Tulsa Becomes Bowl Eligible With 45-34 Win Over Tulane

Tulsa reserve defensive lineman Kolton Shindelar intercepted a Jordy Joseph pass with 1:12 left in the game and raced 89 yards to seal a Golden Hurricane 45-34 come-from-behind win over the Tulane Green Wave on Friday night at Yulman Stadium.
 
The victory made the Golden Hurricane bowl eligible with a 6-6 record, while Tulane finished the season at 3-9.
 
Tulsa scored 21 unanswered points in the final 6:45, including the final two scores coming on interception returns for touchdowns – the first by Craig Suits, covering 28 yards, and then Shindelar's second-longest interception return in school history.
 
Tulane held a 530 to 408-yard edge in total offense and a 12:20 advantage in possession time, but it was a full team effort by the Hurricane to get the victory. Tulsa's Dane Evans threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, while Keyarris Garrett had his second-best receiving performance of 216 yards and one TD. Tulane's Joseph threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns, but had the two costly interceptions that went for Hurricane touchdowns.
 
Trailing 24-14 at halftime, Tulsa scored the first 10 points of the second half to tie the score at 24 with 3:11 on the third quarter clock. Pinned down at the one-yard line, Tulsa went 99 yards in 13 plays to score a touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Evans to Garrett, and cut its deficit to three points at 24-21.
 
Tulsa added three points to tie the score at 24-24 when Redford Jones' 41-yard field goal capped a nine-play, 39-yard drive.
 
On the subsequent possession, Tulane matched Tulsa's field goal with a 39-yard field goal to take a three-point lead, 27-24, with 0:19 left in the third period. The Green Wave took a 10-point lead with less than eight minutes left to play when Joseph threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game with a 34-yarder in the end zone to a wide-open Andrew Hicks for the 34-24 lead.
 
After Tulane scored 10 straight points, the Hurricane responded in just 55 seconds with a 75-yard drive that saw Zack Langer run in from one-yard out for the score, as the PAT cut Tulane's lead to three points, 34-31, at the 6:45 mark. A 37-yard pass to Garrett put Tulsa at the Tulane 43-yard line and a 38-yard pass to Atkinson put the Hurricane on the Tulane one-yard line before Langer ran in for the score.
 
Fourteen seconds later, Tulsa's Suits intercepted a Joseph pass and went 28 yards for a touchdown and a 38-34 Hurricane lead with 6:31 remaining in the game. It was Tulsa's first lead since an early 7-0 lead after the first possession of the game. Tulane took the subsequent possession to the Tulsa 16-yard line when Shindelar dropped back in coverage and picked off Joseph's pass at the Hurricane 11. The former tight end raced 89 yards to seal the win for Tulsa.
 
Tulsa took the game's opening kickoff 75 yards in eight plays as Evans threw the final 20 yards toJustin Hobbs to give the Hurricane a 7-0 lead.
 
The Green Wave knotted the score at the 5:59 mark of the first period with a 48-yard, six-play drive that was capped by a 28-yard pass from Joseph to Charles Jones. At the 12-minute mark of the second quarter, Tulane took its first lead of the game, 14-7, on a three-yard pass from Joseph to Teddy Veal, capping an 86-yard, 14-play drive.
 
Tulsa responded in 1:05 when Evans threw 35 yards down the Tulane sidelines to Josh Atkinson, tying the score at 14 following the PAT.
 
Tulane responded with a 12-play, 61-yard drive, but Tulsa held the Green Wave to only three points, as Andrew DiRocco knocked through a 31-yard field goal to give Tulane a 17-14 lead with 4:19 left before halftime.
 
After an interception giving Tulane the ball at their own 34-yard line, the Green Wave took just one play to take a 24-14 lead when Dontrell Hilliard took a shovel pass 66 yards for the score at the 3-minute mark before halftime.
 
At halftime, Tulane had out-gained the Hurricane 260 to 171 yards, an average of 7.2 yards per play for the Green Wave and 5.8 yards for Tulsa. Tulane controlled possession time, almost doubling the Hurricane, 19:26 to 10:34.