Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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University of Tulsa football rode the momentum of winning in Stillwater for eight days. Then TU coach Tre Lamb doubled down on the energy that has engulfed the Golden Hurricane since that 19-12 victory at OSU.
Five minutes into the game Saturday, Lamb called a flea flicker that resulted in a 51-yard pass play, Baylor Hayes to Grayson Tempest. Tailback sweep right, flanker reverse back left, toss the ball back to Hayes for the deep throw. The world needs more flea flickers.
Two plays later, TU tied Tulane, and Lamb wasn’t ready to hedge his bet. He ordered an onside kick, the Green Wave was totally fooled and Tulsa’s Zane Woodham recovered. The crowd was small, maybe 12,000 at Chapman Stadium, but every soul on 11th Street was ready to don a Tulsa Team’s cap and march with Lamb.
Make no mistake. Lamb came to work Saturday with the same attitude he took to Stillwater. He came to win.
Alas, Tulane is better than the Cowboys, much better, and the Green Wave went back to New Orleans a 31-14 winner. But Tulsa played even with Tulane for most of the first half and, despite an offense that went poof, stayed with the Green Wave most of the game.
“No momentum halted at all,” said Tulsa receiver Zion Steptoe. “It no way affects the process. We’re Tulsa, we’re going to come prepared … the spotlight is on us. It’s amazing. How could you want anything else?”
Well, a little better line play would be nice — Tulane “manhandled” (Lamb’s word) the Golden Hurricane in the trenches. But a Tulsa program that seemed in dire need of a massive overhaul is in much better shape than anyone could have expected in Lamb’s Year 1.
“I think we’ll get there this year,” Lamb said. “I think we’ll knock off somebody we’re not supposed to beat (as if that hasn’t already happened).
“I just told our guys, this is not a rebuild. We’re coming in to win. Expectation hasn’t changed.”
Tulane is a good team. I know the Green Wave got mauled by Ole Miss, 45-10 last week. But Mississippi is a load. The Rebels beat Louisiana State on Saturday.
And Tulane already has beaten Duke 34-27 and Northwestern 23-3. Duke has beaten North Carolina State and Syracuse. Northwestern is 2-2, with a victory over UCLA and a loss to Oregon that was 46 points closer than what befell OSU on its trip to play the Ducks.
Tulane remains as good a pick as any to win the American Conference; it has a coach who seems ready to make a big jump (go after Jon Sumrall, OSU, go after him hard), and Sumrall was impressed with his opponent Saturday.
As the sun started to set Saturday, Sumrall met Lamb at midfield. Kind words were exchanged.
Lamb shared Sumrall’s salutations: “Man, you guys are doing a lot of things right. You guys are going to be hell very soon.”
Truth is, Tulane’s visit to Tulsa was a good chance for the Golden Hurricane to assess the Green Wave program. Tulsa and Tulane frankly have quite similar histories over the 60 years since the Green Wave voluntarily left the Southeastern Conference and went independent.
Tulane is bigger, 13,000 enrollment to Tulsa’s 4,100, but their football pedigree is close.
Tulsa has been to 15 bowl games in those 60 years; Tulane 14. Both are in metros with million-plus populations.
Tulane has fired its share of coaches who didn’t get the job done, but the Green Wave also has lost its share of coaches to power-conference posts: Willie Fritz to Houston, Tommy Bowden to Clemson, Mack Brown to North Carolina and Larry Smith (despite a losing record) to Arizona.
Tulsa’s no different. The Golden Hurricane has fired three straight head coaches (Kevin Wilson, Phillip Montgomery and Bill Blankenship) and did the same more than a generation ago (George Henshaw, Dave Rader and Keith Burns, though Rader deserved a far better fate). But Tulsa also has lost Todd Graham to Pittsburgh, Steve Kragthorpe to Louisville, Don Morton to Wisconsin and John Cooper to Arizona State.
Coaches can and have won at Tulane. And at Tulsa.
The new age makes everything different, of course, but Tulane is getting it done with Sumrall, despite the glare of LSU and the New Orleans Saints. No reason Tulsa can’t get it done with Lamb, despite the glare of the once-Bedlam rivals.
“There’s no question,” Lamb said. “A few plays go our way … the fact we’re playing with them is awesome. I respect Coach Fritz (who left Tulane after the 2023 season) and Coach Sumrall. They’ve got it rolling.”
For now, of course, Tulane has too many horses for Tulsa. Tulane’s defensive line dominated the Golden Hurricane. Hayes endured six sacks and a bunch of flushes from the pocket. TU’s running backs averaged 3.9 yards per carry, which isn’t great but isn’t bad.
Tulane has a veteran quarterback in Brigham Young transfer Jake Retzlaff, who led the Cougars to an 11-2 record last season. Hayes, a redshirt freshman, was making his second college start.
Tulsa wasn’t going to drive the ball on Tulane, so it had to squirm to make things happen. The trick play. A Hayes scramble that Tulane defenders misplayed, allowing Brody Foley to haul in a 72-yard pass play for a touchdown.
Despite the disadvantage, Tulsa was tied 14-14, and a turnover set up the Golden Hurricane at the Tulane 40-yard line deep into the second quarter. But a Hayes pitch bounced off the facemask of tailback Dom Richardson, Tulane recovered and the Green Wave outscored Tulsa 10-0 down the stretch of the first half.
Momentum squelched. The momentum of this game. Not the momentum of this regime.
Lamb did nothing Saturday to make you think he can’t replicate what Tulane has done in recent years, in becoming an American Conference heavyweight and one of the better mid-major programs in college football.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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