Photo by: David Dermer
TULSA GAME NOTES: The Wyoming Game
8/29/2022 5:13:00 PM | Football
TULSA OPENS SEASON IN LARAMIE AGAINST WYOMING COWBOYS
GAME #1
TULSA (0-0, 0-0 AAC) vs. WYOMING (0-1, 0-0 Mountain West)
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2:30 pm (CT) / 1:30 pm (MT)
Stadium: War Memorial Stadium (29,181), Laramie, WYO
TV: FS1
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM
FOR FULL GAMES NOTES PACKAGE, CLICK HERE
TULSA 0-0, 0-0 The American
Head Coach: Philip Montgomery
Tarleton State '95)
8th year at Tulsa
Career Record: 38-46 (7 years)
TU Record: same
WYOMING 0-1, 0-0 Mountain West
Head Coach: Craig Bohl
(Nebraska '82)
9th year at Wyoming
Career Record: 149-83 (20 years)
WYO Record: 44-51 (9 years)
THE STORYLINES . . .
• Tulsa enters its 126th season of football in 2022.
• Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with a total enrollment of 3,705 students … Wyoming's enrollment is 11,829 students.
• Tulsa and Wyoming were members of the Western Athletic Conference together for three seasons, 1996-98.
• Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl was a defensive assistant coach at Tulsa under Don Morton from 1985-86.
• Tulsa has an overall 10-5 record against Mountain West Conference schools since the league was formed in 1999 … under Philip Montgomery Tulsa has posted a 5-1 mark against Mountain West
opponents.
THE SERIES . . .
• This is the 7th meeting between Tulsa and Wyoming.
• The series is tied 3-3 … the Cowboys won the first three meetings of the series, while Tulsa has won the last three games.
• Tulsa is 3-1 at home and 0-2 in Laramie in the series.
• Wyoming has won its three games by a 5.0 margin, while Tulsa has won its three games by a margin of 22.0 points per game … Tulsa has averaged 31.3 points to Wyoming's 9.3 points in those games.
TULSA IN SEASON OPENERS . . .
• In the first 125 years of Tulsa football, the Golden Hurricane has posted a 70-53-2 record in season openers.
• Tulsa dropped its season opener in each of the last three seasons, including the 2019 (Michigan State) and 2020 (Oklahoma State) games on the road.
• Tulsa's last season-opening win came in 2018 at home against UCA.
• The last time Tulsa opened the season on Sept. 3 came in 2016 with a 45-10 home win over San Jose State.
FIRST & TEN . . .
• Tulsa returns 16 letterwinners and four starters on offense, while the defensive unit returns 21 lettermen and six starters.
• The Hurricane offense returns 100-percent of its passing totals and 82.2-percent of its total offense from 2021.
• Tulsa's 2021 defensive leaders for tackles Justin Wright (82), sacks Anthony Goodlow (6/-33) and pass breakups Tyon Davis (10) return to lead the defense.
• QB Davis Brin was the MVP of the Myrtle Beach Bowl after throwing for 285 yards and 2 TDs.
• PK Zack Long earned All-America Fourth Team honors by Phil Steele magazine after setting a school season record with 22 field goals, making 22-of-23.
COMEBACKS . . .
• In the Philip Montgomery era, Tulsa has totaled 21 comebacks since the 2015 season.
• Of those comeback victories, a total of 17 were from double-digit deficits.
• A year ago, Tulsa had five comeback wins,… two of those came on the road and were the only ones that Tulsa faced a double-digit deficit.
• Tulsa came back from a 24-10 second quarter deficit at South Florida and trailed 17-0 in the second quarter at SMU … Tulsa defeated South Florida 32-31 and SMU 34-31
• Tulsa also had comeback wins over Arkansas State (7 points), Memphis (6) and Old Dominion (7) in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
RETURNING FROM INJURY-SHORTENED SEASONS . . .
• Tulsa returns three players who missed much of the 2021 season with injuries after starting the season opener a year ago –– WR Keylon Stokes, SAF Kendarin Ray and LB Jon-Michael Terry.
• Stokes played in four games, starting the UC Davis and Oklahoma State games … he missed the next two (Ohio State and Arkansas State) and played sparingly in the Houston and Memphis games before being sidelined for the final seven games with a leg injury.
• Ray suffered a leg injury in the Memphis game and missed the final seven games.
• Terry played in the first four contests before being sidelined for the final nine games with a bicep injury.
STOKES RANKS THIRD ON TULSA'S CAREER ALL-PURPOSE YARDAGE CHART . . .
• Receiver and kick return specialist Keylon Stokes enters 2022 ranked third on the school's career all-purpose yardage chart with 4,149 yards.
• In 46 career games, Stokes has caught 166 passes for 2,550 yards, has 61 kickoff returns for 1,253 yards, 227 rushing yards and 119 punt return yards.
• Damaris Johnson (2008-10) ranks first on the all-purpose chart with 7,796 yards and Trey Watts (2010-13) is second with 5,877 career yards.
STOKES ALSO NINTH ON CAREER RECEIVING LIST . . .
• Keylon Stokes has 2,550 receiving yards and 11 TDs in 4+ seasons to rank ninth on the school's career receiving list.
• Stokes played in just four games a year ago before being sidelined with an injury.
• As a true freshman in 2017, Stokes had 143 receiving yards, jumped to 575 a year later, 1,040 yards in 2019, had 644 in a covid-shortened 9-game season in 2021 and had 148 in just four games a year ago for his 2,550-yard career receiving total in 46 career games.
• Stokes enters the 2022 season just 793 yards shy of tying for the school record that has stood for nearly 60 years (Howard Twilley, 1963-65 ––3,343 yards in 32 games).
NEWCOMERS . . .
• Tulsa has a total of 28 scholarship newcomers on the 2022 roster … 14 are transfers, including 12 from FBS schools and two junior college receivers.
• Of the 14 transfers, five are offensive lineman, three receivers, one running back and one tight end on offense … Tulsa added four defensive transfers.
• Of the true freshmen, seven are on offense, six on defense and one specialist.
IN THE AAC PRESEASON POLL . . .
• Tulsa, picked eighth this year in the preseason AAC Media Poll, will look to prove the prognosticators wrong again.
• Houston and Cincinnati, the two teams that competed in the 2021 AAC Championship Game, were picked one-two in the 2022 preseason poll.
• A year ago, the Golden Hurricane was picked sixth in the preseason poll and finished in a tie for third place with a 5-3 league mark.
• In 2020, Tulsa was ninth in the preseason poll, but finished the season in a regular-season first place tie with a 6-0 league mark … that year, the Hurricane fell 27-24 against No. 6-ranked Cincinnati in the 2020 American Championship Game on a last second field goal.
• Only twice in the first nine years of the American Athletic Conference has the preseason favorite gone on to win the league championship, and one shared the title.
BACK-TO-BACK BOWL GAMES . . .
• Tulsa made back-to-back bowl games to conclude the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
• The Hurricane ended the 2021 season with a 7-6 record after claiming a 30-17 win over Old Dominion in the 2021 Myrtle Beach Bowl.
• The year before, Tulsa played in the Lockhead Martin Armed Forces Bowl agains0t Mississippi State.
• Montgomery has coached teams to four bowl games in his seven seasons with the Hurricane, the second-most in school history to Henry Frnka's five straight bowl games in the 1940s.
BACK-TO-BACK NFL FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS . . .
• In each of the last two NFL Drafts, Tulsa has had first round draft selections.
• In 2021, linebacker Zaven Collins was the 16th overall pick, going to the Arizona Cardinals.
• Last April, offensive tackle Tyler Smith was the Dallas Cowboys first round draft pick as the 24th overall selection.
• Tulsa is the only school in the state of Oklahoma to have a first-round draft pick in the last two NFL drafts.
• In the last three NFL Drafts, since 2020, Tulsa has had five players drafted –– 2020 DRAFT – DB Reggie Robinson (Dallas, 4th Round), DE Trevis Gibson (Chicago, 5th Round); 2021 DRAFT – LB Zaven Collins (Arizona, 1st Round); 2022 DRAFT – OT Tyler Smith (Dallas, 1st Round), OT Chris Paul (Washington, 7th Round).
UNDER MONTY . . .
• In 84 games under Philip Montgomery, Tulsa has scored over 40 points 26 times and has posted a 21-5 record when doing so.
• Tulsa has gone over 500 yards of total offense in 29 games under Montgomery for a 20-9 record.
• The Golden Hurricane has gone over 600 yards 10 times under Montgomery, including this year's 663 this year against Arkansas State … Tulsa had a high game of 667 yards in 2017 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
• Tulsa has 14 300+ yard rushing games in the Montgomery era, with a school record eight in 2016, three in 2017, two in 2019 and one this season (308 vs. Arkansas State).
• Tulsa is 12-2 when two players have gone over 100 rushing yards in the same game since 2015 under Montgomery.
• Tulsa has three 400+ rushing games under Montgomery, two coming in back-to-back games in 2017 (424 vs. Louisiana, 423 at Toledo) and one in 2016 (470 vs. UConn).
Players Mentioned
Quarterback
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Cornerback
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Defensive Line
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Place-Kicker
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Offensive Line
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Safety
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Offensive Line
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Wide Receiver
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Linebacker
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Linebacker
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