Tulsa pounds Central Arkansas, 41-14
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - One week after allowing 65 points and 722 yards to Oklahoma State, Tulsa's maligned defense limited Central Arkansas to 319 yards in a 41-14 victory Saturday.
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"I'm really pleased with how our guys played defensively," said Tulsa head coach Todd Graham. "I thought they really stepped up. Some of the guys that play up front -- Tyrunn Walker and Odrick Ray -- were really standouts for us. I'm really pleased with the overall effort.
"It was good to get a win. I'm really proud of our guys. I feel like we came out and dominated a team that we should dominate."
G.J. Kinne threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns and Alex Singleton ran for 93 yards as Tulsa (2-2) gained 282 yards rushing and 539 overall.
"Alex Singleton is a guy that stood out to me tonight," said Graham. "He really played hard and did some great things. It was exactly what we needed to come out and get a win going into conference play."
Kevin Fitzpatrick added two field goals and the defense forced two turnovers that were converted into touchdowns.
Central Arkansas (3-1) lost quarterback Nathan Dick to a shoulder injury late in the second quarter. Dick completed 8 of 14 passes for 83 yards. Backup Wynrick Smothers was 7 of 18 for 100 yards with one interception.
The Bears also lost leading tackler Frank Newsome to a concussion.
"We lost our starting quarterback in the first half, and that hurt our continuity," said UCA coach Clint Conque. "We lost about seven starters in this game, and some of them are the type of injuries where they won't be back anytime soon. We'll know more later in the week.
"It's a violent game and we're a young team. We talked about the physical immaturity all year, and it showed out there. Tulsa was just too much for us tonight."
Tulsa has allowed an average of 630 yards and 58 points in two road losses and 311 yards and 17 points in two home victories, albeit against lesser competition.
Game Notes
• Tulsa's game captains were G.J. Kinne, Charles Clay, Charles Davis, Curnelius Arnick and Clint Anderson.
• With his third completion of the game, G.J. Kinne moved past Ronnie Morris (1950-52) for 10th place on Tulsa's all-time passing chart. Kinne finished the game with 232 yards and now has 3,938 career passing yards.
• Damaris Johnson scored Tulsa's first touchdown of the game on a double reverse at the 11:10 mark of the first quarter. That play marked the first time this season that Tulsa scored on its opening drive.
• Jamad Williams carried the ball for the first time this season with a three-yard run at the 8:40 mark of the first quarter. Williams had started the previous three games at the safety position.
• Charles Clay scored his 34th career all-purpose touchdown on a 19-yard pass from G.J. Kinne at the 14:09 mark of the second quarter. Clay moved into a tie for 10th place on the C-USA all-purpose touchdown chart with Lonta Hobbs (TCU/2002-04).
• Alex Singleton's 42-yard run at the 5:18 mark of the second quarter was Tulsa's longest rushing play from scrimmage this season.
• Trey Watts scored his first career receiving touchdown on a 28-yard pass from Kinne at the 2:11 mark of second quarter. It was his second consecutive game with a touchdown after rushing for a score last week against Oklahoma State.
• Kevin Fitzpatrick kicked a season long 47-yard field goal at the 0:50 mark of the second quarter.
• Damaris Johnson's 15-yard run at the 11:14 mark of the third quarter moved him into fifth place on the C-USA all-purpose yardage chart, surpassing Ketric Sanford's 5,817 yards (Houston/1996-99). Johnson ended the game with 86 all-purpose yards for the game and 5,825 career all-purpose yards.
• Johnson also caught one pass for two yards to extend his consecutive streak of games with at least one reception to 30.
• Brian Moore recorded his first career forced fumble and Justin Skillens tallied his first career fumble recovery at the 2:43 mark of the third quarter.
• Tulsa capped off its longest scoring drive of the season (96 yards) with a five-yard touchdown pass from G.J. Kinne to Jameel Owens at the 12:39 mark of the fourth quarter. Tulsa's previous long drive was an 80-yard drive last week against Oklahoma State.
• Kinne's second touchdown pass of the game was the 32nd of his career and tied Gus Frerotte (1990-93) for sixth on Tulsa's all-time touchdown pass chart.
• Dexter McCoil recorded his second interception of the season and third of his career at the 6:43 mark of the fourth quarter.
• True freshman Ja'Terian Douglas scored his first career touchdown on a 21-yard run. Douglas also rushed for a career high 60 yards on six carries.
• Alex Singleton rushed for a career high 93 yards on 12 carries. His previous best performance was 74 yards on 10 carries earlier this season against Bowling Green.
• Ricky Johnson and Genesis Cole recorded career highs in receptions with four each.
• Tulsa finished the game with 539 yards of total offense marking the third time in four games this season that Tulsa has surpassed the 500-yard mark. It's the 28th time Tulsa has compiled over 500 yards under head coach Todd Graham and 36th time Tulsa has put up at least 400 yards in that same time frame.
• Tulsa scored over 40 points for the 21st time under head coach Todd Graham.
• UCA's 14 points is the fewest given up by Tulsa's defense since Tulsa defeated Rice 27-10 last season (10/3/09).
• Tulsa's 27-point advantage is the largest margin of victory since Tulsa defeated Sam Houston State 56-3 last season (9/26/09).