Tulsa Gets Ready to Kickoff the 2010 Football Season
8/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2010
Tulsa, Oklahoma - For the third consecutive year, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team will open Conference USA play on the first weekend of the football season on the road.
Tulsa kicks off the season in front of a national television audience on ESPN2 against defending Conference USA Champion East Carolina in Greenville, North Carolina Sunday, Sept 5th, at 2:00 pm (ET)/1:00 pm (CT).
The game will take place on the grass field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, which has undergone an expansion of 7,000 seats this summer to push the seating capacity to 50,000.
Tulsa heads into the game with a 5-4 series advantage, but East Carolina has won the last two meetings, both in Tulsa, including the 2008 C-USA Championship Game in Tulsa, 27-24. The series is tied 2-2 as members of Conference USA. The Hurricane has a 3-1 series advantage in Greenville, winning in 1985, 1993 and 2006.
The game is the coaching debut for first-year Pirates Head Coach Ruffin McNeill, who returns to his alma mater, after 10 years as an assistant coach at Texas Tech. Tulsa's Todd Graham enters his fourth season with the Golden Hurricane and has posted a three-year mark of 26-14.
The two teams continue their preparations for the season opener this week. Tulsa will be off on the usual Monday before getting back on the practice field Tuesday.
The home season for the Golden Hurricane begins on Sept. 11th against Bowling Green, as Tulsa will remember 9-11 with a "Salute to America". The home opener begins at 6:05 pm at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
TULSA'S WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE IS AVAILABLE ON WWW.TULSAHURRICANE.COM MONDAY AT 11:30 AM.
