If the University of Tulsa football team is to become statistically what it was in 2012, it has a lot of catching up to do.
Through three games, the Golden Hurricane ranks 10th in Conference USA in scoring (19-point average), 10th in rushing (120.3 yards per game) and 10th in total offense.
TU's 2012 C-USA rankings: third in scoring (34.7), first in rushing (245.7) and third in total offense (457.1).
With several returning starters and a fifth-year senior quarterback, offense was supposed to have been TU's strength. During Saturday's 51-20 setback at 14th-ranked Oklahoma, as the Hurricane offense couldn't sustain or finish drives and stayed on the field for only 64 plays, pressure on the Tulsa defense was intensified. The Sooners finished with 607 yards.
In his first college start, Sooner quarterback Blake Bell was 27-of-37 passing for 413 yards and four touchdowns. In his 20th college start, TU's Cody Green was 17-of-33 for 226 yards, with one interception.
Last season, Green was a 54 percent passer.
Last month, Hurricane coach Bill Blankenship predicted a higher level of efficiency: "The chemistry between (Green) and the receivers - there's no question that we're much improved there."
Through three games, Green has completed 52 percent of his passes.
TU's leading returning receiver Keyarris Garrett is sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken leg, but in two games he had only seven catches.
Blankenship continues to seem fully invested in Green, who last season quarterbacked Tulsa to 11 wins and the Conference USA championship. As the TU offense faltered during a four-possession sequence that ended with an interception and three punts, did Blankenship consider making a switch to redshirt freshman QB Dane Evans? The question was asked during the postgame news conference.
Blankenship's response: "No."
"We went into this game believing the key for us would be to run the football effectively, and to take care of the controlled passing game," Blankenship explained. "We did not want to get into a spread-it-out-and-throw-every-time (game). That, in my opinion, is what (the OU) defense is built to defend. There's speed all over the place.
"We really wanted to get into a little more of an old-fashioned football game of blocking and running."
After a rough start last season, Green rallied to become a more effective quarterback. At 1-2, TU needs a repeat resurgence to begin during its Thursday, Sept. 26 clash with Iowa State at H.A. Chapman Stadium. In advance of the third meeting of the Hurricane and Cyclones in 13 months, Iowa State is 0-2.
Nationally, TU is 102nd in total offense and 88th in total defense. With extra time to prepare for Iowa State, Tulsa defensive coordinator Brent Guy plans to examine his personnel at every position.
"We've got to sit down as a defense and make some decisions," Guy said. "Try to get more athletic. Find guys who can make plays in space. Not let a 5-yard hitch turn into a 15-yard play.
"We're putting everything on the table. Let's see what gives us the best chance to execute what we want to do, and then finish the play. We've got to shore up ourselves at safety first - from the inside out."
If any one member of the Hurricane team deserves a trophy at this point, it would be senior tailback Trey Watts. He played great at OU (his highlight having been a 77-yard punt return), and he ranks fifth nationally in all-purpose yards at 200 per game.
Up next
Vs. Iowa State
6:30 p.m. Sept. 26
TV: FSOK-27
Radio: KRMG am740, fm102.3
Bill Haisten 918-581-8397
bill.haisten@tulsaworld.com
TU
Logan McCracken led the University of Tulsa men's team to a fifth-place finish Tuesday in the Columbia Regional Preview at The Club of Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo.
Mitchell Wilbekin, rated by Scout.com as a three-star national point guard prospect, confirmed on Monday night his commitment to the University of Tulsa basketball program.
