Tulsa Holds Off UCF for 45-30 Win

Saturday, November 7

H.A. Chapman Stadium

11:00 a.m.

Tulsa

5-4 , 2-3

UCF

0-10 , 0-6

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UCF

Tulsa

Tulsa Holds Off UCF for 45-30 Win

11/7/2015 4:10:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

Final Stats in PDF l Final Stats in HTML l Postgame Quotes l Postgame Notes l Photo Gallery

Tulsa sprinted out to a 24-3 halftime lead and held off the UCF Knights on Saturday afternoon for a 45-30 win in front of 16,128 fans at H.A. Chapman Stadium. In the final seven minutes, Ramadi Warren's third touchdown run and Michael Mudoh's 86-yard interception return sealed the victory for the Hurricane.

Tulsa improved to 5-4 on the season and 2-3 in the American Athletic Conference, while UCF fell to 0-10 and 0-6.

Warren, a red-shirt freshman, had a game-high 168 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, while D'Angelo Brewer added 82 yards on the ground for a Hurricane offense that ran for its second-best rushing effort of the season. Dane Evans completed 10-of-18 passes for 150 yards and had touchdown throws in the first quarter of 36 and 12 yards, both to Connor Floyd.

Michael Mudoh paced a Tulsa defense that forced four turnovers and held UCF to 109 rushing yards and 412 total yards. Mudoh had his 20^th career double-figure tackle game with 13 stops and his first interception of the season, which he returned for an 86-yard TD and the school's second-longest interception return in school history. UCF's Justin Holman completed 22-of-41 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns.

Tulsa saw its 24-3 halftime lead disappear in the third quarter when the Knights scored 17 consecutive third quarter points, all coming off of Tulsa turnovers, and cutting the Hurricane lead to just four points, 24-20, at the end of the third period. The Hurricane finally ended its second-half scoring drought with a touchdown coming within the first two minutes of the final period for a 31-20 lead.

Tulsa took the second-half kickoff to the UCF 30-yard line, before an interception gave the Knights the ball at their own 29-yard line. The Knights turned the Tulsa turnover into seven points as Taj McGowan's two-yard run capped a nine-play, 71-yard scoring drive to cut Tulsa's lead to 24-10.

UCF capitalized on another Hurricane turnover, Tulsa's third of the game, on a fumble on the kickoff return, giving the Knights the ball at the Tulsa 16-yard line. Tulsa's defense held the Knights to a seven-play, 13-yard drive and just three points on a 19-yard field goal, cutting Tulsa's lead to 11 points, 24-13.

Tulsa's third consecutive turnover gave UCF the ball at the Hurricane 38-yard line with 4:15 left in the third quarter, and it took the Knights just three plays to bring its deficit to four points, 24-20, with 3:35 left in the quarter.

The Hurricane ended UCF's scoring onslaught in the second half on a one-yard Warren touchdown run at the 13:24 mark of the fourth quarter, capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive, while taking 5:11 off the clock and increasing its lead to 31-20.

The Knights responded with a 59-yard, nine-play drive, resulting in Matthew Wright's third field goal of the day, cutting the Hurricane lead to 31-23.

Warren scored his third touchdown of the game to put Tulsa ahead 38-23 with 7:38 remaining in the game, capping a three-play, 44-yard drive after the Hurricane recovered a fumble on a UCF punt. Warren gained all 44 yards on the Tulsa scoring drive.

Tulsa took its first possession of the game 73 yards in eight plays and 3:05 as Evans connected with Floyd for 36 yards and the touchdown, marking Floyd's first touchdown reception and longest catch of the year.

UCF scored its first points on a 37-yard field goal by UCF's Matthew Wright. The UCF score almost didn't occur if it was not for a miscue by the Hurricane on a Tulsa takeaway. Tulsa's Darrell Williams intercepted a UCF pass at the Tulsa 15-yard line, but on the return, fumbled it back to the Knights, giving UCF possession at the Hurricane 29-yard line.

After a 45-yard Warren kick return, Tulsa began its drive at their own 45-yard line and went the remaining 55 yards to take a 14-3 lead with 0:02 remaining in the first period. Evans connected for a second TD to Floyd, this time covering 12 yards.

Tulsa's defense held UCF on 4^th-and-3, and giving the Hurricane offense the ball at their own 37-yard line. Warren took the ball to the UCF 9-yard line on a 47-yard run on the second play, and went the final five yards for a touchdown and giving Tulsa a 21-3 lead.
The Tulsa scoring drive went 63 yards in four plays, taking 1:13 off the game clock.

The Hurricane defense had its second takeaway of the game when Trent Martin forced fumble, recovered by Matt Linscott. The Tulsa offense took possession at the UCF 24-yard line, but could only get a 28-yard Redford Jones field goal to increase its lead to 21 points at 24-3.

At halftime, Tulsa held a 226 to 122-yard edge in total offense, as Tulsa had a balanced first-half attack with 124 passing yards and 102 yards on the ground.

Tulsa will be back on the road next week to renew a series against the Cincinnati Bearcats in American Athletic Conference action. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (CT)/7:30 p.m. (ET) and will be aired on ESPNews.