Tulsa beats Tulane 50-27

 Dane Evans threw three touchdowns as Tulsa beat Tulane 50-27 on Saturday.

Evans had 236 yards passing for the Golden Hurricane (5-2, 2-1 American Athletic Conference). James Flanders ran for 190 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Josh Atkinsonhad 142 yards and a score receiving.

Evans' three touchdown passes came in the first half on an 11-yard pass to Keevan Lucas, a 49-yarder to Atkinson and a 5-yard toss to D'Angelo Brewer. Flanders added a short scoring run and Redford Jones kicked a 20-yard field goal and Tulsa led 31-7 at halftime.

The Green Wave (3-4, 0-3) had two quick scores late in the third quarter but a two-point conversion pass was intercepted by McKinley Whitfield, who ran it back for a defensive two points for the Hurricane, making it 40-20 at the end of the period.

Dontrell Hilliard ran for two touchdowns for Tulane.

In wild finish, No. 13 Houston holds off Tulsa 38-31

No. 13 Houston was coming off of its first loss and the Cougars were close to making it two in a row with Tulsa driving in a tie game late in the fourth quarter on Saturday night.

It was then that Houston's defense responded with two huge plays to give the Cougars a 38-31 victory .

The game was tied at 31-31 when Emeke Egbule returned a fumble 24 yards for a touchdown with 1:21 remaining. Garrett Davis knocked the ball out of the hands of quarterback Dane Evans. Egbule scooped it up and dashed into the end zone for the score.

"I just knew I had to do something with it to keep us in the game," Egbule said.

Tulsa (4-2, 1-1 American) had a chance to tie it, but Jesse Brubaker was stopped just short of the goal line after a reception on the last play of the game to seal Houston's victory. The play was reviewed and upheld.

"He was really close ... I don't think you can get any closer than what it was," Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery said.

It was a close call for the Cougars (6-1, 3-1) a week after Navy beat them 46-40 after a 5-0 start.

"We got the taste out of our mouth," Houston coach Tom Herman said.

Tulsa never led, but had twice rallied from 14-point deficits to tie the game. The second time came whenJames Flanders scored on a 3-yard run with 3:31 left.

"This is one of those games that's tough to swallow," Montgomery said. "It really didn't feel like we lost the football game, it felt like we just ran out of time."

The Golden Hurricane forced a punt after that, but the fumble by Evans came two plays later.

Houston's Dillon Birden ran for 82 yards and three touchdowns playing in place of starter Duke Catalon, who missed his third straight game with a concussion.

Herman thought this game was another good reminder for his players that they can't take any team lightly.

"You're going to get their best shot. You've earned that," he said. "Everybody on your schedule is going to play you with their `A' game. We've got to understand that and understand that even when we're up 17-3 we can't take our foot off the gas."

THE TAKEAWAY

TULSA: The Golden Hurricane ran out of late-game magic after overcoming a 31-point deficit, which was the largest in school history, to beat Fresno State 48-41 in double overtime two weeks ago before getting a 43-40 win over SMU in overtime last week.

HOUSTON: The Cougars need to start playing more like the team that beat Oklahoma instead of the mistake-prone team that lost to Navy last week and struggled this week to get into the conference title game.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

HOUSTON: The Cougars could move up a couple of spots after No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 9 Tennessee and 12th-ranked Mississippi all lost on Saturday. However, some poll voters might penalize Houston for struggling against an unranked team.

ED'S EFFORT: Freshman defensive tackle Ed Oliver had another big game for the Cougars, piling up a season-high 12 tackles after finishing with 11 last week. He also batted down two passes to give him five for the season, had two tackles for losses and a quarterback hit.

UP NEXT

TULSA: The Golden Hurricane host Tulane next Saturday.

HOUSTON: The Cougars visit SMU next Saturday.

Evans TD run in OT gives Tulsa 43-40 win over SMU

Quarterback Dane Evans went 14 yards untouched for the winning touchdown in overtime, lifting Tulsa to a 43-40 victory over SMU on Friday night.

Evans cut up field on an option play to the right to end a wild game that saw the lead change hands four times in the second half.

Josh Williams kicked a 25-yard field goal on the final play of regulation and added a 22-yarder on SMU's possession to open overtime.

D'Angelo Brewer had 182 yards on 38 carries and James Flanders 132 on 13 and both scored on long touchdown runs for the Golden Hurricanes (4-1, 1-0 American). Evans threw for 247 yards and a touchdown.

Ben Hicks threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns for the Mustangs (2-4, 0-2) and Braeden West had 124 yards and a TD on 22 carries.

Tulsa took its first lead with a minute left in the first half on Raymond Taylor's 2-yard run, making it 23-20. The Golden Hurricanes ran for 315 yards.

Tulsa overcomes 31-point deficit, beats Fresno State in 2OT

 Dane Evans threw four touchdown passes and ran in the game-winning 18-yard touchdown in the second overtime as Tulsa rallied from 31 points down to beat Fresno State 48-41 on Saturday for the program's largest comeback victory.

Evans was 22 of 32 for 273 yards, Keevan Lucas caught two 40-yard touchdowns, and Josh Atkinson and Justin Hobbs each had scoring catches. D'Angelo Brewer ran for a career-best 252 yards on 46 carries, and James Flanders ran for 101 yards and a touchdown for Tulsa (3-1).

Aaron Peck caught a pass from Chason Virgil on the Bulldogs' second play of overtime but he fumbled. Then Tulsa's Redford Jones missed a 42-yard field goal to force a second OT.

Virgil ran for two scores, and threw a 65-yard TD strike to Jamire Jordan to give the Bulldogs a 31-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Virgil threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-17 to end it.

Evans, Lucas combo sparks Tulsa to 58-21 win over NC A&T

Dane Evans threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns toKeevan Lucas in less than three quarters and Tulsa rolled to a 58-21 win over North Carolina A&T on Saturday.

Evans and Lucas connected on a 51-yard scoring play late in the first quarter to give the Golden Hurricane a 24-0 lead. They doubled that in the second quarter as the duo had scoring plays of 13 and 52 yards and James Flanders added his second rushing touchdown.

Lucas finished with 119 yards on four receptions and Justin Hobbs had 114 yards on seven. The Golden Hurricanes (2-1) finished with 493 yards of offense. Ryan Rubley threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Rob Riederer late in the third quarter, the first for both.

Lamar Raynard threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the fourth quarter for the Aggies (2-1). Isaiah Hicklin found Malik Wilson for 75 yards in the third quarter after it was 58-0.

Ohio State overcomes sluggish start to beat Tulsa 48-3

Ohio State's stout defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in two games against overmatched Bowling Green and Tulsa. Urban Meyer knows the first real test will come at No. 14 Oklahoma next week.

The Buckeyes intercepted four of Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans' passes Saturday - including pick-sixes by safety Malik Hooker and cornerbackMarshon Lattimore - in in a 48-3 victory.

"Our defense is playing so well right now," Meyer said. "Obviously, the challenge will come next week against a very good team, and we're going to jump on that one early and get ready to go."

The offense, on the other hand, was a little slow to get going Saturday.

After piling up a school-record 776 yards last week against Bowling Green, Ohio State (2-0) didn't score an offensive touchdown against until quarterback J.T. Barrett ran in from 11 yards with 9:42 left in the third quarter.

Tailback Mike Weber, Barrett and H-backs Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilsonadded scoring runs later in the second half to put the game out of reach.

Wilson said Ohio State must come out gunning next week in Norman.

"It will be tough, it will be tough," Wilson said. "That's the plan not to start that way, and I don't think we'll start that way. We've got to establish the running game. Once the running game pops we can start doing better."

Tulsa (1-1) managed only Redford Jones' 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and was limited to 188 total yards on offense.

"We got some things going but just didn't finish when we got in the red zone," Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery said. "We just made too many crucial mistakes at bad times."

Barrett was a pedestrian 14 for 22 for 149 yards and no touchdowns after throwing for six last week.

Weber gained 92 yards on 17 carries and scored his first touchdown as a Buckeye.

Lightning in the area extended halftime to about 70 minutes and driving rain fell throughout the second half, chasing away many of the 104,410 fans.

THE TAKEAWAY

TULSA: The Golden Hurricane played tough against Barrett and the Ohio State offense in the first half, but Tulsa's offense made too many mistakes to stay in the game.

"Right before the half, the picks were a tough pill to swallow," Montgomery said.

OHIO STATE: Ohio State again flexed its defensive muscle and showed its secondary could be among the best in the country. The Buckeyes managed just 158 yards of offense in the first half against a four-touchdown underdog, but the harder the rain fell in the second half, the more they scored. They finished with 417 yards.

KEY NUMBERS:

Samuel again put together a solid game, catching five passes for 62 yards and rushing for 78 yards on 8 carries....The Ohio State defense limited Tulsa to 77 rushing yards on 36 carries for a 2.1 yards-per-carry average....Hooker's second-quarter interception was his third of the season. He returned it 26 yards for a touchdown, marking the second-consecutive game an Ohio State defensive back has a pick-six. Later in the second quarter, Lattimore returned an interception 40 yards for a score....Ohio State defensive end Sam Hubbard tallied a career-high six tackles. Linebacker Raekwon McMillan led the Buckeyes with nine.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

Barrett said Ohio State was confounded by the Tulsa defense in the first half, but halftime adjustments kick-started the attack in the rainy second half.

"That was a hard thing in the first half," he said. "They threw the kitchen sink at us. It was a really good defense. With that being said, trying to adjust to that on the sideline was kind of rough in the first half. Once we got to halftime we made better adjustments."

He said the driving rain wasn't a factor.

POLL IMPLICATIONS:

No. 4 Ohio State walloped a weaker opponent as expected. No. 2 Clemson struggled with an underdog so could possibly lose some votes.

UP NEXT

TULSA: A home game against FCS team North Carolina A&T next week.

OHIO STATE: The real season starts as the Buckeyes travel to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners. Oklahoma slipped to No. 14 in the polls after an opening loss to Houston.

Tulsa rolls in season opener over San Jose St 45-10

D'Angelo Brewer ran for 164 yards and three touchdowns to help Tulsa roll over San Jose State 45-10 in the season opener for both teams on Saturday night.

Dane Evans threw for 198 yards and a TD, Keevan Lucas had 112 yards receiving, and James Flanders added 82 yards rushing for Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane held a 512-287 edge in total yards, and a 305-53 lead in rushing.

Already leading 17-7, Tulsa's Jesse Brubaker intercepted a Kenny Potterpass and returned it 24 yards for a score to give Tulsa 24-7 advantage after one quarter. The Golden Hurricane never looked back, building a 45-7 lead into the fourth quarter.

Potter finished with 234 yards passing and one TD for the Spartans, a 64-yard strike to Rahshead Johnson.

Tulsa has won its last three openers and the victory broke a 3-3 tie in the all-time series between the schools.

Tulsa Golden Hurricanes Season Preview

STORYLINES
Tulsa’s Philip Montgomery makes his head coaching debut this season following a recordbreaking tenure as Baylor’s offensive coordinator. Tulsa has reached double digits in wins four times since the 2007 season, most recently in 2012, when the Golden Hurricane went 11-3 and won the Conference USA title. Tulsa returns 17 starters from last season.
OFFENSE
The Golden Hurricane returns 10 starters from an offensive unit that averaged 412.5 yards per game in 2014. WR Keevan Lucas finished second in The American in receptions (101) and receiving yards (1,219) and last season and led the conference with 11 touchdown receptions. Lucas joins WR Keyarris Garrett to comprise one of the top receiving tandems in the conference. RB Zack Langer was second in The American in rushing in 2014 (80.1 ypg). Langer registered four 100-yard games in his final six appearances. QB Dane Evans ranked second in The Ameican in passing (258.5 ypg) and finished with 23 touchdowns in his first year as the regular starter.
DEFENSE
S Michael Mudoh enters the 2015 season with 271 career tackles, which ranks fourth among returning players in FBS football. Mudoh was sixth in The American last season with 9.4 tackles per game. Mudoh is the lone returning starter in the Tulsa secondary. DT Derrick Luetjen, who has made 24 consecutive starts, and DE Derrick Alexander, who has 23 career starts, lead a veteran defensive line. Alexander earned second-team all-conference accolades in 2014. LB Craig Suits earned FWAA Freshman AllAmerica honors last season after he finished with 81 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in 12 starts.
SPECIAL TEAMS
P Dalton Parks was an honorable mention all-conference selection last season after he averaged 42.0 yards per punt. Tulsa will turn to K Redford Jones as the new placekicker. Jones saw action as a kickoff specialist last season. RB D’Angelo Brewer was second in The American in kickoff returns last season (22.3 ypr).