Tulsa’s decisive 34-26 win over then-No. 11 Central Florida Saturday could be a turning point in the Golden Hurricane program.

“New year, new season,” Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery said. “We’ve got a lot of talent on this football team. On the road in a tough environment . I’m proud of these guys for sticking together. We’ve always been a gritty, tough, hard-nosed football team and we proved that again tonight.”

It’s early but Tulsa (1-1, 1-0 in the AAC) is in first place in the American Athletic Conference, tied with No. 11 Cincinnati, No. 18 SMU and Navy.

“It was a great team win. All three phases really contributed. We could not have started off any tougher than what we did with three turnovers and a safety. We put our defense in tough spots. Our team just kept grinding and grinding. The drive right before half really lit us on fire and we were able to come out in the second half and take advantage of that,” said Montgomery.

“We had big plays on special teams. We started the second half with the turnover on special teams with Bryson (Powers). Lachlan (Wilson) getting his punts punched down inside the five were amazing. Zack (Long) hit a big field goal there at the end. I am very proud of our football team and those guys for sticking together. We have always been a gritty, hard-nosed 60-minute football team.”

The Golden Hurricane is off next week but will host Cincinnati on October 17 in the first home game of the year for Tulsa. Several games were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The win over No. 11 UCF was the  first win over top-15 team since the 1991 “Miracle on 11th Street” win over #15 Texas A&M.  Prior to that win, in 1971 was the last time Tulsa defeated a higher ranked team than No. 11 with a 21-20 win over No. 7 Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Tulsa scored the final 15 points to overcome an 18-point deficit and beat UCF.

The win snapped a 21-game home winning streak for the Knights. The last team to defeated UCF on its home field was the 2016 Tulsa team on Nov. 19, 2016, by a score of 35-20.

The victory is also Tulsa’s first against a ranked opponent since handing No. 24 Hawaii a 62-35 loss in the 2010 Hawaii Bowl, and it’s the highest-ranked opponent Tulsa has defeated since a 35-34 home win over No. 15 Texas A&M in September 1996. Before that, it was 1971 that Tulsa defeated a higher ranked team with a 21-20 win over #7 Arkansas.

The 18-point comeback is the 13th come-from-behind win for the Hurricane under Montgomery since his arrival in 2015. It’s the second largest comeback victory during that time, second only to a 31-point comeback in 2016 at Fresno State.

The game started precarious for Tulsa as the Hurricane turned the ball over three times in its first three possessions.

Tulsa’s special teams forced and recovered 2 fumbles, while the defense intercepted one pass, had 10 tackles for -23 yards and 9 pass break-ups.

“Turnovers were huge in the football game,” UCF coach Josh Heupel said. “We gave up the one play at the end of the half. We had a turnover on the kickoff. At the end of the day all three facets of the game have to work together. We have to play better complementary football.”

The Tulsa defense and special teams kept the Hurricane in the contest in the first two quarters until the offense pushed itself into high gear on the final drive of the first 30 minutes.

Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith completed 17-of-29 passes for 273 yards and three TDs, while finding eight different receivers.

Keylon Stokes caught 6 passes for 95 yards, followed by Sam Crawford’s 4 for 74 yards and one TD and Josh Johnson with 2 for 69 yards and one touchdown.

Tulsa running back T.K. Wilkerson had 86 yards rushing and one TD,

Corey Taylor II rushed for 60 yards and Deneric Prince had 41 yards.