Tulsa heads into AAC title game with chip on its shoulder

Tulsa is still the Rodney Dangerfield of the AAC.

But Tulsa, like the famous comedian of Caddyshack fame used to do, has been doing plenty of winning this season despite living up to Dangerfield's trademark line: "I don't get no respect."

The No. 20 Golden Hurricane looks to defy the odds one more time in the AAC this season when they play at No. 6 Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Saturday night in the AAC championship game at Nippert Stadium.

Tulsa (6-1, 6-0 AAC) is a 14.5 point underdog going into the game despite playing a tougher schedule than its much ballyhooed opponent.

The lack of respect this season for TU began with being ranked 9th out of 11 teams in the AAC preseason poll. It continued with having its scheduled home game with Cincy twice being not played, and the league making sure its favored team got a home game for the championship contest while not potentially ruining the Bearcats season with a loss at Tulsa.

The lack of respect continued with Tulsa having only three players as first team All-AAC selections (Zaven Collins, Jaxon Player, Tyler Smith) while Cincinnati had a whopping eight players selected on the first team.

This will be the 7th out of 9 games Cincinnati (8-0, 6-0) has gotten to play at home, including five of seven conference games in Cincinnati. By contrast, this will be Tulsa's fifth out of eight games on the road, including 4 of 7 conference games away from home.

So it is truly amazing that Tulsa has advanced to the AAC title game with only three home games all season. That includes a school record two wins over teams that were ranked at the time (at UCF, SMU).

By Cincy cancelling due to reported COVID-19 cases, the Bearcats avoided last Saturday's scheduled game at Tulsa and got a home game instead. Not only that, Cincinnati avoided possibly losing two games at Tulsa in eight days, as a loss to Tulsa probably would have had Tulsa hosting the conference title game.

Still, even with the scheduling shenanigans, Tulsa has a rare chance to knock off the No. 6 team in a conference title game. That ranks as one of the truly great achievements in Tulsa football history.

"It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us," said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery. "We are looking forward to the opportunity to play for the championship."

"Opportunity" is the key word. This type of opportunity just doesn't come around often for Tulsa.

This is the chance for Tulsa football to make a national statement and vault up in the polls.

It will be a great opportunity for all fans to witness the AAC's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year to face off against each other.

Zaven Collins, who is having perhaps the best season ever for a TU defensive player, won the Defensive POY award while Cincinnati's quarterback Desmond Ritter was the AAC Offensive POY.

Collins' heroics have been well documented, and he's likely headed to be a high NFL draft pick after a season where he has seemingly done everything and is being considered for almost every national Player of the Year award on defense.

Tracking Desmond Ridder, whether it is defending his passes or chasing him down, will be a considerable job for Collins and company.

Ridder is the type of quarterback that gives defenses fits. He has 526 yards rushing (65.8 per game) at 7.9 yards per carry and is averaging 227.6 yards passing per game.

"They've found their niche with their quarterback and their passing game and his ability to extend plays, and his ability to pull the ball down and run and using him as a runner," Montgomery said. "They are a potent offense that we will have a tough time stopping."

Tulsa will also have to stop first team AAC running back Gerrid Doaks, who has 660 yards at 4.8 yards per carry (82.5 ypg).

Doaks rushed 17 times for 91 yards against TU last year, while Ridder completed 12 of 22 passes for 172 yards. Ridder was sacked by Collins and future Chicago Bear Trevis Gipson while rushing 9 times for 23 yards against TU.

The 24-13 loss at Cincy last year was closer than the score would indicate, as TU had the ball with a chance to take the lead late in the game. Considering Tulsa was 4-8 last season while Cincy was ranked No. 21 at the time, that game could certainly bolster Tulsa's confidence going into this match-up.

Defensively, the Bearcats have a huge reputation. Five first team AAC and three second teamers make eight of 11 starters on defense either first or second team All-AAC.

By contrast, TU's defense, which has easily been just as good as Cincy's, has only four combined first and second teamers.

"They have a tremendous defense. So do we," Montgomery said. "That will be the calling card, in my opinion, for both teams in the way both defenses are going to play this week."

Are the Bearcats corners, Ahmad Gardner and Coby Bryant, both first teamers, really better than the CB combo of Allie Green (honorable mention) and Akayleb Evans (no honors)?

Keylon Stokes and Michael Young will get a chance to see who the better receiver really is, with both second team selections going up against the outstanding secondaries.

Stokes definitely has the stats edge, with 35 catches for 508 yards (72.6 per game, 14.5 per catch), almost doubling Young in yardage in one less game. Young has 23 catches for 260 yards (32.5 per game, 11.3 per catch).

With three of four DB's getting first team honors (safety James Wiggins being the other), it would seem like the Bearcats cannot be passed on. Cincinnati also had three defensive linemen on the All-AAC teams: Myjai Sanders (first team), Marcus Brown and Elijah Ponder (both second team).

Even linebackers are stout, with Jarell White (first team) and Darrian Beavers (second team).

So how in the world can anyone score on these Supermen? They've only allowed over 20 points once this season.

But the "once" was in Cincinnati's last game, a 36-33 win at Central Florida. And it will be 28 days since that game and the game against TU Saturday.

Will Cincy be rusty, especially with so many players having interrupted practice time due to COVID-19?

Tulsa has only played once in 30 days, a 19-6 win at Navy, after its breathtaking 30-24 double-overtime win over Tulane.

"This group has been resilient all throughout the season, whether that has been in games or our schedule being changed and flipped and moved around," Montgomery said. "Our team has done a really good job of staying focused and really putting our concentration on what we can control.

"They've found a way to make plays in big moments. And that has been the difference for us. This team continues to believe in each other. We've always been a program that is going to fight for 60 minutes. Now we're turning that fight into finding ways to win. And that's been our signature so far as we've gone through this 2020 season."

An interesting tidbit is Tulsa has won nine of the last 10 times in the series with Cincinnati when TU has finished the season with a winning record - the last time a 40-37 overtime win in 2016 in Tulsa.

There are so many intriguing story lines in this game. But most interesting is if Tulsa can pull off what national "experts" are naysaying.

The opportunity is there for Tulsa. The time is now for the Golden Hurricane to step up and take it.