Tulsa travels to Memphis and tries to string wins together

The good news this week for Tulsa has centered around ending its 12-game losing streak against FBS opponents, combined with playing an opponent in Memphis that has zero respectable wins.

The bad news is that Memphis (5-4, 2-3 AAC) has built its record this season on beating teams with losing records, and Tulsa fits the bill on that one.

Tulsa (2-7, 1-4) will get a chance to get a winning streak going when it plays at Memphis at 11 a.m. this Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

Memphis is a team that can put up a lot of points, averaging 44.3 points per game, but has a lousy defense, giving up an average of 31.6 points per game.

The Golden Hurricane finally put up a bunch of points of its own against a poor UConn defense in its 49-19 win last Saturday, scoring all of its points in the first two-and-a-half quarters before calling off the dogs.

Quarterback Seth Boomer finally started to look better, and the running game was dominant. It was the type of game that can build confidence, even though UConn isn’t a good team.

Tulsa should be able to score some points against Memphis’ poor defense, although don’t count on the scoring floodgates to open. But the big issue is how well Tulsa’s improved 2018 defense can stop a very potent Memphis offense.

Memphis running back Darrell Henderson is a nightmare to opposing defenses. He is second in the nation with 1,280 yards, and averages in unbelievable 9.5 yards per carry. Henderson also is second on the team in receiving yards with 283 yards on 15 catches and three touchdowns, giving him 18 total touchdowns for the season.’

The Tigers have an incredibly balanced offense, averaging 267.2 yards rushing and 268.3 yards passing. Quarterback Brady White has an impressive 20 touchdown passes and only three interceptions while averaging 9.2 yards per passing attempt. And receiver Damonte Cox is a legitimate threat with 52 catches for 839 yards and seven touchdowns.

The only encouraging thing about the Memphis offense is that White is not a running threat, having lost 53 yards on 34 attempts.

Also encouraging for Tulsa is that it would be difficult for Memphis to have five less impressive wins in any season.

Memphis has defeated Mercer (4-5 FCS, 2-3), 2-7 Sun Belt teams South Alabama and Georgia State, and AAC teams East Carolina (2-7, 0-5) 59-41 and UConn (1-8, 0-5) 55-14.

The Tigers’ losses have come to UCF (8-0, 5-0) 31-30, Tulane (4-5, 3-2) 40-24, Navy (2-7, 1-4) 22-21, and Missouri (5-4, 1-4) 65-33.

So the Tigers have played only two teams with winning records. Granted, coming within a point of undefeated UCF was quite a feat, but it was a loss, nevertheless.

For Tulsa, finally getting another win was a huge relief, and should give the Golden Hurricane some much needed momentum going into the final three games.

Some sad news on the injury front is that NFL prospect Tyler Bowling is out for the year with a knee injury. He has missed the last three games.

Also, quarterbacks Luke Skipper and Chad President may have played their last downs for Tulsa. President, who broke a bone in his leg against UConn, underwent surgery, and has said on Twitter that his playing days are over despite having a year left of eligibility. President has long said he wants to coach.

Skipper just had back surgery, and back surgeries are tough to come back from. Even though he will likely make a recovery, he may choose to transfer as heralded Baylor transfer Zach Smith is the odds on favorite to start next year.

True freshman quarterback Davis Brin got considerable playing time in mop up duty against UConn, although he did not throw a pass. Brin is now clearly the number two quarterback behind Boomer.

The game also marks another chance for TU to go against its former assistant Mike Norvell, who coached at Tulsa under Todd Graham from 2007-2010. In games against Memphis, Norvell was 2-0. He is 1-1 against TU at Memphis, losing 59-30 in 2016 in Memphis but winning 41-14 in Tulsa in 2017.

Although both of the last two games against Memphis have been blowouts, remarkably, Tulsa has not been blown out of a game all season. And in all but one game, Tulsa had a chance to win in the fourth quarter.

In three of the four losses in the five games that Boomer has started since taking over as quarterback, the Golden Hurricane has lost leads in the fourth quarter. This has largely been due to Tulsa’s offense doing absolutely nothing in the fourth quarter in those games.

If Tulsa had any resemblance of an offense whatsoever in the fourth quarter with Boomer at quarterback, Tulsa would have defeated Houston, South Florida and Tulane, and TU would be talking about bowl games sitting at 5-4 instead of talking about finishing the season well sitting at 2-7.

The starters had already been pulled in the UConn game long before the fourth quarter because Tulsa had finished off the Huskies early.

The subject of finishing off games has been talked about a lot, and Montgomery’s comments after the UConn game addressed how important it is to finish strong after having leads.

“We’ve been in this situation several other times throughout this season. Tonight it was all about trying to provide and have constant pressure on our opponent and keeping our foot on the gas," Montgomery said. “When we had momentum we really had to use it and run with it.”

In listening to Montgomery, one might think his ultra conservative philosophy with Boomer at quarterback in the fourth quarter might change if Tulsa has another fourth quarter lead.

“You have to continue going out and doing what got you to that point,” Montgomery said. “I thought we did a good job of that tonight on both sides of the football.”

Tulsa will have a good shot at being close, if not leading against the Tigers, in the fourth quarter. If that is the case, the biggest question is if Tulsa will be more aggressive and actually be able to hold off a very potent Memphis offense.

The best way to do that in football these days is to keep scoring. If Tulsa does that, it will be a true turning point in the season.