Luke Skipper’s statistics weren’t exactly eye-popping last Saturday, but he showed solid improvement from last season while managing a fourth-quarter comeback in Tulsa’s 38-27 win over Central Arkansas. The Hurricane quarterback completed 15 of 24 passes (62.5-percent) for 196 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

The main flaw in Skipper’s game was a costly fumble while being sacked, which led to a go-ahead touchdown by UCA.

“That is ball security on me which is unacceptable, and it won’t happen again – that’s for sure,” Skipper said after the game. “When we went down late, I wasn’t too worried about it. We knew we were going to come back.”

For the most part, Skipper got the ball to Tulsa’s playmakers while the Hurricane relied heavily on its bruising ground game. Passing highlights included a 49-yard scoring toss to Justin Hobbs on TU’s first possession and a 14-yard fourth-quarter TD pass to Cole Neph that gave Tulsa the lead for good. Skipper also hit Keenen Johnson for 41-yards, but Johnson fumbled at the end of the play.

One thing is for sure, Skipper’s performance was enough to impress Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

“He’s sneaky fast. He’s sneaky athletic. He can make all the throws. He’s got a lot of confidence in him,” Orlando said of Skipper. “When you’re a system quarterback like that, that can make reads, go really fast and man the offense – he’s a really good player.”