It was a back-and-forth battle the whole game, and plenty of mistakes were made, but in the end The University of Tulsa football team came out on top, beating the University of Central Arkansas, 38-27, Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

The UCA Bears (0-1) were ranked 15th nationally in the FCS, coming into the game at Tulsa, and 18,356 fans watched as the Bears took a 27-24 lead with 11:08 left to play in the game.

However, the Golden Hurricane (1-0) weren’t finished and scored two touchdowns in the final nine minutes of the game to secure the win. Quarterback Luke Skipper completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Nate Walker with 8:11 remaining, and Shamari Brooks carried the ball 1-yard into the end zone with 7:36 left to play.

 “All right, every win’s a good win,” said TU head coach Philip Montgomery after the game. “We’ve got a lot to learn from this game. I was very proud of our guys the way they continue to just keep grinding. I mean, we made mistakes. Some of them were silly mistakes. Some of them first-game mistakes that we’ve got to do better at. We’ll be better game two than we were game one. We’ve got a lot to work on come Tuesday. That being said, every win’s a good win.”

One glowing mistake on the part of the Golden Hurricane is the fact the team was penalized nine times for 92 yards. Tulsa also had some untimely fumbles resulting in three turnovers. In spite of that, Tulsa led in total offense with 470 yards, while UCA managed only 247 yards.

From a fans perspective, it might have been an ugly win, but from a coach’s point of view, it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as your team scores more points than your opponent.

“You know, you don’t have ugly wins and pretty wins and this and that,” Montgomery said. “Every win counts the same, so I’m very proud of the way we battled back. I thought every phase really contributed to this win.”

Tulsa looked good coming out of the gate on fire and scoring first on its opening possession that went 75 yards in eight plays. Skipper threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Justin Hobbs in taking just 2:11 off the clock.

Skipper completed 15-of-24 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns, while his counterpart, Breylin Smith of UCA completed 17-of-25 for 165 yards and no touchdowns.

Montgomery said he knew coming in UCA would be not be an easy team to beat.

“You know, we knew this coming in that UCA is a really, really good opponent,” Montgomery said. “This is a team that was 20 and 5 over the last two years. Really, really good on defense. Their defensive line, I mean, they had multiple guys last year with over ten sacks. We knew they’d do a good job of rushing the passer. So, you know, we had way too much pressure on him [Skipper] tonight. We’ve got to do a better job of being able to sustain some of those blocks a little bit longer.”

The TU facilities crew did a great job in preparing the stadium for the Saturday night game. On Wednesday night, a lightning storm that rolled through Tulsa, knocked out multiple fixtures on several light poles, the northwest scoreboard, play clock, and audio connections. Other than some video board camera issues not up to par at kickoff, all other important facets of the electronics were operable. The facilities staff and a local electronics media company worked all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday to get everything ready for game night.

NEXT UP – TEXAS

Tulsa will face a tough Texas team in Austin this Saturday at 7 p.m. Although, Texas lost last week to Maryland, 34-29, the Longhorns defense will be difficult for TU to contain across the front line, and the speed and strength of the defensive backs will be pestering Tulsa receivers the whole game.

The next home game for the Golden Hurricane will be Sept. 15 against Arkansas State, at 6 p.m.