TU Football Scrimmages With AAC Refs On Hand

The Tulsa football team had a 100+ play full pad scrimmage on Wednesday morning with an officiating crew from the American Athletic Conference. The Golden Hurricane also practiced in shorts and shoulder pads during the afternoon at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

In the morning scrimmage, Blankenship was pleased with the performance and confirmed that there were 40 plays with ones, 40 with the second-team unit and the remaining plays with the No. 3s.

“Early on I thought the defense played really well. They made it tough in short-yardage situations. The offense kept getting better as the scrimmage went on. We had more explosive plays and there were some really good things from the offense,” said Blankenship. “We made some key first downs on third downs – catching the ball for a first down and moving the chains. I thought Dane really operated the offense well today, getting the ball to the open guy. I thought Josh Atkinson made several key plays, a TD catch but also some key first downs.”

“Defensively, we were really good against the run, except for when we went into some spread offense and gave up some runs there at the end. But in the short-yardage, goal line situations, the defense made it tough. They were really physical,” added Blankenship.

Blankenship discussed his team's progress after the 15th practice session Wednesday morning.

“I love the path we're on. I don't think we're ready to play yet, but I do think we're an improving football team. Certainly, we've seen glimmers of hope,” said Blankenship. “I think we're good enough offensively that we're making it harder on the defense, and vice versa. It's going to be tough until we actually play someone else now. We've beat on each other for about a week-and-a-half now, it's going to be good to start gearing up for Tulane.”

Single-game tickets for the Tulsa-Tulane season opener will go one sale online this Saturday, August 16 and in person at the TU Athletic Ticket Office or by phone on Monday, Aug. 18. Tulsa and Tulane will kick-off the American Athletic Conference schedule on opening weekend at H.A. Chapman Stadium. The game is scheduled for 7:00 pm on Thursday, Aug. 28.