Tulsa hoping to get back in win column against USF

When a once promising season turns into a major disappointment, including no shot at a bowl, like it has for Tulsa, it is incredibly deflating.

On the upside, on senior day, Tulsa is playing a really bad opponent -- South Florida (1-9, 0-6 AAC). With Tulsa favored to win by 13.5 points, it would be a shocker if TU doesn't prevail Friday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

"We've still got a lot to play for from the standpoint of pride," said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery.

Tulsa (3-7, 1-6) just hasn't been very good at all this season, especially in conference play. The season has gone south after a decent 2-2 start in non-conference play, which included an overtime loss at Wyoming (7-3) and a one-possession, 8-point loss at current No. 14 Ole Miss.

The shocking thing about Tulsa's five conference losses is that none have really been close. None have been under 10 points. Tulsa is losing by 16.6 points per game. Which makes TU's 16-point, 26-10 loss at Memphis last week make sense.

But what doesn't make sense is how bad the offense was last week. Against Memphis, a team that was giving up 31.6 points per game, Tulsa's 10 points was about as bad an offensive performance as possible. And also consider 7 of those points were late in the 4th quarter when the game was effectively over.

"Offensively, we had plays there, but we just didn't make them," Montgomery said. "As good as I thought we were earlier in the year, which I thought we were, last week was a tough week for us."

It doesn't help that quarterback Davis Brin hasn't been healthy since the first part of the Ole Miss game. He has been a shell of himself with a bad ankle, and last week with a bad left shoulder. He was pulled after being ineffective last week.

Braylon Braxton has done some good things replacing Brin, but not enough. And with him being inexperienced, that probably isn't surprising. Braxton is very talented, but right now his lack of experience is showing.

"If Davis is healthy he'll play," Montgomery said. "Obviously, he is still day to day right now, and that's the way it is going to continue to play out."

Tulsa's inexperienced offensive line just hasn't been playing well for most of the season. It gives up too many sacks and quarterback pressures, and doesn't clear enough holes for its running backs.

Last week's 31 yards on 23 carries was ridiculous. The passing totals of 17 of 37 for 176 wasn't as bad as the running totals, but it was still ugly.

The good news is that, for a week at least, Tulsa is playing against a truly horrible defense. USF is giving up 40 points per game. That is 129th out of 131 FBS teams.

The Golden Hurricane defense has not been good for much of the season, especially against the run. But against Memphis last week, defense wasn't the problem.

Amazingly, Tulsa Mike linebacker Justin Wright was named AAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance. Wright had 13 tackles, including 9 solo tackles, 2.5 tackles for losses, along with a sack. He also forced a fumble, had one pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

Allowing only 26 points when it was on the field most of the game against a good Memphis offense was really impressive.

The best part of the defense was allowing only 79 yards on 39 carries. Amazing considering TU's defense has been allowing a porous 211.6 yards rushing per game.

Wright should be poised to have a big game against USF considering he was also the AAC Defensive Player of the Week in last year's 32-31 win at South Florida.

USF is clearly reeling. The Bulls' only win was against FCS losing team Howard.

Head coach Jeff Scott was replaced after losing 54-28 two weeks ago to Temple. The same bad Temple team that Tulsa soundly defeated 27-16 on the road.

New interim coach Daniel Da Prato lost 41-23 in his debut last week at home against SMU. It won't matter much whether their QB is Gerry Bohanon, Katravis March, or Byrum Brown. None are impressive. March played most of the game last week. Bohanon has been banged up.

What Tulsa should worry about is running back Brian Battie, who has rushed for 873 yards at a 6.3 yards per carry clip. Battie had 145 yards on 26 carries against SMU last week.

Tulsa clearly has enough talent to dispose of USF, and possibly by a lot. It should be a feel good senior day for some deserving players who have had good careers at TU.