Tulsa Can't Overcome Fast Boise State Start

NewsOn6.com

BOISE, Idaho – No one expected the Golden Hurricane to go around beating their top 10-ranked opponents, but the losses still hurt.

Tulsa hung tough with Boise State but could never catch up as the Broncos handed TU a 41-21 defeat on Saturday on the blue turf.

The Broncos scored the first 34 points of the game and essentially put it out of hand before Tulsa started to chip away at the lead.

Boise State quarterback and Heisman candidate Kellen Moore was his usual self, completing 23-of-29 for 279 yards and four touchdowns.

He was responsible for four of BSU's first five scores.

Tulsa got its first points on the board at the 4:11 mark of the third quarter when Trey Watts rushed around the end for three yards into the end zone.

Watts struggled to continue his momentum from last week, putting up just 60 yards on the ground.

TU made it back-to-back scores with a touchdown pass from G.J. Kinne to Willie Carter to start the fourth quarter, making the score 34-14.

By that time, Kellen Moore and much of the Boise first team had already exited the game, but his backup, Joe Southwick, managed a touchdown of his own.

After the game turned into the battle of the backups, Tulsa backup quarterback Kalen Henderson tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Johnson to keep the final margin at a respectable 20.

Kinne suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury last week in the late-night game against Oklahoma State. Kinne started against the Broncos, but his stats reflected the injury as he threw four interceptions to just one touchdown and 123 yards.

Ja'Terian Douglas, who set a career high in rushing last week along with Watts, had only 45 rushing yards this week against Boise State.

10 different receivers caught passes for Boise State and four different receivers had touchdown passes.

One of the only bright spots about the game for the Golden Hurricane is that is signals the end of the toughest non-conference stretch in all of college football.

TU faced three opponents in the first four games who resided in the top 10 (OU, OSU and Boise State).

The Golden Hurricane have one non-conference game remaining, but it should feel like a breath of fresh air compared to recent opponents.

Tulsa hosts Sun Belt Conference team North Texas on Oct. 1 with a 6 p.m. kickoff.