Tulsa's defense looks to thwart another potent offense

If all eyes weren’t on Zaven Collins when Tulsa was on defense, they certainly are now.

Collins’ three-sack performance at Oklahoma State was eye-opening to say the least. It was good enough for him to win the Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player of the week.

With his 6-foot-4, 260-pound lean but strong frame paired with his speed, Collins has to be prominent on every NFL team’s radar.

For TU (0-1) and Collins, the biggest test this week is to see if the Golden Hurricane can slow down the potent No. 11 UCF Knights on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in Orlando.

The intriguing part of the equation is that UCF (2-0), which has had an incredible run the last few years, lost 34-31 at Tulsa in 2019. Equally interesting is that star Central Florida quarterback Dillon Gabriel was sacked a whopping six times against TU, which was almost half of the 14 sacks TU generated all season.

It is simple to say that if Tulsa wants to have a chance as an 18 to 21-point underdog versus UCF, it must pressure and harass Gabriel all game long.

“We have to take away option one, make him go through his progressions, and give us an opportunity to get pressure,” said TU coach Philip Montgomery. “That’s going to put a lot of pressure on our secondary, but obviously I think we have some guys back there with some experience that have been in big games that can handle that.

“We’re going to have to create some ways in order to continue to do that against Gabriel.”

That means pressing UCF’s receivers so they don’t get open quickly. The same thing that TU did so effectively for much of the game against OSU in game one, especially against the dangerous Tylan Wallace.

Tall, physical cornerbacks Allie Green (6-3, 206) and Akayleb Evans (6-2, 188) did a terrific job for most of the game against Oklahoma State. Green even got an interception against Wallace where Green manhandled Wallace on the play.

With OSU’s receivers covered, Collins had time to get into their backfield and do damage. Collins attributed a lot of that to his three-man front doing their job with pressure and handling double teams.