by Tulsa, Oklahoma – Tulsa (2-7, 2-3 American) held off a fourth quarter comeback bid by SMU (0-8, 0-4 American) and held on for a 38-28 victory in front of 14,269 fans at H.A. Chapman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Tulsa entered the fourth period with a 35-13 lead after scoring 24 straight points, but the Mustangs put together back-to-back touchdown drives of 61 and 70 yards, cutting the Hurricane advantage to 35-28 with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Tulsa held on to the ball for the next 2:06 and scored three points on a Carl Salazar 24-yard field goal to close out the scoring.
Tulsa’s Dane Evans (Wichita and Affiliated Tribes) completed 16-of-25 passes for 286 yards and a career-high five touchdowns, including two TD passes each to Keevan Lucas and Keyarris Garrett. Zach Langer rushed for a new career-high with 167 yards, marking the third 100-yard rushing game in the last four contests. Garrett finished with four receptions for 96 yards and Lucas ha 88 yards on four catches. SMU quarterback Matt Davis rushed for 181 yards and threw for another 212 yards while accounting for three touchdowns.
Chris Hummingbird (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma) had 5 tackles for Tulsa with one being for a loss.
Tulsa put its first second-half points on the board at the 5:05 mark of the third period when Garrett made a diving catch at the corner of the end zone for a 32-yard score and a 35-13 lead after the extra point. SMU cut the Hurricane lead to 15 points at 35-20 on a Davis three-yard touchdown run, capping a six-play, 61-yard scoring drive, with 12:07 remaining in the game.
The Mustangs cut the Hurricane lead to seven points, 35-28, on a three-yard Davis run with 3:14 remaining in final period. The score capped a 70-yard, 12-play drive for SMU that took 4:08 off the game clock.
Tulsa ended the game with 501 total yards, and for only the second time this season did not lead in possession time, as SMU had only an eight-second advantage. The Hurricane defense had a season-high three takeaways, while Michael Mudoh tallied 12 tackles, recovered one fumble and intercepted a pass on the final play for the Mustangs.
After Tulsa went three-and-out on the game’s first series, SMU scored on its first play with a 64-yard pass from Matt Davis to Der’rrik Thompson to take a 6-0 lead just 13 seconds into the contest.
Tulsa scored on its third possession to take a one-point lead when Evans threw 18 yards in the end zone to Keyarris Garrett, and Carl Salazar followed with the PAT. The Mustangs took the subsequent possession 59 yards in just seven plays and scored on a K.C. Neimchi 13-yard TD to retake the lead 13-7. Tulsa responded on its first play from scrimmage when Bishop Louie took a short pass 42 yards for Tulsa’s second touchdown of the game and a 14-13 lead at the 2:15 mark of the first quarter.
SMU took its first drive of the second half to the Tulsa 21-yard line, but a 38-yard SMU field goal attempt missed wide right, keeping the score at 14-13 with 12:21 remaining in the first half.
The Hurricane then took the next possession 75 yards in five plays as Evans connected with Lucas for a 64-yard touchdown strike to put the Hurricane ahead 21-13 with 10:06 left before halftime.
Tulsa’s Michael Mudoh recovered an SMU fumble and took it to the Mustangs’ 13-yard line, but Tulsa fumbled it right back to SMU before D’Angelo Brewer was inches from the goal line for a Hurricane score.
Evans threw his fourth touchdown of the game when he connected with Lucas on a one-yard pass at the 2:06 mark to put the Hurricane ahead 28-13. The score capped a 66-yard, seven-play drive that took 3:36 off the clock.
At halftime, Tulsa held a 333 to 252-yard advantage as the Hurricane threw for 236 yards, and after starting the game 2-of-10 in the passing department, Evans finished with 10 straight completions for 12-of-18 in the first 20 minutes.
The Golden Hurricane travels to Orlando, Florida next week to take on the UCF Knights in a Friday night game. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 p.m. (CT) from Bright House Networks Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
