Tulsa
San Jose St
Tulsa Football Downs San Jose St., 28-17
11/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 18, 2000
By DANNY M. BOYD
Associated Press Writer
TULSA, Okla. -- Eric Richardson ran for 194 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Tulsa to a 28-17 victory over San Jose State on Saturday.
Tulsa (4-7, 3-4 WAC) racked up 465 yards in total offense against the Spartans' porous defense, ranked last overall nationally.
San Jose State's Deonce Whitaker, the nation's third leading rusher coming into the game, had 170 on the ground, but scored only once against a Tulsa defense ranked next to last against the run.
The loss knocks San Jose State (7-4, 5-2) out of possible tie for the conference crown. The defeat also ended a three-game road winning streak in conference play.
Richardson, a freshman, scored on runs of 6, 14 and 4 yards.
Tulsa's final score came on a 43-yard burst by Ken Bohanon with 23 seconds left. It was the longest run of the year for the Golden Hurricane. Bohanon had 144 yards rushing on the day.
The score was 21-17 with San Jose State driving when Sherman Steptoe picked off Marcus Arroyo's pass and returned it 34 yards to the Tulsa 48. Bohanon scored two plays later.
Arroyo finished 12-of-32 for 196 yards. Tulsa's Josh Blankenship completed 12 of 27 passes for 138 yards.
Tulsa tied it at 14 with 5:38 in the third quarter on Richardson's 14-yard run. The Golden Hurricane took the lead on Richardson's third touchdown of the game with 10:12 left in the fourth. Nick Gilliam's 29-yard field goal with 6:42 in the fourth quarter closed the gap to 21-17.
San Jose State led 14-7 at halftime. After a scoreless first quarter, the Spartans struck first with 11:44 in the second on a 3-yard run by Jamar Julien.
Richardson tied it on a 5-yard run to cap a 75-yard drive aided by a roughing the passer call.
On the first play of the next drive, Arroyo threw a 75-yard strike to Edell Shepherd, and Whitaker carried it in from 5 yards out to put the Spartans up 14-7.
