quarter, then lost by a point when Taysom Hill threw a touchdown pass with 1:08 left in the game.

Houston is 1-1 with an expected home loss to UTSA and a home victory over Grambling State. The Cougars looked sluggish against the Roadrunners as they turned the ball over six times. However, they rebounded the following week by shutting out the Tigers.

Houston has a slight edge in this one because it played an FCS squad last week while BYU was pumped for the rematch with Texas, in Austin.

BYU won that game with ease, but the Longhorns were without their starting quarterback and ran out an offensive line with a combined total of five career starts. BYU must not get too full of itself coming back home from the huge victory or it will be caught up in another close contest with Houston.

Take Houston plus 17.5 points in the first of two three-star plays.

The second three-star selection comes from Georgia where a pair of in-state teams hook up for the first time. Georgia Tech (2-0) hosts Georgia Southern (1-1) in Atlanta.

The Yellow Jackets struggled to get past Wofford in their opener and then were outplayed in the first half by Tulane. They won by 17 points but only outgained the Green Wave by 32 yards. The game was played in what could be described as a heat wave, and many players on both teams, including Tulane’s starting quarterback, felt the effects of the weather.

Meanwhile, Georgia Southern comes into this one off an 83-9 win over Savannah State. In their prior game, the Eagles almost upset North Carolina State in Raleigh. The Wolfpack won by one point after scoring a touchdown inside the final two minutes.

Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern are two teams that run similar offenses. so look for both squads to pad their rushing stats. The Yellow Jackets will win, but they are favored by too many points.

Take Georgia Southern plus 20 points.

TWO-STAR SELECTIONS

Take Wyoming +43 (Oregon), Western Michigan +3 (Idaho), Florida -18 (Kentucky) and Rice +31.5 (Texas A&M).

ONE-STAR PLAYS

Take Cincinnati -11 (Toledo), Central Michigan +6.5 (Syracuse), East Carolina +11 (Virginia Tech), Virginia +6.5 (Louisville), under 64.5 in Wyoming-Oregon, NC State -1.5 (South Florida), Western Kentucky +1.5 (Middle Tennessee) and Purdue +28 (Notre Dame)

THIS YEAR’S RECORD

My overall record stands at 19-20 after a 10-10 mark in Week 2. The headline game lost dropping the five-star plays to 1-2. Both three-star selections were victorious, so they currently stand at 2-1. The two-star choices went 3-7 for a dismal two-week total of 6-12. However, the one-star plays went 5-2 for a solid 10-5 mark.

THIS WEEK’S JEFF FRANK DIRTY DOZEN

1-T) Florida State and Oregon, 101.5; 3) Alabama, 100.5; 4) Oklahoma, 100; 5) Auburn, 99.5; 6) Ole Miss, 99; 7) Georgia, 98.5; 8) USC, 97.5; 9-T) Baylor and BYU, 97; 11) Florida, 96.5; 12) Michigan State, 95

(The Dirty Dozen is not a reflection of a given team’s won-loss record. It is based on power ratings used to predict spreads for the upcoming week. At the beginning of the season, all FBS teams are assigned a power number, which changes on a week-to-week basis depending on the results of the previous week.)

Categorized in: NCAA Football