Tulsa Football Game Notes vs. Houston Cougars

GAME 4:
TULSA (2-1, 0-0 The American) vs. HOUSTON (3-0, 0-0 The American)
Saturday, October 3, 2015 • 11:04 a.m. (CT)
H.A. Chapman Stadium (30,000), Tulsa, Okla.
TV: CBS Sports Network
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 604-473-27.
•     Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of FBS schools with 3,473 students . . . Houston lists its enrollment as 39,820.
•     Tulsa and Houston are among the top-3 in the American Athletic Conference for scoring offense (Houston 48.3, Tulsa 41.7) and total offense (Tulsa 607.0, Houston 590.7).
•     The Golden Hurricane has thrown for 390.7 yards in its first three games to rank sixth nationally for passing yards.
•     In Tulsa's last outing, a 52-38 loss against #16 Oklahoma, the Hurricane put up 427 passing yards and 176 rushing yards for 603 total yards against a defensive that allowed only 240.0 yards in its first two games combined against Akron and Tennessee.
•     Tulsa averages 607.0 yards in total offense, while Houston has allowed its opponents to gain only 379.0 yards per game.
•     Quarterback Dane Evans has moved into seventh place on the school's career charts for passing yards (5,172) and passing touchdowns (35).
•     The Hurricane has three receivers ranked among the top-65 nationally for receiving yards per game –– Keyarris Garrett is third (151.3), Keevan Lucas ranks 10th (114.0) and Josh Atkinson is ranked 62nd (74.3).
•     After going the first seven quarters this year without a takeaway, Tulsa then had four takeaways in the next three quarters – two in the fourth quarter at NewMexico and two in the second quarter at Oklahoma.
•     Keyarris Garrett and Keevan Lucas have combined for 4,078 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns in their careers.

THE SERIES . . .
•   This is the 40th meeting between Tulsa and Houston.
•   The Cougars lead the series 21-18, while posting a 13-9 record at home . . . Tulsa has a 9-8 home record in the series.
•   Houston won last year's meeting at home by a 38-28 score.
•   In Tulsa's nine home wins in the series, the Hurricane has a 12.1 win margin, but in the eight home losses the Cougars have won by a margin of 15.1 points.
•     Houston has won the last two meetings in Tulsa (2009 and 2011), and in both years the Cougars came into the game nationally ranked.

MUDOH NO. 1 IN NATION FOR TACKLES, GOES OVER 300 FOR HIS CAREER
•   Senior safety Michael Mudoh's 40 tackles this year for a 13.3 average through three games ranks first 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.
•   Mudoh has 16 double-figure tackle games in 27 career games as a starter.
•   He now has 311 career tackles to rank in a tie for 14th place on the school's all-time tackles chart . . . he needs 17 more stops to tie Muadianvita Kazadi (1993-96) for 10th place on the school list.

THE RECEIVING TANDEM AMONG NASTION'S BEST . . .
•   Senior Keyarris Garrett and junior Keevan Lucas have combined to make the nation's top receiving tandem in college football this year, as they are the only duo to rank among the top-10 for receiving yards per game – Garrett ranks third with 151.3 ypg, while Lucas is 10th with 114.0 ypg.
•   The tandem has combined for 796 yards and six TDs on 45 receptions, an        average of 265.3 yards and 2.0 TDs between them in the first three games.
•   In a season-opening win over FAU, the duo combined for 356 yards and two TDs on 15 receptions for a 23.7-yard average per catch.
•   Lucas had 193 yards and two TDs on 10 receptions, while Garrett caught five passes for 163 yards in the opener.
•   Garrett went over 100 yards in Tulsa's next two games, while Lucas didn't reach the 100-yard mark but scored three TDs over the next two contests.
•   In their careers, the duo has each gone over 2,000 receiving yards, combining for 4,078 yards and 32 touchdowns.
•   In 27 career games, Lucas now has 2,003 yards and 17 TDs on 152 receptions for a 13.2 average per catch.
•   In 35 games, Garrett has 2,075 yards, 15 TDs and a 13.9-yard average on 149 career receptions.
•     A year ago, the duo of Lucas and Garrett totaled nearly 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns (1,917 yards to be exact).

NEVER BEFORE . . .
•   Tulsa has gained 600+ yards in each of its first three games with 618 yards against FAU, 600 yards at New Mexico and 603 yards at Oklahoma . . .
•   This is the first time in school history that Tulsa has had three consecutive games with 600 yards of total offense.
•   The last time Tulsa had back-to-back 600+ total offense games was in 2008 when it happened twice – 606 vs. New Mexico (Sept. 20) and 641 vs. Central Arkansas (Sept. 27), and 602 vs. SMU (Oct. 11) and 791 vs. UTEP (Oct. 18).

HERE'S MORE NUMBERS AFTER THREE GAMES . . .
•   Tulsa has averaged 41.7 points this year, while scoring over 40 points twice.
•   In the first two games Tulsa went over 40 points in each game, marking Tulsa's first back-to-back 40-point scoring game since 2012 when Tulsa had 49 points at UAB and 45 at Marshall.
•   Tulsa has had a 100-yard receiver in each game this year, while Tulsa two       receivers have gone over 100 yards in two of the first three contests – New Mexico and Oklahoma.
•   Tulsa had two 100-yard rushers vs. New Mexico with Zack Langer gaining 139 yards and D'Angelo Brewer had his first career 100+ rushing game with 133 yards.
•   QB Dane Evans has thrown for 1,172 yards and eight TDs in three games this year for a passing efficiency of 168.2 and completion percentage of 62.3.
•     Evans has completed 71 passes and averages 16.5 yards per completion to rank fourth nationally.

Tulsa Football Game Notes vs. Houston Cougars

Players Mentioned

Josh Atkinson

D'Angelo Brewer

Dane Evans

Keyarris Garrett

Zack Langer

Keevan Lucas

Michael Mudoh

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