Tulsa falls short against North Texas on Senior Day

When TU can't beat North Texas at home, it's obvious that the season is ill-fated.

A major talent upgrade is on the way, and should help things.

But until then, Tulsa dropped its 6th consecutive game, losing 35-28 to North Texas in front of a crowd of 16,250 at H.A. Chapman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It was the debut of Kirk Francis as a starter, and he did some good things. Not perfect, but he gave Tulsa a chance to win. Francis was 17 of 34 passing for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns.

"He's doing well. We've got to help him," said TU coach Kevin Wilson of Francis. "We did get a few things going. I thought he played well. We didn't protect him well.

"He took some hits and stayed composed."

Francis was a little tough on himself, but was upbeat as well.

"There were a couple of throws that I forced, a couple of areas where I could have stepped up and made a better throw," Francis said. "Looking at my completion percentage, that's not what you look for."

But teammate Ben Kopenski, who played a whale of a game at defensive end with 3 sacks and 4 tackles for loss alongside an injury-depleted defense that gave up 593 yards, was quick to come to Francis' defense.

"He's been doing great. He's been doing really well," Kopenski said of Francis. "I remember he was on our scout team three weeks ago, and he was throwing great balls, and we were coming right at him, trying to hit him. He's been doing an incredible job. He's stepped up."

Despite Kopenski's efforts, the defense allowed 299 yards rushing on 47 carries for an unacceptable 6.4 yards per carry.

Too many players missing. Not enough depth.

Wilson always has good things to say about Kopenski, who transferred to TU for his senior year.

"He plays his heart out," Wilson said of Kopenski. "He's a TU guy, even though he has only been here a year. He does things the right way. He is one of the top respected guys on this team."

Tulsa (3-8, 1-6 AAC) got out to a great start, scoring on a 40-yard strike from Francis to Nick Rempert on the first possession of the game. Tulsa led 21-14 just before halftime after a 14-yard TD pass from Francis to Carl Chester with 1:38 left in the first half, even after giving up big plays.

But North Texas (4-7, 2-5) marched down and scored just 41 seconds later to tie the game at 21-21.

A 59-yard TD pass from Chandler Rogers to Jordan Smart on the first series of the second half was deflating. Another score by the Mean Green on a 77-yard run through a gaping hole by Oscar Adaway with 9:56 left in the third quarter put Tulsa behind 35-21.

Meanwhile, Tulsa wasn't having any luck on offense in the second half. The first down run plays weren't doing much. Francis and his receivers were having trouble connecting.

Part of the lack of success on offense was UNT figured out what Tulsa was going to run.

"They've got your signals," Wilson said of UNT stealing Tulsa's offensive signals. "That's why on the last drive, we started bringing (Francis) over and telling him the plays.”

When Tulsa finally scored with 5:14 left on a fade pass from Francis to Kamdyn Benjamin in the back left corner of the end zone to narrow the margin to 35-28, the Golden Hurricane had a chance.

But Tulsa couldn't stop a UNT team that wasn't going to pass the ball at that time. The Mean Green ran the clock out, and that was that.

Benjamin led Tulsa in receiving with 8 catches for 93 yards. But quite a few deep passes from Francis to Benjamin just didn't connect.

Carl Chester made 3 big catches for 67 yards and a TD. Rempert had 3 catches for 58 yards.

Anthony Watkins and Bill Jackson both ran tough, with Watkins gaining 115 yards on 21 carries, including a 36-yard TD run that tied the game at 14-14 midway through the second quarter. Jackson gained 87 yards on 15 carries.

Rogers completed 19 of 31 for 294 yards and 3 TD's for the Mean Green, but was also sacked 5 times. His fourth-and-long run up the middle for a 41-yard touchdown in the second quarter was a tough one for Tulsa, giving the Mean Green confidence and a 14-7 lead.

"I was disappointed in that third quarter, offensively, that I could not generate enough offense to get a first down, to get a drive going to help our defense out," Wilson said. "To me, that was the difference in the football game."