Houston at Tulane odds, picks and prediction
The Houston Cougars (4-1, 2-0 AAC) travel to meet the Tulane Green Wave (1-4, 0-1) Thursday at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Below, we look at the Houston vs. Tulane odds and lines, and make our expert college football picks, predictions and bets.
Houston dusted Tulsa on the road last time out, winning 45-10 to easily cover as a 3.5-point underdog. The Over is also 2-0 in each of the two conference games for the Cougars.
Tulane opened with a 40-35 loss at Oklahoma, nearly pulling off an upset while covering as a 31-point underdog. It's been all downhill from there as the Green Wave enter on a three-game loss and non-cover skid.
Houston at Tulane odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports' betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 4:55 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Houston -240 (bet $240 to win $100) | Tulane +190 (bet $100 to win $190)
- Against the spread (ATS): Houston -6.5 (-108) | Tulane +6.5 (-112)
- Over/Under (O/U): 60.5 (O: -112 | U: -108)
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Houston at Tulane odds, lines, picks and predictions
Prediction
Houston 41, Tulane 30
Money line
Houston (-240) will cost you 2.4 times your potential return. That's a little too expensive despite the fact the Cougars are a much better team.
AVOID and look to the spread instead.
Against the spread
I like HOUSTON -6.5 (-108) on the road as it has been playing much better football. Tulane has been distracted, and rightly so, recovering from Hurricane Ida.
The Cougars have covered six of the past eight trips to New Orleans, and they're 13-4 ATS in the previous 17 meetings overall in this series. The favorite is also 14-3 ATS during that 17-game span.
Over/Under
The OVER 60.5 (-112) is the play, mainly due to the struggling defense of Tulane. The Green Wave have allowed 40.2 points per game (PPG), ranking 126th out of 130 FBS teams. They're also scoring 35.0 PPG, so they keep the scoreboard operator busy.
The Cougars have rolled up 36.6 PPG on offense, ranking 24th, while they have allowed just 15.0 PPG to rank 10th on defense. Houston's D is the only concern on playing this Over.
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