FOOTBALL NOTES: MICHIGAN STATE GAME

GAME #1

TULSA (0-0, 0-0 AAC) vs. #18/20 MICHIGAN STATE (0-0, 0-0 Big 10)
Friday, August 30, 2019 • 7:00 pm (ET)/6:00 pm (CT)
Spartan Stadium (75,005) • East Lansing, Michigan
TV: FS 1
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM

FOR FULL GAME NOTES PACKAGE, CLICK HERE

THE COACHES:
TULSA 3-9, 2-6 The American
Head Coach:            Philip Montgomery
(Tarleton State '95)
5th year at Tulsa
Career Record: 21-29 (4 years)
TU Record: same

MICHIGAN STATE   7-6, 5-4 Big 10
Head Coach: Mark Dantonio
(South Carolina '79)
14th year at Michigan State
Career Record:        125-68 (16 years)
MSU Record: 107-51 (13 years)

THE STORYLINES . . .
•      Tulsa opens its 120th season of football this year.
•      Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with 3,297 undergraduate students, while Michigan State has an enrollment of 50,351
       students.
•      The two defenses each ranked among the top-10 nationally in different categories at the end of the 2018 season … Michigan
       State ranked 1st in the NCAA for rushing defense (77.9 ypg) and 10th for total defense … Tulsa ranked 8th in the nation for pass
       defense (174.6) and 10th for 4th down conversion defense.
•      This is the first meeting between Tulsa and Michigan State.
•      Michigan State is the 5th Big 10 team Tulsa has played in school history – Indiana (0-1), Iowa (1-2), Minnesota (0-2) and Ohio State (0-1).

TULSA IN SEASON OPENERS . . .
•      In the 119-year history of Tulsa football, the Golden Hurricane has posted a 69-49-1 record in season openers.
•      The most consecutive seasons in which Tulsa won the season opener is seven, winning the openers from 1925 to 1931.
•      Tulsa's last season-opening win on the road came in 2009 with a 37-13 win over Tulane … the Hurricane lost five road openers since then.
•      This is the first time Tulsa si opening the season outside the state of Oklahoma since 2013, at Bowling Green.

WATCH LISTS . . .
•      DOAK WALKER AWARD … the junior running back duo of Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor II were named to the list for nation's top RB.
•      BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD … for the second straight year, senior linebacker Cooper Edmiston was named to the award given to the nation's top defender.
•      RAY GUY AWARD … The nation's 5th leading punter from 2018, Tulsa's Thomas Bennett, was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List.
•      PAUL HORNUNG AWARD … Keylon Stokes was named to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List, given annually to the nation's most versatile player.
•      EARL CAMPBELL TYLER ROSE AWARD … receivers Keenen Johnson and Keylon Stokes, both from Texas, were named to the award that goes to the nation's top offensive player with ties to the state of Texas.

RETURNING PRODUCTION . . .
•      Tulsa returns 24 lettermen on defense, including 8 starters and 9 more players who have started at least one career game.
•      Tulsa's defense returns 79% of its tackles, 87% of its TFLs, 86% of its sacks, 78% of its interceptions, 73% of its pass break-ups, 92% of its forced fumbles and 82% of its fumble recoveries.
•      The Hurricane has 17 lettermen returning to the offensive side of the ball, including 6 starters and 3 additional players who started games last year.
•      On offense, Tulsa returns 85% of its rushing yards, 66% passing yards, 66% receiving yards, 76% of total offense, 71% of all-purpose yards, 57% scoring and 75% of its touchdowns.

COOP . . .
•      Cooper Edmiston, a 4th year senior, led Tulsa in 2018 with 113 tackles, 3 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries … he also had 3 fumbles caused
•      Edmiston ranked among the nation's top-40 leaders in 5 different defensive categories –– fumbles recovered (6th), interceptions (16th), interceptions per game (17th), forced fumbles (31st) and total tackles (36th).
•      In The American, Edmiston ranked 2nd for tackles and interceptions, 3rd for fumble recoveries and 4th for forced fumbles.
•      Edmiston enters his senior season with 237 career tackles and his 5 career fumble recoveries is just one shy of the school's all-time record.
•      Edmiston has 13 career double-figure tackle games, including 7 in 2018, 6 in 2017 and had a career-best 17 stops at UConn in 2017.

ZAVEN COLLLINS BACK AFTER FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA SEASON . . .
•    Sophomore LB Zaven Collins was named to the USA Today and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Freshman All-America Teams last year as a red-shirt freshman.
•    He became the 9th Tulsa player to earn Freshman All-America honors, all coming since the 2003 season.
•    The 6'4", 256-pound linebacker moved into the starting WILL linebacker spot in the
      3rd game last year vs. Arkansas State due to a Robert Revels III injury … moving over from his back-up role at the MIKE position.
•    In his 10 starts, Collins totaled 79 tackles, 9.5 TFLs for -31 yards, 3 QB hurries,
      3 PBUs, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and one INT.
•    Collins ended the year with 85 total tackles.

DYANAMIC DUO . . .
•      Tulsa has a solid one-two punch in the backfield with junior RBs Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor II.
•      Last year, the duo combined for 1,813 of Tulsa's 2,406 rushing yards for 75 percent of Tulsa's run game, as well as scoring 18 of Tulsa's 23 rushing TDs.
•      Brooks totaled 967 yards and 7 TDs in 11 games played, while Taylor gained 846 yards and 11 TDs, also in 11 games.
*      They have combined for 13 100+ rushing games in their careers, including 2 games of 100+ yards each
•      Brooks has 8 career 100+ rushing games in 20 career contests… had a career-high 164 yards and 2 TDs in his first career start against UConn in 2017.
•      Taylor had career-highs of 152 yards on 33 carries at Houston in 2018 … he has 5 career 100+ rushing games in 19 career contests.
•      Brooks went over 1,000 career rushing yards in just his 13th career game when he totaled 65 yards at Temple in 2018 … he became the second quickest to reach 1,000 yards, behind 10 games by Reggie Williams (1995-96).

THE QBs . . .
•      Tulsa entered the previous two seasons, 2017 and 2018, with a quarterback who hadn't started a collegiate game.
•      This year, most likely, the starting QB will have started more than a handful of games on the collegiate level –– sophomore Seth Boomer started 8 games last year for Tulsa, while junior Zach Smith started 10 games in 2 seasons at Baylor.
•   Tulsa's third QB, Davis Brin, is a red-shirt freshman and saw his only playing time late in the UConn game in 2018.

FOOTBALL NOTES: MICHIGAN STATE GAME

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Players Mentioned

Thomas Bennett

Seth Boomer

Davis Brin

Shamari Brooks

Zaven Collins

Cooper Edmiston

Keenen Johnson

Robert Revels III

Zach Smith

Keylon Stokes

Corey Taylor II

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