--- How fast a season goes. Here it was already, our final non-conference game of the season and our final home game of the year as 5-4 Colorado State came to town. The last chance for the fans to say goodbye to our 19 seniors on their home field: HB Sean Fox, FB John Andrews, WR Sean Parks, WR Carlos Anderson, LT John Holt, RT Curt McDonald, C Everett Brantley, DT Clinton Davis, DT Chip Oliver, DT Terrell Smith, LE George Smith, RE Brian White, LOLB Cornelius Morgan, CB Calvin Rogers, CB Aaron McDonald, CB Jason Hall, CB Eric White, FS James Russ, and SS Marcus Owens. Our streak of coin toss futility continued as the Rams won the coin toss and elected to kick.
A 19 yard return by Sean Parks got our offense started at our 17 yard line. Sean Fox was only able to pick up on yard on the first down rush, as Colorado State brought the house, blitzing 9 players on the play. After an incomplete pass, Carlos Anderson kept our drive alive, hauling in a 14 yard pass from Brandon Booth to give us first down at the 33 yard line. A 14 yard pass to Parks was followed with an 11 yard gain on the ground by Fox (thanks to another jailhouse blitz by Colorado State) and we had first down at the Rams 42. After a four yard rush by Fox, Roy Smith was able to gain three yards to leave us with third and two from the 35. Fox would keep the drive moving, picking up a gain of 7 on the third down rush. The Colorado State defense got to Fox on the next play, bringing him down in the backfield for a loss of two yards. After an incomplete pass on second down, a pass from Booth to Chad Fisher went for only a 5 yard gain, and on fourth and 7 from the 25 yard line, we were forced to attempt a field goal. The 41 yard kick from Alphonso Pratt was good and we had a 3-0 lead with 5:28 left in the first quarter.
After a touchback on the kickoff, it was a rough start for the Rams, as they quickly found themselves facing third down after two incomplete passes. Jay Webb would keep the driving moving with a 23 yard pass to Chase Frazier for a first down at the 48 yard line. Another pass, 13 yards to Dustin Thompson, and the Rams had a first down at our 39. After an incomplete pass on first down, Matt Ingram picked up a gain of four on the ground, to set up third and 6. The Rams would not only convert the third down, but find themselves with first and goal at our 6 yard line after a 29 yard strike to Travis Walker. The defense fought back, tackling Ingram for losses of three and two yards, to leave Colorado State with third and goal from the 11 yard line. A 7 yard pass from Webb to Josh Thompson and the Rams were left with fourth and goal at our four. The 21 yard field goal from Dwight Jones was good and we were all knotted up at 3-3 with 3:32 to play in the quarter.
Taking over on our 25 yard line after the kickoff, it was back to the air to try and land the first blow of the game. A pair of 15 yard passes to Anderson, and we had a first down at the CSU 45 yard line. After coming out of the huddle planning run, Booth checked off at the line of scrimmage as Colorado State cheated forward and showed they were bringing the house again. The pass that Booth called an audible to proved ineffective, as Booth’s pass sailed well wide of the receiver’s reach and we were left with second and 10. A second down pass to Fisher picked up 8 yards and Fox would convert for the first down with a three yard rush to get us to the 35 yard line. A first down rush attempt by Fox was again disastrous, as Fox never had a chance, being brought down almost immediately after the handoff for a one yard loss. Anderson would just barely keep the driving going, hauling in a pass from Booth and turn up field just enough to get the first down with a 12 yard gain. A first down pass attempt sailed incomplete as the corner jammed Parks at the line, causing Booth’s pass to sail into nothing but empty grass. We’d find the end zone on the next play, as a smash play would find Fox wide open running towards the pylon, hauling in the pass and racing his coverage to the corner for the 23 yard touchdown pass, giving us a 10-3 lead with one minute left in the quarter. We received some bad news after the play, Anderson had suffered a back spasm. We decided to hold him out for a bit to avoid risk of re-injury.
After a touchback on the kickoff, Ingram picked up 7 yards on a first down rush for CSU, but that would be the only positive of the drive, as two incomplete passes brought out the punt team on fourth and three from the 32 yard line. Parks called for a fair catch on the 47 yard punt, and we began on our drive on our 20 yard line with 27 seconds to play in the quarter. The Rams defense again was more than ready for our run gain, as Fox was swarmed immediately after taking the handoff, being brought down for a one yard loss. We would let the final 13 seconds tick off and bring the first quarter to an end, our lead holding at 10-3.
Start of the second quarter, and a Booth pass intended for Parks was knocked incomplete, leaving us with third and 11 in the young moments of the quarter. Allowing Anderson to return to the field at the start of the second quarter paid off instantly, as he hauled in a pass from Booth for a 19 yard gain and a first down at the 38 yard line. After a three yard pass to Fisher, we came out in a five wide to spread out the defense. Fox was able to beat his defender off the line, getting a step ahead of him. Booth’s pass to Fox dropped perfectly in over the head of defender and hit Fox mid-stride right in the hands. Fox then raced his pursuers down the field before being caught from behind at the two yard line, a 57 yard gain. Parks would extend our lead on the next play, hauling in the two yard touchdown pass from Booth to make it 17-3 with 8:04 left in the half. Colorado State’s next drive started off its poorest yet, as Webb was sacked for a 7 yard loss, to leave CSU with second and 17. An 8 yard rush by Ingram made up the lost yards, but an incomplete pass on third down would force the Rams to punt on fourth and 9 from their 26 yard line. The 41 yard punt was returned 7 yards by Parks to start our drive at our 40 yard line. Trying our chances on the ground again, this time it paid off as Fox rode the holes as they opened up, all the way to the CSU 44 yard line for a 16 yard gain. The middle linebacker blitz through untouched on the next play, missing Fox on the tackle but managing to trip him up for only a two yard gain. Fox would get the first down on the next play, twisting and stumbling his way forward for a gain of 8 to give us first down at the 34 yard line. The middle linebacker again put our offensive line to shame, blitzing through untouched and tackling Fox for no gain. Booth attempted to hit Parks on a second down slant route, but the outside linebacker, Clint Martin, jumped in front of the play, intercepting it and gaining two yards before being brought down at the 31 yard line.
As had been the case, the Rams’ offensive drive started poorly, as the offense got tagged for holding on first down. A 7 yard rush by Ingram made it second and 13, before two incomplete passes would bring the drive to an end at the 27 yard line. A 46 yard punt was returned three yards by Parks, starting us at our 30 yard line for our next drive. Thanks to the fullback picking up the blitzing middle linebacker, and downfield block from the tight end, Fox broke the first down rush for 10 yards to get us to the 40. After a gain of 5 on first down, the middle linebacker made it through untouched yet again, and Fox was wrapped up for no gain, leaving us with third and 5 at the 45 yard line. A third down pass to Ryan Strong would go for 5 yards, leaving us with fourth and inches at midfield. Coach Blankenship told us to finish the job, and Fox would take it up the middle for a four yard gain and first down at the CSU 46 yard line. A first down rush by Smith was only able to gain one yard, as the defense again brought the house, clearly ready after what we had done against North Texas. After an incomplete pass, Booth hit Anderson along the right sideline on third and 9 for a 15 yard gain and first down at the 30 yard line. Fisher would put us back on the board on the next play, as Booth’s pass dropped in over the heads of both safeties, Fisher yanking the ball out from behind his body of the air and taking it 30 yards for the touchdown. The extra point made it 24-3 with 2:10 left in the half.
Colorado State continued to have failures on first down at the beginning of a new drive, as Webb was sacked for a 7 yard loss to leave the Rams with second and 17 at their 18 yard line. A three yard rush by Ingram left third and 14, but Webb would find Walker with the third down pass for a gain of 30 yards and first down at our 49 yard line. Another pass, 12 yards to Frazier was tacked on with an extra two yards after a penalty on the defense. After two incomplete passes, Webb found Ingram for an 18 yard gain and the Rams had first down at our 18 yard line. A 7 yard rush by Ingram got the Rams down to our 11, but the drive would come crashing down. On second and three, Ingram had fought down to our 7 yard line, enough for the first down, but the defense stripped the ball loose, Brian White falling on top of it to recover the fumble and give our offense the ball on our 6 yard line with 59 seconds left in the half. Three straight incomplete passes, and we were forced to punt with 47 seconds on the clock. Ingram called fair catch on the 47 yard punt and the Rams were left starting on their 47 yard line with 42 seconds left. A 5 yard pass to Frazier, and incomplete pass and a three yard rush by Webb left the Rams with fourth and one at our 45 yard line and 20 seconds to play. The Rams would decide to just let the clock run out and head to the locker room, our lead sitting at 24-3 at the half.
After a touchback on the kickoff to open the second half, it was a quick three and out for the Rams, as three straight incomplete passes would bring out the punt team yet again. A 43 yard punt was returned for 14 yards by Parks, and our offense took over at our 46 yard line. A total failure of blocking allowed two linebackers to come in untouched and bring down Fox for a two yard loss. An 8 yard pass to Fisher left us with third and three, which Fox would convert with an 8 yard rush to the CSU 38 yard line. The sideline and crowd suddenly grew concerned when Fox was slow getting up, grabbing his arm in pain.
Continuing the drive while waiting on word from the trainers, Smith was able to avoid a loss after breaking a tackle and gain four yards on the first down play. Smith kept it going, avoiding another loss as he rolled off of a tackle attempt and gained three yards to leave us with third and two at the 31 yard line. Smith would keep his streak going, breaking another tackle and managing to pick up three yards to get us a first down at the 27 yard line. Checking off of a first down run, Booth found Nicholas Roberts for 10 yards over the middle and a first down at the CSU 16 yard line. Smith would set us up with first and goal, after breaking runs of 6 and 7 yards to set us up at the two yard line. It was after the 7 yard rush that word came from the locker room. Our plague of injures at halfback had struck again. Fox was diagnosed with a dislocated elbow, putting him on the sideline for 10 weeks. That now made our first, second and third string halfbacks all on the injury list, as Kiel Fletcher was still sidelined for another 5 weeks with a broken fibula, and Brandon Price had been lost for the season two weeks ago with a torn shoulder muscle. Our new starter at halfback for the rest of the season, 66 OVR redshirt freshman Roy Smith.
Smith would take advantage of the situation, scoring his first touchdown of the season, taking it in off the left tackle for the two yard rush to open our lead to 31-3 with 5:11 left in the quarter. Colorado State would finally visit the end zone for the first time today, as Imgram took the ensuing kickoff 101 yards for the touchdown, closing the lead to 31-10 with 4:43 to play. A 19 yard kickoff return by Fisher and we were starting on our 25 yard line. A two yard gain by Smith and we had second and 8. Chucking up a pass intended for Parks, Booth ended up throwing his second interception of the day, with Martin pulling down his second INT for the game, returning it 6 yards to give Colorado State the ball at our 29 yard line. The Rams would find the end zone on the next play, as Webb hit Thompson for the 29 yard touchdown pass and suddenly our lead had shrunk to 31-17 in a minute and half, with 3:54 remaining in the quarter. A 21 yard kickoff return by Parks and we began our new drive on the 27. Going to the air to try and restore Booth’s confidence, the first down pass attempt was nearly intercepted, knocked away incomplete, before Booth hit Anderson up the left sideline for a 15 yard gain and first down at the 42 yard line. After a four yard run on first down, Smith was stood up for no gain and we found ourselves facing third and 6 at our 46 yard line. Going to the air, the pass intended for Parks was batted down as the defender dove between Parks and the ball and we were forced to punt. The 43 yard punt was returned 12 yards by Ingram and the Rams offense came on to start at their 22 yard line with 2:25 left in the third.
It would be a short lived drive, as Ingram was tackled for a three yard loss, followed by an incomplete pass, before Ingram would manage to gain 5 yards on third down, though it would not be enough, the Rams forced to punt on fourth and 8 form their 24 yard line. Parks called for a fair catch on the 50 yard punt and we took over on offense at our 25. Our offensive line continued to have no answer for the CSU linebackers, as Smith was quickly brought down for a two yard loss on the first down rush attempt. Anderson would keep the drive moving, hauling in a pass over the middle and fighting forward for a gain of 15 yards and a first down at the 38 yard line. Attempting to throw off the CSU defense, a first down WR screen went belly up, as Fisher was tackled for a three yard loss. The second down pass attempt would end up incomplete as Booth was hit as he threw. The third down pass was nearly picked off, but batted down incomplete, and our punt team came out on fourth and 13 with 5 seconds left in the quarter. Ingram called fair catch on the 41 yard punt, and that would bring the third quarter to a close, our lead sitting at 31-17.
Starting the fourth quarter on their 24 yard line, it was another three and out for Colorado State, as Ingram was brought down for a three yard loss, before a 6 yard gain by Ingram and an incomplete pass left the Rams stranded with fourth and 7 at their 27 yard line. Parks returned the 41 yard punt for a gain of 17 yards and we began our drive with our best field position yet, on our 48 yard line. After a 5 yard rush by Smith on first down, a completely blown block by our fullback resulted in Smith being brought down for a loss of 5 yards on the second down pitch play. Anderson was able to break loose from his defender on third down, breaking outside and hauling in a pass from Booth for a 13 yard gain and first down at the 39 yard line to keep our drive breathing. Another failure by the offensive line, and Smith was brought down for a loss of two yards. A second down pass attempt to Parks was nearly intercepted, and we were left with third and 12. Another nearly intercepted pass and we were forced to punt from the 41 yard line with 6:11 to play in the game. The punt sailed 47 yards, going out for a touchback and giving CSU the ball at the 20. Throwing out some trick plays from their playbook to start the drive, the Rams caught our defense sleeping, as a halfback pass from Ingram to Walker went for a gain of 15 yards and a first down at the 35 yard line. After two incomplete passes, Webb found Walker for a 10 yard gain to leave the Rams with fourth and inches at the 45 yard line. Ingram would keep the drive moving, converting fourth down with an 8 yard rush to our 48. Webb went back to the air on first down, finding D. Thompson for a gain of 15 and a first down at our 33 yard line. A three yard rush by Ingram was followed by a gain of 8 yards, and the Rams had first down at our 22 yard line. Webb would hit J. Thompson on first down for a 9 yard pickup, before finding D. Thompson over the middle for the 13 yard touchdown pass to make it 31-24 with 4:09 left in the game.
A 20 yard kickoff return by Fisher left us starting on our own 19, the clock now reading 3:58 to play. A pair of rushes by Smith went for gains of three and two yards to leave us facing third and 5. Strong would keep our drive alive, hauling in a pass over the blitzing defense and gaining 12 yards to give us first down at the 36 yard line, the clock down to 2:30 left to play. Smith would pick up a gain of 8 on the first down carry before a time out by Colorado State stopped the clock at 1:58 to play. Smith would gain one yard on the second down carry, as the Rams called their second timeout to stop the clock with 1:56 left. Living and dying by the run game, Smith was able to fight forward, gaining 6 yards to get us to the CSU 49 yard line with 1:52 to play, Colorado State calling their third and final timeout in desperation. The Rams were not about to give up, tackling Smith on first down for a loss of one yard, before a 7 yard gain made it third and three with 56 seconds to play. Running the clock down to 28 seconds before we snapped the ball, Smith would gain two yards to leave us with fourth and one at the 40. For some reason, Coach Blankenship chose to punt, the ball going out for a touchback and the Rams getting the ball at their 20 yard line with 5 seconds to play. The desperation heave on the final play of the game went to D. Thompson, who managed to gain 36 yards before being brought down by two defenders to end the game, our win preserved, 31-24.
With the win, we send out seniors out in style in their final home game, and improve our record on the year to 9-1, 6-0 in C-USA action. With the loss, Colorado State drops to 5-5, 3-2 in Mountain West play. Next up, it's on the road to UTSA, who enters the game 2-8 on the year, 2-5 in C-USA play. The Roadrunners opened the year 0-5, losing 37-10 at #13 Iowa, 46-22 at Marshall, 56-7 at Indiana, 20-13 at UAB and 26-17 against North Texas. UTSA finally got in the win column with a 21-16 win at Rice. Three more losses, 59-13 at Army, 48-10 to Southern Miss and 45-21 to UTEP set the Roadrunners up for win #2, 28-26 at Tulane heading into their game with us.
Final Score
#24 31,
24
Stat(s) of the Game:
- Tulsa Offense – Another good day passing for Booth, throwing up 309 yards and two touchdown passes, though the two interceptions hurt us big time and nearly cost us the game. Talk about shit luck. We lose our star HB Fletcher early in the season, then we lose our new second string HB Price in our seventh game of the year, and now we lose our third string HB, Fox, in our ninth game. Price is done for the year, Fox is most likely done unless he somehow gets back before the bowl game. Fletcher will be back in time for our bowl game. Here's hoping our fourth string HB, Smith, can keep our run game afloat until then, as we have no one on the depth chart behind him. Only six receivers touched the ball today, all of them getting double digit receiving yards.
- Tulsa Defense – A tale of two halves for the defense. Absolutely dominated the Rams in the first half, allowing nothing, then started giving up some big plays in the second half. Booth through two interceptions surely did not help though.
- Tulsa Kicking – Pratt finally got back to perfection today, hitting his only field goal attempt, fom 41 yards out, and going 4-4 on PATs.
Scoring Summary
Team |
1st Quarter |
2nd Quarter |
3rd Quarter |
4th Quarter |
Final Score |
|
3 |
0 |
14 |
7 |
24 |
|
10 |
14 |
7 |
0 |
31 |
Time |
Team |
Result |
Play |
Score |
First Quarter |
5:32 |
|
Field Goal |
A. Pratt, 41 yard field goal |
3-0 |
3:35 |
|
Field Goal |
D. Jones, 20 yard field goal |
TIED 3-3 |
1:00 |
|
Touchdown |
S. Fox, 23 yard pass from B. Booth (A. Pratt kick) |
10-3 |
|
Second Quarter |
8:04 |
|
Touchdown |
S. Parks, 2 yard pass from B. Booth (A. Pratt kick) |
17-3 |
2:10 |
|
Touchdown |
C. Fisher, 30 yard pass from B. Booth (A. Pratt kick) |
24-3 |
|
Third Quarter |
5:11 |
|
Touchdown |
R. Smith, 2 yard run (A. Pratt kick) |
31-3 |
4:43 |
|
Touchdown |
M. Ingram, returned kickoff 101 yards (D. Jones kick) |
31-10 |
3:54 |
|
Touchdown |
D. Thompson, 29 yard pass from J. Webb (D. Jones kick) |
31-17 |
|
Fourth Quarter |
4:09 |
|
Touchdown |
D. Thompson, 13 yard pass from J. Webb (D. Jones kick) |
31-24 |
Game Stats
Colorado State |
Stat |
Tulsa |
24 |
Score |
31 |
11 |
First Downs |
24 |
326 |
Total Offense |
442 |
17 - 62 - 0 |
Rushes - Yards - TD |
41 - 133 - 1 |
15 - 33 - 2 |
Comp - Att - TD |
22 - 40 - 3 |
264 |
Passing Yards |
309 |
2 |
Times Sacked |
0 |
4 - 13 (30%) |
3rd Down Conversion |
11 - 18 (61%) |
1 - 1 (100%) |
4th Down Conversion |
1 - 1 (100%) |
0 - 0 (0%) |
2-Point Conv |
0 - 0 (0%) |
3 - 1 - 1 (66%) |
Red Zone - TD - FG |
3 - 2 - 0 (66%) |
1 |
Turnovers |
2 |
1 |
Fumbles Lost |
0 |
0 |
Intercepted |
2 |
12 |
Punt Return Yards |
41 |
101 |
Kick Return Yards |
79 |
439 |
Total Yards |
562 |
6 – 45.3 |
Punts - Average |
5 - 42.6 |
1 - 10 |
Penalties |
1 - 2 |
13:38 |
Time of Possession |
22:22 |
Tulsa Contract Goals Update
Fail Impact |
Goal |
Progress |
Pass Impact |
|
Win 8 games in one season |
|
|
|
13+ passing TD in one season |
|
|
|
14+ points per game in each season |
39 |
|
|
7+ rushing TD in one season |
|
|
|
2400+ total offensive yards in one season |
|
|
|
2400+ total offensive yards in each season |
1/2 Passed |
|
|
Win 4 games in one season |
|
|
|
2000+ total offensive yards in one season |
|
|
Job Security Status
94%
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