No. 20 Tulsa will travel to No. 6 Cincinnati Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff on ABC TV in the American Athletic Conference Championship.
“I am so excited for our players, for our coaches, for our university,” said TU coach Philip Montgomery. “We get an opportunity now to go play in the championship and that’s what the goal was when we started – to get bowl eligible and have an opportunity to play for a championship.
ESPN.com is projecting that Tulsa (6-1, 6-0) either will play Vanderbilt in the Birmingham (Alabama) Bowl on January 1. A win over Cincinnati (8-0, 7-0) Saturday would give Tulsa a better bowl slot. CBS Sports is projecting that Cincinnati would play Florida in the January 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta and that Tulsa will play Kansas State on December 26 in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas.
No. 6 Cincinnati hasn’t played since they escaped with a 36-33 win over Central Florida on November 21. The Tulsa game with Cincinnati was originally postponed but last week’s game was canceled due to coronavirus problems with Cincinnati.
Originally, the winner of the game scheduled for December 12 would have hosted the league title game. Since that game never happened, the higher ranked team got to host the game.
Tulsa had its game with Arkansas State cancelled. The Navy game was postponed until December 5. The November 28 Houston game was postponed and then canceled. Cincinnati also has their November 28 game with Temple canceled.
“You know, the Good Lord puts struggles in front of you sometimes to see how you’re going to react and I think our guys show great character to continue to keep believing in what we are doing, believing in our program, believing in each other…”
Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith has thrown for 1,434 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has hit 108 of 187 attempts (57%).
Tulsa running back Deneric Prince has rushed for 356 yards on 71 carries (5-yard average) and two touchdowns. TU’s Corey Taylor has 329 rushing yards on 63 carries (5.2-yard average) and two scores.
Wide receiver Keylon Stokes leads Tulsa with 508 yards (14.5 yards per catch and two touchdowns) but Josh Johnson has 484 receiving yards (13.8 yards per catch) and six touchdowns.
Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder is sixth in the AAC in passing. He has thrown for 1,821 total yards (143 of 215 attempts, 66%) with 16 touchdown and six interceptions.
Bearcat running back Gerrid Doaks has rushed for 660 yards on 137 carries (4.8 yards per attempt) and seven touchdowns. Jayshon Jackson leads Cincinnati with 20 receptions for 297 yards and one score. Cincinnati tight end Josh Whyle has 24 catches with five touchdowns.
“This has been a crazy year for everybody, not just college football,” said Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell.
Fickell was asked if canceling the game December 12 game with Tulsa would impact the chances of making the College Football Playoff.
“I don’t really know if that is going to make any bit of a real difference,” Fickell said. Tulsa’s Zaven Collins was named one of five finalists for the 36th Annual Butkus Award honoring the nation’s best collegiate linebacker, it was announced by the Butkus Foundation.
Collins is the first Tulsa player to be named a finalist for the Butkus Award.
The other finalists are Missouri’s Nick Bolton, Devin Lloyd of Utah, Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Kormoah and Georgia’s Monty Rice.
Collins was named as a semifinalist for the 26th Chuck Bednarik Award given to the nation’s Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year, it was announced by the Maxwell Football Club. Collins is one of 18 Bednarik semifinalists. The field of contenders are all making their debuts as semifinalists.
Collins was named the Bednarik Award’s National Player of the Week for his season-opening performance against the No. 11-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.