Hurricane puts 600+ yards of total offense

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa put up over 600 yards of total offense and the defense had two takeaways in a 41-34 win over Arkansas State Saturday afternoon in front of 14,881 fans Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

Tulsa got in the win column tonight after three close losses to start the season. The Hurricane improved to 1-3 and ASU fell to 1-3 as the two teams concluded their non-conference schedules.

For the 10^th time in the Philip Montgomery era, Tulsa tallied more than 600 yards with 663 total yards and for the 14^th time the Hurricane rushed for over 300 yards under Montgomery. Tulsa improved to 20-5 in the Montgomery era when scoring over 40 points.urricaen ran for over 300 yards in a game under Montgomery. TUlsa also improved to 20-5 when socring over 40 points under

Davis Brin completed 17-of-25 passes for 355 yards with a career-best three TDs. Davis only targeted four receivers, as Josh Johnson had his second straight 100+ game with 127 yards on nine receptions. Sam Crawford Jr. had 105 yards on two catches, both for touchdowns, and JuanCarlos Santana missed becoming Tulsa’s third 100-yard receiver by one yard with 99 yards on five receptions.

Shamari Brooks totaled 155 yards and one TD on 22 carries for his 13^th career 100+ rushing game, while Anthony Watkins rushed for his first career 100+ game with 115 yards and one touchdown.

The Hurricane defense totaled season-highs of 10 TFL for -31 yads and six sacks for -25 yards, while recording its second straight game with a season-high of two takeaways.

Three of Tulsa touchdowns today came in a span of 29 seconds, as the scores covered 88, 34 and 75 yards and all coming on the first play from scrimmage. The first was an 88-yard Brin to Crawford pass, the second was a 34-yard pass from Brin to Santana and the third came on a 75-yard Watkins run.

“First of all, we’ve been talking about it all week, talked about it a ton at the hotel this weekend preparing for this game. We knew we had a tough opponent, knew they were talented, but, really it was going to come down to us and the way we execute and the way we play,” said Tulsa’s Montgomery.

“I felt like we’ve taken some really positive steps in the weeks leading up to this one, but we needed to get over the hump. We talked about having to go and win. The first four minutes of the second half and in that fourth quarter, I think it really came down to that,” said Montgomery. “Some crazy things happened in the game, but our guys stayed positive, they stayed focused, and guys stepped up and made some big plays there in the fourth. That’s what we needed to do to get this win.”

Tulsa ended the first half by scoring three points going into the intermission and came out of halftime with a 75-yard, six play drive on its first possession. Brin threw his third touchdown of the day as Crawford caught his second score of the contest on a 17-yard pass to take a 31-14 lead to start the second half.

Arkansas State took the subsequent position 76 yards in nine plays to cut its deficit to 10 points, 31-21, at the 10:34 mark of the third quarter. The touchdown was the first of three scores within 0:25, two by the Red Wolves and one by Tulsa.

Tulsa responded on its first play from scrimmage with Watkins’ 75-yard scamper, but ASU followed that up with its second special teams’ touchdown of the day on a 93-yard Alan Lamar kick return to bring the score back to 10 points, 38-28, with 10:09 left in the third quarter

A potential Tulsa score in the third period was thwarted with the Hurricane at the ASU 12-yard line when a Brin pass was picked off in the end zone.  The Wolves marched to the Tulsa 29-yard line but was held to a 38-yard field goal that brought the visitors to within seven points at 38-31.

Tulsa took the subsequent possession to the A-State 27-yard line where the Hurricane was forced to settle for a field goal. Zack Long’s second of the day, this one from 45 yards out, put Tulsa ahead 41-31 with 11:21 remaining in the contest.

The Red Wolves cut Tulsa’s lead to seven points at 41-34 when Blake Grupe punched through a 50-yard field goal with 6:40 remaining in the game. The Hurricane then took possession with 6:34 on the game clock and marched 76 yards in 11 plays to burn out the clock and capture the seven-point victory.

To start the game both teams went three-and-out on their first possessions. But, Johnnie Lang of Arkansas State returned Tulsa’s punt 63 yards for an early 7-0 lead with less than four minutes gone off the game clock.

It took Tulsa just 12 seconds to return the score when Davis Brin connected with Sam Crawford Jr. on the fifth-longest pass play in school history, an 88-yard pass and catch, on the first play from scrimmage. The Red Wolves wasted little time in answering just 1:15 later with a 39-yard pass from James Blackman to Dahu Green to retake the lead at 14-7.

Shamari Brooks 25-yard run at the 3:23 mark of the second quarter capped a 91-yard, 9-play drive that took 3:04 off the clock and knotted the score at 14.

The Hurricane capitalized 1:16 later after Jaxon Player recovered a fumble at the ASU 34-yard line with 2:01 remaining before the half. Brin wasted little time in finding JuanCarlos Santana in the end zone on the first play for a 34-yard touchdown with 1:55 left on the clock for its first lead of the game at 21-14.

Tulsa’s defense stuffed the Red Wolved three-and-out to force a punt and give the Hurricane offense another opportunity to score before the half. Zack Long’s 41-yard field goal capped a 5-play, 31-yard drive to give Tulsa a 24-14 lead heading into halftime.

At the intermission, Tulsa held a 323 to 177-yard edge in total offense with 255 of those yards coming through the air.  Tulsa also had a slight advantage on the ground, out-gaining the Wolves 68 to 43.

“I’m proud of our team. Obviously, we’ve got a tough opponent in the short week next week, but that being said, it’s good to get that ‘W’ in the column and understanding how we have to play and what we need to do to make that happen,” added Montgomery.

Tulsa will continue a three-game homestand next Friday night when the Golden Hurricane begins American Athletic Conference play against the Houston Cougars. Game time is set for 6:30 pm at H.A. Chapman Stadium on ESPN. For tickets, go online at TulsaHurricane.com or call 918.631.4688.

Scoring Summary

Team     Qtr     Time      Play                                                                                                           Score

ASU         1          11:13      Johnnie Lang 63 punt return (Grupe kick)                                          0-7

Tulsa       1          6:05        Sam Crawford Jr. 88 pass from Davis Brin (Long kick)                      7-7

ASU         1          4:50        Dahu Green 39 pass from James Blackman (Grupe kick)                 7-14

Tulsa       2          3:23        Shamari Brooks 25 run (Long kick)                                                       14-14

Tulsa       2          1:55        JuanCarlos Santana 34 pass from Davis Brin (Long kick)                 21-14

Tulsa       2          0:01        Zack Long 41 FG                                                                                       24-14

Tulsa       3          12:53      Sam Crawford Jr. 17 pass from Davis Brin (Long kick)                      31-14

ASU         3          10:34      Jeff Foreman 7 pass from James Blackman (Grupe kick)                 31-21

Tulsa       3          10:23      Anthony Watkins 75 run (Long kick)                                                    38-21

ASU         3          10:09      Alan Lamar 93 run (Grupe kick)                                                            38-28

ASU         3          1:31        Blake Grupe 38 FG                                                                                   38-31

Tulsa       4          11:21      Zack Long 45 FG                                                                                       41-31

ASU         4          6:40        Blake Grupe 50 FG                                                                                   41-34