In a wild ride of almosts, Joseph Williams was a human highlight reel. But his breakout game for Tulsa was spoiled by several missed opportunities by inches.
In the end, Tulsa’s final drive came up just short, as TU lost to East Carolina 38-31 on Thursday night in front of 17,979 fans at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
“It got close, but just didn’t make the right plays at the end,” said Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson. “It was better, but it wasn’t good enough.”
Williams made several circus catches, and finished with 158 yards and 3 touchdowns on 5 catches. The true freshman has been coming on the last few weeks, but his big catches in clutch situations gave the Golden Hurricane a chance to win.
The 44-yard leaping catch by Williams down to the 7-yard-line with less than 2 minutes remaining with Tulsa down 7 gave the Hurricane a good chance to tie the game up and send it into overtime.
But Williams couldn’t come up with a tough catch in the back of the end zone on third down at the 2, and quarterback Cooper Legas’ pop pass off a jet sweep to the left came up a yard short from getting into the end zone with 32 seconds remaining.
The loss for Tulsa (3-7, 1-5 AAC) guaranteed a below .500 season, and no bowl game.
The positive from the game was Tulsa finally played a decent first half after getting demolished in 6 of the previous 8 games in the first half. The game was tied 17-17 at halftime, and, quite frankly, Tulsa should have been ahead at halftime.
Defensively, three interceptions off of quarterback Katin Houser, including a 30-yard pick-6 by Keuan Parker with 1:32 left in the second quarter that gave Tulsa a 17-14 lead, were the highlights of the game.
In a contest that went back and forth, Tulsa going ahead 31-24 with 12:14 left in the fourth quarter on an incredible, 50-yard reception by Williams, gave the Golden Hurricane a terrific shot at winning the game. Williams’ catch could make any highlight film, with him outleaping the East Carolina defender on the deep pass along the left sideline, and staying in bounds and upright to go the last 10 yards or so for the score.
And when East Carolina (6-4, 4-2) scored on a 23-yard run by Rahjai Harris with 5:30 left, it looked like it would tie the game at 31-31. But East Carolina’s Andrew Conrad clanged the extra point off the right upright, and Tulsa still led 31-30.
But unfortunately for TU, it went three-and-out on its second consecutive series since taking the lead in the fourth quarter. That turned out to be too much for Tulsa’s gutty defense to sustain, and East Carolina drove down with ease to take the lead on a 24-yard run by Harris and subsequent two-point conversion.
Cooper Legas got his second consecutive start at quarterback for Tulsa, and overall, he played well, completing 20 of 32 for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns with one interception. He also led TU in rushing with 43 yards on 13 carries.
The Pirates did a good job of containing Tulsa’s best player, Kam Benjamin, holding him to just 11 yards on 3 catches while being targeted 9 times by Legas.
The final play was ill-fated, with Benjamin running a very similar play that didn’t work the first time in a key situation. The first time Tulsa was leading 3-0 in the first quarter, and Benjamin took a handoff on a jet sweep to the left from the ECU 5-yard-line. He looked like he might score, but got popped and fumbled close to the end zone.
In the end, there were positives for TU to take away from the game, but a loss is a loss.
If Williams can continue to build on his performance, the Golden Hurricane may have a star in the making. Not bad for a true freshman who had done very little until the last few weeks.
“I was just really waiting for my shot. I kept working each and every day, and I finally got that one shot, and I just executed it,” Williams said.
Although Wilson was obviously disappointed, he has been steadfast in saying how much he likes his team’s effort, and their attitude.
“Phenomenal effort. Kinda of what we want it to look like,” Wilson said. “Just got to keep building on that and be fortunate enough to sustain.”
