KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina – This year, we decided to spend Thanksgiving in North Carolina, at my mother-in-law’s. Like for many Americans, that meant the typical three F’s were involved; family, food and football.

Spending time with family is always good, but this year there was someone obviously absent from our dinner table. It was an emotional time for everyone, missing my father-in-law who passed away in early October. We also missed having our daughter with us, as she was unable to make the trip.

The food was fantastic, and as always, I overate. My mother-in-law makes a killer apple pie, and we usually fight over who gets to have a second slice. My wife and her twin sister won that privilege this year. We also were able to avoid any political talk, so that made for a pleasant meal all around.

Then our attention turned to football. Although I am both a Dallas and Buffalo fan, in this game I was rooting for the Bills (9-3) who have had a much better season than the Cowboys (6-6). We had a house full of native Western New Yorkers rooting for Buffalo, so there were no rivalries or bickering, and we were all excited to celebrate the Bills big 26-15 win over the Cowboys.

Now, I’ll be rooting for Dallas to win out the rest of the season, and cause Jerry Jones to have to think long and hard about whether to fire head coach Jason Garrett at the end of the season.

ALSO, WHILE IN N.C.

The University of Tulsa football team was playing their final game of the season at East Carolina on Saturday, and although I was only three-and-a-half hours away, and very tempted to make the drive to Greenville, N.C. to cover the game, I decided to not give up the whole day away from family, but instead watch it on television.

This was a battle of two teams with losing records, and neither team would finish the season bowl eligible regardless of the outcome. I was hoping for a good game none the less, and a Tulsa victory to end the season.

Tulsa (4-8, 2-6 American Athletic Conference) proved to be far superior than the Pirates (4-8, 1-7 AAC), as the Golden Hurricane won handily, 49-24. Tulsa racked up 669 total offensive yards, while holding ECU to 383 yards.

Tulsa quarterback Zack Smith had an impressive game completing 21-of-30 passes for 331 yards and a career high five touchdown passes. Running back Shamari Brooks carried the ball 16 times for a career high 202 yards.

Seven different players scored for the Hurricane as Brooks, Sam Crawford, Jr., Keenen Johnson, Keylon Stokes and Ethan Hall caught touchdown passes, and Corey Taylor II and T.K. Wilkerson scored on rushing plays.

One negative in this game for the Golden Hurricane was the fact that the team was penalized 12 times for 122 yards. ECU committed seven penalties for 50 yards.

Another rough spot for Tulsa was following a 21-3 lead at halftime, the Golden Hurricane defense failed to shut down ECU’s offense, as the Pirates scored 21 points in the second half.

Being an on-again-off-again sports play-by-play broadcaster, I don’t often criticize other broadcasters, in public. There’s generally no good way to do it, and not look like I’m jealous, or arrogant. However, after having just sat through the entire Tulsa-East Carolina broadcast, I can’t help but mention Mike Couzens (play-by-play) and Kirk Morrison (analyst) were less than stellar. I realize ESPNU is not going to assign their best announcers to an American Athletic Conference matchup between to cellar dwellers, but my goodness, it was difficult to listen to these two guys. That’s all I’ll say.

BIG QUESTION AT TU

Now the big question that has been swirling around Tulsa football all season will need to be answered; will head coach Philip Montgomery return for a sixth season? He had some success in his first two seasons at TU. In 2015, the team went 6-7 and lost in the Independence Bowl, but the next year, Montgomery led the Golden Hurricane to a 10-2 record and a win in the Miami Beach Bowl. However, recruiting cycles will tell you, he was playing with a lot of players he didn’t recruit, and now the entire team is his.

In 1017, Tulsa turned that success totally around to a miserable 2-10 record, while last year the Golden Hurricane finished 3-9, and this year 3-8. There is no evidence of improvement, and one has to wonder how long the brass at TU will allow this trend to continue. My guess; not beyond New Year’s Day.