From an SI article titled "Which Teams That Won Two Games or Fewer in 2017 Will Make a Bowl This Year?"...
Bruce Feldman: Tulsa
As much as I would love to tout Kansas here (and I think diminutive incoming freshman running back Pooka Williams will be the most exciting player the Jayhawks have had in years), I’m not ready to go all in. Instead, I believe there’s a bounceback coming for Tulsa, which plummeted from 10 wins to two last season, though five of those 10 losses came by seven points or less. The schedule looks daunting: Only three of the Golden Hurricane’s 2018 opponents finished with losing records last fall, and one of those is Arkansas. The most talented quarterback in the program, Baylor transfer Zach Smith, won’t be eligible until ’19. I think they have a shot at getting back to 10 wins with Smith under center a year from now, but next year’s team can safely harbor bowl hopes as is.
Both returning quarterbacks Luke Skipper and Chad President got experience in 2017, although President is coming off a late-season ACL injury. Shamari Brooks is a gifted young back who ran for 10 TDs as a freshman despite missing all of November with a broken collarbone. A total of eight starters are back on offense and Tulsa also returns its two leading tacklers in big safety McKinley Whitfield (113 tackles, six for loss) and Cooper Edmiston (106 tackles). Manny Bunch looked like a potential star at safety before his sophomore campaign was cut short by a midseason leg injury.
Bruce Feldman: Tulsa
As much as I would love to tout Kansas here (and I think diminutive incoming freshman running back Pooka Williams will be the most exciting player the Jayhawks have had in years), I’m not ready to go all in. Instead, I believe there’s a bounceback coming for Tulsa, which plummeted from 10 wins to two last season, though five of those 10 losses came by seven points or less. The schedule looks daunting: Only three of the Golden Hurricane’s 2018 opponents finished with losing records last fall, and one of those is Arkansas. The most talented quarterback in the program, Baylor transfer Zach Smith, won’t be eligible until ’19. I think they have a shot at getting back to 10 wins with Smith under center a year from now, but next year’s team can safely harbor bowl hopes as is.
Both returning quarterbacks Luke Skipper and Chad President got experience in 2017, although President is coming off a late-season ACL injury. Shamari Brooks is a gifted young back who ran for 10 TDs as a freshman despite missing all of November with a broken collarbone. A total of eight starters are back on offense and Tulsa also returns its two leading tacklers in big safety McKinley Whitfield (113 tackles, six for loss) and Cooper Edmiston (106 tackles). Manny Bunch looked like a potential star at safety before his sophomore campaign was cut short by a midseason leg injury.
