Smooth Pancakes' Coaching Carousel Career

Time for another look around the nation. Starting in the Top 25, #1 Texas had some trouble early on, tied 3-3 with Louisiana Lafayette after the first quarter, and at one point, only leading 17-10 in the middle of the second quarter. But the Longhorns eventually pulled away for a 34-10 win over the Ragin' Cajuns. #2 Clemson also had to weather an upset-hungry Duke squad, losing 17-14 going into the fourth quarter, before a pair of touchdowns put the Tigers ahead for the 28-17 win. The game of the week went to #4 Notre Dame, who jumped out to a 27-14 lead by the end of the third quarter, then held off a fourth quarter comeback, when trailing 28-27 with just a couple minutes left, scored the game winning touchdown with 2:10 to play to beat #8 Michigan 35-28.

#6 TCU escaped Stillwater with a 38-33 win over Oklahoma State. #9 Iowa came back from behind to beat #21 Rutgers 31-27. #10 Alabama won the SEC battle of the week, beating #24 South Carolina 38-20. In a Big Ten battle, it was #13 Nebraska triumphing, using a 21-0 third quarter to beat #15 Ohio State (and hand the Buckeyes their first loss), 38-24. Vanderbilt improved to 4-0 on the year, knocking off #16 Georgia. Mississippi State got back to .500 with a 35-21 upset of #18 Texas A&M. Ole Miss stayed undefeated at 3-0 with a 34-21 knock off of #20 Georgia Tech, knocking the Yellow Jackets from the ranks of the unbeaten. And #23 NC State scored a game winning touchdown with 2:15 to play to hold off Virginia 24-20 and stay undefeated at 4-0.

For our readers, souljahbill, Southern Miss improves to 3-1, picking up a 55-21 win over Connecticut. Jaymo, Arizona State drops to 1-3 (0-1 Pac-12) on the season with a 49-27 loss to Colorado. Mors, victory is short lived, as West Virginia drops to 1-3 (1-1 Big 12) with a 27-21 loss to Maryland. Other teams of interest, Arkansas State drops to .500, 2-2 on the year, with a 35-7 loss at Nevada.

In C-USA action, Marshall got a 33-21 win over North Texas, knocking the Mean Green down to 1-1 and getting us back even with them. Rice lost 17-10 to FAU, dropping them to 0-1 in conference. MTSU drops to 0-2 in conference with a 23-14 loss to UAB. UTEP and UTSA have yet to start conference play, both sitting at 0-0, but both also played impressively, despite losing. UTSA took Minnesota to overtime before falling 28-21. UTEP took Air Force to the wire, ultimately losing 31-27 as Air Force scored two unanswered touchdowns in the final minutes of the game. So despite opening the conference schedule with the loss to North Texas, we suddenly find ourselves tied with North Texas for the division lead, us the only two teams even with a C-USA victory in the West Division.

Taking a look at the new Top 25 polls, in the Coaches Poll, Texas (40 first place votes) remains #1, Notre Dame (21 votes) leaps two up to #2. Clemson falls one to #3, LSU falls one to #4, Oklahoma remains at #5. TCU and Auburn both remain at #6 and #7. Iowa, Alabama and USC all jump one to #8, #9 and #10. Oregon and Nebraska both climb one to #11 and #12. Michigan falls five to #13. Wisconsin remains at #14, Miami jumps two to #15, Arkansas leaps three to #16. Ohio State falls two to #17, Boise State jumps four to #18, NC State jumps four to #19 and Virginia Tech climbs five to #20. Ole Miss enters the poll this week at #21, Rutgers falls one to #22, Arizona enters the poll at #23, Georgia Tech falls four to #24, and Michigan State enters the poll at #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Georgia (from #16), Texas A&M (from #18) and South Carolina (from #24). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Georgia (160 votes) is #26, followed by Houston (155), South Carolina (140), Northwestern (139) and Texas A&M (69) to round out the Top 30.

In the first Media Poll of the year, Texas (37 first place votes) remains #1, LSU (22 votes) remains #2. Notre Dame (4 votes) jumps two to #3, Clemson (1 vote) falls one to #4 and Oklahoma (1 vote) falls one to #5. TCU remains at #6, Auburn climbs one to #7. Iowa, Alabama and Wisconsin all also climb one to #8, #9 and #10. USC moves up one to #11, Michigan falls five to #12, Nebraska jumps two #13, Oregon remains at #14 and Miami jumps two to #15. Arkansas moves up two to #16, Ohio State falls four to #17, NC State leaps give to #18, South Carolina drops three to #19, Boise State climbs four to #20. Ole Miss enters the poll at #21, Virginia Tech enters the poll at #22, Rutgers falls one to #23, Michigan State climbs one to #24 and Houston enters the poll at #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Georgia (from #16), Texas A&M (from #18) and Georgia Tech (from #20). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Arizona (198 votes) is #26, following by Georgia Tech (178), Northwestern (164), Georgia (96) and Texas A&M (54) to round out the Top 30.

Good bounce back game man. The conference is, at least, very much still up for grabs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morsdraconis

Good bounce back game man. The conference is, at least, very much still up for grabs.

---

Thanks man. I was worried for a bit there, between the LTU touchdown to tie it up and then only managing a field goal after that. Only up 10-7, the game was still wide open and I was worried. But the defense buckled down, and the offense surprisingly came to life, and we ended up rolling. It was great to get that win, gets us back above .500, gets us even in the conference and back into a tie for first place in the division.

UAB is gonna be a huge game. I've never played them before, so I have absolutely no clue what to expect. As well, I have a bunch of recruits visiting, going with an early season visit to try and either extend my leads over the second and third place teams, or using the push from the visits to jump the teams ahead of me and try and build up a lead and some early commits, stealing the recruits from other teams.

Now where the hell was this offense all season long?

Game Six

:UAB: :@: :Tulsa:



Game Notes

--- Fresh off our first conference victory of the season, propelling us back into a tie for first place in the West Division, it was back to our home field to take on a new opponent, the UAB Blazers. Without past on the field experience against UAB, all we had to go by were the stats. They were atrocious in defense, coming in with the #119 ranked defense and #118 ranked passing defense, making for a potential field day for our passing game. Their rushing defense wasn’t much better, ranked #74. They had woes of their own on offense, with the #95 ranked offense and #93 ranked passing offense. Their only saving grace was having a ranking of #59 in rush offense. One issue for us was that Brad Stephens would be starting for yet another game, as Casey Bishop remained on the injury list with a pulled hamstring, still listed as questionable, and us not wanting to take the chance and risk aggravating the injury before it healed 100%. UAB won the coin toss and elected to receive.

A 19 yard return on the opening kickoff gave UAB the ball to start at their 19 yard line. It was a quick start, as Davin Carpenter took the handoff twice for gains of two and 5 yards, before Adam Gardner completed a third down pass to Anthony Freeman for 13 yards and a first down at the 39. A 5 yard rush by Ryan Griffin was followed with a 7 yard gain by Gardner for a new set of downs. Two more rushes by Carpenter went for gains of four and 5 yards, before an incomplete pass by Gardner left the Blazers with fourth and inches on our 39 yard line. UAB elected to go for it on fourth down, Gardner connecting with Harvey Sullivan for a 5 yard gain and a first down. After an incomplete pass on first down, the defense was able to sack Gardner for a loss of one yard, leaving third and 11 from the 35. A dropped pass by Freeman would leave UAB stalled out at the 35. Apparently outside the field goal range of their kick, UAB punted the ball away, sailing out of the back of the end zone for a touchback, giving our offense the ball at the 20 yard line.

Taking the ball up the middle on first down, Brandon Price plowed through the line and broke into the open for a 13 yard gain to the 33 yard line. Price continued to show the UAB defense the way of life in Tulsa, as he stormed ahead for a 19 yard gain, giving us yet another first down at the UAB 48 yard line. The defense finally started to make a stand, tackling Price for only a gain of two yards. Testing out the Achilles heel of the UAB defense, we went to the air on second down, Brad Stephens completing a 21 yard pass to Chad Fisher to give us another first down at the 25 yard line. Stephens, just avoiding the sack, chucked up a pass to Eric Hayden, but the linebacker made a play on the ball and nearly intercepted it, the ball bouncing off his hands and falling to the ground nearby. We would find the end zone on the next play, as Stephens hit Max Thompson on an out route, Thompson pushing off a tackle attempt after making the catch, and with Hayden blocking the cornerback and sealing him inside, had nothing but green in front of him as he raced 25 yards up the sideline for the touchdown, giving us a 7-0 lead with 4:07 left in the first quarter.

No return on the kickoff left UAB starting from their 25 yard line. Carpenter got the drive started with a pair of rushes for gains of 6 and 7 yards. A pass from Gardner to Freeman picked up 8 yards to leave second and two at the 46. After an incomplete pass on second down, the defense broke through on third down, tackling Michael Rivers for a four yard loss to leave fourth and 6. A 5 yard return by Price on the 42 yard punt gave our offense the ball back at our 20 yard line. Stephens decided to go for the long bomb, heaving up a pass down the right sideline to Hayden, but the cornerback was able to get the jump in front of Hayden and bat the ball down incomplete. A second down pass to Fisher was complete for a gain of 12 yards and we had a first down at the 32 yard line. A smash route by Nicholas Roberts paid off with an 18 yard gain to midfield, as Stephens threaded the needle between the safety and cornerback to complete the pass. Keeping it going through the air, a pass to Fisher on a comeback route was completed for 16 yards, giving us first down at the UAB 34 yard line. A first down pass to Hayden was off target, nearly intercepted by the middle linebacker, leaving second down. A deep pass down the sideline to Hayden was momentarily brought down, but the hit by the safety knocked the ball loose while simultaneously pushing Hayden out of bounds before he could get his feet down. Finding Thompson over the middle, Stephens completed the pass for a 15 yard gain, keeping the drive alive with a first down at the 19 yard line. A first down pass to Donny Jordon picked up 16 yards and we had first and goal from the three yard line. Despite coming out in a goal line defense, the Blazers had no answer as Price took the handoff and sprinted into the end zone for the three yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

A 16 yard kickoff return left UAB starting from their 17 yard line on their next drive. After throwing the ball away on first down, Carpenter took the handoff for an 8 yard gain, leaving third and two. A thrown away ball would leave the Blazers punting on fourth and two. Unfortunately, the punt would never happen, as our defense was lured into an encroachment penalty, the Blazers getting 5 free yards and a first down at the 30 yard line as the first quarter came to an end, our lead at 14-0.

Opening up the second quarter, our defense continued to shoot themselves in the foot, getting flagged for a 15 yard facemask penalty, giving UAB a first down at the 45 yard line. A pass to Griffin went for 5 yards, before Gardner connected with Freeman for a 17 yard gain and a first down at our 33 yard line. A pair of rushes by Carpenter picked up two and 6 yards, leaving third and two from our 26. The Blazers would get the first down and then some, as Gardner completed a pass to Sullivan for 16 yards to set up first down at our 10 yard line. UAB would find the end zone on the next play, Gardner throwing up a pass to Griffin in the back of the end zone for the 10 yard touchdown, cutting our lead to 14-7. A 19 yard kickoff return by Price gave us the ball at our 20 yard line. We would find the end zone in one play, taking advantage of a two on one mismatch, Price hauling in a pass after Hayden lured the cornerback away, and racing both safeties, the cornerback and the outside linebacker 80 yards downfield for the touchdown, extending our lead out to 21-7 with 7:17 to go.

A touchback on the following kickoff gave UAB the ball at their 25. It seemed to be falling apart for the Blazers, as Gardner was tackled for a loss of three yards, followed by an incomplete pass to leave third and 13. Gardner would keep the drive alive though, finding Josh Smith up the right sideline for a 22 yard gain and a first down around the 45. The Blazers suffered their first miscue of the day, as the offense was flagged for false start, leaving first and 15. After getting tacked for a loss of three yards, Carpenter recovered and gained 7 yards on the next play, leaving UAB with third and 11. Carpenter would take the ball on the ground once more, fighting his way forward for 8 yards, but not enough as the Blazers facing fourth and four at our 49. No return on the 38 yard punt left our offense starting at our 11 yard line. Looking to do a little clock managed with 5:47 left, it was back to our ground game. Price continued to stuff it down the throats of the UAB defense, rushing ahead for an 11 yard gain to the 22. Rushing off the left tackle, Price was able to get 7 yards on first down. Keeping the ball himself, Stephens got a slew of block that sealed off the right edge of the defense, allowing him to get outside the cornerback and turn the corner up-field for a 19 yard gain and a first down at the 48 yard line. Going with a toss play, Price turned up inside after finding the outside route blocked, managing to fight ahead for a 6 yard gain. Going with the play action pass, the defense never had a chance, biting on the fake and allowing Price to swing out of the backfield on a wheel route, hauling in the pass from Stephens for a 23 yard gain and a first down at the 24 yard line. Going back into the air on first down, Stephens threw a tight spiral right over the head of the middle linebacker, into the arms of Hayden who managed to get behind the secondary and turn up the field untouched for the 24 yard touchdown and a 28-7 lead with 3:10 to play in the half.

A touchback on the kickoff left UAB starting from their 25 yard line and searching for answers as the game was quickly getting out of hand. The Blazers were able to find one answer, as Gardner hit Dan Wright over the middle for a 20 yard gain on first down. After an incomplete pass, Gardner picked up four yards with his legs, before finding Carpenter for a 14 yard gain to get a first down at our 37 yard line. The drive would stall there, as two incomplete passes and a sack for a loss of 7 yards left the Blazers punting on fourth and 17 from our 45 yard line. No return on the 32 yard punt gave our offense the ball to start at our 12 yard line, 1:36 left on the clock. The first down pass to Fisher hit him in the hands, but Fisher was unable to hold on, leaving second down. A missed tackled by the cornerback allowed Fisher to haul in a pass from Stephens on the comeback route, turn outside and race up the sideline to the UAB 45 yard line for a 43 yard gain. A first down pass intended for Hayden nearly ended in disaster, as the outside linebacker jumped the route and almost intercepted the pass. A smash route by Roberts allowed him to get the jump on the safety, hauling in the pass from Stephens and sprinting for a 31 yard gain before being pushed out of bounds at the 14 yard line. The defense finally got a victory against our offense, sacking Stephens on first down for a loss of 8 yards, leaving second and 18 from the 22. A bad pass by Stephens intended for Hayden left us with third and long. A pass to Thompson went for a gain of 17 yards, leaving fourth and one from the 5 yard line. Deciding to go for it on fourth and short, Price took the handoff from Stephens, bounced outside the left tackle and raced to the pylon for the 5 yard touchdown rush and a 35-7 lead with 22 seconds left in the first half.

A 23 yard kickoff return gave UAB the ball at their 25 yard line, but only 10 seconds on the clock. Carpenter would take the first down handoff for a gain of four yards, as UAB opted to head to halftime without any further damage, our lead 35-7.

A touchback on the kickoff to open the third quarter gave our offense the ball at our 25 yard line, looking for one more strike to put the final nail in the coffin before bringing out the young’uns. Breaking loose from a pair of tackles, Price took the first down carry for a 7 yard gain to the 32. Keeping it going on the ground, Price ran outside the left tackle, juking a defender before being pushed down by the safety for a 9 yard gain, but not before getting the first down at the 41 yard line. The defense was ready this time, as Price could only manage two yards before being brought down by a pair of defenders. Stephens would show the defense who’s boss this game, keeping the ball himself on second down, getting blocks to seal in the right side of the defense, turning up the field past the right tackle, juking away from the diving tackle by the safety, and racing the rest of the defense up the sideline for a 57 yard touchdown rush and a 42-7 lead with 7:10 left in the third quarter.

A touchback gave UAB the ball at their 25 yard line, all hopes of a win long dead and gone, now playing for pride and to save some face. They would find none of that on this drive, as three straight incomplete passes, two of them dropped, left UAB punting the ball right back. A 6 yard return on the 48 yard punt gave our offense the ball at our 33. The defense seemed all but ready to give up, as Price took the handoff, weaved us way through a couple of mini-holes, and picked up 17 yards to give us a first down at the 49 yard line. Disengaging off a block, the defensive tackle was able to avert another huge gain by Price, instead tackling him for only 5 yards to leave second down. A 6 yard gain by Price was enough for the first down, moving the chains to the UAB 40 yard line. Breaking loose from an ankle tackle, Price avoided the loss of yards and was able to fight forward for a four yard gain. This time the defense wouldn’t let him escape, tackling him for no gain to leave third and 6. A pass intended for Roy Smith was nearly intercepted, knocked incomplete to leave fourth down from the 36 yard line. Our offense got new life with the defense was flagged for roughing the kicker on the field goal attempt, giving us 15 free yards and a first down at the 21 yard line. Back out on the field, Price continued punishing the defense, busting up the middle for an 11 yard gain to set up first down at the 10 yard line. Price took it up the middle again for a 6 yard gain to leave second and four. Price would find the end zone again on the next play, rushing up the middle untouched for the 5 yard touchdown and a 49-7 lead with 3:29 left to go in the third quarter.

Another touchback on the kickoff and UAB again found themselves at their 25 yard line to start. After another dropped pass, this time Gardner found Smith for a 13 yard gain and a first down to the 38 yard line. Yet another dropped pass was followed with a 5 yard scramble by Gardner to leave third and 5. A pass to Carpenter for a gain of 7 yards gave UAB another first down at the 49 yard line. A deep strike to Wright for a 21 yard gain gave UAB a new set of downs at our 30 yard line, the Blazers suddenly in striking position. The drive would die there, as three straight incomplete passes, the last one dropped by Smith, left UAB stranded on fourth and 10. The 47 yard field goal by Willie Young cut the score to 49-10 with 1:52 to go in the third.

A touchback started our next drive at our 25 yard line, now working on chewing up clock and getting out of here without suffering any late, unnecessary injuries. Price started the drive with another 11 yard gain, giving us a quick first down at the 36 yard line as the clock ticked. Price took the ball again, rushing ahead for a 9 yard gain, before following that up with a 7 yard rush to get the first down at the UAB 48 yard line. That would be the last play of the quarter, as the final 28 seconds ticked off the clock without another snap, the third quarter coming to an end, our lead at 49-10.

Starting the fourth quarter, it was more of the same as Price took the handoff up the middle for a 7 yard gain. A 9 yard rush by Price got the first down at the 32 yard line, the clock continuing to tick. Bouncing outside on first down, Price was able to pick up four yards, followed by a 9 yard rush to get the first down at the 19 yard line. Giving Price a breather, Smith came in on first down, taking the handoff and continuing to pound the defense, rushing up the gut for a 14 yard gain to get first and goal at the 5 yard line. Continuing to pound the ball, Price took the handoff for a three yard gain to set up second and goal from the two yard line. Price would punch it in from 5 yard out on the next play for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game, extending our lead to 56-10 with 5:35 left in the game.

No return on the kickoff left UAB starting at their 25 yard line, the Blazers by now just trying to get the game done. After an incomplete pass on first down, Gardner completed a pass to Wright for 5 yards, but an incomplete pass on third down left the Blazers with fourth and 5 at their 30 yard line and punting once more. A 12 yard return by Price on the 40 yard punt gave us the ball at our 41 yard line, 4:50 left on the clock, and the second team offense on the field. The second team offense line was clearly weaker, as the UAB defense blew through to tackle Smith for a two yard gain on first down. A three yard gain by Smith left us with third and 5 at the 46 yard line, the clock ticking down to three and a half minutes left. Trying to keep the drive alive, Erik Wallace threw his first pass of his collegiate career, completing a two yard pass to Thompson, but it wasn’t enough as we punted away on fourth and three. The punt sailed deep, hitting down inside the 15 yard line and bouncing clear back into the end zone for a touchback.

Starting at the 20 yard line, the drive lasted one disastrous play for UAB, as Carpenter plowed into the pile on first down and was stripped of the ball, recovered by defensive tackle Chris Peoples, giving us possession at the UAB 26 yard line with 2:54 to play. Smith took the first down handoff, rushing through a pair of gaps for a 12 yard gain to the UAB 14 yard line. Another rush by Smith picked up three yards to the 11 yard line. Playing bumpers, Smith bounced his way around between defenders, moving forward inside the 5 yard line before being tackled forward by both the outside and middle linebackers, the momentum carrying all three into the end zone for the 11 yard touchdown rush and a 63-10 lead with 1:39 to play.

A 23 yard kickoff return gave UAB the ball at their 25 yard line. The Blazers refused to go down without a fight, as Justin Richardson, getting his first taste at QB, connected deep with Griffin for a 21 yard gain to set up first down at the 46 yard line. Another pass to Williams gained 9 yards to leave second and one at our 45 yard line, the clock down to one minute. After an incomplete pass left third down, Austin Richardson rushed up the middle for a 6 yard gain, getting the first down at our 39 yard line, the clock down to 45 seconds. After an incomplete pass on first down, A. Richardson plowed up the middle for an 8 yard gain to our 31 yard line, the clock down to 24 seconds. A 5 yard rush by A. Richardson would get the first down at our 26 yard line, the last 11 seconds ticking off the clock without another snap, our 63-10 victory now final.

With the win, we improve to 4-2, 2-1 in C-USA action. With the loss, UAB drops to 1-3, 1-1 in C-USA play. Up next, it's a home date with the Toledo Rockets. Toledo enters the contest with a 3-1 (1-1 MAC) record, opening the year with a 38-27 win over UCLA and a 31-17 victory at UMass. The Rockets suffered their first loss, 28-20 at rival Bowling Green, before recovering with a 27-24 win against Akron.

Final Score
:Tulsa: 63, :UAB: 10



Stat(s) of the Game:
- Tulsa Offense – In what may be his last game as starter for this season, Stephens had one hell of a day, throwing for 340 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 68 yards and one touchdown on three carries. Price was without a doubt the player of the game, rushing for 197 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries, while also ending with 103 yards receiving and one touchdown on two receptions. A pretty decent day for all rushers, as Smith ended with 47 yards and a touchdown on four carries, Stephens ended with 68 yards and a touchdown on three carries. 6 receivers caught a ball today, Price leading the way. Next up was Fisher who finished with 92 yards, but no touchdowns, on four receptions.

- Tulsa Defense – Another great day. Have up some big drives that let UAB get down into our territory, but only gave up 10 points for the day, which is always a victory in its own right.

- Tulsa Kicking – A perfect day for Pratt. Didn't attempt any field goals, but was 9-9 in PATs.



Scoring Summary

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final Score
:UAB:	0	7	3	0	10
:Tulsa:	14	21	14	14	63

Time	Team	Result	Play	Score
First Quarter
4:07	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	M. Thompson, 25 yard pass from B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 7-0
0:36	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 3 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 14-0
Second Quarter
7:37	:UAB:	Touchdown	R. Griffin, 10 yard pass from A. Gardner (W. Young kick)	:Tulsa: 14-7
7:17	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 80 yard pass from B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 21-7
3:10	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	E. Hayden, 24 yard pass from B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 28-7
0:22	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 6 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 35-7
Third Quarter
7:20	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Stephens, 57 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 42-7
3:29	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 5 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 49-7
1:56	:UAB:	Field Goal	W. Young, 46 yard field goal	:Tulsa: 49-10
Fourth Quarter
5:35	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 2 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 56-10
1:39	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	R. Smith, 11 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 63-10

Game Stats

UAB	Stat	Tulsa
10	Score	63
17	First Downs	24
306	Total Offense	654
23 - 100 - 0	Rushes - Yards - TD	37 - 312 - 6
16 - 38 - 1	Comp - Att - TD	14 - 22 - 3
206	Passing Yards	342
2	Times Sacked	1
7 - 16 (43%)	3rd Down Conversion	1 - 4 (25%)
1 - 1 (100%)	4th Down Conversion	1 - 1 (100%)
0 - 0 (0%)	2-Point Conv	0 - 0 (0%)
4 - 1 - 0 (25%)	Red Zone - TD - FG	5 - 5 - 0 (100%)
1	Turnovers	0
1	Fumbles Lost	0
0	Intercepted	0
0	Punt Return Yards	23
81	Kick Return Yards	19
387	Total Yards	696
6 – 39.8	Punts - Average	1 - 52.0
2 - 20	Penalties	3 - 31
13:03	Time of Possession	22:57

Tulsa Contract Goals Update

Fail Impact	Goal	Progress	Pass Impact
:6redarrow:	21+ points per game in each season	26	:6greenarrow:
	Win 10 games in one season	4	:6greenarrow:
	3300+ passing yards each season	1352	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	65% pass completions over the entire contract	61%	:5greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	Win 6 games in one season	4	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	15+ rushing TD in each season	12	:5greenarrow:
:4redarrow:	3200+ total offensive yards each season	2402	:3greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	3400+ total offensive yards each season	2402	:2greenarrow:

Job Security Status

43%

I'll sum up my feelings and thoughts about that game in two simple gifs.

http://blacksportsonline.com/index/5odn3a.gif http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs/155630_o.gif

Time for another look around the nation. Starting in the Top 25, #2 Notre Dame survived another scare, holding off a tenacious Nevada squad 49-44 in a wild shootout. Nevada returned a kickoff 99 yards for a TD with 1:30 left, but missed the 2-point conversion and failed to recover the onside kick to preserve the Irish victory. 4-1 Pittsburgh strikes the upset of the week, jumping out to an early lead and holding on to knock off #3 Clemson 31-21. Following right on the footsteps of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt improves to 5-0 with a 45-28 upset and dismantling of #4 LSU.

#6 TCU needed a 17-0 run throughout the second half to come back from behind and pull out a 28-17 win over SMU. #21 Ole Miss improves to 4-0, scoring a late touchdown with 2:36 to play to knock off #9 Alabama 14-13, handing the Tide their second loss and officially eliminating any hopes Alabama had of defending their title. Idaho put up a hell of a fight, only trailing 17-14 against #11 Oregon midway through the third quarter, but a 17-0 run by the Ducks would put them ahead for good for the 34-14 win. The Big Ten continues to beat itself up, as Maryland improves to .500 on the year with a 24-13 upset of #13 Michigan.

Texas A&M hands #16 Arkansas their second loss of the year with a 42-35 win, scoring the game winner with 1:07 to play. #22 Rutgers hands #17 Ohio State their second straight loss, beating the Buckeyes 27-24 courtesy of a 21-0 second half comeback, scoring the winning touchdown with 2:35 left. #19 NC State improves to 5-0 on the year, scoring 17 straight points to pull out a 27-24 win over #20 Virginia Tech. Air Force knocks #18 Boise State from the ranks of the unbeaten (while the Falcons stay unbeaten themselves) with a 17-6 win over the Broncos. Washington State put up a hell of a fight, but #23 Arizona remains undefeated, holding on for the 38-24 win.

For our readers, souljahbill, Southern Miss improves to 4-1 (1-0 C-USA), picking up a 26-7 win over North Texas. Jaymo, Arizona State drops to 1-4 (0-2 Pac-12) on the season with a 45-28 loss to Stanford. Mors, West Virginia drops to 1-4 (1-2 Big 12) with a 38-31 loss to 4-0 Kansas. Other teams of interest, Arkansas State 2-2 on the year with a bye week.

In C-USA action, UTSA falls to 0-1 in-conference with a 38-28 loss to FIU. UTEP beats Marshall 37-28 to start 1-0 in conference play. Southern Miss beating North Texas 26-7 now drops the Mean Green a full game behind me. So despite opening the conference schedule with the loss to North Texas, we suddenly find ourselves with an outright grasp on first place in the West Division with a 2-1 conference record, UTEP right behind me at 1-0, North Texas further back at 1-2. Rice and UTSA are both sitting 0-1, MTSU in dead last at 0-3.

On another note, goodbye Oregon State from the ranks of undefeated teams. BYU knocks off Oregon State 35-32 to drop them to 4-1.

Looking at undefeated teams left, with #3 Clemson, #4 LSU, #18 Boise State, Illinois and Oregon State all losing this week, our number of undefeated teams sits at 18. #1 Texas (3-0), #2 Notre Dame (5-0), #5 Oklahoma (3-0), #6 TCU (5-0), #7 Auburn (5-0), #8 Iowa (5-0), #10 USC (5-0), #11 Oregon (3-0), #14 Wisconsin (4-0), #15 Miami (3-0), #19 NC State (5-0), #21 Ole Miss (4-0), #23 Arizona (5-0), Air Force (3-0), Colorado (4-0), Kansas (4-0), Northwestern (4-0) and Vanderbilt (5-0) all remain with an unblemished record this season.

Turning to a more sadistic watch, who is still winless. There remains 8 teams still looking for their first win: Central Michigan (0-5), Kentucky (0-5), Memphis (0-5), New Mexico State (0-5), UMass (0-5), USF (0-4), Western Kentucky (0-4) and Wyoming (0-4).

Teams getting their first win this week were: Eastern Michigan (24-16 over 2-2 Ohio), UCF (27-26 over 2-3 Navy) and Washington (51-3 over 0-4 Western Kentucky).

On a player/awards note, that 197 yards rushing with 4 TDs and 103 yards receiving with one TD performance catupaulted Brandon Price up to third on the Heisman Watch list behind Jordan Cooke (Notre Dame QB) and Matt Blount (Georgia HB). Also on the list behind Price is Andrew Schmidt (TCU QB) and Caleb Davis (North Carolina HB). That performance against UAB also had Price taking home NCAA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Curtis Franklin, senior left defensive end from FIU took home NCAA Defensive Player of the Week, with 10 tackles, 8 tackles for a loss, three assisted tackled and four sacks against UTSA. This was also Price's second C-USA Offensive Player of the Week selection of the season.

Taking a look at the new Top 25 polls, in the Coaches Poll, Notre Dame (34 first place votes) takes advantage of a win over Nevada and a bye week for Texas to leap the Longhorns and become the new #1. Texas (25 votes) drops one to #2. Oklahoma (1 vote) jumps two to #3, Auburn (1 vote) jumps three to #4, and Iowa jumps three to #5. TCU remains stuck at #6, USC jumps three to #7, Oregon jumps three to #8, Wisconsin and Miami both leap 5 to #9 and #10. Clemson falls eight to #11, Nebraska remains #12, NC State leaps six to #13, Vanderbilt enters the poll at #14, Ole Miss jumps six to #15, LSU drops twelve spots to #16. Alabama drops eight to #17, Arizona jumps five to #18, Rutgers moves up three to #19, Pittsburgh enters the poll at #20. Northwestern enters the poll at #21, Ohio State falls five to #22, Georgia Tech climbs one to #23, Arkansas falls eight to #24 and Texas A&M enters the poll at #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Michigan (from #13), Boise State (from #18), Virginia Tech (from #20) and Michigan State (from #25). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Michigan State (187 votes) is #26, followed by Michigan (185), Virginia Tech (151), Georgia (149) and Houston (139) to round out the Top 30. Also receiving votes are Boise State (109), South Carolina (105) and Colorado (45).

In the first Media Poll of the year, Texas (38 first place votes) remains #1, Notre Dame (23 votes) jumps one to #2, Oklahoma (1 vote) jumps two to #3, Auburn (1 vote) climbs three to #4, Iowa (1 vote) climbs three to #5 and TCU (1 vote) remains at #6. Wisconsin and USC both jump three to #7 and #8, while Oregon and Miami both jump five to #9 and #10. Ole Miss leaps ten to #11, Vanderbilt enters the poll at #12, NC State jumps five to #13, Clemson falls ten to #14 and Nebraska drops two to #15. LSU plummets fourteen to #16, Alabama falls eight to #17, Pittsburgh and Arizona both enter the poll at #18 and #19, while Rutgers climbs three to #20. South Carolina falls two to #21, Northwestern enters the poll at #22, Ohio State drops six to #23, Arkansas falls eight to #24 and Michigan State falls one to #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Michigan (from #13), Boise State (from #18), Virginia Tech (from #20) and Houston (from #25). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Michigan (217 votes) is #26, followed by Texas A&M (205), Houston (178), Georgia Tech (175) and Virginia Tech (109) to round out the Top 30. Also receiving votes are Georgia (102), Colorado (93), Boise State (66) and Fresno State (22).

Holy shit! What a horrible week to be in the top 25. I'm not even through the first quarter against Toledo and the scores I've seen during the studio updates. Damn...

Game Seven

:Toledo: :@: :Tulsa:



Game Notes

--- Fresh off our pounding of UAB, it was time for a break from conference action as we welcome the Toledo Rockets to town in our final non-conference game of the season. Toledo was sort of a mixed bag, coming in with the #48 passing offense, but also having the #94 rushing offense. On the other side of the ball, they were ranked #20 in the nation for rushing defense, but came in at #102 in pass defense. It would be a day of testing for our pass defense, as well as for our running game, going up against the #20 rush defense. Casey Bishop continued to be listed as questionable on the injury report with a pulled hamstring, giving Brad Stephens yet another start and notch on his belt in his young career. Turnovers would be a potential issue today, as the rain poured down. We won the coin toss and elected to kick.

A touchback on the opening kickoff gave Toledo the ball at their 25 yard line. Going to the air on first down, Randall Wallace completed a pass to Shaun Byrd for 9 yards, the drive off to a promising start, but two dropped passed would leave the Rockets stalled and the punt team coming out on fourth and one. A fair catch on the 48 yard punt got us started at our 18 yard line. It would be an extremely long day for the Rockets, as Brandon Price took the handoff on first down, ran through the hole up the middle, broke off a tackle by the middle linebacker, and with the near safety engaged in a block, was able to break out into the open and outrace the other safety and the cornerback down the field for the 82 yard touchdown run, breaking his old school record for longest run in a game of 81 yards. The extra point made our lead 7-0 with 8:16 to go in the first quarter.

Another touchback on the kickoff, and Toledo was again at their 25. Abraham Johnson took the ball on first down, gaining two yards, before dropped passes again plagued the Rockets, leaving them punting once more on fourth and 8.

A fair catch on the 52 yard punt got our offense started once again, this time at our 21 yard line. This time, the defense refused to let Price break loose into the open, forcing him back inside towards the middle of the field and tackling him a gain of only 6 yards. A 10 yard rush by Price picked up the first down at the 37 yard line, the defense not reacting to our run game and leaving huge holes for Price to exploit. Going on the ground on first down, it was a loss of two yards for Price as the defensive end blitzed around the corner and dove at his ankles, tripping him up in the backfield. Going through the air on second down, Brad Stephens led Eric Hayden perfectly, Hayden catching the pass in stride and able to turn up the field before the cornerback could tackle him, picking up 22 yards before being brought down by the safety at the Toledo 43 yard line. Another rush by Price picked up 9 yards, followed by a 12 yard rush up the middle to get the first down at the 23 yard line. Roy Smith took the ball on first down, giving Price a breather, and managed to fight forward for a 5 yard gain. Following his blocker up the middle, Price rode the ass of the left guard all the way down to the Toledo 8 yard line for a gain of 9 yards to set up first and goal. The defense was ready this time, tackling Price at the 7 yard line for a gain of one. Going with the play action, the pass to Price on the wheel route of the backfield was nearly intercepted, the cornerback jump in front of the ball and batting it down, the outside linebacker diving to the ground to try and grab the ball at the one yard line, but unable to catch it. The third down pass to Hayden was knocked incomplete, and left feeling the drive was completely wasted, Alphonso Pratt kicked a 24 yard field to extend our lead to 10-0 with 2:27 left in the first quarter.

A 19 yard kickoff return set Toledo up at their 24 yard line, looking for a response. They would find none, as three straight incomplete passes left the Rockets punting once again. A 26 yard return by Price on the 44 yard punt gave our offense the ball at the Toledo 43 yard line. Changing things up and going to the air on first down, Stephens connected with Chad Fisher for a 9 yard gain. Price took the ball on second down, able to get one yard but stood up at the line of scrimmage by the middle linebacker, leaving us facing third and inches at the 33. The defense was starting to prove tenacious, tackling Price again at the line of scrimmage for no gain, leaving fourth and inches. While debating whether to go for it on fourth down or attempt the 50 yard field goal, the final seconds ticked off the clock, bringing the first quarter to an end, our lead 10-0.

Opening up the second quarter, we decided to take a chance on the field goal, Pratt drilling the 50 yard kick down the middle of the uprights to give us a 13-0 lead with 8:56 to go in the first half. No return on the kickoff left Toledo starting at the now familiar 25 yard line. The Rockets still were unable to find any momentum. Wallace started the drive with a two yard rush, before Julius Anderson caught a two yard pass from Wallace. The pass on third and 6 was dropped by Byrd, and the Rockets again were forced to punt. An 8 yard return on the 46 yard punt gave our offense the ball at our 32 yard line. Price took the first down handoff up the middle for a three yard gain, before Stephens called his own number, rushing around the right tackle, the defensive line and linebackers sealed, and a block by the fullback that took the cornerback out of the play, allowing Stephens to race down the field for a 37 yard gain before being tripped up by the safety at the Toledo 28 yard line. Price took the ball on first down, bouncing outside the left tackle, picking up 14 yards to the Toledo 13. Stephens kept the ball again on the next play, running up the middle on a delayed rush, picking up 10 yards to the three yard line for first and goal. The drive would end in disaster there on the three, as attempting an option left, the pitch from Stephens to Price was grabbed out of midair, cornerback Mike Bozeman taking the fumble 95 yards to the house for the Rockets touchdown. The extra point cut our lead to 13-7 with 6:42 to go in the half.

A touchback on the kickoff left us starting at our 25 yard line, our lead now cut in half. Smith came in to start the drive at halfback, taking a pair of handoffs for 5 and 14 yards to give us a first down at the 44 yard line. Price received the handoff on the next play, fighting his way through the pile for a 6 yard gain. Going back on the ground, Price was stood up at the line for no gain, leaving us third and four. Forced to scramble on the third down pass, Stephens was stopped at the Toledo 46 yard line, leaving fourth and inches. Taking a chance on fourth down, Stevens never had a chance, the defense tackling him for a loss of four yards, Toledo taking over on the turnover on downs at the 50 yard line. The Rockets offense chose a great time to come to life, as Wallace threw a pair of passes to Larry Johnson, for gains of 5 and 28 yards to give Toledo a first down at the 16 yard line. The defense put up a fight, tackling Eric Lester for a loss of three yards, before an incomplete pass left Toledo with third and 13. Toledo would find the end zone on the next play, as A. Johnson hauled in a 19 yard pass from Wallace for the touchdown, the PAT giving Toledo a 14-13 lead with 2:54 remaining in the half.

A touchback got our offense started from the 25. Price took the first down carry up the middle for a 12 yard gain to the 37 yard line. Another rush went for a gain of 8 yards, before Price was tackled for a two yard gain to leave third and one at the 46. The defense was more than ready for us on third down, the defensive end breaking through and tackling Smith for a loss of one yard, leaving us punting on fourth and two. The punt ended up extending our drive, as Toledo was flagged for roughing the punter, the 15 free yards giving us a first down at the Toledo 40 yard line and our offense scrambling back out onto the field. A 10 yard gain by Price set up second and inches, a gain of four yards picking up the first down at the 25 yard line. Our first timeout stopped the clock with 1:09 remaining in the half. The first down pass attempt sailed incomplete, leaving second down. Antoine Banks hauled in a pass from Stephens for a 9 yard gain, Price converting third down with a 6 yard rush to give us a first down at the 10 yard line. We would find the end zone on the next play, Fisher pulling down a pass from Stephens for the 10 yard touchdown and a 20-14 lead with 29 seconds to play.

An 18 yard kickoff return started Toledo on their 21 yard line, 19 seconds remaining. The Rockets would head for locker room, as Lester took the ball on first down for a gain of two yards, the final 16 seconds running off the clock. We headed into halftime with the 20-14 lead.

Opening up the second half, Fisher took the kickoff back for 24 yards, giving our offense the ball at our 22 yard line to start. A pair of rushes by Price for gains of two and 5 yards left us looking at third and three. A pitch right resulted in a gain of four yards by Price to get the first down at the 33 yard line. Price never had a chance on first down, swarmed by three defenders for no gain. Taking another chance on the triple option, Stephens pitched the ball to Price, who was able to break up the left sideline for a 13 yard gain and a first down at the 46 yard line. Breaking loose from an ankle tackle, Price was able to push forward for a gain of four yards on the next play. Going play action on second down, the pass intended for Price was nearly intercepted, leaving third and 6. Stephens was forced to scramble from the instant pressure, only able to pick up two yards, leaving fourth and four at midfield.

No return on the 38 yard punt set Toledo up at their 8 yard line. After rushing for no gain on first down, Wallace went into the air, finding Lester down the right sideline for a 17 yard gain and a first down at the 26. Wallace was forced from the pocket on the next play, scrambling for a gain of only one yard, before a pair of incomplete passes left the Rockets stalled out and punting on fourth and 9. It would get even worse for the Rockets, as the punt was blocked, outside linebacker A.J. Walton recovered the fumbled ball at the Toledo three yard line to give us first and goal. The defense wasn't about to let us score easy, Price tackled for a two yard loss on the first down carry, leaving second and goal at the 5. A toss to the right resulted in a four yard gain, Price driven out of bounds just outside the goal line. Price never had a chance on third down, a diving linebacker pushing Price backwards and into the arms of the cornerback and safety, Price ending up tackled for a 7 yard loss at the 7 yard line. The 24 yard field goal by Pratt was good, giving us a 23-14 lead with 2:24 to play in the third quarter.

A touchback left Toledo starting from their 25 yard line. This time the Rockets weren't about to go quietly, as Wallace hit David Matthews for an 11 yard gain, before connecting with Byrd for a pickup of 17 yards to give the Rockets first down at our 47 yard line. After throwing the ball away on first down and a 6 yard rush by Lester, Wallace converted the third and four with a 17 yard pass to A. Johnson to give the Rockets first down at our 24. After an incomplete pass on first down another pass to A. Johnson for 17 yards set Toledo up with first and goal from our 7 yard line. Wallace scrambled on first down for four yards, before Lester punched it in on second down for the four yard touchdown rush, the extra point cutting our lead to 23-21 with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter. Price returned the ensuing kickoff 19 yards to the 23 yard line. Taking the handoff on first down, Price picked up three yards, and that would be the end of the third quarter, the final seconds ticking off with us holding on to a 23-21 lead.

Opening up the fourth quarter with second and 7, a pitch left to Price ended up going backwards, as Price was overrun by four defenders for a loss of three yards to leave third and 10. The third down pass intended for Fisher was nearly intercepted by the safety, but he was unable to hold onto the ball, as it fell to the ground incomplete. A shanked punt went for only 27 yards and unreturned, giving Toledo the ball at our 49 yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, Toledo was flagged for holding, leaving the Rockets with second and 20. After another incomplete pass left third and very long, Wallace heaved deep, finding A. Johnson over the middle for a 39 yard gain, keeping the drive alive and giving Toledo a first down at our 20 yard line. A three yard rush by Byrd and an 8 yard pass to Anderson gave Toledo first and goal at our 9 yard line. Lester would finish the job on the next play, rushing around the right end for the 9 yard touchdown. Toledo then went for the two-point conversion, Lester diving into the end zone for the successful conversion to give Toledo a 29-23 lead with 7:12 to go.

A touchback on the kickoff left our offense at the 25 yard line and down by 6. A pair of three yard rushes by Price left us with third and 6. The third down pass intended for Hayden sailed too far in front, out of the reach of Hayden and dropping incomplete. A three yard return on the 47 yard punt gave Toledo the ball at their 24 yard line. The defense came out firing on first down, tackling Lester for a loss of two yards. Lester was able to pick up 5 yards on the next play, but an incomplete pass on third down left the Rockets punting the ball back on fourth and 7 with 5:37 to go. A 7 yard return on the 49 yard punt set us up at our 30 yard line. Going to the air, Stephens was just able to get the ball off before getting laid out, completing the pass to Max Thompson for a gain of 12 yards to the 42 yard line. Throwing to Price on the smash route, Stephens completed the pass on Price’s outside shoulder for a 23 yard gain along the right sideline to give us first down at the 35 yard line. A first down pass to Hayden brought our drive crashing to an end, as middle linebacker Chaz Mirvil stood up in front of the pass and intercepted it to give Toledo possession at their 28 yard line, 4:55 to go.

The drive started poorly for the Rockets, who were again flagged for holding, pushing Toledo back to their 18 yard line with first and 20. An 8 yard rush by Lester erased most of the penalty, followed by a four yard rush to leave third and 8. The defense forced Wallace to throw the ball away to avoid a sack, and Toledo once again brought out the punt team on fourth down. A 10 yard return by Price on the 47 yard punt gave us the ball at our 33 yard line, 4:09 now left in the game. A pass over the middle to Randy Newman went for a quick gain of 19 yards, giving us first down at the Toledo 48. Taking a shot down the right sideline, Stephens was able to toss the ball in over three defenders to Hayden for a 19 yard gain to give us a first down at the 29 yard line. We would find the end zone on the next play, as Fisher was able to get behind both the cornerback and safety, hauling in a pass from Stephens around the 5 yard line, and then actually being helped as the safety attempted to tackle him from behind, instead pushing him forward into the end zone for the 29 yard touchdown pass. Pratt’s PAT gave us a 30-29 lead with 3:34 to go.

A touchback left Toledo starting at their 25 yard line and down by one. The Rockets were unable to produce any offense, three straight incomplete passes forcing a punt and hoping the defense would respond. A fair catch on the 49 yard punt left us at our 25 yard line. Price never had a chance, swarmed for a two yard loss. Keeping the clock moving, the defense continued to fight back, tackling Newman for a loss of three yards, leaving us with third and 15 at the 20 yard line, the clock nearing two minutes to play. Bringing the house, Stephens was forced to instantly scramble, but before he could even try to throw the ball away, the linebacker dove at his ankles, tripping him up for the sack and a 12 yard loss, leaving us punting on fourth and 27 from our 8 yard line, Toledo’s first timeout stopping the clock with 2:09 remaining. No return on the 50 yard punt gave Toledo the ball at their 42 yard line with 1:59 to play. After an incomplete pass on first down, Wallace found A. Johnson for a 6 yard gain. A rush by Lester resulted in a loss of two yards, leaving Toledo with fourth and 6. The Rockets would turn the ball over on downs as Wallace was sacked for a loss of three yards, giving us possession at the Toledo 44 yard line with 1:33 to go, but Toledo still with two timeouts.

A 6 yard run by Price got us to the 38 yard line, Toledo’s second timeout stopping the clock with 1:30 to go. The defense came pouring through the line on second down, tackling Price for a loss of four yards to leave third and 8, Toledo’s final timeout stopping the clock with 1:27 left. Price took the ball on third down, getting met at the line of scrimmage by the middle linebacker and fumbling the ball backwards. left guard Dennis Moody jumped on the ball to recover it for our offense, the play ultimately going down as an 8 yard loss, leaving us fourth and 15 at midfield. Just when things couldn't get any worse, Toledo managed to break through and block the punt on fourth down, left outside linebacker Maurice Broussard recovering the fumble for Toledo at our 29 yard line with 1:04 remaining. After an incomplete pass on first down, Wallace found L. Johnson for a 9 yard gain. An incomplete pass left Toledo with fourth and one at the 21 yard line. The 38 yard field goal by W. Wade was good, and Toledo took a 32-30 lead with 37 seconds left in the game.

A touchback on the kickoff left us starting at our 25 yard line, losing by two points, 29 seconds on the clock, and all three timeouts still left. Thankfully a touchdown was not necessary, only needing to get into field goal range. The first down pass to Thompson nearly ended in disaster, as the outside linebacker jumped the route and nearly intercepted the pass, the ball going through his hands and incomplete. The second down pass was also nearly intercepted, as the safety come across, cutting in front of Nicholas Roberts, but dropped the ball incomplete, leaving third down, 22 seconds to go. Stephens finally managed to complete a pass on third down, connecting with Thompson for a 15 yard gain, giving us first down at the 40 yard line, our first timeout stopping the clock with 17 seconds to go. The first down pass intended for Fisher was knocked down incomplete, nearly intercepted by the outside linebacker. Stephens was just barely able to throw the ball in the ground on second down to avoid the sack, releasing the ball as he was going down to leave third down and 12 seconds left. Getting the ball off as he was hit, Stephens was able to lob up a pass to Thompson for a gain of 14 yards before being driven out of bounds, giving us a first down at the 46 yard line, stopping the clock with 8 seconds to go. A quick pass to Fisher went for a gain of 6 yards, leaving us second and four at the 40 yard line, our second timeout stopping the clock with four seconds to go, as the field goal team came out to attempt to kick for the win. The 57 yard field goal attempt by Pratt was no good, well short of the post. A Toledo player was sitting back in the end zone, catching the ball and returning the missed field goal all the way out to the Toledo 40 yard line before being tackled and ending the game, as we go down in agonizing defeat, 32-30.

With the loss, we fall to 4-3, 2-1 in C-USA action. With the win, Toledo improves to 4-1, 1-1 in MAC play. Up next, we get a bye week to reorganize before hosting Southern Miss. Southern Miss will also be coming into the game off a bye week. The Golden Eagles enter the game at 5-1, 2-0 in C-USA action. USM started the year with a 45-20 win over FCS East, before losing 30-27 at Air Force. Southern Miss since then has reeled off four straight wins, 35-14 at South Florida, 55-21 over Connecticut, 26-7 at North Texas and 34-7 against Rice.

Final Score
:Toledo: 32, :Tulsa: 30



Stat(s) of the Game:
- Tulsa Offense – A decent day for Stevens, ending 12-23 for 187 yards and two touchdowns, though he did throw one interception that screwed one of our drives. Stephens also ended the day with 44 yards rushing on 7 carries. Price was the player of the game for Tulsa, ending with 219 yards rushing and one touchdown on 37 carries, and setting a new school record with the longest run in school history of 82 yards, breaking his own old record of 81 yards. 6 receivers caught a ball today, Fisher by far was the leading receiver, ending the game with 54 yards receiving and two touchdowns on four receptions.

- Tulsa Defense – Great first quarter, decent second quarter, only being accountable for one touchdown that quarter. Still did pretty well in the third quarter, but sucked it up at times in the fourth quarter, letting Toledo drive down for those 11 points.

- Tulsa Kicking – A damn good day in all respects for Pratt. Did end up 3-4 in field goals, but made kicks of 24, 24 and 50 yards, only missing that 57 yard attempt at the end of the game. Also went 3-3 in PATs. Punting, gonna have to work on that. We ended up losing because our punt team let the ball get blocked there at the very end, giving Toledo the ball at our 29 yard line and a minute left, instead of potentially pinning them back inside their 20 or 30 yard line and forcing them to drive the field. That blocked punt was basically the top play that caused our loss today. Other plays contributed, but that blocked punt led directly to it, by giving Toledo prime field position to kick the game winning field goal and retake the lead.



Scoring Summary

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final Score
:Toledo:	0	14	7	11	32
:Tulsa:	10	10	3	7	30

Time	Team	Result	Play	Score
First Quarter
8:16	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 82 yard run (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 7-0
2:27	:Tulsa:	Field Goal	A. Pratt, 24 yard field goal	:Tulsa: 10-0
Second Quarter
8:56	:Tulsa:	Field Goal	A. Pratt, 50 yard field goal	:Tulsa: 13-0
6:42	:Toledo:	Touchdown	M. Bozeman, returned fumble 95 yards (W. Wade kick)	:Tulsa: 13-7
2:54	:Toledo:	Touchdown	A. Johnson, 19 yard pass from R. Wallace (W. Wade kick)	:Toledo: 14-13
0:29	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	C. Fisher, 10 yard pass from B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 20-14
Third Quarter
2:24	:Tulsa:	Field Goal	A. Pratt, 24 yard field goal	:Tulsa: 23-14
0:30	:Toledo:	Touchdown	E. Lester, 3 yard run (W. Wade kick)	:Tulsa: 23-21
Fourth Quarter
7:12	:Toledo:	Touchdown	E. Lester, 9 yard run (2-pt conversion good)	:Toledo: 29-23
3:34	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	C. Fisher, 29 yard pass from B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 30-29
0:37	:Toledo:	Field Goal	W. Wade, 38 yard field goal	:Toledo: 32-30

Game Stats

Toledo	Stat	Tulsa
32	Score	30
9	First Downs	20
246	Total Offense	470
16 - 42 - 2	Rushes - Yards - TD	49 - 283 - 1
14 - 37 - 1	Comp - Att - TD	12 - 23 - 2
204	Passing Yards	187
1	Times Sacked	1
3 - 13 (23%)	3rd Down Conversion	4 - 14 (28%)
0 - 1 (0%)	4th Down Conversion	0 - 1 (0%)
1 - 1 (100%)	2-Point Conv	0 - 0 (0%)
4 - 3 - 0 (75%)	Red Zone - TD - FG	5 - 1 - 2 (60%)
1	Turnovers	3
1	Fumbles Lost	2
0	Intercepted	1
8	Punt Return Yards	51
37	Kick Return Yards	43
291	Total Yards	564
7 – 48.3	Punts - Average	4 - 45.3
3 - 35	Penalties	1 - 15
14:14	Time of Possession	21:46

Tulsa Contract Goals Update

Fail Impact	Goal	Progress	Pass Impact
:6redarrow:	21+ points per game in each season	27	:6greenarrow:
	Win 10 games in one season	4	:6greenarrow:
	3300+ passing yards each season	1539	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	65% pass completions over the entire contract	59%	:5greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	Win 6 games in one season	4	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	15+ rushing TD in each season	13	:5greenarrow:
:4redarrow:	3200+ total offensive yards each season	2872	:3greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	3400+ total offensive yards each season	2872	:2greenarrow:
Penalty
:1redarrow:	Lost to a lower ranked team

Job Security Status

42%

Time for another look around the nation. Starting in the Top 25, an ugly week for the Top 25 teams. #1 Notre Dame had trouble early on, but pulled away in the second half to beat 1-4 UCF, 48-28. In the upset of the week, Texas Tech got back to .500, knocking off #2 Texas 51-38. #3 Oklahoma uses a 39-14 second half advantage to pull away from Kansas State 59-28. #4 Auburn whoops #24 Arkansas 42-10. In the game of the week, #9 Wisconsin takes down #5 Iowa 17-7, handing Iowa their first loss of the year.

#7 USC needed a big second half to hold off Oregon State 42-28. Stanford knocked off #8 Oregon 33-21, Oregon trying to play catch-up the entire game and failing. Continuing the string of top 10 upsets, #10 Miami suffered their first loss of the year, losing to Virginia 28-21. After being #3 a week ago, #11 Clemson has now lost two in a row, falling 35-33 to #23 Georgia Tech. #13 NC State had to score 19 straight points to pull a 33-32 comeback win out of their ass over 1-5 Syracuse. #15 Ole Miss won the battle of the unbeatens, defeating #14 Vanderbilt 42-9.

#16 LSU lost their second straight game, falling to Florida 31-10. Washington gets their second win of the year, pulling out a 28-27 win over #18 Arizona. #19 Rutgers needed a 28 point comeback and then overtime to defeat 1-4 Indiana 49-42. #20 Pittsburgh needed a late touchdown to hold off Virginia Tech 21-20. In a shocker, UMass gets their first win of the year, while handing #21 Northwestern their first loss of the year, with a 17-16 win over the Wildcats. #22 Ohio State scores 18 unanswered in the fourth quarter to pull out a 35-28 win over Maryland.

In all, the #2, #5, #8, #10, #11, #14, #16, #18 and #21 teams all lost this week. Not a kind week in the top 25 and definitely not in the top 10/15. In addition, 9 top 25 games were decided by 10 points or less, one game decided by two points, four games decided by one point.

For our readers, souljahbill, Southern Miss improves to 5-1 (2-0 C-USA), picking up a 34-7 win over Rice. Southern Miss now heads into a bye week before their trip to Tulsa. Jaymo, Arizona State remains 1-4 (0-2 Pac-12) on the season with a bye week this week. Mors, West Virginia drops to 1-5 (1-3 Big 12) with a 30-21 loss to 2-2 Iowa State. Other teams of interest, Arkansas State improves to 3-2 on the year with a 41-3 dismantling of Wake Forest.

In C-USA action, FIU beat UTEP 38-19 to drop the Miners to 1-1. UTSA beat UAB 49-30 to improve to 1-1. Rice falls to 0-2 with their 34-7 loss to Southern Miss. A non-conference game, Georgia escapes against Marshall, 31-23, scoring 21 straight points to come back and win. With those results, I retain first place in the West Division at 2-1. UTEP and UTSA are right behind me at 1-1. North Texas is further back at 1-2 and Rice (0-2) and MTSU (0-3) bring up the rear.

On a personal note, Navy is in line for the C-I-C trophy, knocking off Air Force 35-10, handing the Falcons their first loss.

Looking at undefeated teams left, with #2 Texas, #5 Iowa, #8 Oregon, #10 Miami, #14 Vanderbilt, #21 Northwestern and Air Force all losing this week, our number of undefeated teams drops clear down to 10. #1 Notre Dame (6-0), #3 Oklahoma (4-0), #4 Auburn (6-0), #6 TCU (6-0), #7 USC (6-0), #9 Wisconsin (5-0), #13 NC State (6-0), #15 Ole Miss (5-0), Colorado (5-0) and Kansas (4-0) all remain with an unblemished record this season.

Turning to a more sadistic watch, who is still winless. There remains 6 teams still looking for their first win: Central Michigan (0-6), Kentucky (0-6), Memphis (0-5), New Mexico State (0-5), USF (0-5) and Western Kentucky (0-4).

Teams getting their first win this week were: UMass (22-21 over 4-1 #21 Northwestern) and Wyoming (45-3 over FCS Northwest).

On a player/awards note, despite rushing for 219 yards and a TD, Brandon Price drops to fourth on the Heisman Watch list. Notre Dame QB Jordan Cooke remains first, followed by Georgia HB Matt Blount. TCU QB Andrew Schmidt jumps Price. New to the list this week is USC HB Jordan Lewis.

Taking a look at the new Top 25 polls, in the Coaches Poll, Notre Dame (38 first place votes) remains #1. Auburn (21 votes) leaps two spots to #2. Oklahoma (1 vote) remains #3. Wisconsin (1 vote) jumps five to #4, USC jumps two to #5. TCU still can't catch a break, remaining #6 yet again, NC State leaps six to #7, Ole Miss jumps seven to #8, Iowa falls four to #9 and Nebraska jumps two to #10. Texas plummets nine to #11, Oregon falls four to #12, Alabama jumps four to #13. Clemson fall three to #14, Rutgers climbs four to #15. Miami falls six to #16, Pittsburgh jumps three to #17, Georgia Tech climbs five to #18, Vanderbilt falls five to #19 and Ohio State moves up two to #20. Stanford enters the poll at #21, Texas A&M climbs three to #22, LSU falls seven #23, and Michigan and Colorado both enter the poll at #24 and #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Arizona (from #18), Northwestern (from #21) and Arkansas (from #24). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Texas Tech (193 votes) is #26, followed by Arizona (164), Georgia (97), Illinois (62) and Kansas (26) to round out the Top 30.

In the Media poll, Notre Dame (36 first place votes) climbs one to #1, Wisconsin (24 votes) leaps five to #2, Auburn (2 votes) climbs one to #3, Oklahoma (2 votes) falls one to #4 and USC (1 vote) jumps three to #5. TCU again remains stuck at #6, Ole Miss climbs four to #7, NC State jumps five to #8, Iowa falls four to #9 and Texas falls nine to #10. Nebraska moves up four to #11, Alabama jumps five #12, Oregon falls four to #13, Pittsburgh jumps four to #14 and Vanderbilt falls three to #15. Miami falls down six to #16, Rutgers jumps three to #17, Clemson drops four to #18, Georgia Tech enters the poll at #19 and Ohio State climbs three to #20. South Carolina remains #21, while Stanford, Texas Tech, Michigan and Colorado all enter the poll this week #22 through #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were LSU (from #16), Arizona (from #18), Northwestern (from #21), Arkansas (from #24) and Michigan State (from #25). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Texas A&M (205 votes) is #26, followed by LSU (200), Arizona (113), Illinois (101) and Kansas (75) to round out the Top 30.

On a bye week this week, so lets jump right into it.

Time for another look around the nation. Starting in the Top 25, #1 Notre Dame defends their top ranking, beating #21 Stanford 55-24. One week after losing their first game, #11 Texas hands #3 Oklahoma their first loss, winning the Red River Shootout over the Sooners 31-10. #4 Wisconsin scores 17 fourth quarter points to hold on for a 38-28 win over Oklahoma State. In the shocker of the week, 2-4 Arizona State scores 17 points in the fourth quarter to stun #5 USC 24-13, handing the Trojans their first loss. #6 TCU just manages to hold off Iowa State 24-19. #8 Ole Miss holds off #22 Texas A&M 31-24 to stay undefeated. #9 Iowa holds off a comeback bid by Purdue for 24-21 win.

#10 Nebraska loses their second of the year, falling 38-19 to Michigan State After making it to 5-0, #19 Vanderbilt now loses their second in a row, falling to #13 Alabama 35-23. #14 Clemson, just two weeks ago ranked #3 in the nation, has now lost their third straight game, falling 27-24 in overtime to 3-4 Louisville. One week after knocking off #10 Miami, Virginia comes back and knocks off #18 Georgia Tech 44-28. Surprising, with them sitting at 4-3 (2-3 ACC). The same week that #25 Colorado enters the poll, they lose their first game of the year, falling 32-29 in overtime to 2-5 Cal. Kentucky gets their first win of the year, handing #23 LSU its third straight loss, 24-17.

For our readers, souljahbill, Southern Miss remains 5-1 (2-0 C-USA) with a bye week. Tulsa is up next for USM. Jaymo, what an upset! Arizona State improves to 2-4 (1-2 Pac-12) with a 24-13 win over #5 USC! Mors, West Virginia finally gets another win, improving to 2-5 (2-3 Big 12) with a 30-28 win over Kansas State. Other teams of interest, Arkansas State remains at 3-2 with a bye week.

In C-USA action, what a poor week to have to play Miami. One week after Miami loses their first game of the year and falls from the #10 ranking, UTEP goes down to Florida and gets thrashed by the Hurricanes, 49-0. Marshall is laying it's claim to the East Division this year, beating FIU 41-17. Florida Atlantic is also in the mix with a 35-19 win over UAB. Louisiana Tech beats Rice 38-28, all but eliminating the Owls from the West Division. North Texas climbs right back on my ass with a 17-10 win over UTSA. The East Division looks to be a toss up. Southern Miss is 2-0, Florida Atlantic and Marshall both 3-1 and FIU and Louisiana Tech both 2-1 with UAB in last at 1-3. Who wins the East Division this year is gonna be anyone's guess. In the West Division, I remain on top at 2-1, North Texas is again right behind me at 2-2, UTEP at 1-1, UTSA at 1-2. MTSU and Rice are both last at 0-3, essentially all but eliminated from the race.

On a national note, Kansas suffers its first loss, 42-23 to Texas Tech.

Looking at undefeated teams left, with #3 Oklahoma #5 USC, #25 Colorado and Kansas losing this week, our number of undefeated teams drops clear down to 6. #1 Notre Dame (7-0), #2 Auburn (6-0), #4 Wisconsin (6-0), #6 TCU (7-0), #7 NC State (6-0) and #8 Ole Miss (6-0) all remain with an unblemished record this season.

Turning to a more sadistic watch, who is still winless. There remains 3 teams still looking for their first win: Central Michigan (0-6), Memphis (0-6) and Western Kentucky (0-5).

Teams getting their first win this week were: Kentucky (24-17 over 3-3 #23 LSU), New Mexico State (45-17 over FCS East) and USF (41-21 over 1-4 Tulane).

On a player/awards note, the bye week did not hurt any, Brandon Price remains fourth on the Heisman Watch list. Notre Dame QB Jordan Cooke remains first, TCU QB Andrew Schmidt jumps to second, Georgia HB Matt Blount drops to third, and Notre Dame HB Joey Owens makes an appearance on the list in fifth.

Taking a look at the new Top 25 polls, in the Coaches Poll, Notre Dame (35 first place votes) remains #1. Auburn (22 votes) remains #2. Wisconsin (3 votes) jumps one to #3, NC State (1 vote) leaps three to #4, Ole Miss jumps three to #5. TCU gets screwed again, stuck at #6, Texas climbs four to #7, Iowa moves up one to #8, Oklahoma falls six to #9 and Oregon jumps two to #10. Alabama climbs two to #11, Rutgers jumps three to #12, Miami and Pittsburgh both jump three to #13 and #14 and Nebraska falls five to #15. USC tumbles eleven to #16, Ohio State jumps three to #17, Michigan climbs six to #18, Vanderbilt remains at #19, and Michigan State enters the poll at #20. Texas Tech enters the poll at #21, Georgia Tech falls four to #22, Virginia and Georgia both enter the poll at #23 and #24 and Stanford falls four to #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Clemson (from #14), Texas A&M (from #22), LSU (from #23) and Colorado (from #25). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Texas A&M (250 votes) is #26, followed by Clemson (248), Boise State (206), Florida State (156) and Arkansas (124) to round out the Top 30.

In the Media poll, Notre Dame (42 first place votes) remains #1, Auburn (21 votes) jumps one to #2, Wisconsin (1 vote) falls one to #3, Ole Miss (1 vote) climbs three to #4 and NC State climbs three to #5. TCU remains stuck at #6, Texas jumps three to #7, Iowa moves up one to #8, Oklahoma falls five to #9 and Alabama climbs two to #10. Oregon and Pittsburgh both jump two to #11 and #12, Miami and Rutgers both jump three to #13 and #14, while USC falls ten to #15. Ohio State moves up four to #16, Nebraska falls six to #17, Vanderbilt drops three to #18, Michigan climbs five to #19 and Texas Tech climbs three to #20. Michigan State enters the poll at #21, Georgia Tech falls three to #22, Virginia enters the poll at #23, Stanford falls two to #24 and Georgia enters the poll at #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Clemson (from #14), South Carolina (from #21) and Colorado (from #25). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Clemson (173 votes) is #26, followed by Texas A&M (165), Arkansas (140), Boise State (131) and Illinois (69) to round out the Top 30.

The first BCS standings of the year: #1 Notre Dame (1.000), #2 Auburn (.995), #3 Wisconsin (.989), #4 Ole Miss (.981), #5 NC State (.981), #6 TCU (.973), #7 Iowa (.962), #8 Texas (.958), #9 Oregon (.949) and #10 Alabama (.946).

Game Eight

:Southern_Miss: :@: :Tulsa:



Game Notes

--- Left stunned and trying to recover after our heart breaking loss to Toledo in our last game, it wasn’t going to get any easier, as Southern Miss came to town. The Golden Eagles entered the game averaging 37 points per game behind their #42 passing attack. On defense, they were a tough group, ranked #18 in the nation for total defense, #35 in rushing defense and #24 in passing offense with a +7 turnover differential. This one was shaping up to be one hell of a battle. We won the coin toss and elected to kick.

A touchback on the opening kickoff got Southern Miss started at their 25 yard line. Frank Wagner picked up 6 yards on the ground to start the drive, but a false start on the next play quickly erased that gain, leaving the Golden Eagles with second and 9. DeMarcus Lee didn’t let that stop them, connecting with Reggie Adkins for a 15 yard gain and a first down at the 42. Another pass, this time to Dustin Fritz for 14 yards got USM to our 44 yard line. Going deep, Lee hit Fritz again, this time for a 27 yard gain, and Southern Miss had a first down at our 17 yard line. A 10 yard pass to Fritz left second and inches, before a 5 yard rush by Wagner set up first and goal at our two yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, Lee took the ball in himself, scoring on the two yard touchdown run and giving Southern Miss a 7-0 lead with 7:13 left in the first quarter.

A 25 yard kickoff return by Brandon Price got us set up at our 29 yard line, looking for an answer. Price nearly broke loose on the first down rush, managing 12 yards before being brought down at the 41. Another rush by Price was again nearly broken loose, the safety saving the touchdown, tackling Price for a 17 yard gain to get us to the USM 43. Keeping it on the ground, Price managed three yards before being brought down by the defensive end. The first pass of the day by Brad Stephens sailed off the mark and incomplete, leaving third and 7. Max Thompson spun around to catch the pass from Stephens and headed up the sideline for a 20 yard gain, the outside linebacker stopping him from potentially taking it to the house. A quick pass to Chad Fisher went for a gain of 8 yards, before Price took it up the gut for a 7 yard gain to set up first and goal at the 5 yard line. Price took the handoff on first down, fighting forward for a two yard gain to the three yard line. Taking it off the right tackle on second down, Price was able to push forward into the end zone. Unfortunately we would not tie the game up, as Alphonso Pratt shanked the PAT, leaving the score 7-6 with 3:09 left in the first quarter.

A touchback on the kickoff started the Golden Eagles again at their 25. Wagner took the ball on first down, fighting for a one yard gain, followed by a four yard rush by Lee. Wagner kept the ball on third down, managing to pick up three yards, but it wasn’t enough, as Southern Miss was forced to punt on fourth and two from their 33. A three yard return by Price on the 49 yard punt set us up at our 20 yard line. Price was met at the line of scrimmage with a wall of defenders, falling forward for a one yard gain. A pitch left on second down ended in a catastrophe, as Price was hit for a two yard loss, the ball coming out during the play. Southern Miss recovered the fumble at our 18 yard line. We caught a massive break when the referee stopped the action, declaring the play under review. It was determined the ball came out after Price’s knee was on the ground and the call on the field was overturned. With the fumble erased, we remained in control of the ball, though left with third and 13 at our 18 yard line. A pass to Eric Hayden was complete, but not enough, gaining only 8 yards to leave us punting away on fourth and four.

A fair catch on the 46 yard punt gave Southern Miss the ball at their 27 yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, Wagner took the ball off the left tackle, picking up 6 yards to leave third down. Wagner would convert the third down with an 8 yard rush up the middle, moving the ball out to the 41 yard line. A 13 yard pass from Lee to Rich Callahan got the Golden Eagles into our territory at our 46. The USM passing attack was working like a machine now, as Lee connected with Adkins for a 22 yard gain down to our 24 yard line as the first quarter came to an end, Southern Miss leading 7-6.

Southern Miss opened up the second quarter with a four yard rush by Wager followed by a 12 yard pass from Lee to Wagner set up first and goal at our 7 yard line. The Golden Eagles would find the end zone on the next play, as Lee hit Fritz on a comeback route for the 7 yard touchdown and a 14-6 lead with 8:41 left in the second quarter.

A touchback on the kickoff started our drive at our 25. Going into the air on first down, Hayden snatched down a ball from Stephens around the 37 yard line, breaking away from the cornerback and turning up the field, racing to the Southern Miss 45 yard line before being brought down by the safety for a 30 yard gain. A first down rush by Price gained three yards. Stephens kept the ball himself, getting a couple blocks to keep the outside linebacker and cornerback occupied, racing the middle linebacker toward the sideline and turning up the field, the diving tackle by the middle linebacker failing. Stephens then raced up the sideline before being pushed out of bounds at the 19 yard line by the safety for a 22 yard rush. Taking the handoff up the middle, Price rumbled ahead for an 11 yard gain, giving us first and goal at the 8 yard line. Price never had a chance on first down, tackled for no gain. Going to the air on second down, Stephens connected with Hayden over the middle at the two yard line, the tackle attempts by the linebacker and safety, as well as Hayden’s momentum, carrying the entire pile forward into the end zone for the 8 yard touchdown. Going for the two point conversion, Stephens found Thompson in the back of the end zone for the two points, tying the game up at 14-all with 5:49 left in the second quarter.

An 18 yard kickoff return started the next Southern Miss drive at their 15 yard line. It was a poor start as Wagner was tackled for a two yard loss, but Lee quickly made it up with a 27 yard bomb to Callahan for a first down at the 40 yard line. After throwing the ball away on first down, Wagner rushed up the middle for a 5 yard gain, leaving third and 5. The Golden Eagles would be forced to punt after the third down pass intended for Fritz fell incomplete. A 9 yard return by Price on the 42 yard punt got us started at our 21 yard line.

The Golden Eagles were starting to key to our run game, Price only able to pick up two yards on the first down carry. Coming out with play action, Stephens found Price on the wheel route for a 7 yard gain, leaving third and one. Price picked up the first down on the ground, rushing ahead for a 5 yard gain to the 36 yard line. Keeping it on the ground on the next play, there was nowhere to go as Price was swallowed up for a one yard loss. Just barely avoiding the sack, Stephens was able to hit Fisher on a comeback route for a 24 yard gain and a first down at the USM 41. Another rush by Price turned from no gain into a 5 yard rush as Price kept the legs driving. The second down pass intended for Price was nearly intercepted, leaving us third and 5, the clock stopped with 1:17 to go. A pass to Thompson on the out route gained 14 yards and a first down at the 23 yard line, keeping the drive moving. The first down pass to Ray Smith was nearly intercepted, leaving second down. The second down pass, intended for Fisher, was also nearly intercepted, leaving third down and the defense ready and waiting for another pass attempt. A pass intended for Fisher up the right sideline was also nearly intercepted, as the safety jumped the pass, deflecting the ball incomplete. The 40 yard field goal attempt by Pratt was no good, leaving the score tied with 53 seconds to play in the half.

Southern Miss came out passing, Lee finding Fritz for a 7 yard gain, the Golden Eagles calling their first timeout to stop the clock with 48 seconds. A 34 yard pass gave USM a first down at our 36 yard line, looking for a quick strike before halftime. A four yard rush by Wagner got Southern Miss to our 32 yard line, their second timeout stopping play with 36 seconds. Our defense chose a wonderful time to help out, getting flagged for pass interference, the 15 free yards giving Southern Miss a first down at our 17 yard line with 30 seconds to go. Wagner took the ball around the right tackle for a 5 yard gain, before Lee hit Callahan in the back of the end zone for the 12 yard touchdown pass and a 21-14 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the half. Starting on our 25 yard line after the touchback, a three yard rush by Price would bring the half to an end, Southern Miss leading 21-14.

No return on the kickoff to open the second half got our offense underway from our 25 yard line and looking for the equalizer. Price took the handoff on first down, picking up four yards on the play. Price was slow to get up after the play and was helped to the sideline. The injury report from the staff saying that he suffered a bruised sternum and would be out for at least a couple plays, if not the rest of the drive. Taking over the rushing duties, Smith only managed gains of two and one yards on the next two plays, leaving us punting away on fourth and four with our running attack now diminished. A fair catch on the 50 yard punt left Southern Miss on their 18 yard line. Wagner started the drive with rushes of 6 and 9 yards out to the 33. After an incomplete pass on first down, Lee found Fritz for a 14 yard gain to the 48. The drive would thankfully stall out there, as Wagner dropped a pass on first down and the second down pass sailed incomplete, and Lee could only manage three yards on the third down scramble, leaving the punt team coming out on fourth and 7.

The punt sailed 49 yards, landing inside the 5 yard line and bouncing its way into the end zone for a touchback, leaving us starting at our 20 yard line. Hope returned for our running game, as Price came back out onto the field. Price proved that hope true as he broke open a first down run for an 11 yard gain to the 31. Price was able to pick up three yard on first down, the defense starting to cheat run. Running play action on second down, the defense was ready for it, covering all receivers and Stephens only just able to let the ball fly into the ground as he was hit from behind by the blitzing safety. Hayden hauled in the third down pass from Stephens, fighting his way through the tackle attempt by the linebacker and falling forward for an 8 yard gain, just getting us the first down. Taking a shot deep down the right sideline, Stephens connected with Fisher for a 34 yard gain to the USM 23 yard line. But there was controversy about whether Fisher got a foot in-bounds forcing a challenge by the officials. Unfortunately, the replay showed his heel going out of bounds while turning to make the catch, and the call was overturned, leaving us second and 10 at the 43. A pass over the middle to Randy Newman went for a gain of 7 yards, leaving third and three at midfield. We ended up going backwards, unable to get the play off in time, flagged for delay of game, leaving us with third and 8. The pass over the middle to Hayden wasn’t enough, only gaining 6 yards to leave fourth and two at the USM 49. Taking the gamble and going for it, Price sprinted through the gap for a 10 yard gain, and then some, as the safety, A.J. Fenton, was flagged for a facemask penalty, the 15 extra yards giving us a first down at the Southern Miss 24 yard line. Taking it up the middle on first down, Price rumbled ahead for an 11 yard gain down to the 13. Price never had a chance on the first down carry, tackled for no gain to leave second down. The quick throw to Fisher on a slant route was incomplete, the safety knocking the ball loose before Fisher could take possession. The third down pass to Newman was jumped by both the middle linebacker and outside linebacker, both trying to make a play on the ball the only thing keeping it from being intercepted, and we were left with fourth down. The 29 yard field goal by Pratt was good, cutting the Southern Miss lead to 21-17 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

A touchback on the kickoff gave Southern Miss possession at their 25 yard line. A pair of rushes by Wagner for four and 6 yards gave the Golden Eagles a quick first down. Another 6 yard rush by Wagner and an incomplete pass left Southern Miss with third and four at the 41 yard line. The Golden Eagles wouldn’t be able to extend their lead, the third down pass dropped by Adkins and the punt team coming out on fourth down. A fair catch on the 47 yard punt gave us the ball at our 11 yard line, just four seconds left in the quarter. Price fought his way forward for an 8 yard gain, the third quarter coming to an end after the play, Southern Miss leading 21-17.

Opening up the fourth quarter, we took a shot deep at Fisher, the cornerback able to jump in front of the ball and knock it down, avoiding what would have been a large gain as Fisher had been able to beat him off the line. Price was able to scurry his way over the first down line with a 6 yard gain to the 26 yard line. Stephens tried to connect with Price on the smash route, but Fisher inadvertently broke up the play, moving in front the ball and getting hit in the back by the pass, leaving second down. A pass to Fisher on the next play gained 5 yards, leaving us third and 5. Thompson would keep our drive alive, hauling in the pass from Stephens just beyond the outstretched arms of the outside linebacker for a 14 yard gain and a first down at the 44 yard line. A deep bomb to Price went for a gain of 39 yards, pushed out of bounds at the 17 yard line, and we were in striking position. The first down pass to Newman was complete, Newman fighting forward for extra yards after a 7 yard gain. That extra fighting would cost us dearly as the defense stripped the ball out of Newman’s arms, defensive end JaredWright recovering the fumble and returning it 5 yards out to the 15 yard line for Southern Miss, ending the scoring threat and giving the Golden Eagles possession with 7:40 to play.

The defense was able to tackle Lee for a two yard loss on first down, but the positives were short lived, as Scott Johnson and Wagner combined for a pair of 7 yard runs to get the first down at the 27 yard line. A 6 yard rush by Wagner was followed with a 5 yard rush by Lee to the 39. Lee connected with Wagner for a 7 yard pass, followed by a three yard rush by Wagner to pick up the first down at the 49 yard line and keep the clock moving. After a 5 yard pass to Corey Powers, the defense would finally stand up, forcing an incomplete pass and allowing only a one yards gain on a third down pass to Adkins, leaving fourth and four at the 45. The punt sailed into the end zone for a touchback, giving us the ball on our 20 yard line with 5:25 to play. Not bothering to waste any more time with the ground game, Stephens found Fisher along the right hash for a 10 yard gain to leave second and inches. The pass to Newman went for three yards to get the first down. Avoiding the sack, Stephens found Thompson along the left sideline for an 18 yard gain out to the Southern Miss 48 yard line. We would find the end zone on the next play, the cornerback overrunning Fisher on a short comeback route, Fisher than both juking away from the safety, as well as the safety getting picked up in a block by Price, allowing Fisher to take it 48 yards to the house for the 24-21 lead with 4:28 to play.

A touchback on the kickoff left Southern Miss starting on their 25 yard line and looking to retake the lead. After a four yard rush by Lee, he went into the air and found Callahan for a 12 yard gain to the 41. Two straight incomplete passes and a 5 yard completion to Fritz left the Golden Eagles with fourth and 5 at their 46 yard line. Southern Miss would go for it on fourth down, the pass intended for Powers sailing incomplete, turning the ball over on downs at their 46 yard line, 3:26 left in the game. Price took the ball on first down, only able to gain one yard as the clock was set in motion. Price took a pitch to the right, finding nowhere to go, driven backwards for a 6 yard loss leaving third and 15 at the 49 yard line. Trying to go into the air, Stephens never had a chance, forced to instantly scramble before being tripped up for a two yard loss, leaving us punting on fourth and 17 with 2:16 to play. The punt sailed into the for a touchback and Southern Miss started at their 20 yard line.

Wagner was tackled for a two yard loss on the first down carry, followed by an incomplete pass to leave third and 12. The defense would give Southern Miss a free first down, flagged for pass interference to move the ball out to the 33 yard line. The defense toughened up after that, sacking Lee for a three yard loss. The Golden Eagles would go quietly though, as Lee hit Callahan for a 26 yard gain and first down at our 45 yard line. After a four yard rush by Lee, he found Callahan again, this time for 16 yards to set up a first down at our 25 yard line, the clock down to 1:09 to play. After two incomplete passes, Lee hit Adkins over the middle for a 12 yard gain, giving Southern Miss a first down at our 13 yard line, their second timeout stopping the clock with 51 seconds to go. After a dropped pass, Lee hit Fritz down the right sideline for the 13 yard touchdown pass, and Southern Miss took the 28-24 lead with 42 seconds left in the game.

No return on the kickoff left us on our 25 yard line and only 34 seconds to play. Price gave us some hope, hauling in a 23 yard pass from Stephens to give us a first down at the 48 yard line, our first timeout stopping the clock with 27 seconds to play. The first down pass to Fisher only managed to gain 8 yards as the cornerback Danny Walker quickly broke down into Fisher, but a mistake during the tackle would cost dearly, as Walker was flagged for a facemask penalty, the 15 extra yards giving us a first down at the USM 30 yard line with 23 seconds to play. The first down pass to Thompson was completed for 15 yards, giving us first down at the Southern Miss 15 yard line, but unable to get the organized, we were forced to burn out second timeout to stop the clock with 18 seconds to go. A pass to Newman gained 5 yards down to the 10 yard line, Newman fighting his way to the sideline and out of bounds to stop the clock with 14 seconds to play. Forced to dump off the ball to avoid a sack, the pass from Stephens to Smith went for no gain, and we were forced to burn out final timeout with 8 seconds to go. Forced to scramble for his life, Stephens was chased all the way to the sideline, shoved out of bounds for a 7 yard loss before he could even try to throw the ball away, leaving us fourth and 11 at the 16 yard line, only two seconds left on the clock. The entire game came down to this play. With no one able to get open, Stephens was forced to scramble and took off running for the end zone. He wouldn’t make it though as the safety came crashing down from the goal line, tackling him at the 11 yard line for a gain of only 5 yards. With that, the game came to an end as Southern Miss pulled out the 28-24 win.
Hay

With the loss, we fall to 4-4, 2-2 in C-USA action. With the win, Southern Miss improves to 6-1, 3-0 in C-USA play. Up next, we hit the road to take on MTSU, who enters the game 2-5, 0-4 in C-USA action. The Blue Raiders started the year with a 35-14 win over FCS Northwest, before upsetting Minnesota on the road 27-21. After that it was five straight losses, 44-24 to Marshall, 23-14 at UAB, 35-26 at FAU, 37-20 at Maryland and 30-10 at UTEP heading into their game with us.

Final Score
:Southern_Miss: 28, :Tulsa: 24



Stat(s) of the Game:
- Tulsa Offense – A good day for Stephens, ending 24-36 for 336 yards and two touchdowns. Price had a bit of a down day, but was still the leading rusher, ending with 118 yards and one touchdown on 26 carries. Receiving, 6 players caught a ball today, 5 of them catching at least three. Fisher led the way with 103 yard receiving and one touchdown on 6 receptions.

- Tulsa Defense – Pretty much got bowled over today. Didn't let Southern Miss get anything in the third quarter, but when the Golden Eagles did score, they pretty much had no trouble doing so, driving right down the field on us.

- Tulsa Kicking – A poor day for Pratt. 1-2 in field goals, missing on a 40 yard attempt, and then going 1-2 in PATs.



Scoring Summary

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final Score
:Southern_Miss:	7	14	0	7	28
:Tulsa:	6	8	3	7	24

Time	Team	Result	Play	Score
First Quarter
7:13	:Southern_Miss:	Touchdown	D. Lee, 2 yard run (W. Alston kick)	:Southern_Miss: 7-0
3:09	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	B. Price, 4 yard run (missed kick)	:Southern_Miss: 7-6
Second Quarter
8:41	:Southern_Miss:	Touchdown	D. Fritz, 7 yard pass from D. Lee (W. Alston kick)	:Southern_Miss: 14-6
5:49	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	E. Hayden, 8 yard pass from B. Stephens (2-point conversion good)	TIED 14-14
0:15	:Southern_Miss:	Touchdown	R. Callahan, 12 yard pass from D. Lee (W. Alston kick)	:Southern_Miss: 21-14
Third Quarter
1:10	:Tulsa:	Field Goal	A. Pratt, 29 yard field goal	:Southern_Miss: 21-17
Fourth Quarter
4:28	:Tulsa:	Touchdown	C. Fisher, 48 yard pass form B. Stephens (A. Pratt kick)	:Tulsa: 24-21
0:42	:Southern_Miss:	Touchdown	D. Fritz, 12 yard pass from D. Lee (W. Alston kick)	:Southern_Miss: 28-24

Game Stats

Southern Miss	Stat	Tulsa
28	Score	24
22	First Downs	24
428	Total Offense	475
28 - 117 - 1	Rushes - Yards - TD	32 - 139 - 1
22 - 39 - 3	Comp - Att - TD	24 - 36 - 2
311	Passing Yards	336
1	Times Sacked	1
3 - 9 (33%)	3rd Down Conversion	7 - 14 (50%)
0 - 1 (0%)	4th Down Conversion	1 - 2 (50%)
0 - 0 (0%)	2-Point Conv	1 - 1 (100%)
7 - 4 - 0 (57%)	Red Zone - TD - FG	7 - 2 - 1 (42%)
0	Turnovers	1
0	Fumbles Lost	1
0	Intercepted	0
10	Punt Return Yards	12
18	Kick Return Yards	25
456	Total Yards	512
5 – 46.8	Punts - Average	3 - 47.0
3 - 35	Penalties	4 - 47
16:18	Time of Possession	19:42

Tulsa Contract Goals Update

Fail Impact	Goal	Progress	Pass Impact
:6redarrow:	21+ points per game in each season	26	:6greenarrow:
	Win 10 games in one season	4	:6greenarrow:
	3300+ passing yards each season	1875	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	65% pass completions over the entire contract	61%	:5greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	Win 6 games in one season	4	:5greenarrow:
:6redarrow:	15+ rushing TD in each season	14	:5greenarrow:
:4redarrow:	3200+ total offensive yards each season	1/4 Completed	:3greenarrow:
:5redarrow:	3400+ total offensive yards each season	3347	:2greenarrow:

Job Security Status

42%

All I can say, is thank God, those fuckers Lee, Fritz and Adkins are all seniors and graduating after this year. I hate that goddamn unstoppable passing attack of Southern Miss. :smh:

Time for another look around the nation. Starting in the Top 25, #1 Notre Dame remains on top for at least another week, beating Central Michigan 56-21. The game of the week goes to #2 Auburn, who scores two unanswered touchdowns to beat #5 Ole Miss 31-17. Unranked Northwestern (6-1) makes their push to get back in the Top 25, knocking off #3 Wisconsin in dominating fashion, 41-16. Let the upsets continue, as Clemson scores a touchdown with 1:08 left in the game to knock off #4 NC State 38-31. #6 TCU had to put up a slew of points in the second half, but hold on to beat Kansas State 41-28.

#13 Miami escapes with a 31-29 win over Florida State. #16 USC is going for a tumble, losing to Utah 35-28 after the Utes score 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The battle of Michigan goes to Sparty, as #20 Michigan State takes down #18 Michigan 42-31. #22 Georgia Tech knocks off #14 Pittsburgh 28-21. #19 Vanderbilt loses their third straight game, falling to South Carolina 34-23. And #21 Texas Tech narrowly avoids getting upset, holding off Duke 24-23.

For our readers, souljahbill, obviously, Southern Miss improves to 6-1 (3-0 C-USA) with their win over Tulsa. Jaymo, Arizona State drops to 2-5 (1-3 Pac-12) losing 42-37 to Washington. Mors, West Virginia stayed at 2-5 (2-3 Big 12) with a bye week. Other teams of interest, Arkansas State improves to 4-2 (1-0 Sun Belt) with a 17-13 win over Army.

In C-USA action, North Texas gets shellacked by Louisiana-Lafayette 55-0. UTEP beats MTSU 30-10, UTSA takes down Florida Atlantic 21-6 and FIU tops Louisiana Tech 24-9 The East Division is a little clearer but still a toss-up. Southern Miss sits on top at 3-0, FIU and Marshall right behind at 3-1. Trailing is FAU (3-2) and Louisiana Tech (2-2). UAB (1-3) is all but eliminated. In the West Division, UTEP takes over first place at 2-1. Tulsa, North Texas and UTSA all sit tied for second at 2-2. Rice (0-3) still has an outside chance, MTSU (0-4) is pretty much eliminated.

Looking at undefeated teams left, with #3 Wisconsin, #4 NC State and #5 Ole Miss losing this week, our number of undefeated teams drops down to 3. #1 Notre Dame (8-0), #2 Auburn (7-0) and #6 TCU (8-0) are all that remain with an unblemished record this season.

Turning to a more sadistic watch, who is still winless. There remains 2 teams still looking for their first win: Central Michigan (0-7) and Memphis (0-7).

Teams getting their first win this week were: Western Kentucky (31-14 over 3-3 Troy).

On a player/awards note, the small numbers against Southern Miss ends up hurting Brandon Price, dropping him to fifth on the Heisman Watch list. Notre Dame QB Jordan Cooke is first, TCU QB Andrew Schmidt is second, Georgia HB Matt Blount third, and North Carolina HB Caleb Davis jumps to fourth.

Taking a look at the new Top 25 polls, in the Coaches Poll, Auburn (32 first place votes) jumps one to #1, Notre Dame (28 votes) falls one to #2, TCU (1 vote), after weeks of being stuck in the same spot, finally moves up three to #3, Texas jumps three to #4 and Iowa moves up three to #5. Oklahoma and Oregon both jump three to #6 and #7, Ole Miss falls three to #8, Alabama moves up two to #9 and NC State falls six to #10. Rutgers climbed one to #11, Wisconsin falls nine to #12, Miami stayed in place at #13, Nebraska moved up one to #14 and Ohio State jumped two to #15. Michigan State climbs four to #16, Georgia Tech jump five to #17, Pittsburgh falls four to #18, Texas Tech jumps two to #19 and Northwestern enters the poll at #20. Clemson reenters the poll at #21, Virginia, Georgia and Stanford all climb one to #22, #23 and #24. And Texas A&M enters the poll at #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were USC (from #16), Michigan (from #18) and Vanderbilt (from #19). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Michigan (268 votes) is #26, followed by USC, (265), Boise State (226), Vanderbilt (121) and Florida State (23) to round out the Top 30.

In the Media poll, Auburn (42 first place votes) jumps one spot to #1, Notre Dame (22 votes) falls one to #2, TCU (1 vote) climbs three to #3, Texas and Iowa both climb three to #4 and #5. Oklahoma climbs three to #6, Ole Miss falls three to #7, Alabama and Oregon both move up two #8 and #9 and NC State falls five to #10. Wisconsin tumbles eight to #11, Miami and Rutgers move up one to #12 and #13, Ohio State jumps two to #14 and Clemson reenters the poll at #15. Nebraska climbs one to #16, Georgia Tech jumps five to #17, Northwestern reenters the poll at #18, Michigan State jumps two to #19 and Pittsburgh fall eight to #20. Texas Tech drops one to #21, Virginia, Stanford and Georgia all move up one to #22, #23 and #24, and USC falls ten spots to #25. Dropping out of the poll this week were Michigan (from #18) and Vanderbilt (from #19). Looking at Others Receiving Votes, Texas A&M (295 votes) is #26, followed by South Carolina (279), Michigan (268), Vanderbilt (250) and Boise State (245) to round out the Top 30. Other teams getting votes include Arizona (90), Air Force (79), Florida State (48) and BYU (41).

Looking at the new BCS standings: #1 Auburn (1.000), #2 Notre Dame (.995), #3 TCU (.989), #4 Texas (.984), #5 Iowa (.978), #6 Oklahoma (.973), #7 Ole Miss (.965), #8 Oregon (.962), #9 Alabama (.959) and #10 Wisconsin (.942).

And that will do it for me for now. Along with it being time to hit the sack, two losses in one night is more than enough for me to call it a night. I've already got all the recruiting for week 10 done, so I'll probably hit up the MTSU game sometime in the evening after I get home from work, most likely after 8 or 9pm.

Wow man. TOUGH season for ya. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morsdraconis

Wow man. TOUGH season for ya. :(

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Yeah. :( I knew it was gonna be. Losing Booth and Fletcher to graduation already hurt. Then having Casey Bishop go down in week one, ugh. Unfortunately, for the past however many weeks, Bishop is still listed on the injury report, he was questionable, now he's listed as probable, though I'll probably wait until he's at absolute 100% before bringing him back. Stephens has made some big strides the last couple weeks, and I don't want to yank him out and throw in a, maybe, 90-95% Bishop in his place. Still playing for a bowl game though and still in the middle of the fight for the West Division title, so all is not lost. Just not gonna be a double digit win season. Still should be a respectable year in the end, especially with the likes of 2-5 MTSU, 1-5 Rice and 3-4 UTSA coming up in the next couple weeks.

Now that the 8,000th post has been made elsewhere and is out of the way, back to the dynasty, I also have just added a new table to the front page in my Coach Statistics post. Now, to go along with Coach Win-Loss Records, Coach Milestones and Coach Career Win-Loss vs. Opponent, I have added the brand new table of Coach Career Win-Loss vs. Conference.

So now I can see how I stack up against the competition from conference to conference. For instance, after adding all the numbers and games together, realizing I'm 2-0 vs. the Mountain West, 2-0 vs. the ACC (both wins against Duke) and 5-1 vs. the MAC (the only loss being this season to Toledo). I've also never played an Independent team, and have yet to play a team from the SEC.

So some interesting comparisons there that I'll now be updating with each game along with the rest of the tables in those first couple posts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morsdraconis

Wow man. TOUGH season for ya. :(

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Also, I'll say this, I'm not too upset about Southern Miss. Yeah, it sucks them scoring at the end to pull out the win like that, but looking at the Team Stats after the game, goddamn, we were nearly a reflection of each other in the stats. Southern Miss played probably the closest damn game statistically in my entire time at Tulsa. It was truly a back and forth game between, essentially, two dead equal teams. So I can't be too upset, because they pretty much just straight up beat me and were right there equal to me statistically. It wasn't, like some of my other games, a loss where fuck ups by the offense and defense lost it for us and while I was statistically the superior team. Southern Miss just plain did what they had to do to and put up the yards needed to pull out the win. So I hand it to the Golden Eagles for that. They earned that win.

That's what you get for scheduling Ohio teams!