Inside The Matchup: Tulsa vs. Tulane

GAME 7:

TULSA (4-2, 1-1  The American) vs. TULANE (3-3, 0-2 The American)
Saturday, October 22, 2016 • 2:45 p.m. (CT)
HOMECOMING
H.A. Chapman Stadium
TV: ESPNU
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM
 
THE COACHES

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE

Head Coach:           Philip Montgomery (Tarleton State '95), 2nd year
Career Record:       10-9 (2 years)
TU Record:              same
 
TULANE GREEN WAVE

Head Coach:          Willie Fritz (Pittsburg State), 1st year
Career Record:      196-77 (24 years)
Tulane Record:       3-3 (1 year)
 
THE STORYLINES . . .

•     This is the 13th meeting between Tulsa and Tulane.
•     Both school's are private Universities . . . Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with 3,473 students, while Tulane has an enrollment of 13,449 students.
•     Tulsa and Tulane each moved from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference in the same year – 2014.
•     Both teams are coming off tough losses – Tulsa 38-31 on the road at #12-ranked Houston and Tulane at home, 24-14 , against Memphis.
•     Tulsa has posted an overall 49-38-3 Homecoming mark since the first one was recorded in 1926.
 
QUICK HITS . . .

•     A total of 17 freshmen have seen action in at least one game this year, including 10 red-shirt freshmen and seven true freshmen . . . two transfers have also made playing debuts this year.
•     Dane Evans surpassed G.J. Kinne (2009-11) for second-place on the school's career passing chart in the first half against Houston. Evans entered the game with 9,467 yards and needed five yards to tie Kinne.
•     Four Tulsa players had double-digit tackles – Trent Martin (13), Kerwin Thomas (11), Jordan Mitchell (10) and Matt Linscott (10) – against Houston.
•     Tulsa's defense has intercepted five passes this year, and two of those have gone for touchdowns, covering 24 and 65 yards.
•     In 18 games under Philip Montgomery, Tulsa has scored over 40 points 11times and has posted a 9-2 record when doing so.
•     The Hurricane had back-to-back games with two 100-yard rushers (D'Angelo Brewer andJames Flanders) and two 100-yard receivers (Keevan Lucas and Josh Atkinson) this season.
•     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 10 games.
•     17 of Tulsa's 33 scoring drives in regulation have been under 2 minutes.
 
THE SERIES . . . 

•     This is the 13th meeting between Tulsa and Tulane.
•     Tulsa leads the series 10-2 and has won the last two contests.
•     Tulsa has a series leading 8-game winning streak, win eight straight games in consecutive seasons from 2005-2012.
•     The Hurricane has a 26.5 win margin in its 10 wins, while Tulane has won its two games by a margin of 8.5 points.
•     Tulsa is 5-0 at home, 4-2 on the road and 1-0 in a neutral site game against the Green Wave.
•     Tulsa has won its home games in the series by a margin of 30.8 points.
•     The last two Tulsa wins have been the closest wins in the series for the Hurricane, winning by seven and 11 points.
 
OH SO CLOSE AGAINST #12 HOUSTON . . .

•     Coming off of back-to-back comeback victories against Fresno State and SMU, Tulsa almost had a third at #12 Houston.
•     Tulsa trailed by 14 twice against Houston, 17-3 and 31-17, and both times came back to tie the game . . . there was only 2:42 off the clock between scores to tie the game at 17-17 and only 3:32 off the clock in scoring 14 points to knot the game at 31-31.
•     Trailing 38-31, Tulsa took possession with 1:21 remaining, and traveled to the one-yard line, but failed to reach the end zone on 2nd-and-goal from the two.
 
EVANS MOVES TO NO. 2 ON PASSING CHART . . .

•     Dane Evans threw for a season-high 365 yards at Houston, and in so doing moved into second place on the school's career passing chart.
•     Evans now has 9,832 career passing yards, surpassing G.J. Kinne (2009-11), who had 9,472 yards passing.
•     Evans trails career leader Paul Smith (2003-07) by 1,100 passing yards.

MORE MILESTONES . . .

•     Senior punter Dalton Parks now holds the school records for punts (239) and punt yardage (9,803).
•     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 needs 27 receiving yards to reach the career 2,000-yard plateau.
•     Sophomore receiver Justin Hobbs needs 60 more receiving yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for career receiving yards.
•     Senior running back went over the 1,000 career rushing mark against Houston when he totaled 70 yards . .  he now has 1,008 career rushing yards.
•     Senior quarterback Dane Evans now has 14 career 300-yard passing games and needs one more 300-yard game to tie Paul Smith (2003-07) for the most in school history.
 
FIRST TIME . . .

•     Against Houston, there were a few firsts for Tulsa players.
•     Senior guard Alx Pagonis made his first career start in his 19th career game, starting at right guard in place of Blake Belcher.
•     Junior Zach Uhles started his second career game, but it was his first at tackle, starting in palce of Willie Wright . . . his other start came at center in 2014.
•     Red-shirt freshman Reggie Robinson received his first start vs. Houston at cornerback, and totaled 4 stops and one fumble recovery.
•     True freshman receiver Keenen Johnson saw his first career playing time and had 8 catches for 94 yards at Houston.
•     True freshman running back Corey Taylor II made his first collegiate appearance in the second quarter at Houston, and on his first career play ran for a 2-yard TD.
 
BREWER TURNING IN BIG YEAR . . .

•     Junior running back D'Angelo Brewer leads the American Athletic Conference in rushing with 742 yards and a 123.7 average per game.
•     In consecutive games, Brewer carried 84 times for 434 yards, a 217-yard average per game and 5.2 average per carry against Fresno State and SMU.
•     Brewer exploded for a career-best 252 rushing yards against Fresno State as he tied a school record with 46 rushing attempts on Sept. 24.
•     Brewer's 252 yards is the fourth-most in school history and it marked the 21st time that a Tulsa player has gained 200+ rushing yards.
•     Brewer's 46 attempts tied the school record set by Ron Jackson in the 1991 Freedom Bowl when he gained 211 yards against San Diego State.
•     A game later (after an open week), Brewer had 182 yards and one TD on 38 carries against SMU.