Tulsa looking for first win at Oklahoma State since 1951

Tulsa's nightmarish season opener last week was almost matched in bad play by OSU's performance in its debut for the 2021 season.

Both TU and OSU underperformed against FCS teams at home. The only difference was that OSU held off Missouri State deep in its own territory on the final drive that could have tied or won the game, and TU fumbled away its chance to go ahead on its final offensive series.

A really bad opening loss against a FCS team, like TU experienced against UC Davis last Thursday night, doesn't necessarily mean doom. However, the sense of urgency is there so that the season won't get out of hand.

Tulsa (6-3 in 2020) has to grow up quickly when it faces Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Stillwater.

For senior standout receiver Keylon Stokes, who led TU with four catches for 95 yards, the opening loss is not indicative of what type of season lies ahead.

"No worry, because we know what team we have and what we're capable of being," Stokes said. "It's just getting back into the lab and just connecting and doing the things we're supposed to do.

"We'll come out and dominate next week."

For inspiration, Tulsa can look back to the 1986 season when TU lost its first game of the year to NCAA 1-AA Louisiana Tech 22-17 at home. La Tech was in between D-1 stints.

The 1986 Golden Hurricane beat Thurman Thomas led OSU in Tulsa two weeks later. TU went on to a 7-4 record, including a very respectable 23-10 loss at a No. 1 Miami team coached by Jimmy Johnson and featuring Michael Irvin and that season's Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde.

That Tulsa team was so highly thought of at the end of the season that coach Don Morton was hired away by Wisconsin before the 1987 season after just two years at TU.

The last non D-1 loss came in a 1987 loss to Northern Arizona in a 3-8 season for TU. That team had freshman phenoms T.J. Rubley and Dan Bitson.

A 13-point underdog at OSU this Saturday, Tulsa is trying for its first win in Stillwater since 1951 in a series where TU was regularly beating OSU in Tulsa in the 1980's and 1990's when the teams were playing nearly every year. TU was 6-2 at home against OSU from 1982 to 1998.

So what happened to TU in the UC Davis game?

For Tulsa to have any chance in Stillwater, it must be able to shake off its disappointing performance that was plagued by turnovers, penalties, and missed wide open long passes.

Losing six players for the game and three more for the first half due to suspensions from the bowl game fight didn't help. Not having first-team All-AAC left tackle Tyler Smith hurt. So did not having starting linebackers Justin Wright and Treyvon Reeves and starting free safety TieNeal Martin.

But even without those players, Tulsa should have handily beaten the Dan Hawkins coached UC Davis team. There were several opportunities to put away the game.

Despite the deserved hype for Davis Brin at quarterback due to his Tulane heroics last season, Brin was still starting his first game. And it showed. He did some good things, but his two interceptions came when Tulsa had chances to put some distance between itself and UC Davis.

OSU (8-3 in 2020) seemed to fall asleep in its game against Missouri State, getting out to a 20-3 halftime lead. The Pokes were playing without starting quarterback Spencer Sanders, who missed the game due to Covid-19. He is expected to play against TU.

Sanders didn't do well against TU last season before leaving due to injury, and TU was beating OSU 10-7 at the end of three quarters. It was his replacement, Shane Illingworth, who did the damage against Tulsa, and was ultimately the difference maker in OSU's 16-7 victory.

Illingworth completed 22 of 40 for 315 yards last week, but Running Back U's ground game was surprisingly stifled by Missouri State. OSU's accomplished returning rushers L.D. Brown (30 yards on 15 carries) and Dezmon Jackson (14 yards on 3 carries) were out rushed by two Missouri State players.

Whether it is Illingworth or Sanders, Tulsa's pass defense has to greatly improve in order to keep from getting torched. TU allowed 311 yards passing last week and didn't have an answer for quarterback Hunter Rodrigues, whose previous career high was 265 yards.

On the positive side, however, was that Tulsa allowed only 88 yards rushing on 46 carries for a 1.9 yards per carry average. If Tulsa can stop OSU's running game, and be decent against the pass, then TU's defense will give its offense a chance to win the game.

Besides Brin's 15 of 28 for 201 yard performance, Tulsa's running game was good. Deneric Prince rushed for 151 yards on just 14 carries, and Shamari Brooks added 80 yards on 10 carries.

Taking the emotion of last week's loss out of it, there is no reason TU can't play with OSU and have a chance to win the game. The Golden Hurricane needs to develop a sense of short term amnesia, forget last week, and execute like the mostly veteran team that it is.