Grading Tulsa's Win Over Bowling Green

Originally Published: Sep 12, 2010 10:30 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – Breaking down Tulsa’s win over Bowling Green on Saturday is really a tale of two halves. After the game, quarterback G.J. Kinne said that his team has played “two halves” in two games. The second half against ECU was stellar. The first half against the Falcons was top notch. They still haven’t played one complete game.

OFFENSE: B-
On offense, there was no way Tulsa was going to top the Week 1 effort against East Carolina when they scored 49 points. The offense against Bowling Green was hit-and-miss.

First the good. Kinne played well and made great decisions with the football. There were a number of times when the pocket was closing in on him and he either got out of the way and ran up field, or made the smart play by throwing the ball away. His decision making was a big reason why he was only sacked once against the Falcons.

Kinne is now a well-rounded quarterback, not just a ‘scamper when it breaks down’ athlete. The perfect example of his maturation as a passer came in the second quarter. Tulsa led 10-7 and had the ball near midfield. Kinne made a nice move to avoid the pressure, ran up to the line of scrimmage and didn’t get a lot on his throw. The ball skipped at the receiver’s feet because he felt rushed.

The very next play, the same scenario happened. Kinne was flushed out to his right, and instead of rushing his throw, squared his shoulders while running towards the Tulsa sideline and delivered a strike to Genesis Cole with plenty of steam on it, 23-yards down the field for a first down. His ability to diagnose himself during the game will pay off big time for Tulsa this season.

But it wasn’t all perfect for Tulsa. There were way too many dropped passes. Tulsa receivers dropped at least three sure-fire touchdown passes in the game. Two of those drops came on back-to-back plays in the second quarter. In all, the Golden Hurricane dropped six passes in the Falcons’ red zone Saturday night. Superior Conference USA defenses will make Tulsa pay for that sloppiness during league play.

The second half was another negative on offense. Tulsa had six possessions and came away with six points. Compared to its 27 points on eight first half possessions, those numbers don’t add up to winning football.

DEFENSE: B+
Against East Carolina, this grade was hovering around the F- grade range, if there is such a thing. Against Bowling Green, the Golden Hurricane effort was much better.

The numbers jump off the page: five sacks, three interceptions and just 303 yards allowed. The Falcons ran for just 41 yards on Saturday. Against ECU, Tulsa gave up 538 total yards to the Pirates. The pressure on the quarterback was evident all game.

Both of Tulsa’s first two interceptions came thanks to pressure on Falcons’ quarterback Matt Schilz. In the first quarter, off a flea flicker, the defensive line wasn’t fooled. Schilz didn’t have time to step into his throw and floated a pass down the middle of the field into Marco Nelson’s hands. Later in the game, with more pass rushers in his face, Schilz forced a pass right into the arms of Shawn Jackson.

Tulsa held Bowling Green to just 4-of-12 on third down conversions. The performance was much better in Week 2.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
TU’s special teams was the best unit on the field for both teams. Michael Such averaged 49 yards per punt and Kevin Fitzpatrick nailed all four of his field goal attempts. After the game, head coach Todd Graham praised his kickers’ play. He wasn’t thrilled that his field goal kicker had to work as much as he did, but was happy to get points on drives.

Damaris Johnson wasn’t super-dynamic on kick returns, but he didn’t have too many opportunities. He returned one punt for 28 yards and one kickoff for 17. Ricky Johnson also returned one kickoff for 12 yards.

The best play of the game came in the second quarter. After a field goal, Fitzpatrick kicked off to Tyrone Pronty. The return man beat the Tulsa gunners and made it to the sideline. He looked like he was gone for a touchdown return until Fitzpatrick ran him down from behind, dove and pulled Pronty down by his shoulders pads.

Fitzpatrick was given a 15-yard penalty for a horse collar tackle, but didn’t give up six points. You rarely call a penalty a good play, but in Tulsa’s case it was the best play of the night.

OVERALL: B
The Golden Hurricane could have scored more points in the second half. They could have been a little more sure-handed in the red zone. Overall, the effort was pretty good.

Tulsa ran 88 plays to Bowling Green’s 65. They racked up 546 yards of offense and had its best defensive game in a while, with five sacks and three picks. The kick game was solid. The first half was great.

Tulsa still wants to clean up some parts of its game. In his postgame interview, Graham says the team has a “long way to go” to be where they want to be on defense, but was happy with the way his freshmen played. The young guys on the team have impressed him so far this season.

Graham pointed out the great play from Dewitt Jennings, Thomas and James Roberson and Marco Nelson.

Tulsa goes on the road to play at Oklahoma State in Week 3.