Tulsa holds off Northern Illinois, 38-35

It was an ending of redemption for Keylon Stokes and Tyon Davis. And what sweet redemption it was.

Stokes made the big catch to set up the go-ahead score, and Davis made the game-sealing interception as Tulsa survived what could have been a nightmarish loss, defeating Northern Illinois 38-35 Saturday night.

The H.A Chapman crowd of 22,113 saw what has become a typical home game for Tulsa the last few years. Down to the end, comebacks, lots of range of emotions.

It would be hard to find a more exciting team to watch.

"You have to find a way to go win," said TU coach Philip Montgomery, who was smiling and shaking his head after the game when talking about these types of finishes. "I tell our guys all the time, I don't care if we win 3-0 or 50-49 as long as it's a W."

Davis Brin had another outstanding game, completing 19 of 32 passes for 322 yards and 4 TD's. He passed for 460 last week at Wyoming.

"We just knew we had our backs against the wall, and we've been there before and just had a lot of trust," Brin said. "Especially in ‘Sleep’ (Stokes) right here to go make a play."

For Stokes, who had another outstanding game with 8 catches for 135 yards and a touchdown, making a big play to help win the game at the end was paramount to his thinking. He had muffed a punt in high wind with 9:37 left in the game with a 31-28 lead.

"Playmakers are always going to mess up. If you're not messing up, then you're not doing nothing right," Stokes said. "You just have to go out there and do what you have to do. Yeah, I messed up and made mistakes, but keep moving on, keep moving forward."

Of course, Northern Illinois went down and scored after the fumbled punt to take the lead with 5:57 left in the game. And when Tulsa couldn't pick up a fourth-and-inches at its own 45-yard-line when Steven Anderson was stuffed at the line with 3:38 remaining, it looked like Tulsa may be doomed with only one timeout left.

But Tulsa stopped the Huskies on fourth-and-four at the Tulsa 48 when a pass from Lombardi was dropped by George Gumbs that would have been a first down and probably would have sealed the game.

“We had an excellent call. Rocky did an excellent job of executing. George was in position," said NIU coach Thomas Hammock of the gutty, fateful fourth down play.

With no timeouts left and 52 yards to go, Brin was in his element. A third-and-14 pass to Malachi Jones for 24 yards down to the NIU 32-yard-line put Tulsa in business.

Then Stokes made an incredible catch while falling down on an underthrown ball and getting mugged on a play that was flagged for pass interference. His 31-yard catch at the 1-yard-line set up a Steven Anderson TD run on the next play, putting TU up 38-35 with 58 seconds remaining.

"I didn't care about the pass interference. I wanted the ball, so that's all that mattered," Stokes said of his clutch catch.

But with a strong wind behind them, and starting at its own 32 with 54 seconds left, NIU had plenty of time to go tie the game, even with no timeouts remaining.

Tyon Davis wasn't having any of it, however. On third-and-10 from its own 45, NIU quarterback Rocky Lombardi's pass was tipped up, and Davis made a diving interception with 32 seconds left to seal the win.

It was sweet timing for Davis, who came up with his first career interception for TU. The starting cornerback had been flagged for taunting when NIU, down only 24-21 with just over 3 minutes left in the third quarter, would have faced second-and-31 from its own 1-yard-line.

Of course, with a fresh first down, NIU went down and took the lead.

"I saw the ball in the air, and I just had to get it. I had to get my first career interception," Davis said of the final play. "It felt great. That's the type of thing I've been dreaming of. When it happened, it felt like I was dreaming at the time. It still doesn't feel real."

The ending was quite a change from the feeling at halftime where Tulsa was flat out dominating with a 24-7 lead.

Tulsa (1-1) had scored a TD on the opening possession of the game, a 14-yard scoring pass from Brin to JuanCarlos Santana. A Zack Long field goal, followed by a 25-yard TD pass to Santana, had Tulsa leading 17-0 in the second quarter.

After Brin was intercepted due to tossing a flutterball when he was hit while throwing, the Huskies went down and narrowed the lead to 17-7. But Brin's 20-yard TD pass to Jenks product Isaiah Epps with 49 seconds left put Tulsa in firm command going into halftime.

But then it got really uncomfortable for the Golden Hurricane.

After giving up a long touchdown drive on the opening series of the half, Tulsa’s kickoff team was asleep at the wheel on the ensuing kickoff, as Northern Illinois caught Tulsa napping with a successful onside kick.

Considering the Huskies were kicking into a considerable wind on the kickoff, and their last kickoff into the wind was a squib kick, the onside kick should not have surprised anyone.

When another quick touchdown drive was rammed down Tulsa's throat, NIU followed with another squib kick, but at least Tulsa got possession of the ball.

Tulsa's kicking woes continued on its only third quarter series, and previously dependable Zack Long missed his third field goal in his last four attempts, this time from 40 yards with a strong wind. Long missed one field goal all of last season.

Then TU suffered the questionable taunting call on Davis, and got down 28-24 with 14:50 left in the fourth quarter. But Tulsa went down and scored with 10:36 left in the fourth quarter when, facing 4th-and-goal from the 1, Stokes scored on a TD pass from Brin after going in motion to the right, where he was wide open.

And when Tulsa finally stopped NIU for the first time in the second half, Stokes muffed the punt, and NIU took the lead again.

Lombardi had an outstanding game for Northern Illinois (1-1), especially in the second half. He completed 18 of 31 throws for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cole Tucker led the Huskies in receiving with 7 catches for 123 yards.

TU's inexperienced offensive line was improved over a decent opening game. Tai Marks, the sophomore transfer from Colorado State, made his first start at right guard.

Anderson led Tulsa with 58 yards on 18 carries. And Tahj Gary, the sophomore transfer from Virginia Tech, was clutch in the fourth quarter, with all of his 8 carries for 36 yards coming in the final period.

Now it is on to face Jacksonville State next Saturday at home at 6 p.m.