TAMPA, Fla. – The jury is still out on whether Tulsa is a player in the American Athletic Conference, but Friday night’s 42-13 pasting of the outmanned South Florida Bulls at Raymond James Stadium showed the abilities of the Golden Hurricane in their purest form.
Tulsa was only an 11-point favorite, as it had only played two games and came in with a split in a winnable 16-7 loss at No. 6 Oklahoma State and a surprising 34-26 win at No. 11 UCF where Tulsa came for 18-down to raise some eyebrows and gain attention.
Tulsa had four of its first six games cancelled due to Covid-19 with the most notable one occurring last week when their match-up with No. 8 Cincinnati was postponed until Dec. 5.
A veteran group of skill position players on offense, along with Zaven Collins, an NFL-caliber linebacker, could give Tulsa its first shot at any type of conference title since it won Conference USA in 2012.
Senior quarterback Zach Smith was solid on Friday as he completed 16 of 24 passes for 233 yards and a score.
His lone touchdown toss came as he hit JuanCarlos Santana on a 33-yard scoring strike to complete a four-play drive at the beginning of the game. It gave the Golden Hurricane a 7-0 lead just 2:50 into the game.
An important factor that had gone virtually uncovered during the season so far is the lethal Tulsa rushing attack. It’s basically a run-pass option format under Head Coach Philip Montgomery, who is in his seventh season. His running back corps came into the season with the second most rushing yards and touchdowns nationally behind only Clemson.
Deneric Prince, the team’s leading rusher through three games, led the Golden Hurricane with 109 yards on 15 carries and two scores.
His 27-yard run late in the first half broke the game open as it gave Tulsa a 21-6 lead. Then he answered the Bulls lone touchdown in the second half as he countered off left guard and broke through the line on a 62-yard TD gallop which gave Tulsa a 28-13 lead with 7:26 left in the third quarter.
The Tulsa offense had eight plays of 15 or more yards with three of them going for touchdowns.
Collins is another story on defense. He came in with 13 solo tackles, 7.5 for loss and three sacks.
He added a 38-yard interception return as he picked off USF back-up quarterback Noah Johnson at the line of scrimmage and ran across the field on his way to the end zone, giving Tulsa a 35-13 lead.
Collins also forced a fumble and had five solo tackles on Friday night as Tulsa accumulated three turnovers.
Quarterback Smack: The Bulls’ quarterback situation has been in a flux for several seasons now and in Friday night’s loss, Jordan McCloud started his fifth game of the season and was rendered ineffective almost from the outset. He completed only 2 of 7 passes for eight yards, as Johnson wound up as the most effective despite the interception.
South Florida had a short track on two occasions for McCloud, but had to settle for a pair of Jared Sackett field goals.
Daquan Evans set the Bulls up with a 30-yard interception that also accounted for 15 more yards on a facemask penalty, but the offense could move only 17 yards in six plays. Sackett added a 39-yard field goal to put the Bulls on the board as they trailed, 7-3.
On the next possession, punt returner K.J. Sails raced 60 yards up the left sideline to set up USF on the Golden Hurricane 4-yard line. This wound up accounting for only three more points as the Bulls could only gain one yard on the next three plays.
Third-team quarterback Cade Fortin provided sort of a spark to the offense as he started the second half and drove USF to the Tulsa 4-yard line before going out with an injury. Johnson came in and hit Bryce Miller with a 4-yard scoring pass which was the lone Bulls touchdown of the night.
