Tulsa will try to get back on the winning track when the Golden Hurricane host red-hot South Florida at 6 p.m. Friday night.

TU (1-4, 0-2 in the American Athletic Conference) had a 26-17 lead over Houston with 13 minutes to go in the game last Thursday when the Cougars rallied and scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to win 41-26 in Houston.

“You have to tip your hat off to Houston,” said TU coach Philip Montgomery. “They’re a good team and they’ve played extremely well all year. I thought our guys played one heck of a game for three quarters, and then we just didn’t finish.”

TU has played well but not consistently.

“There have been times this year where we have clicked here and there,” Montgomery said. “For three full quarters our defense came up with turnovers, offense had some big plays, and we played well on special teams. Momentum was on our side. You have to give credit. This is a really good defense, but not having Shamari (Brooks) makes a huge difference.”

A bright spot for Tulsa was the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Seth Boomer, who made his first collegiate start. Boomer passed for 227 yards and one touchdown. TU running back Corey Taylor II had a career high of 33 rushes for 152 yards and one score.

“That was a pretty tough one to swallow,” said Boomer. “I felt like we were the better team through three quarters, but we have to finish the game. We’re taking steps, but I’m tired of taking steps. We just have to win ball games. We’re going to. I can promise you that.”

Boomer’s 227 passing yards were the second-most by a freshman making his debut in program history, only behind T.J. Rubley’s 386 yards against Oklahoma State as a true freshman in 1987.

TU’s Nate Walker added a career-best four field goals (28, 32, 27, 35 yards) and wide receiver Keenen Johnson finished with five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

The Tulsa defense forced three turnovers and limited the Cougars (4-1, 1-0) to just seven yards in the third quarter. TU played three safeties in an effort to slow down Houston’s passing attack. Tulsa held Houston scoreless in the 3rd quarter, marking the first time that the Cougars have been held scoreless in any quarter this season.

“They did a great job playing with three safeties in the back end and making it very difficult for us to throw the ball or get down the field and being as big-play oriented as we wanted to be,” said Houston coach Major Applewhite. “When they’re going to play that type of defense, you have to be able to run the ball. That’s why you saw some of our backs, both (Mulbah Car and Patrick Carr) play well and run the football and we had to get our quarterback involved in the running game. Obviously it paid off for us huge.”