Cooper Legas and his teammates turned possible humiliation to pure exhilaration.
The result was an incredible 46-45 comeback win for TU over UTSA that absolutely nobody saw coming.
Coming back from a 35-7 halftime deficit where the Golden Hurricane looked lifeless in its throwback red uniforms, Legas and company led a slow comeback, at first, that turned into a frenzy in front of a Homecoming crowd of 17,439 fans Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
Legas, who came in after an injured ankle forced Kirk Francis out with TU down 20-0 in the second quarter, immediately provided some spark with a TD drive on his first series. But things still kept going south for the Golden Hurricane.
Yet, Tulsa (3-5, 1-3 AAC) kept battling despite the disastrous first half. It finally culminated in a 4-yard TD pass from Legas to Kam Benjamin on 3rd-and-goal with 1:01 remaining. And Seth Morgan’s extra point put the Golden Hurricane ahead, erasing for good the 28-point UTSA halftime lead.
“All it takes is one or two plays to flip the momentum,” said Legas. “As soon as there is belief, we can’t be stopped.”
Second-year Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson got what he had been talking about for weeks. The hard work finally paid off.
“To win games, you’ve to make plays,” said Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson. “We’ve been in some games where the ball gets in our hands, and we didn’t come up with it. Today, when the ball was in our hands, we came up with those balls. That’s a credit to (receivers) coach (Ryan Switzer), a credit to those kids, a credit to Cooper. Proud of Coop.”
Legas finished the game completing 16 of 31 for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns, and led TU in rushing with 46 yards. He only had 112 yards passing for the season.
The game, however, was far from over after the go-ahead score. But amazingly, Tulsa’s defense held off lefty QB Owen McCown, who finished with 434 yards and 4 TD’s passing.
It was harrowing because UTSA had entirely too much time left on the clock to travel just 35 to 40 yards to get into field goal range. The Roadrunners got to midfield in one play, but no further, as the pass defense, aided by a strong pass rush, forced four consecutive incompletions to seal the game.
Things started to turn bad for UTSA (3-5, 1-3) when Tulsa DE Vontroy Malone blindsided McCown, and DT Amieh Williams rambled 35 yards with the fumble return to make the score 35-14 with 11:52 left in the third quarter.
However, the comeback hopes looked slim when Willie McCoy caught a 5-yard TD pass with 5:30 left in the third quarter to increase the UTSA lead to 42-17. Being down 25 points looked like a difficult margin to overcome.
But it was Benjamin, who finished with 7 catches for 125 yards and 3 scores, who made a terrific run to get into the end zone after getting past UTSA defenders for a 74-yard TD pass.
And then true freshman running back Viron Ellison caught a 4-yard touchdown pass with 14:21 left in the 4th quarter, and, after Morgan’s extra point, TU trailed 42-31. But Tulsa decided to take the point off the board and go for two after an offsides penalty.
Legas’ two-point conversion run made it 42-32, and the decision by Wilson turned out to be the winning margin.
UTSA was able to extend the lead to 45-32 on a 37-yard field goal by Tate Sandell, and took a lot of time off the clock in doing so. The left-footed Sandell had shown a big leg earlier in the drive when he made a 53-yard field goal by several yards, but it came after a UTSA time-out on 4th-and-3, and the Roadrunners went for it successfully.
The Golden Hurricane got the ball back with 5:21 remaining, and 20-yard leaping TD catch by Benjamin in the back right corner of the end zone with 2:26 left narrowed the margin to 45-39.
The TU defense then stopped the Roadrunners, using its remaining two timeouts, but the offense got the ball back with 2:02 left on its own 8.
Disaster almost struck when Legas fumbled on the first play, but right tackle Rey Burnett recovered. From then on, it was all TU.
It was true freshmen and transfer portal time until Benjamin’s game-winning TD. On the next play, true freshman Joseph Williams caught a 27-yarder. Purdue transfer Zion Steptoe made a leaping 34-yard catch to the UTSA 26.
Then true freshman Corey Smith’s 22-yarder on the left sideline got TU in serious business down to the 4-yard-line, setting up Benjamin’s final score.
“That’s why we recruited them. We thought they were good,” Wilson said of his young players. “Puppies do bite when they are young. So, if you’re a good player, it’s about time you start flashing a little. That was nice to see.”
The way Tulsa had been playing in the week’s coming into the UTSA game, confidence was lacking, and it was difficult for those around TU to have much hope. That extended into another difficult first half.
Even so, Tulsa found a way to persevere and figure their way out of their funk.
“I think you can tell by the way they played in the second half, that wasn’t a team that was mentally or physically beat up,” Wilson said.” It was a frustrated team. And they finally took out their frustration on their opponent.”
For Legas, it was a somewhat familiar situation to be in, since he came off the bench to lead two comeback wins last season while playing for Utah State. Most of his plays this season had been running, with119 yards on the ground.
“I’ve come off the bench a lot in my career,” Legas said. “Whether we’re up or behind, just go in and go play by play.
“It’s really cool when you get an opportunity like that to come back from such a big deficit.”
And the wait of not playing much after transferring finally paid off for Legas.
“I tend to be more of the running guy, but I came here to play quarterback, and I’m ready to do whatever I have to do, whether it’s running or passing,” Legas said.
To say that the victory was sorely needed for TU is an understatement. This was a team the desperately needed confidence.
And Wilson’s confidence in his players, which he has continually praised for their hard work and good attitude despite setbacks, was justified.
“It’s amazing how those kids work,” Wilson said. “The players did a nice job, and they deserve all the credit. That was a hell of a team win.”
