Photo by: BRETT ROJO, For the University o
GAME NOTES #11: Tulsa-South Florida Meet in Tampa
11/19/2024 11:19:00 AM | Football
Tulsa Plays at South Florida Saturday Afternoon
Game Information
Date / Time: Thursday, Nov. 23, 2:30 p.m. (CT)/3:30 p.m. (ET)
Site: Tampa, Fla.
Stadium: Raymond James Stadium (65,000)
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Jason Rose Jr. (pxp), Tyoka Jackson (analyst)
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM / Sirius XM 387
Talent: Bruce Howard (pxp), Rick Couri (analyst), Jeremie Poplin (sideline)
Live Stats: TulsaHurricane.com
Series: Series tied 3-3
Last Meeting: Nov. 18, 2022, @ Tulsa 48, USF 42
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TULSA 3-7, 1-5 The American
Head Coach: Kevin Wilson, 2nd year
(North Carolina '84)
Career Record: 33-62 (8 years)
TU Record: 7-15 (2 years)
SOUTH FLORIDA 5-5, 3-3 The American
Interim Head Coach: Alex Golesh, 2nd year
(Ohio State '06)
Career Record: 12-11 (2 years)
USF Record: Same
THE STORYLINES . . .
• Tulsa is coming of a Thursday night loss to ECU, 38-31, while South Florida won a Saturday home game vs. Charlotte, 59-24.
• Tulsa will be looking for its second American Athletic Conference victory of the season, while South Florida will be looking to improve its AAC record to 4-3.
• USF has won 3 of its last 4 games, while Tulsa is 1-3 over that time span.
• Tulsa is in its 128th season of football with its first year coming in 1895 … South Florida began its football program in 1997.
• The two teams have played only one common AAC opponent so far this season … USF defeated UAB, while Tulsa lost that game
… the Bulls have also defeated FAU, and Tulsa will close out the season next week against FAU.
THE SERIES . . .
• This is the seventh meeting between Tulsa and South Florida.
• The series is tied 3-3, while Tulsa has a 2-1 mark in Tampa and USF has an identical 2-1 record for games played in Tulsa.
• Tulsa has won the last three meetings, while USF won the first three games.
• Tulsa's margin of victory in the series is 12.0, while the Bulls have a win margin of 5.3 points.
• Two of Tulsa's losses came when USF was ranked No. 23 nationally … 27-20 in 2017 and 25-24 in 2018.
FIRST & TEN . . .
• Tulsa has had 40 different starters on offense and defense this year … 21 different players have started on offense and 19 on defense.
• Of the starters, a total of 16 are either freshmen, redshirt freshman or sophomores.
• All 27 of Tulsa's scholarship freshman in its recruiting class have played in at least one game this season with the majority playing multiple games.
• Graduate transfer QB Cooper Legas has thrown for 10 TDs and 856 yards in the last 3 games, while before that he passed for 112 yards and one TD in his six previous games played … he had a career-best 5 TDs vs. UTSA.
• Graduate WR Kamdyn Benjamin is Tulsa's team-leader for receiving yards (694), TD s (5) and receptions (58).
• Benjamin and true freshman WR Joseph Williams have each had a 3-TD reception game this year – Benjamin vs. UTSA and Williams vs. East Carolina.
• Graduate transfer LB Gavin Potter leads Tulsa with 64 tackles with nine TFL for -30 yards.
• Instead of just one running back carrying for a large number of yards, Tulsa has five players with each gaining over 200 yards this year – junior Bill Jackson II (318), graduate Anthony Watkins (285) and a pair of freshmen Lloyd Avant (236) and Viron Ellison Jr. (220) and QB Cooper Legas (204).
• Seven true freshmen have made at least one start this season including RB Lloyd Avant (1), WR Joseph Williams (4), OL Brody Duffel (3), OL Jack Tanner (2) and DBs Elijah Green (2), Ashton Williams (1) and Zach Williams (1).
A NEAR RECORD FRESHMAN PERFORMANCE . . .
• True freshman WR Joseph Williams is second on the roster for receiving yards with 397 yards and 4 TDs on 20 receptions, which ranks 10th on the school's freshman receiving chart.
• Against East Carolina, Williams has his second straight 100+ receiving game with season-highs of 158 yards and 3 TDs … his TDs covered 39, 14 and 50 yards.
• His 158 yards ranks tied for 2nd with Trae Johnson (SMU/10-27-07) on Tulsa's all-time freshman single game receiving chart and was just three yards behind Dan Bitson's single-game record of 161 yards (Oklahoma State/9-5-87).
• Williams became the 5th freshman receiver to record two or more 100-yard games – Dan Bitson (3 in 1987), Charles Clay (3 in 2007), Trae Johnson (2 in 2007), and Damaris Johnson (2 in 2008).
• He also became the 2nd freshman receiver to record back-to-back 100-yard games … Charles Clay recorded three consecutive 100-yard games in 2007 (Marshall, UCF, and SMU).
TULSA PUTS TOGETHER 28-POINT COMEBACK WIN . . .
• On Oct. 26, Tulsa trailed 35-7 at halftime and was behind 42-24 heading into the fourth period against UTSA.
• In the final 30 minutes, the Hurricane outscored the visiting Roadrunners 39-10 for at 46-45 victory and the second biggest comeback in school history.
• In 2016, Tulsa trailed Fresno State 31-0 in the second quarter and came back for a 48-41 overtime victory for the school's biggest-ever comeback win.
• It was also the largest fourth quarter come-from-behind victory since the 1995 season when Tulsa came back from a 23-3 deficit with just over six minutes remaining in a 1995 home matchup over Oklahoma State for a 24-23 victory.
HOW'D IT HAPPEN . . .
• Trailing 35-7 at halftime against UTSA, it was the Tulsa defense that got the comeback underway when Vontroy Malone's sack forced a fumble that Amieh Williams scooped up and ran 35 yards to make it a 35-14 score.
• A Tulsa field goal made it 35-17 before UTSA pushed its lead to 25 points scored for a 42-17 lead with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter.
• Tulsa scored tis 17th point in the third period when Cooper Legas found Kamdyn Benjamin for a 74-yard TD and a 42-24 score at the end of three quarters.
• In the fourth quarter, Tulsa outscored UTSA 21-3, including two touchdowns in the final 2:26 of the game.
• Legas found Benjamin for Tulsa's final two scores on 20- and 4-yard passes. The first capped a 75-yard, 10-play drive, and the second capped a 92-yard, 8-play drive.
• On that final drive, Legas completed 4-of-6 passes for 87 yards.
• Legas hit Joseph Williams for 27 yards, Zion Steptoe for 34, Corey Smith for 22 yards and found Benjamin for the final four yards with 1:01 left on the clock. Seth Morgan added the point-after for a 46-45 lead.
FRESHMAN DBs . . .
• With all 27 true freshmen seeing playing time this season, the defensive secondary has seen a number of those rookies get valuable playing time.
• True freshman Zach Williams, Buddha Garrett, Ashton Williams and Elijah Green have seen the most playing time in the secondary among the newcomers.
• In the East Carolina game, Garrett and Green each had their first career interceptions and added a pass breakup, while Garrett also had a fumble recovery.
• Zach Williams and Garrett are tied for the most tackles among all TU true freshmen with 31 stops … Williams also has 2.5 TFL for -3 yards and 2 PBUs … Garrett has 3 PBUs, one INT, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
• Ashton Williams has 16 tackles, while Green has 14 stops, 2 PBUs and one INT.
BENJAMIN HAVING BIG YEAR . . .
• A former walk-on, WR Kamdyn Benjamin is Tulsa's leading receiver with 694 yards and 5 TDs on 58 receptions.
• Benjamin has 4 career 100-yard receiving games, including 2 this season.
• Benjamin had a 125-yard, 3-TD performance in Tulsa's comeback win over UTSA, including 2 TDs in the game's final 2:26.
• His first 100+ game this year was 131 yards and one TD at Arkansas State.
• Benjamin has played in 44 career games with 17 starts and has 108 career receptions for 1,439 yards and 11 TDs.
• In his first 24 games, Benjamin caught just 5 passes for 25 yards and zero TDs, but in the last 19 games he has caught 100 passes for 1,403 yards and 11 TDs.
ALSO A PUNT RETURNER . . .
• In addition to his work as a receiver, Kamdyn Benjamin has also been a threat in the return game.
• He has returned 18 punts for 169 yards, one TD and a 9.4 average per return.
• Benjamin also had his first career punt return for a TD with a 66-yard return against Northwestern State in the season opener and is ranked in a tie for first place nationally for punt return TDs.
• He has 40 returns for 292 yards and one TD in his career.
FUMBLE RETURNS BIG IN TWO TULSA WINS . . .
• In a 23-20 win over LA Tech, DE Owen Ostroski returned a fumble 64 yards in overtime in an apparent TD return but was ruled out-of-bounds at the 1-yard line.
• The Hurricane offense set up a 34-yard field goal attempt by Seth Morgan that clinched the victory for Tulsa.
• In Tulsa's 28-point comeback win over UTSA, it was DT Amieh Williams 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown that began the comeback for Tulsa, cutting the Hurricane deficit to 35-14 at the 11:52 mark of the third quarter.
• Williams' return was the first time since Oct. 5, 2019, that a Tulsa player returned a fumble for a touchdown.
SOPHOMORES ON THE INTERIOR . . .
• Tulsa has two sophomores starting on the interior of the defensive line – RJ Jackson Jr. and Tai Newhouse.
• The duo has combined for 62 tackles, 7.5 TFL for -29 yards and 4 sacks for -21 yards, while they have each started all 10 games.
• Jackson has 32 tackles and 4 TFL for -17 yards, while Newhouse has 30 stops and 3.5 TFL for -12 yards.
FORMER WALK-ONS TO KEY CONTRIBUTORS . . .
• On the 2024 roster, Tulsa has four former walk-ons have made big contributions to the Golden Hurricane roster.
• WR Kamdyn Benjamin and OL Walter Young Bear had already earned their scholarships before the 2023 season, while QB Kirk Francis and SAF Dayne Hodge were put on scholarship after the 2023 season.
• This year, all four of these former walk-ons, have been in starting roles.
• In his sixth year, Benjamin has a team-leading 694 receiving yards on 58 receptions with 5 TDs, while he has returned 18 punts for a 9.4 average and one TD … last year, Benjamin led Tulsa receiving yards (727) and receiving TDS (6).
• The junior Hodge is second on the Tulsa defense with 54 tackles in 10 starts, while adding three pass breakups, one interception and one forced fumble …last season, Hodge ended the year starting eight games and totaling 57 tackles, 1.5 TFL, one interception and has caused two fumbles.
• Young Bear has started all 10 games this year at left guard … a year ago, Young Bear played in all 12 games and started the final two contests at left guard as a sophomore.
• Francis saved his redshirt year as a true freshman in 2023, but did play in the final four games … this year, he has thrown for 1,249 yards and 7 TDs in 9 games … a year ago, he completed 68-of-121 passes for 967 yards with 6 TDs, and just 3 INT, while throwing for the second-most yards in school history as a freshman with 345 yards at Tulane.
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