TU vs. Memphis Game Notes

GAME 8:

TULSA (5-2, 2-1 The American) vs. MEMPHIS (5-2, 2-1 The American)
Saturday, October 29, 2016 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Liberty Bowl Stadium  (56,862)  Memphis Tenn.
TV: ESPNews
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM

THE COACHES

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE
Head Coach:           Philip Montgomery (Tarleton State '95), 2nd year
Career Record:       11-9 (2 years)
TU Record:              same
 
MEMPHIS TIGERS
Head Coach:          Mike Norvell (Central Arkansas '05), 1st year
Career Record:      5-2 (1 year)
UM Record:            same
 
THE STORYLINES . . .

•      This is the 27th meeting between Tulsa and Memphis.
•      Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with 3,473 students, while Memphis has an enrollment of 21,480 students.
•      The two teams have identical 5-2 records, as the two losses for both teams have come against ranked opponents . . . Tulsa lost to #4 Ohio State and #12 Houston, while Memphis has lost to #16 Ole Miss and #24 Navy . . . each of those games for both school's were on the road.
•      Memphis has the league's second-ranked scoring defense (22.6 ppg), while Tulsa has the league's second-ranked scoring offense (39.7 ppg).
•      Memphis head coach Mike Norvell and defensive line coach Paul Randolph were assistant coaches at Tulsa under Todd Graham.
 
QUICK HITS . . .

•      A total of 19 freshmen have seen action in at least one game this year, including 12 red-shirt freshmen and seven true freshmen . . . two transfers have also made playing debuts this year.
•      Dane Evans has had 36 career passes of over 40 yards . . . since 2015, his 26 40+ yard passes ranks in a second-place tie in the NCAA behind Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes (34), and tied with West Virginia's Skyler Howard (26) . . . Evans had 10 in 2014, 18 in 2015 and has eight 40+ passes this year.
•      Tulsa's defense has intercepted five passes this year, and two of those have gone for touchdowns, covering 24 and 65 yards.
•      In 20 games under Philip Montgomery, Tulsa has scored over 40 points 12 times and has posted a 10-2 record when doing so.
•      Tulsa has gone over 600 yards of total offense four times in the last two years under Montgomery, and over 500 yards of total offense in 11 games.
•      19 of Tulsa's 41 scoring drives in regulation have been under 2 minutes.
•   Tulsa punter Dalton Parks has driven returners back on two punts that resulted in fumbles this year . . . Tulsa turned those into TDs from one and six yards out.
 
THE SERIES . . . 

•      This is the 27th meeting between Tulsa and Memphis.
•      Memphis leads the series 16-10.
•      Memphis has won the last two meetings in the series after Tulsa had won the previous four games.
•      The four straight wins by Tulsa is the longest win streak for either team in the series.
•      Tulsa has an 11.3 winning margin in its 10 wins over Memphis, but six of those wins were in single digits.
•      Memphis has a 15.6 win margin in their 16 victories over the Hurricane.
 
TULSA PUTS UP 50 AGAINST TULANE . . .

•      With 50 points against Tulane, Tulsa reached 50 points for the second time this season and for the third time in the last eight games, dating back to scoring 52 points against Virginia Tech in the Camping World Independence Bowl.
•      The Hurricane offense also gained 566 total yards and 330 yards rushing.
•      Tulane came into the game allowing its opponents to average only 324.0 total yards and 141.8 rushing yards.
•      The most rushing yards Tulane had previously allowed was 287 by Navy, total offensive yards was 399 by Memphis and points was 39 by Louisiana-Lafayette.
 
FLANDERS, ATKINSON TAKE CENTER STAGE . . .

•      Tulsa's leading rusher D'Angelo Brewer and leading receiver Keevan Lucas turned the spotlight over to teammates James Flanders and Josh Atkinson against Tulane.
•      Flanders rushed for a career-high 190 yards  and two touchdowns on 22 carries for an 8.6 average per attempt . . . Brewer rushed for 61 yards on 18 carries.
•      Atkinson also turned in a career-best with 142 yards and one TD on seven receptions for a 20.3-yard average per catch . . . Lucas had 67 yards and one TD on three receptions.
 
FIRST HALF DEFENSE . . .

•      In four games this year, the Tulsa defense has held four opposing offenses to single digit points – San Jose State (7), Ohio State (6), North Carolina A&T (0) and Tulane (7).
•      Against Ohio State 14 of the Buckeyes' 20 points came off of interception returns.
•      Tulsa's defense has forced the opponent in these four games to 20 three-and-outs –– San Jose State (4), Ohio State (3), NC A&T (7) and Tulane (6).
•      Tulsa has held these opponents each to under 200 first-half yards –– San Jose State (166) with a 38-7 lead, Ohio State (158), NC A&T (123) with a 48-0 lead, and Tulane (113) with a 31-7 lead.
 
EVANS GOES OVER 10,000 YARDS FOR PASSING AND TOTAL OFFENSE . . .

•      In the Tulane contest, senior quarterback Dane Evans surpassed the 10,000-yard mark for both passing and total offense.
•      He now has 10,068 career passing yards for second place on the school's career passing chart . . . he is 868 yards shy of tying Paul Smith (2003-07) for first place.
•      Evans also has 10,094 total yards in his career, ranking third on the all-time list . . . he is 737 yards short of tying G.J. Kinne (2009-11) for second place and 1,508 yards shy of tying Paul Smith (2003-07) for first place.
 
MORE MILESTONES . . .

•      Senior punter Dalton Parks now holds the school records for punts (239) and punt yardage (9,803) . . . he set the punts record vs. SMU and the yardage mark at Houston a week later.
•      Senior linebacker Trent Martin needs 18 more tackles to hit the 300 tackle mark for his career . . . he now has 282 career stops.
•      Senior receiver Josh Atkinson surpassed the 2,000-yard receiving plateau with 142 yards against Tulane . . . he needed only 27 yards coming into the game
•      Sophomore receiver Justin Hobbs needs 43 more receiving yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for career receiving yards.
•      Senior running back James Flanders went over the 1,000 career rushing mark against Houston when he totaled 70 yards . . . with a career-best 190 yards a week later against Tulane, Flanders now has 1,198 career rushing yards.
•      Senior quarterback Dane Evans now has 13 career 300-yard passing games and needs two more 300-yard games to tie Paul Smith (2003-07) for the most in school history.
 
LUCAS 6th ON CAREER RECEIVING LIST . . .

•      Senior receiver Keevan Lucas, who missed all but the first four games in 2015 with an injury, is back this year to the Tulsa roster.
•      Lucas now has career numbers of 203 receptions for 2,733 yards and 23 TDs.
•      He has moved into 6th place on the school's career receiving chart, needing 13 yards to move into 5th place and is 610 yards shy of the career leader, Howard Twilley's (1963-65) 3,343 yards.
•      In four games this year, Lucas has gone over 100 receiving yards . . . in fact, he surpassed 100 yards in the first half of three of those contests.
•      Lucas began the year with 112 yards on 6 catches vs. San Jose State . . . he had 4 receptions for 119 yards and 3 TDs vs. NC A&T . . . in both of those games, all of his receptions and yardage came in the first half.
•      Lucas now has 10 career 100-yard receiving games, including four this year, five in 2014 and one in 2015.
•      This year Lucas has 663 receiving yards, six TDs, a 15.1-yard average per catch and 94.7 yards per game on 44 receptions.
•      He had 101 catches for 1,219 yards and 11 TDs as a sophomore in 2014.
•      In less than four full games in 2015, Lucas had 409 yards and five TDs on 26 receptions before suffering the season-ending injury against Houston.