Tulsa throttled by Houston, 45-10

From the first play of the game, it was apparent that Tulsa wasn't ready to play against Houston. At all.

Looking comatose, TU was bailed out by the refs on yet another kickoff return for a touchdown, this time on the opening kickoff. Tulsa's defense and offense were both out of sync against a Houston team that had been mediocre at best this season.

The result was a humiliating 45-10 loss to Houston in front of a small crowd that was announced at 15,890 on Friday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium but numbered about 200 by the end of the game.

"I didn't think we had enough energy about us," said TU coach Philip Montgomery. "We didn't execute at a very good level at any of the phases. We're a much better football team than what we performed like tonight. I've seen us do it. But tonight it was not there."

Houston (4-1, 2-0 AAC) had lost to the only decent team it has played this season, 38-21, to Texas Tech in Houston. The Cougars, who previously hadn't left Houston to play this season, were coming off a 28-20 win over 0-3 Navy. They also beat hapless Rice 44-7 and FCS program Grambling 45-0.

For Tulsa, its offense dropped passes, threw interceptions, was mostly stuffed at the line of scrimmage in the running game, and was completely inept. The offensive line couldn't block Houston. TU couldn't cover on defense. Couldn't tackle. It was complete domination.

Tulsa (1-4, 0-1) made previously uninspiring quarterback Clayton Tune look like Tom Brady in the first half. With a previous best game of 257 yards this season against Navy last week, Tune threw for 148 yards in first quarter. He was 13 of 16 for 200 yards at the 9:33 mark in the second quarter when Houston led 28-0.

Tune wouldn't need to throw much after that. He finished 17 of 24 for 241 yards. His counterpart, Tulsa's Davis Brin, finished with some stat padding yards in the second half, going 20 of 39 for 258 yards and three interceptions, while being sacked four times, and hurried seemingly countless other times. At halftime, Brin was 9 of 20 for 97 yards and two picks.

Although kick returns weren't the problem for Tulsa until it was down 28-0, a 47-yard punt return by Houston set up what would have been its fifth TD of the first half on a play where TU whiffed on a tackle right after the punt was caught.

Fortunately, Jaise Oliver came up with his first career interception in the end zone on third-and-seven from the TU 15. The very next play was a 41-yard bomb from Davis Brin to Sam Crawford. TU ended up with a 33-yard field goal by Zack Long with 1:26 left in the half and went into halftime down 28-3.

Tulsa was playing the first half without its best defensive player and inspirational leader in defensive tackle/nose guard Jaxon Player, who had to miss the half due to a poorly called targeting penalty in the second half in last week's 41-34 victory over Arkansas State.

Would the return of Player, with Tulsa down 25 points, make any difference? Tulsa had once overcome a 31-0 first half deficit on the road at Fresno State in Montgomery's second season at TU. Could it possibly have a miracle comeback this time?

A tipped 45-yard interception return on the first series of the second half sealed it for Houston at 35-3 before Player could even take the field.

When Player finally got in the game at the 9:59 mark of the third quarter, he immediately got a quarterback sack, chasing down Tune for a 1-yard loss. He tipped a pass on third down, and caused a three-and-out for the Cougars.

But it didn't matter. Tulsa scored a meaningless TD with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter when Ezra Naylor caught a 41 yarder from Brin to narrow the lead to 42-10.

After that, a big nothing again.

"In all phases of the ball, we just got dominated tonight," said Crawford. "It was obvious out there just watching the game."

The contest was clearly one of the bigger debacles in TU football history, especially given what it looked like on paper before the game, and what the game meant. Unbelievably, Tulsa was favored to win this game. The Hurricane probably won't be favored again this season unless it proves this game was an aberration.

"Tonight we didn't have the energy that we needed. We have to play inspired football," Montgomery said. "That's what we've always played, that's what we have to play.

"The game got away from us a little bit early, and we struggled with it. You've got to go make a play, you've got to go make a stop, put a drive together."

Tulsa plays next at home against Memphis at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9.