There’s nothing like long interception returns to spur on a struggling team. Tulsa got two of them Saturday afternoon in key situations, and that spurred on what many thought wasn’t possible.
Interception returns of 51 and 37 yards by McKinley Whitfield and Keidrien Wadley, respectively, jump-started Tulsa’s shocking 45-17 upset of Houston in front of an announced Homecoming crowd of 19,198 at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
“Those turnovers are huge momentum swings for you and big, big plays,” said an elated TU coach Philip Montgomery.
“Just so proud of our football team. I mean, we’ve been through some stuff, and the way they played today was unbelievable.”
Tulsa (2-5, 1-2 AAC) was down 10-0 early in the second quarter when Kerwin Thomas tipped a Kyle Postma pass and Whitfield snatched it up. What followed was an amazing, zig-zagging return by Whitfield where he went all the way from the right sideline to the left part of the field before being tackled on the 1-yard-line.
“McKinley’s, that first one, we really, really needed it that time in the first half,” Montgomery said. “And then Keidrien’s one, it was big.”
A 1-yard touchdown by quarterback Chad President followed on third down and Tulsa suddenly was down only 10-7 with 4:34 left in the half, a score which stayed until halftime.
Tulsa’s defense had been much-maligned for most of the season, and especially in giving up touchdowns in all seven possessions of the first half of its 62-28 loss at Tulane a week ago. TU’s defensive turnaround in just a week was stunning.
“Last week, I don’t know if my confidence had ever been so low, getting beat the way we did,“ said senior starting defensive end Jesse Brubaker, who tied for the team-high with 10 tackles against Houston. “I’ve never been beat like last week in my whole life. We came in and I wasn’t taking that as my senior season.”
It started on Houston’s first two possessions of the game, where Tulsa came up with stops. From the beginning of the game, Tulsa’s defense looked completely different.
“I thought our defensive staff did a great job of changing some things up and putting our guys in really good positions to make plays,” Montgomery said. “Guys, they just, they swarmed today, and they were flying around the field."
On offense, the Luke Skipper era had begun with his first start against the Cougars Saturday, and he quarterbacked most of the game. The going was rough for much of the first half of the game, but Skipper still kept his cool.
In a brilliant coaching move by Montgomery, President came in the game at times in goal line and short yardage situations, the first time coming on his first touchdown against the Cougars, and President came through. President had started the first six games of the season before being replaced by Skipper early in the Tulane game last Saturday.
“I think the way they played off each other today was really, really good,” Montgomery said of Skipper and President. “I mean, if you look, they’re both celebrating with each other, they’re the first ones when they’re coming off the field, and that’s what we want on our football team.”
“It was great. We look at each other as brothers, so there wasn’t any tension or anything like that,” Skipper said of he and President. “Also, he is my other set of eyes out there. When I’m seeing stuff that I shouldn’t be seeing or looking at a place I shouldn’t be looking, he is telling me and vice versa. He is always a huge help and we just were going for the win and doing it as family.”
The tide of the game began to tip in Tulsa’s favor on a drive that started from the Golden Hurricane 1-yard-line on its first possession of the third quarter. Tulsa drove all the way to the Houston 1-yard-line but a holding play with President in at quarterback kept TU from reaching the end zone.
Still, a 23-yard field goal by Redford Jones with 7:23 left in the third quarter capped the run-heavy, 20-play scoring drive and tied the score at 10-10.
Then Tulsa’s defense came through again against the Cougars.
Diamon Cannon, from his Star linebacker position, had outstanding downfield coverage on a pass play on the next series. Cannon tipped the ball, and Wadley came up with a 37-yard return down to the Cougars’ 13 -yard-line, which became the 6-yard-line after a penalty on the play. That resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by President, and Tulsa all of a sudden was up 17-10.
Another three-and-out by Tulsa’s rejuvenated defense gave the Hurricane the ball back, and D’Angelo Brewer scampered 46 yards down the left sideline on the next series to put Tulsa up 24-10 on the last play of the third quarter.
Houston (4-2, 2-1) wouldn’t die, as Dillon Birden scored on a 24-yard run with 11:42 left in the fourth quarter on Houston’s next possession, and things became tense.
But in the highlight reel play of the game, Keenen Johnson jabbed the dagger right into the Cougars on next series. On a sideways pass by Skipper that wouldn’t have netted many yards, if any, Johnson broke out of what looked like a sure tackle after being hit hard.
Johnson somehow managed to keep his balance, break the tackle, and then race for a stunning 70-yard touchdown pass from Skipper to put TU up 31-17 with 9:52 remaining. The pass play covered more yards than the Golden Hurricane gained through the air (58) on all the other plays combined.
After Duke Catalon was stopped on 4th-and-3 on the next series, Tulsa grounded out most of the clock, with Shamari Brooks scoring on a 5-yard run to make the score 38-17 with 35 seconds left and Houston holding no timeouts. Then for good measure, Petera Wilson scored on a 3-yard fumble return off a sack by Jeremy Smith.
Tulsa held Houston to just 404 yards of total offense, including only 146 yards on 47 carries. That is an incredible turnaround for a team that is last in the nation in rushing defense, averaging giving up 347.8 yards per game. And Postma only passed for 258 yards, completing 25 of 41, while being sacked three times. Tulsa outgained Houston 416-404.
Tulsa’s running game was the key to its finally breaking through Houston’s tough defense that came into the game averaging giving up only 16.1 points per game.
Brewer and Brooks both topped the 100-yard mark, as Brewer led the Golden Hurricane with 140 yards on 23 carries, while Brooks had 111 yards on 18 carries. President had 32 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.
Skipper finished his first start with 9 of 18 completions for 128 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed seven times for five yards.
It wasn’t an earth-shattering debut for Skipper, but in the end, he got the job done and Tulsa came through with a win.
“I was a little nervous coming out at first but after that I think I settled down in the second half,” Skipper said. “There is always something you can fix so you just have to go to work and do better next time.”
Skipper credited the offensive line for making his life easier and helping to end the four-game losing streak.
“The guys up front just wanted it,” Skipper said. “They were just dominating the trenches. When they are doing that, it makes my job a whole lot easier. I just hand the ball off and watch them run.”
