Tulsa offense comes alive in 49-19 drubbing of UConn
There’s nothing like a little rain and some traditional blue and gold uniforms, to go along with a really bad opponent for Homecoming, to help cure a 12-game FBS losing streak.
Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor combined for 200 yards rushing in a 28-point second quarter to lead Tulsa to a 49-19 victory on Saturday night over UConn in front of an announced crowd of 17,451 at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
But the fun didn’t start until the rain.
Tulsa was down 10-0 until it started raining, and quarterback Seth Boomer hadn’t completed a pass in the first quarter, going 0 for 3.
Then the rain started falling, and the Golden Hurricane started showing the potential it had all season, while UConn started looking like UConn.
Boomer finished 9 of 14 for 168 yards and four touchdowns, while Brooks rushed for 151 yards on 17 carries, and Taylor had 133 yards on 18 carries. Brooks and Taylor had 105 and 95 yards, respectively, in the second quarter alone.
“Probably because we work in the rain,” TU coach Philip Montgomery said of why TU handled the rain so well. “Around here, the last three or four weeks, I think we’ve had at least one day that has rained, and we work in it.”
“I think it played into our hands,” Boomer said of the rain. “We were able to run the ball and do everything we needed to do. I was fine (throwing a wet football) and we were protecting and getting guys open so all I had to do was hit them.”
In a battle of 1-7 teams, the game started like a case of “Here, you can have it. No, I don’t want it.”
UConn (1-8, 0-5 AAC) fumbled on the first play of its second series in a scoreless tie, caused by good hit by Allie Green and recovered by McKinley Whitfield. But TU handed the ball right back when Boomer dived for the end zone after a 21-yard run and fumbled the ball out of the end zone.
On the next play, quarterback David Pindell connected with Kyle Buss on a wide open 80-yard touchdown pass over the middle. A 44-yard field goal followed on the next series for the Huskies, and Connecticut was up 10-0 with 20 seconds left in the first quarter.
Tulsa (2-7, 1-4) finally got on the board when Boomer connected on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Keylon Stokes with 12:11 left in the second quarter. On the play, Stokes was in the backfield in a two-back set with both backs (Stokes and Taylor) flanking Boomer. Stokes came from the left of Boomer, and caught the pass just short of the goal line on the right side before scoring.
Perhaps the most impressive play of the game soon followed on the next series by walk-on sophomore defensive tackle Jacob Pugh when he showed an incredible burst of speed to sack Pindell for a 6-yard loss.
Watching Pugh was like watching a Dallas Cowboys highlight film from 50 years ago. Pugh’s grandfather, the late Jethro Pugh, was one of only three players for the Cowboys to start on both of Tom Landry’s Super Bowl wins in the 1970’s. He started at defensive tackle for Dallas from 1967-1978, including the 1971 and 1977 World Champions.
A 1-yard touchdown run by Boomer on Tulsa’s next series put Tulsa ahead for good at 14-13, and the floodgates, literally, were open for the Golden Hurricane. A 26-yard touchdown pass from Boomer to Keenen Johnson and a 6-yard touchdown run by Taylor on the next two series put Tulsa up 28-13.
The Huskies' final gasp of life came at the end of the first half, when, on the last play of the half, Pindell missed a wide open Hergy Mayala in the end zone from the 1-yard-line, with the pass bouncing off his outstretched right hand.
With only a few hundred fans left in the stands to start the second half, touchdown passes of 38 yards to Cole Neph and 18 yards to Justin Hobbs, followed by an 11-yard touchdown run by Reed Martin on his second college carry, made it six consecutive possessions with a touchdown for the Golden Hurricane, and Tulsa was up 49-13 with 8:59 left in the third quarter.
Senior walk-on place kicker Tristan Lacey kicked the extra point, the first collegiate action of his career. John Parker Romo handled all of the kicking and kickoffs until Montgomery put the reserves in.
Other interesting happenings transpired, like T.K. Wilkerson going 79 yards on his first college carry on a handoff from Chad President. Unfortunately, President suffered a leg injury two plays later, and true freshman Davis Brin took over for the rest of the game. Wilkerson had 95 yards rushing on six carries.
Tulsa had a whopping 630 total yards of offense, including 470 yards rushing on 57 carries. Connecticut had averaged giving up over 300 yards per game in both rushing and passing, along with 47.8 points per game.
A new offensive lineman, Dylan Couch, played much of the game at left guard, as mainstay standout Tyler Bowling is still out with a knee injury. Couch, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound scholarship transfer from Kansas State, where he has a walk-on, handled his duties well. It was his first game action on the offensive line.
An August addition to the Golden Hurricane, Couch is not even listed in TU’s media guide.
The lightning-quick Pindell, easily the best running quarterback Tulsa has faced all season, finished with 150 yards on 20 carries, upping his season total to 956 yards rushing for the season. He completed 14 of 28 passes for 232 yards. Despite the impressive stats, the Golden Hurricane was able to contain Pindell and keep him from doing too much damage.
“Their quarterback, he’s a special player, and he’s hard to defend, so it was good to see our defense do what they did,” Montgomery said.
Ending the long losing skid was as much a relief as anything, and was a good reward for a Tulsa team that has lost so many close games.
“Food will taste better and music will sound better, and you know, they need to feel some of that,” Montgomery said of the win. “And then we’ve got to get refocused on what we’ve got to do next week.”