First Half Surge Not Enough in Tulsa’s 40-21 Loss to Oklahoma State Saturday

Saturday, September 14

Chapman Stadium

2:30 PM

Tulsa

1-2

Oklahoma State

3-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Oklahoma State

Tulsa

Photo by: Brett Rojo

First Half Surge Not Enough in Tulsa’s 40-21 Loss to Oklahoma State Saturday

9/14/2019 8:26:00 PM | Football

Box Score

GAME STATS I POST-GAME QUOTES I POST-GAME NOTES I PHOTO GALLERY I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla.- Shamari Brooks carried the ball 29 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane fell, 40-21, to Oklahoma State (3-0) in the Bank of Oklahoma Turnpike Classic at H.A. Chapman Stadium Saturday afternoon in front of 28,612 fans.

The duo of Brooks and Corey Taylor II carried the ball 42 times and combined for 163 yards for the Golden Hurricane (1-2) in the home opener. Brooks scored both his touchdowns in the second quarter and gave the Hurricane a 21-20 lead going into halftime. He recorded his second-consecutive 100-yard game and now has 20 career rushing touchdowns.

Quarterback Zach Smith completed 17 of his 30 passes for 228 yards. Smith's one touchdown pass of the game put TU on the board with a 39-yard throw to Keylon Stokes on a six-play, 75-yard drive. Stokes finished the day with seven catches for 109 yards, his second 100-yard game of his career.

Reggie Robinson II collected his first career interception and the first interception for the Hurricane this season as the Tulsa defense held Oklahoma State to 43 total passing yards in the first half. Defensively, Tulsa forced two Spencer Sanders turnovers on the day and held the Cowboy passing game to only 169 yards. Tulsa has now held the opposition to less than 250 yards passing in each of its first three games.

Cristian Williams led the TU defense with nine tackles. Allie Green IV had seven stops, while Brandon Johnson and Zaven Collins had six each. Manny Bunch recovered the lone fumble of the game and had a six-yard return.

Oklahoma State's Spencer Sanders went 12-for-22 for 169 yards. Sanders threw a 90-yard touchdown pass to Tylan Wallace, the third-longest in school history. The Cowboys accumulated 506 total yards of offense that was assisted by Chuba Hubbard's 257 yards on the ground.

"I was proud of our football team. I think we have a really good football team. We've got to quit shooting ourselves in the foot. We had way too many penalties. We gave up some explosive plays today that we haven't been giving up. To me, those were probably the two main things in the game that stood out to me," said Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery.

Tulsa's offense recorded 396 yards, the most for the Hurricane this season. In the first half, TU out-gained the Cowboys, 258 to 243 in taking its one-point lead into halftime. TU had a second quarter surge with 171 total yards and 14 points. Brooks ran for 91 yards on 18 carries as Smith threw for 132 yards on nine completions in the first 30 minutes.

For the game, the Hurricane was called for school-record tying 17 penalties totaling 156 yards.

The Cowboys took the ball to start the game and scored on the opening play from scrimmage with a 75-yard touchdown run by Hubbard. After going three-and-out on their first two possessions, Tulsa got on the board to make it a 17-7 game with a Smith connection to Stokes for 39 yards.

In the second quarter, Tulsa took a 21-20 lead on two consecutive scoring drives covering 75 and 84 yards.
On the first, Zach Smith completed a 43-yard pass to Sam Crawford Jr., which was his longest pass of the season (surpassing his 39-yard touchdown in the first quarter) to reach the 3-yard line. Brooks ran the final 3 yards for the score. The Hurricane then closed out its next scoring drive with a 16-play, 84-yard drive that took 6:08 off the clock and again capped by a Brooks TD run, this time covering one yard.

In the third period, the Cowboys out-gained the Hurricane 182 to 30 yards and took the lead for good on a 27-yard Sanders run at the 4:35 mark, capping a 7-play, 52-yard drive. The Cowboys added one more touchdown in the third and one in the fourth quarter to reach 40 points.

Tulsa will return to H.A. Chapman Stadium at 2:30 p.m., next Saturday, September 21 when the Hurricane hosts the Wyoming Cowboys (3-0) from the Mountain West Conference.

Tickets for the Tulsa-Wyoming game are available online at TulsaHurricane.com or by calling 918.631.GOTU (4688).