UTSA jumped out to an early lead, but the Tulsa Golden Hurricane battled back and won in surprising fashion, 46-45, Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium. It was the second largest comeback victory in Tulsa history.
The Golden Hurricane improved to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the AAC, while UTSA is also now 3-5, 1-3.
The first Roadrunner touchdown came on a nine-yard pass from Owen McCown to Oscar Cardenas, with 9:35 left in the first quarter. UTSA added another touchdown in the first quarter when McCown connected with Chris Carpenter for a 69-yard scoring play.
Early in the second quarter, UTSA looked to be running away with the game, as McCown through his third touchdown pass of the game, this time it was caught by Dan Dishman, from 23 yards out. The extra point kick went wide, and UTSA led 20-0 with 13:54 left in the second quarter.
On Tulsa’s next possession, the Golden Hurricane put points on the board as backup quarterback Cooper Legas completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Bill Jackson.
Tulsa has been platooning quarterbacks this season because none of the three signal callers has stepped up and had a commanding performance, until this game. There should be no doubt now that Legas should be the starting quarterback.
Legas entered the game in the second quarter after starter Kirk Frances was sacked twice on consecutive plays and left with an ankle injury. Frances completed 8-of-13 passes for 37 yards.
With 9:00 remaining in the second quarter, UTSA extended their lead to 27-7 when Robert Henry carried the ball into the end zone from nine yards out.
One bright spot for Tulsa came in the second quarter when the TU defense stopped UTSA on fourth down at the two-yard line. However, Tulsa couldn’t manage to move the ball on their next possession and had to punt from their own end zone, giving UTSA great field position at the 46-yard line. As it turned out, the Roadrunners got as far as the 25, and a fourth down pass-play fell incomplete. Tulsa had its second fourth down stop on consecutive UTSA drives.
On the next TU possession, Legas fumbled the ball, and it was picked up by Daemian Wimberly and returned 28 yards for a touchdown.
The Roadrunners led 35-7 at halftime.
Tulsa returned the favor, literally, on UTSA’s first possession in the second half, when McCown fumbled the ball as he was hit by Vontroy Malone. The loose ball was picked up by Amieh Williams and returned 35 yards for a touchdown. Tulsa cut the Roadrunners’ lead to 35-14, with 11:52 remaining in the third quarter.
The next Tulsa drive ended with a 37-yard field goal by Seth Morgan, and it was 35-17.
With 5:30 left in the third quarter, McCown completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Willie McCoy and UTSA extended its lead to 42-17.
The game got exciting for Tulsa fans when Kamdyn Benjamin broke lose for a 74-yard touchdown, breaking a couple tackles along the way. With the extra point kick, the score was 42-24 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
Tulsa capped a 67-yard drive that spanned the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, with a four-yard touchdown pass from Legas to Viron Ellison Jr. Tulsa cut the Roadrunners’ lead to 10 points, 42-32 with 14:21 left in the fourth quarter.
A 37-yard field goal by UTSA’s Tate Sandell with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter put the Roadrunners ahead 45-32.
With 2:26 left in the fourth quarter, Tulsa scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Legas to Benjamin, and the UTSA lead was cut to only six points, 45-39.
Then to complete the amazing comeback, Legas and Benjamin connected for the third time in the game, and Tulsa took the lead, 46-45 with 1:01 remaining in the game.
“It was a very unique game,” said Tulsa head coach Kevin Wilson. “We kind of got our butts up and down the field the first half, couldn’t run the ball and couldn’t generate much. Defensively gave up a couple decent stops because they had a couple guys that missed, and they made some big plays on us. At halftime we — coaches made a couple adjustments. We kind of stayed with the game plan. We needed to throw it a little bit more. We needed to find some things in protection, and we couldn’t protect because we’re young and we’re struggling keeping our quarterback upright.”
Legas finished the game with 16 completions on 31 attempts for 333 yards and five touchdowns. He also carried the ball for a team high 46 yards. Benjamin caught seven passes for 125 yards and three touchdowns.
“So proud of Coop,” Wilson said. “I don’t think Kirk’s injury is significant, but I did think we weren’t blocking well. His movement, I think he doesn’t have a major [injury] but an ankle sprain. He tried to go again and just wasn’t [ready]. He sat down and Cooper started playing well, so we just rode it out.”
The Golden Hurricane had a total of 433 yards while the Roadrunners finished with 546 total yards.
Tulsa is on the road at UAB this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Blazers (1-6, 0-4 AAC) are coming off a 35-25 loss at South Florida.