TU Rediscovers Its Offense in Homecoming Victory

Golden Hurricane scored at will in 52-24 win against Tulane.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:59 am

By: News On 6

TU Rediscovers Its Offense in Homecoming Victory

Originally Published: Oct 16, 2010 7:36 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – After a mediocre performance against SMU, to say the least, it appears Tulsa’s offense is back on track.

The Golden Hurricane exploded for seven touchdowns in a 52-24 homecoming victory against Tulane on Saturday in Tulsa. They scored early, quickly and often, averaging less than two minutes of possession time per scoring drive.

TU had three scoring drives of a minute or less, including its first of the game – a three-play, 56-second drive capped by a 33-yard JaTerian Douglas run to put TU up 7-0 right off the bat.

Tulane responded with a long scoring strike of its own, as quarterback Ryan Griffin connected with Ryan Grant on a 43-yard pass to tie the game at 7.

But the rest of the first half was all Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane put together an impressive 7-play, 80-yard drive capped off with another 33-yard scoring strike, this time with G.J. Kinne finding receiver Charles Clay.

TU Receiver Damaris Johnson did his damage on the ground Saturday, rushing 29 yards for a touchdown to put Tulsa up 21-7 with just less than six minutes left in the half. He later added a 40-yard touchdown run and led Tulsa in rushing with 87 yards.

The TU defense also made big plays. Tulsa linebacker Tanner Antle forced a fumble and then recovered it, giving his team a short field and eventually setting up a 37-yard field goal to give the Golden Hurricane its 24-7 halftime margin.

The Green Wave (2-4, 0-2) came out with a quick score after halftime, but Tulsa quashed any notion of a competitive contest with a stunning 33-second drive to respond and take a 31-14 lead.

To go with Johnson’s two rushing touchdowns, TU’s Alex Singleton added two rushing touchdowns. Kinne connected with Clay for two touchdowns in the game.

After his worst performance of the season against SMU, Kinne responded favorably, going 15-for-25 for 206 yards and two scores.

Kinne added 48 yards rushing as well as Tulsa’s ground game was spread to 10 different runners.

Tulsa put up 538 without turning the ball over, an issue which haunted them in several losses this season.

The Golden Hurricane (4-3, 2-2) will get to relax a little bit after the victory with an off week before heading to Notre Dame on Oct. 30.