TULSA GAME NOTES: THE NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAME
9/5/2022 5:00:00 PM | Football
GAME 2
Tulsa Hosts Northern Illinois in Home Opener
First 5,000 Fans get Tulsa T-Shirt; It's also $1 Hot Dog, Soda and Popcorn Night
TULSA (0-1, 0-0 AAC) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-0, 0-0 MAC)
Saturday, Sept. 10, 6 pm (CT)
Stadium: H.A. Chapman Stadium (30,000), Tulsa, Okla.
TV: ESPN+
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
NIU 1-0, 0-0 Mid-American
Head Coach: Thomas Hammock
(Northern Illinois '02)
4th year at NIU
Career Record: 15-18 (4 years)
NIU Record: same
THE STORYLINES . . .
• Tulsa is in its 126th season of football in 2022.
• Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with a total enrollment of 3,705 students … Northern Illinois' enrollment is 16,238 students.
• Tulsa and Northern Illinois are meeting for the first time on the gridiron.
• NIU opened the season at home against Eastern Illinois, while Tulsa was on the road at Wyoming.
FAN APPRECIATION DAY – $1 HOT DOGS, POPCORN AND SODA . . .
• It's FAN APPRECIATION DAY presented by U.S. Cellular when Tulsa hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday.
• The first 5,000 fans will receive a FREE Tulsa T-shirt.
• Hot dogs, sodas and popcorn will be priced at $1 throughout the game.
• Pregame festivities will kick-off at Chapman Commons with tailgating opening at 1 p.m. and entertainment starting at 2 p.m. with the Brad Duvall Band.
• Grammy-nominated Country Music Star David Nail, with two No. 1 singles, eight top-40 singles and three top-10 albums, takes the stage at 3:30 p.m.
FIRST & TEN . . .
• Tulsa came into the season with 16 letterwinners and four starters on offense, while the defensive unit returned 21 lettermen and six starters.
• A total of 10 players saw their first start in a Tulsa uniform in the season opener at Wyoming, including seven on offense and three on defense.
• Tulsa's 37 points last week at Wyoming was the most in a road opener since scoring 49 points in a 51-49 loss at East Carolina on Sept. 5, 2010.
• The Hurricane put up over 500 yards of total offense and totaled 460 yards passing at Wyoming last week.
• Tulsa had the second-best FBS passing performance of the week with 460 yards behind Texas Tech's 472 yards against Murray State.
• Last week's game was the 18th overtime game in school history … Tulsa is now 11-7 in OT games and 6-2 in the Montgomery era.
IN HOME OPENERS . . .
• Tulsa has a 66-26 record for a .717 winning percentage in home openers at Skelly Field since it was built in 1930 (no matter if it was the season opener or not).
• The Hurricane is 15-7 in home openers since the 2000 season
• Tulsa has won 13 of its last 16 home openers, losing only to Oklahoma State in 2011 and 2019 and UC Davis a year ago.
• Head Coach Philip Montgomery is 5-2 in home openers.
STOKES MOVES UP TWO . . .
• Keylon Stokes entered the season ranked ninth on the school's all-time receiving chart with 2,550 career yards.
• With 169 yards in the season opener, Stokes surpassed both Wes Caswell (1993-96) and Josh Atkinson (2013-16) to move into seventh place with 2,719 yards.
• Stokes needs 27 yards to tie Damaris Johnson (2008-10) for sixth place and is now just 624 yards shy of all-time leader Howard Twilley's (1963-65) 3,343 yards.
BRIN HAS CAREER PASSING DAY . . .
• Tulsa quarterback Davis Brin had his second 400+ yard passing game with 460 yards in the season opener at Wyoming.
• It is not only his career-best, bettering last year's 428-yard performance at No. 9 Ohio State, but is the top passing performance in the FBS thru the first two weeks.
• He completed 30-of-52 passes and threw for three touchdowns, while finding three receivers each for over 100 yards.
• Brin's 460 yards is the 6th best in school history and most since David Johnson's 469 yards against New Mexico in 2008.
• In NCAA stats, Brin ranks 1st for passing yards per game (460.0), 2nd for total offense (448.0), 6th for passing yards (460), 7th for completions per game (30.0) and 16th for passing yards per completion (15.3).
NEVER BEFORE HAS TULSA HAD THREE GO FOR 100 . . .
• Never before in school history had three Tulsa players each go over 100 yards receiving in a single game.
• Tulsa has had two 100-yard receivers in a single game 26 times dating back to the first time in 1964 when Howard Twilley had 146 yards and Eddie Fletcher 105 yards,
• But, in the 2022 season opener the Hurricane set the school record with three 100+ yard receivers when Keylon Stokes led with way with 169 yards, followed by Malachai Jones with 103 and JuanCarlos Santana with 102 yards … they each caught a TD in the game as well.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS . . .
• Tulsa had 10 first-time starters when the season opened at Wyoming.
• Seven of those starters came on offense –– LT Dillon Wade, LG Chester Baah, C Will Farniok, RG Darrell Simpson, RT Kai Leon Herbert, RB Jordan Ford and WR Isaiah Epps.
• The three first-time starters on defense were NG Everitt Rogers, DT Joseph Anderson and CB Tyree Carlisle.
A NEW O-LINE . . .
• Coming into the season opener, Tulsa's first game starting lineup had zero career starts among the offensive linemen with just 23 game appearances in a Tulsa uniform.
• LG Chester Baah had played in 14 games, LT Dillon Wade had 5 game performances and center Will Farniok had played in four games.
• The opening game lineup featured LT Dillon Wade, LG Chester Baah, C Will Farniok and two FBS transfers – RG Darrell Simpson and RT Kai Leon Herbert.
• Herbert suffered a first half injury and was replaced by Jaden Muskrat, who had 8 previous game appearances with one start, coming in the 2020 Bowl game against Mississippi State.
BIG "3" RETURN FROM INJURY-SHORTENED 2021 SEASONS . . .
• This year, Tulsa has returned 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.
• They each returned with solid performances in the 2022 season opener against Wyoming –– Stokes had a game-high 169 receiving yards with one TD on 11 receptions … Ray totaled seven tackles, six solos, and had a 2-yard TFL … Terry had six stops and recovered a fumble at the Tulsa 5-yard line late in regulation.
• Stokes played in four games on 2021, 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 in 2021.
• Terry played in the first four contests before being sidelined for the final nine games of 2021 with a bicep injury.
MORE ON STOKES' RECEIVING ENDEAVORS . . .
• Keylon Stokes ranks seventh on the school's career passing chart with 2,719 yards.
• Stokes came back from an injury that sidelined him for nine games in 2021 to catch a career-high 11 passes for a career-best 169 yards in the 2022 season opener at Wyoming.
• 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 entered 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) … he is now 624 yards shy of Twilley's record.
• In NCAA stats, Stokes ranks 2nd for receiving yards per game (169.0), 3rd for receptions per game (11.0), 5th for receiving yards (169) and 6th for all-purpose yards (183.0).
Players Mentioned
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