Tulsa vs Navy Prediction, Odds, Picks, Start Time — 10/10

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

If you want more Action Network content, be sure to add us as a preferred source on Google.

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane take on the Navy Midshipmen in Annapolis. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.

Navy is favored by -2.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -137. The total is set at 48.5 points.

Here’s my Tulsa vs. Navy prediction and college football pick for Saturday, October 10.

My Navy vs. Tulsa best bet is on the Golden Hurricane to cover. Find the best line on our live NCAAF odds page, and download our Action Network app for the latest picks and betting analysis.

Tulsa vs Navy Odds, Line, Spread

• Tulsa vs Navy point spread: Navy -3, Tulsa +3
• Tulsa vs Navy over/under: 47.5
• Tulsa vs Navy moneyline: Tulsa ML +120, Navy ML -145

Tulsa squandered a double-digit lead while allowing three North Texas touchdowns over six minutes last week in a critical game in the AAC race.

Now the Golden Hurricane are in a “must-win” territory if this is going to turn into a special season and not just a year of marginal improvement.

Head coach Tre Lamb has provoked the best of his bunch so far and at 3-2, Tulsa has three winnable games — all in succession against the three-option teams in conference play — starting this week with Navy.

Baylor Hayes came back from injury last week and while he wasn’t at his 100%, he played well enough to give Tulsa a chance to win on the final play of overtime.

Hayes showed decent mobility on the knee that was injured and the explosiveness was there in the passing game. However, more is needed out of the run game in order to see this offense operate more consistently and stay on the field.

Quick possessions derailed the momentum of this game against a vastly improved Mean Green squad that will contend for the conference in late-November.

The defense shone the first three weeks of the season but has put up back-to-back performances that have left a lot to be desired.

The exquisite play of the defensive line we saw so prevalently early on has disappeared, and Tulsa is going to need this group to show up in a big way to help stop the Navy attack this week. The Mids are not as explosive as we’ve seen over the prior two seasons and the passing game has really struggled.

Forcing Navy into passing situations will be key for the Tulsa defense this week.

Navy comes in 1-3, having not won a game since its last home game the opening week of the season 35 days ago.

The Mids are clearly down in offensive and defensive productivity from prior seasons and this team has now seen its goals of winning the AAC and capturing the Commander-In-Chief trophy dashed.

Navy is now in serious jeopardy of missing a bowl game in what has amounted to a clear rebuilding situation after back-to-back 10-win seasons.

The play of quarterbacks Braxton Woodson and Jackson Gutierrez has been mediocre and the production of the ground attack has diminished each week.

Navy has found itself in deep holes in the first half of its three losses, and the offense hasn’t been strong enough to come back and take control — something we saw it be able to do last season.

Vic Listorti and Michael Barrow have seen the bulk of the carries from ball carriers outside of the quarterback position, but Navy remains reliant on QB run on nearly half of its offensive rushes.

The offensive line has been penetrated too frequently, and Navy has found itself off-schedule, which has been a big driver for the diminished offensive output.

The Navy defense isn’t strong, specifically in pass coverage. The Mids also struggle generating a pass rush and opposing quarterbacks have found success regularly in throwing the ball.

The explosives against UAB and FAU were back-breaking, and there’s very little chance that the Navy secondary will be able to stop the pass in this game against Tulsa.

This line opened with Tulsa listed as a three-point underdog, and that line quickly disappeared. Tulsa remains a 2.5-point ‘dog. The total has been bet down from 50.5 to 48.5, where it currently sits.

I like Tulsa.

The Golden Hurricane are much improved over prior seasons, and I don’t want to write this team off due to the performances in the last couple of weeks.

The offense is explosive, and I expect Baylor Hayes to play better each week as he comes back from the injury that sidelined him for a couple of games earlier this season.

Tulsa drives have stalled due to poor third-down execution, but Navy is allowing 47% of opponent third-down attempts to be converted successfully. We shouldn’t see a stretch of Golden Hurricane offensive possessions that result in three-and-outs like we saw last week.

Navy has a weak secondary and Tulsa is going to connect on the pass explosives. Both FAU and UAB were very efficient through the air, and I think we’ll see Tulsa connect on the downfield passes in this game.

Tulsa is going to get back to running the football on early downs, where they rank 50th nationally in early-down success.

Navy has benefitted from playing three weak rushing offenses, and its game against Air Force is one where the familiarity with the scheme regularly results in a reduced rushing output.

I don’t think Navy is as strong in the defensive trench as what the metrics show, and this will be another game where the Mids are playing catch-up from behind.

I look for Tulsa to win this game and get its season back on track.

Pick: Tulsa +2.5

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos