With a Win Tonight, Tulsa Gets Ranked

Barring a shocker by East Carolina, Tulsa will move into Sunday's Top 25

Tulsa has had a difficult year thus far dealing with Covid cancellations. The Golden Hurricane has missed opportunities against Arkansas State and Cincinnati (possibly to their benefit) and has only played three games. Because of the limited sample size, Tulsa has not been able to crack the Top 25 despite a solid resume. Tulsa nearly upset #11 Oklahoma State to begin the season, losing 16-7 in a 4th quarter effort by the Pokes. OK State has remained undefeated and risen to #6 making this a decent loss. Tulsa proceeded to rattle off wins against #11 UCF and USF. This past week the Golden Hurricane received 80 AP votes, behind Memphis and Liberty, making Tulsa #28 in the nation. ECU has been pretty dismal so far this year and Tulsa is favored -17.0 tonight. With a win, Tulsa moves to 3-1, (3-0 AAC), and will likely jump a Liberty team on a bye week and a Memphis team playing Cincinnati (barring an upset).

Should Tulsa be ranked come Sunday, it will be their first time cracking the Top 25 since finishing ranked #24 in 2010 when they were still CUSA members. Phillip Montgomery needs some success as he has been sitting on the hot seat the past few seasons. He hasn't pulled off a winning campaign since going 10-3 in 2016. Tonight will serve as a major boon for the program and set up an important date with (3-1 AAC) Navy next week with potential for Tulsa to rise even higher in the rankings before playing fellow ranked AAC member SMU.