Tulsa Stays On Course With Blowout Of Marshall

Grant Belcher, NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Golden Hurricane's focused path to the Conference USA Championship game stayed right on track Saturday with a 59-17 win against Marshall at Chapman Stadium.

The Thundering Herd was simply outmatched from the start, as TU took only 1:24 to score its first touchdown.

Trey Watts took it in from four yards to finish off what could hardly be called a drive: two plays and 37 seconds total.

Slightly more than three minutes later, Tulsa came right back with a touchdown pass from G.J. Kinne to Clay Sears to go up 14-0.

Kinne was on fire in the first half, accounting for three touchdowns to help his team to a 42-3 lead at the break.

He added one more in the second half to Bryan Burnham to total up to 302 yards and four touchdowns (which were a season best) on the day.

Kinne topped the 10,000 total yard-mark in the contest, becoming just the second Golden Hurricane player ever to reach that milestone.

Running back Alex Singleton accounted for three of TU's touchdowns on the ground, but ironically might not have even had the best rushing day for Tulsa.

Singleton had 22 yards on 18 carries for a 1.2 average. Meanwhile, Trey Watts and Ja'Terian Douglas went off for the Golden Hurricane, combining for 338 yards (Douglas 194, Watts 144).

Receiver Bryan Burnham looked like his beginning-of-the-year self, catching 10 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.

The TU defense came through with several big plays, including two sacks from linebacker Shawn Jackson.

Both teams played a fairly clean game, penalty-wise, combining for just four penalties overall.

With the win, Tulsa stays on a crash course to meet with Houston on the day after Thanksgiving to decide a spot in the C-USA championship game.

The Cougars and Golden Hurricane are both 6-0 in Conference USA (Tulsa is 7-3 overall).

TU has one more potential hurdle before the vaunted showdown with Houston, as it will face UTEP next weekend.

Tulsa will travel to El Paso for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Miners on Saturday.