Tulsa and Tulane have both endured frustrating losses while compiling disappointing records.
They will try to take their frustrations out on each other when they meet in an American Athletic Conference game on Saturday in New Orleans.
The Golden Hurricane (3-6, 2-3 AAC) are coming off a 28-20 road loss to then-No. 6 Cincinnati last Saturday. Tulsa ran eight plays inside the Bearcats’ 20 in the final moments, but couldn’t score a touchdown that would have given it an opportunity to tie with a two-point conversion.
Tulsa was competitive in other losses to Oklahoma State and Ohio State.
“This team continues to battle and give ourselves opportunities,” coach Philip Montgomery said. “It’s a break here, it’s a play there and it can be the difference in this being an unbelievable season or a season that you’re still battling for.”
The Golden Hurricane scored on only three of their six red-zone opportunities against Cincinnati. For the season Tulsa has failed to score on 10 of 32 red-zone opportunities.
“It’s just us not executing,” running back Anthony Watkins said. “It’s on us. We’re going to find a way to fix that.”
The Golden Hurricane rushed for 297 yards against Cincinnati, the fifth time this season the team has rushed for 200 or more yards.
Tulane (1-8, 0-5), which has played four teams that were ranked when it met them, has lost seven straight.
The Green Wave defense has struggled for much of the season, but has played much better the last two weeks, in a 31-12 home loss to Cincinnati and a 14-10 loss at UCF last week.
It held the Knights, who had rushed for at least 148 yards in their first eight games, to season lows in points, rushing yards (48) and total yards (277).
“Now that we know what we can do,” linebacker Dorian Williams said, “we’ve got to go out and prove it every weekend.”
Quarterback Michael Pratt returned after suffering a concussion two weeks prior, but passed for just 147 yards and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 18 career starts.
“We just have to continue to fight through this adversity and not play the string out,” coach Willie Fritz said. “That’s the last thing we’re going to do. We are going to play as hard as we can the next three weeks.”
