Tulsa Football Game Notes vs. East Carolina

GAME 6:
TULSA (3-2, 0-1 The American) vs. EAST CAROLINA (3-3, 1-1 The American)
Saturday, October 17, 2015 • 12:01 p.m. (ET)/11:01 a.m. (CT)
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (50,000), Greenville, NC
TV: ESPNews
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM

FOR FULL GAME NOTES PACKAGE, CLICK HERE.

THE STORYLINES . . .
•     Tulsa football is under new direction as Philip Montgomery was named the 29th head coach in school history on December 11, 2014.
•     This is the 116th season that Tulsa has fielded a football team and has accumulated a record of 605-474-27.
•     Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of FBS schools with 3,473 students . . . East Carolina lists its enrollment as 27,000.
•     Tulsa reached three wins after five games played, bettering last year's win total of two wins for the season.
•     Tulsa ranks second in passing offense in the American Athletic Conference with367.8 yards per game and third in total offense at 568.0 yards . . . the Hurricane is 7th nationally for both passing and total offense.
•     Quarterback Dane Evans moved into 4th place on the school's career passing chart with 5,839 career yards.
•     Senior safety Michael Mudoh is one of only 16 players in school history to reach 300 career tackles . . . Mudoh's career total of 331 tackles has come in 43 games for a 7.7 average per game . . . he ranks ninth on the school's all-time tackles list.
•     The Hurricane has two receivers – Keyarris Garrett and Josh Atkinson – with at least three 100-yard receiving games each within Tulsa's first five contests this season . . . Atkinson has four straight 100-yard games and Garrett has had three 100+ receiving games.
•     Tulsa went the first seven quarters this year without a takeaway, Tulsa then had four takeaways in the next three quarters . . . Tulsa has eight takeaways in the last 13 quarters of play, including six fumble recoveries and two interceptions.
•     Tulsa has had 14 of its' 21 touchdown drives in regulation come under two minutes . . . Tulsa's .667 percentage for TD drives two minutes or less is tied with Troy for second-best nationally, behind UMass' .706 percentage . . . nine Tulsa TD drives have been under one minute.

THE SERIES . . .
•   This is the 13th meeting between Tulsa and East Carolina.
•   East Carolina leads the series 7-5 and has won the last five games.
•   The Pirates defeated Tulsa on the road last year on the final weekend of the season with a 49-32 win.
•   Tulsa began the series by winning the first three contests, including two of those victories in Greenville.
•   East Carolina has a 4-2 record in Tulsa, while the series is tied at 3-3 in Greenville.
•   Tulsa's wins have been by a margin of 18.2 points, while the Pirates have won its seven games by a margin of 15.2 points.

EVANS MOVING UP ON PASSING CHARTS . . .
•   Quarterback Dane Evans is in his fourth year, but just his third in a playing
capacity . . . Evans red-shirted in the 2012 season, played in 2013 and then started all 12 games in 2014.
•   Evans now has thrown for 5,839 career yards, moving into 4th place on the school's career passing chart, surpassing John Fitzgerald (1994-98)
•   His 37 passing touchdowns is also the sixth most for a Tulsa quarterback . . . he trails Jerry Rhome (1963-64) for fifth place by five TD passes
•   Evans has 5,946 total offense yards to rank sixth on the school's career list, needing
two more yards to move into fifth place.
•   Evans had his third career 400+ passing game against #16 Oklahoma with 427 yards and four touchdowns . . . that was his second 400+ game this season as Evans threw for 424 yards and two TDs in the season opener against FAU.
•   With five 300+ passing games this year, Evans now has eight career 300+ passing games, which is the third most in school history behind Paul Smith's 15 and G.J. Kinne's 14.
•   In 2014, Evans became the 20th quarterback in school history to throw for over 2,000 yards in a single season, and it was just the sixth time that a player has thrown for over 3,000 yards in a season.
•   This year, Evans is just 161 passing yards shy of 2,000 passing yards for the
second straight season.

LINSCOTT COMES A LONG WAY . . .
•   Matt Linscott came to Tulsa in 2012 as a walk-on from nearby prep powerhouse Jenks High School.
•   In 2013, he played in 11 games on special teams and in 2014 was a back-up safety and special teams performer
•   Before the 2014 season, Linscott was put on scholarship . . . during the season, he had 13 tackles, forced one fumble and had one fumble recovery in 12 games.
•   In the spring of 2015 and the arrival of the new coaching staff, Linscott made the move to linebacker and earned a starting position.
•   Through five games, Linscott has totaled 47 tackles to rank 26th nationally for tackles . . . he had double-digit tackles in the first three games with 10 against FAU, 11 against New Mexico and 13 at Oklahoma.
•   Linscott leads the Hurricane and is 8th nationally for tackles for lost yardage with 9.5 TFLs for -40 yards . . . he also has 3.5 sacks, two pass break-ups, one interception and one forced fumble.

GARRETT IS TOP TARGET . . .
•   Senior Keyarris Garrett has a team-leading 628 receiving yards on 41 receptions.
•   He ranks ninth in the nation for receiving yards (628) and seventh for receiving yards per game (125.6) this year.
•   Garrett has had three 100+ receiving games this year . . . he caught five passes for 163 yards in the season opener vs. FAU.
•   Garrett went over 100 yards in Tulsa's next two games as well, with 102 yards on seven catches vs. New Mexico and 189 yards and one TD on 14 receptions against #16 Oklahoma.
•   In 37 career games, Garrett has 2,249 yards, 15 TDs and a 13.7-yard average on 164 career receptions . . . his yardage is the 13th-most in school history.

ATKINSON MAKING A NAME TOO . . .
•   Junior receiver Josh Atkinson has enjoyed a productive season for the Hurricane, and now with the absence of Keevan Lucas will take an even more significant role in the offense.
•   He ranks second on the team with 440 yards on 28 catches for 88.0 yards per game and 15.7 yards per catch.
•   Atkinson is on a streak of four straight 100+ receiving games.
•   Atkinson had his first career 100-yard receiving game with 119 yards on three receptions against New Mexico, including a 69-yard TD, which was his first catch of the season.
•   He followed that up with his second 100+ game when he caught 10 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown against Oklahoma.
•   Atkinson had his third 100+ receiving game of the season and his career with 107 yards on six receptions against Houston.
•   Last week, Atkinson had a team-leading nine receptions for 110 yards vs. ULM.
•   Atkinson has totals of 965 yards and three touchdowns in 26 career games.

MUDOH INTO TOP-10 FOR CAREER TACKLES; THIRD IN THE NATION . . .
•   Senior safety Michael Mudoh now has 331 career tackles ties for ninth place
on the school's all-time tackles chart . . . he needs five more stops to tie for eighth place.
•   Mudoh's 60 tackles this year for a 12.0 average through five games ranks third in the nation.
•   Mudoh had a career-high 20 tackles in the opener vs. FAU, which ties for the second-best game in the NCAA this year for tackles.
•   It's the third straight season opener that he had double-figure tackles . . . his previous career-best was 17 stops coming in the 2013 opener vs. Bowling Green, and last year had 10 tackles against Tulane.
•   Mudoh totaled another team-high of 16 stops at Oklahoma as well as 11 tackles against ULM.
•     Mudoh has 17 double-figure tackle games in 29 career games as a starter . . . he has three double-digit tackle games this year.

Tulsa Football Game Notes vs. East Carolina

Players Mentioned

Josh Atkinson

Dane Evans

Keyarris Garrett

Matt Linscott

Keevan Lucas

Michael Mudoh

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