It looked like an upset in the making, as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter, but there was no stopping the Navy Midshipmen once that got going, and Navy rallied to a 42-23 win over Tulsa Saturday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

It was the American Athletic Conference opener for Tulsa (1-2 overall, 0-1 AAC), while Navy (3-0, 2-0 AAC) was coming off an AAC win over UAB (38-24).

Tulsa took an early lead by taking advantage of Navy turnovers. Tulsa’s Elijah Green intercepted a pass from Blake Horvath at the Navy 35-yard line. Tulsa capitalized on the miscue with a 14-yard touchdown run by Dominic Richardson with 12:07 remaining in the first quarter.

The next Navy drive ended after seven plays when Horvath fumbled the ball on the Tulsa six-yard line, and it was recovered by Tulsa’s Devin Robinson.

The Golden Hurricane was unable to score on the team’s next drive, punting the ball back over to Navy. However, the Midshipmen’s drive was cut short when Green intercepted another Horvath pass, this time on the Navy 46-yard line.

Tulsa then moved quickly on three plays ending the drive with a six-yard touchdown run by quarterback Baylor Hayes, who got the start in place of the injured Kirk Francis who suffered a concussion last week. Tulsa led 14-0 with 2:53 left in the first quarter.

“We can’t spot someone 14 points, and you can’t turn the ball over like we did, obviously,” said Navy head coach Brian Newberry. “I thought we came out kind of flat. It was an interesting week. Our first road game, you got a night game, you’d like to think they’d be dialed in and focused, but obviously we weren’t coming out. We made some mistakes and turned the ball over.”

Navy came alive with a quick drive before the end of the quarter, highlighted by a 35-yard run by Horvath and culminating in a one-yard touchdown by Alex Tecza.

Midway through the second quarter, Hayes was sacked and fumbled the ball, recovered by Navy. The Midshipmen took advantage of the turnover and Horvath finished the team’s next drive with a quarterback-keeper from two yards out, tying the game at 14-14, with 5:53 remaining in the second quarter.

Tulsa responded with a 34-yard field goal by Seth Morgan, reclaiming the lead at 17-14.

Navy then executed another one of its quick scoring drives, capped by a two-yard touchdown pass from Horvath to Luke Hutchison with 10 seconds remaining in the quarter, and Navy led 21-17 at halftime.

Navy dominated throughout the third quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns and added another early in the fourth quarter, to mount a 42-17 lead.

“We stayed together and battled back,” Newberry said. “It’s great to get a win, I’m proud of them, it’s a road win, against a pretty good Tulsa team that’s going to win some games.”

Tulsa didn’t give up and kept battling. The Golden Hurricane scored again with Hayes found an open Calvin Johnson II with an 18-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion attempt failed.

Horvath completed 6-of-8 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, but he carried the ball 21 times for 171 yards and a touchdown.

Navy outgained Tulsa 461 to 329 on total offensive yards.

Hayes completed 22-of-37 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown while also rushing for another. Zion Booker totaled eight receptions for 90 yards. Richardson was the leading rusher for Tulsa with 13 carries for 62 yards and one touchdown.

Green was the star on defense with two interceptions, and Ray Coney led the team with 14 tackles.

The Golden Hurricane will take on Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. OSU will be coming off a bye week.