After rough start, Tulsa hammers UAPB, 42-7

Cardell Williams performing well was no surprise. But it was a major surprise that it came down to Williams to save a floundering first quarter Tulsa offense.

Williams was an incredible 13 of 14 for 233 yards and a 3 touchdowns for a whopping 303.4 quarterback rating as TU defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 42-7 on Thursday night in front of 17,529 fans at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

The beginning of the Kevin Wilson era ended up impressing, although the first quarter was a disaster.

Two interceptions by starting quarterback Braylon Braxton on his first two series, with a fumbled kickoff in between, had Tulsa down 7-0. And it could have been worse. Much worse.

"We called some bad plays. Our players made some bad plays, but you keep playing through it," Wilson said. "I thought our guys battled through it pretty good.

"It was fun. I think early I was a little -- maybe out of rhythm, getting a feel for the play calls. I think I hurt us with a couple of choices."

With Braxton injuring his left ankle and in a boot the rest of the game, it was up to Williams to come through.

And come through he did. Williams didn't throw an incomplete pass until the fourth quarter after completing his first 13 attempts.

"I didn't know that I was 100 percent on completions," Williams said. "That's when my teammates started coming up to me and telling me on the sidelines, like, 'You know you're 12 straight, 12-for-12, right?' I was, like, oh, don't tell me that, don't tell me that."

Williams completed 9 of 9 passes for 169 yards and 3 TD's in the first half, along with a rushing touchdown. He turned a 7-0 deficit into a 28-7 halftime lead.

Of course, Tulsa finally settled down after first game jitters, and relied on its offensive line and running backs, with passes mixed in, to show fans it was clearly better than a UAPB team that finished 3-8 last season.

Tulsa perhaps threw too much early, which accounted for Braxton struggling. Braxton completed 1 of 4 passes for 9 yards and 2 interceptions.

But once Tulsa's offense got going, it got going. Jordan Ford led Tulsa rushers with 110 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Bill Jackson rushed 7 times for 54 yards. And Anthony Watkins, mostly in the second half, gained 69 yards on 9 carries.

Marquis Shoulders had a breakout game. The speedy 5-foot-9, 170-pound sophomore caught 5 passes for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns, including an 80-yarder in the second quarter that gave TU its first lead of the game at 14-7. Shoulders later caught a 19-yard laser TD pass from Williams where he barely was able to get his feet down in the back left corner of the end zone.

Defensively, ends Ben Kopenski and Owen Ostroski put pressure on UAPB quarterbacks all game, combining for 3.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss. Kopenski tied free safety Kendarin Ray for the team lead with 10 tackes. Kopenski had 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, while Ostroski had 1.5 sacks and 3 tackles for loss.

"Along the sideline, everybody kind of had that same mentality. Pretty calm. Nobody was panicking," Ostroski said. "Obviously after that start, we settled things down and just started rolling."

Kopenski's fellow OSU transfers Kanion Williams and Demarco Jones played well in the secondary. Jones started at corner, and Williams had Tulsa's only interception. Williams' interception helped stop the bleeding after being down 7-0, taking away UAPB momentum.

Pine Bluff's early and only TD came on an 18-yard drive. For the most part, the Golden Lions offense did nothing against the Golden Hurricane defense.

"I thought our defense did a phenomenal job weathering the storm because you lose three turnovers, and you get a chance to really get snowballing," Wilson said.

Tulsa outgained UAPB 517-252.

The status of Braxton's ankle is unclear.

"Unfortunately, Braylon got an ankle injury. I don't think it's severe, severe, but enough that he really couldn't put some weight on it tonight," Wilson said. "We'll see how it goes here from day-to-day, week-to-week."

Even without Braxton getting hurt, Williams was going to get playing time. He's impressed that much in practice.

"We've been telling you we thought Cardell was a good player," Wilson said. "Our plan was to put Cardell probably in the third or fourth drive just to give him some experience early in the game because we think he is a very gifted quarterback as well.

"In the spring, we toyed with both of them on the field together, but right now we'll just see where Braylon is day-to-day, week-to-week. I don't think it will be long. I don't think there's going to be a controversy because we were planning on playing Cardell, too."

Williams showed amazing poise when called on. But it helped knowing that he was going to play.

"Like coach Wilson said, we already knew I was going in to get a couple of drives regardless, so I was prepared and ready to go in whenever my name got called," Williams said.

Braxton was a steadying force for Williams.

"He (Braxton) was just telling me, stay calm and poised and read everything out," Williams said. "Don't try to force anything. He was giving me great tips before I went in the game."

Still, considering that Williams is a redshirt freshman who had never thrown a pass in college, coming out playing well from the start is encouraging, to say the least.

"Everybody gets a little butterflies the first game. Every game sometimes you get a little butterflies, but that's about it," Williams said. "After the first snap, the first time I got tackled, I was ready to go. Comfortable."

- Tulsa unveiled its new mascot, Gus-T, shortly before kickoff.

- Redshirt freshman receiver Devan Williams stepped up, catching the first TU pass of the game. He also made a leaping, highlight reel sideline catch for a 40-yard gain. He started the game and finished with 3 catches for 61 yards.

- Tulsa's tight ends were, as expected, more active than they usually were in the Philip Montgomery era. Three tight ends combined for 4 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown. True freshman Luke McGary caught 2 passes for 27 yards. Bayne Tryon caught a 7-yard TD pass, and Ethan Hall had a catch for 4 yards.

- Bixby grad and OSU transfer Braylin Presley was mostly a decoy, starting at receiver. He played a little running back in the second half, rushing for 13 yards on 3 carries.

- Punt returner Kamdyn Benjamin looked good with 35 yards on two returns.

- New Australian punter Angus Davies did well, averaging 45 yards on three punts, with a long of 54. And all three punts were inside the 20-yard-line.

- New kicker, sophomore Penn transfer Chase Meyer, made all six of his extra points. TU attempted no field goals. His kickoffs were decent, but none were touchbacks.

- Tulsa's kickoff and punt coverage, a major weakness in past years, looked decidedly better.

- Tulsa's starters on offense were Presley, Shoulders and Devan Williams at receiver, McGary at TE, Kai-Leon Herbert LT, Chester Baah LG, Tai Marks C, Bryce Bray RG, Darrell Simpson RT, Ford RB, and Braxton at QB. Will Farniok came in at center in the first half when Bray left the game for unknown reasons, and Marks shifted to right guard.

- On defense, Ostroski and Kopenski started at DE, along with Jayden Simon at NG, and Joe Anderson at DT. At LB, it was Julien Simon and Coleton Smith. OSU transfer Demarco Jones and Tyree Carlisle started at CB, with Kendarin Ray at FS, L.J. Wallace at SS, and Jaise Oliver at Nickelback.

- The captains for the game were linebacker Dorian Hopkins and Kendarin Ray.

- Tulsa wore its traditional uniform, with gold helmet and pants, and blue jerseys.

- TU's next game is at Husky Stadium in Seattle against the No. 10 ranked Washington Huskies.

- Former OU coach Bob Stoops and country singer Toby Keith both attended the game to support new Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson.