It was more of the same last Thursday night, as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane lost at Temple, 31-17, in a game filled with mistakes and miscues. There were 24,217 fans at Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia. It was the first American Athletic Conference game for both teams.
Tulsa (1-3, 0-1 AAC) committed four fumbles, losing two of them, while quarterback Luke Skipper threw three interceptions.
Temple (2-2, 1-0 AAC) opened the scoring on defense as Ty Mason picked off a Skipper pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown, giving the Owls a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
On Tulsa’s first drive of the third quarter, Skipper fumbled the ball while getting sacked at the 50-yard line. It was picked up by Temple’s Karamo Dioubate and returned for a touchdown.
The Temple defense proved too much for the Golden Hurricane to handle. Skipper was sacked six times in the game, and Temple scored 17 points off Tulsa turnovers; including 14 points scored by the Owls defense.
Taking a look at the stats, things weren’t all bad for Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane only trailed by four points at halftime, 14-10. The Golden Hurricane had more yards rushing and more yards passing than the Owls, for a total of 403 yards of offense, to Temple’s 300 total yards.
However, it was the turnovers once again that doomed the Golden Hurricane.
This week, Tulsa has a much-needed bye week and then TU will travel to Houston (2-1, 0-0) for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Cougars on Thursday, Oct. 4 at TDECU Stadium.
LOCAL PLAYER WITH OILERS
Broken Arrow native Bobby Watson has been invited to rejoin the Tulsa Oilers in training camp next week.
Watson, 25, participated in Tulsa’s camp last year and returned to the team in late-February, when he signed a Standard Player Contract with the Oilers. Watson scored a goal on his first shift in his first ECHL game Feb. 23 vs. Colorado, almost three full years after last playing in a professional game.
The rookie went on to play 13 games for the Oilers, notching two points (1g, 1a). Watson previously played two seasons in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) from 2013-2015, and last suited up for the Louisiana IceGators. He also played most of his junior career in Tulsa, posting 230 points (70g, 160a) in 193 games for the Tulsa Rampage and Tulsa Jr. Oilers in the Western States Hockey League (WSHL).
The Tulsa Oilers, an affiliate of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, will open training camp Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. at the Oilers Ice Center. All practices that take place at the O.I.C will be free and open to the public.
Tulsa will open the ECHL regular season hosting the Idaho Steelheads on Oct. 13 at 7:05 p.m. at the BOK Center. The two teams will complete Opening Weekend in Tulsa at 4:05 p.m. Sunday, October 14, followed by a postgame skate for the fans with the Oilers players.
For ticket information, call the Oilers office at 918-632-7825.