Tulsa Gets Bowl Eligible With 34-31 Win at SMU

Saturday, November 27

Dallas, Texas

3:00 PM

Tulsa

6-6 , 5-3

SMU

8-4 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulsa

SMU

Photo by: Mario Terrana

Tulsa Gets Bowl Eligible With 34-31 Win at SMU

11/27/2021 9:49:00 PM | Football

Box Score

GAME BOOK I POST-GAME NOTES I SEASON STATS

DALLAS, Texas –– Trailing 17-0, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane had its fourth comeback win of the season and 20^th in the Philip Montgomery era with a 34-31 victory over the SMU Mustangs Saturday afternoon at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Tulsa improved to 6-6 on the season to become bowl eligible and 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference, while SMU fell to 8-4 overall and 4-4 in league play. The Hurricane will be awaiting to hear its bowl destination, the fourth in Montgomery's seventh year and the 22^nd bowl game in school history.

SMU jumped out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter, but the Hurricane cut its deficit to three points by halftime with two touchdowns in the final 66 seconds.

"I'm just extremely proud of our football team through all the adversity they've gone through this year. Tonight we get down 17 points, they stay tight together and keep battling and then we come back with 31 unanswered points. That's who we are to our core as a program and a team –– guys continuing to battle and continue to believe in each other. I couldn't be more proud of them," said Montgomery.

After gaining just 14 yards on 13 plays in the first quarter, the Hurricane finished out the rest of the contest with 360 yards on 56 plays. Tulsa finished with 374 total yards, including 244 through the air and 130 rushing yards. The Mustangs gained 405 total yards with 298 passing and 107 on the ground.

Davis Brin completed 18-of-33 passes for 244 yards and one TD for the Hurricane, while Josh Johnson had his fifth 100+ receiving game with 117 yards on six receptions. Shamari Brooks led all ballcarriers with 71 yards, while Braylon Braxton, Deneric Prince and Anthony Watkins all scored rushing touchdowns. The Hurricane defense intercepted two SMU passes, had six TFL for -25 yards and in the second half held the Mustangs to 1-7 on third down.

The second half opened with Tulsa taking the kickoff 75 yards in nine plays for a 21-17 lead as Prince scored from one yard out.

With SMU marching, Tulsa's Travon Fuller intercepted a Tanner Mordecai pass, Fuller's third of the season, and took it 16 yards to the Tulsa 40-yard line, where the Hurricane offense took possession. However, a tipped throw by Brin was intercepted and gave SMU possession at their own 40-yard line.

The Hurricane defense stopped SMU on 4^th-and-3, while the Tulsa offense went 47 yards in four plays as true freshman Braylon Braxton scored his first career touchdown on a nine-yard run to give Tulsa a 28-17 lead.

On Tulsa's next possession, Tulsa went 53 yards in 13 plays and scored on a 36-yard Zack Long field goal for a 14-point Hurricane lead at 31-17. The Mustangs responded in just under three minutes when Mordecai threw the final 21 yards to Roderick Daniels to cap a 71-yard, 10-play drive that brought the home team to within a touchdown at 31-24 with 11:00 remaining in the game.

Zack Long knocked through his second field goal of the game with a 27-yarder at the 4:06 mark to put the Hurricane ahead by 10 points at 34-24. SMU responded with a 69-yard, six-play drive as Tyler Lavine's two-yard run brought the Mustangs to within three points at 34-31 with 2:50 on the game clock.

Tulsa recovered the onside kick and took possession at SMU 44-yard line.

SMU scored the game's first points to take a 7-0 lead after an interception gave the Mustangs the ball at the Tulsa 4-yard line. SMU scored on the first play with a Ulysses Bentley run.

The Mustangs took its next possession 38 yards in nine plays but had to settle for a 37-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead at the 4:41 mark of the first period. SMU scored on its third straight possession to take a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 76-yard, 16-play drive that was capped by a Brandon Epton one-yard run.

Tulsa couldn't mount much offense until its final two possessions of the first half when the Hurricane put up 149 yards and 14 points in 12 plays.

The first Tulsa score came on a 10-play, 89-yard drive that was capped by an Anthony Watkins' seven-yard run. After the Hurricane defense held the Mustangs to a 3-and-out in taking just 0:27 off the clock, Tulsa's offense took over possession at the 50-yard line with 0:18 left before the half.

Brin hit Cannon Montgomery on an 18-yard pass and then threw 32 yards to Josh Johnson for Tulsa's second straight touchdown.

Johnson's touchdown made the score 17-14 at halftime.

At the half, SMU held a 210 to 142-yard edge in total offense. The Mustangs had 154 passing yards and 56 yards on the ground, while the Hurricane totaled 88 yards passing and 54 rushing yards.

Tulsa's comeback from a 17-0 deficit is the largest come-from-behind victory since a 21-point deficit last season against this same SMU team. The previous best this year was Tulsa's 14-point comeback against South Florida on Oct. 16.