Tulsa spotted UConn a 10-point lead before the Golden Hurricane came alive with four straight touchdown drives in the second quarter and go on to beat the Huskies, 49-19, Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

An announced crowd of 17,451 sat through a steady rain for most of the game.

“I’m really happy for our football team, more than anything else,” said Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery after the game. “They’ve stayed resilient, they’ve stayed together and they’ve continued to keep grinding and working every week. We had some adversity early in this game and to see them continue to grind, fight and make plays and continue to do the things that we keep talking about. I couldn’t be more proud of their effort and dedication and the way they go about their job. We had a lot of guys step up. I thought all three phases played well. With all the adversity of the weather, we didn’t let that bother us and we just continued to do what we needed to do.”

UConn (1-8, 0-5 in the American Athletic Conference) got on the scoreboard first with 7:21 left in the first quarter, on an 80-yard touchdown pass from David Pindell to Kyle Buss. The Huskies tagged on another three points before the end of the first quarter on a 44-yard field goal by Michael Tarbutt.

Then Tulsa (2-7 overall, 1-4 American Athletic Conference) took control of the game as Seth Boomer completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Keylon Stokes with 12:11 left in the second quarter.

Following a 50-yard field goal by Tarbutt, Boomer scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper to put Tulsa on top, 14-13 with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter.

With 3:41 left in the second quarter, Boomer connected with Keenan Johnson on a 26-yd touchdown pass to give the Golden Hurricane a 21-13 lead over UConn with 3:41 left in the second quarter.

Before the first half was over, Corey Taylor carried the ball into the end zone for a six-yard touchdown run giving Tulsa a 28-13 lead with 1:11 left before the half.

Montgomery was asked, “What changed for his team in the second quarter after falling behind early?”

“Honestly, I thought the throw to Hobbs was what sparked us,” he said. “I think we were second and long. Hobbs got a great release and Seth put the ball right on him. He got his feet down, and I thought that kind of spurred us. They did some different things defensively than what we saw on tape, and it was just a matter of getting locked in to what they were doing. Then I really thought we mixed up our run game really well. I thought Boomer made good decisions; when to throw, when not to. I thought our offensive line played really well.”

Boomer agreed.

“That definitely got us started, Boomer said. “Once I can get that first throw in, we start to roll and I think we did that.”

Tulsa had the ball to start the third quarter and quickly scored again. This time, it was a 38-yard touchdown pass from Boomer to Cole Neph with 11:47 left in the third quarter.

Then Boomer connected with Justin Hobbs on a 17-yard TD pass to give the Golden Hurricane a 42-13 lead with 8:59 left in the third.

With 11:15 remaining in the third quarter, Tulsa’s Reed Martin carried the ball 11 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. Tulsa took a 49-13 lead.

Boomer completed 9-of-14 passes for 168 yards, four touchdowns to four different receivers, and no interceptions.

At 14:14 of the fourth quarter, the Golden Hurricane made a quarterback substitution, bringing in Chad President to run the offense. Three plays later, President got injured, and Davis Brin came into the game, for his first collegiate appearance.

Right at the end of the game, with 14-seconds remaining, UConn scored on a three-yard touchdown pass from Pindell to Tyler Davis. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete. UConn dropped to 1-8 overall and 0-5 in the ACC.

For the second time this season, Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor, each rushed for over 100 yards. They each surpassed the 100-yard mark in the first half, and ended the game with 151 yards and 133 yards, respectively.

Tulsa will travel to Memphis (5-4, 2-3 in the American Athletic Conference) Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff in a game broadcast on ESPNU.

DIAL BOOK SIGNING

Earlier this year we did a feature on the autobiographical book by longtime ORU track coach Joe Dial: The Sky’s the Limit. Dial will be having a book signing this Saturday, November 10, from noon – 2:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 8620 E. 71st St.

The former world class track star is entering his 26th year as the ORU head track coach.