If Tulsa's upcoming game against Arkansas State was a home game or neutral game, this would be the type of game that Tulsa fans, and most people for that matter, would think Tulsa should win, and perhaps, win convincingly.

But also, strange things happen in road games at night. And Arkansas State is a decent team.

And quite frankly, on the 50-50 calls made by the refs, don't count on a favorable ruling. Just ask its opponent last week, Central Arkansas.

Those factors alone make Arkansas State (1-0) a shocking 7.5 point favorite over Tulsa for the 6 p.m. game Saturday night in Jonesboro at Centennial Bank Stadium (30,382 seating capacity).

So for Tulsa to pull off a road win in a state it hasn't won a football game in for 48 years, the Golden Hurricane is going to have to be sharp. Not necessarily perfect, but sharp.

"I think we're fooling ourselves if we don't play a lot better in a lot of areas," said second-year Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson. "We need to clean up a lot."

Tulsa last won in the state of Arkansas in 1976, when TU beat the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. Tulsa is 0-2 at Arkansas State.

Tulsa (1-0) had a successful but flawed 62-28 season opening win over a likely weak FCS Northwestern State. Wilson knows TU will have to play better in order to win on the road this week.

Fourth-year Arkansas State coach Butch Jones has his Red Wolves seemingly going in the right direction after a rough start to his tenure in Jonesboro (12-26). The former Tennessee (34-27), Cincinnati (23-14), and Central Michigan (27-13) head coach (96-80 overall) inherited a team that had finished 4-7 in 2020, but had 9 consecutive winning seasons prior to that.

After finishing 2-10 and 3-9 in his first two seasons at the Sun Belt Conference school, Jones guided the Red Wolves to a 6-7 season last year where they lost 21-19 to Northern Illinois in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. Yes, the same NIU team Tulsa defeated 22-14 on the road last season.

The Red Wolves return most of their skill players on offense, including starting quarterback Jaylen Raynor, who is going to cause opposing defenses trouble as a dual run/pass threat. Raynor, leading receivers Corey Rucker (36-705, 2 TDs) and Courtney Jackson (39-689, 7 TDs), and leading rushers Ja'Quez Cross (716, 5.6 ypc, 7 TDs) and Zak Wallace (575, 4.6 ypc, 6 TDs) all return from last season.

Raynor (6-0, 201, Soph.) threw for 317 yards, completing 24 of 47, with 1 TD and 1 Int, and rushed 15 times for 49 yards last week. He passed for 2,550 yards in 11 games in 2023 with a 58.2 completion percentage, and had 17 TD passes and 7 interceptions. He rushed for 373 yards and 5 scores.