This Friday, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team hosted the Memphis Tigers in the annual Homecoming game. The Hurricane fell to the Tigers by a score of 66–42.
Defense was pretty much absent on either side, as both teams combined for 108 points, the highest-scoring FBS game of the year. There were a combined 1,238 yards over 177 total plays, resulting in an average of just under seven yards per play.
Quarterbacks Paxton Lynch and Dane Evans both had outstanding passing games, each throwing for over 400 yards and four touchdowns.
Tulsa wide receiver Keyarris Garrett had an outstanding game of his own, catching a career-high 268 yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Tigers had four players with over 100 yards gained.
After a quiet pair of drives to start the game, Lynch hit a wide-open Tevin Jones for a 58-yard touchdown to give Memphis the first score of the game. Tulsa answered with an Evans 36-yard pass to Garrett. After Evans was sacked for the third time in the opening quarter, Lynch’s touchdown pass to Anthony Miller for 45 yards brought a close to the first-quarter scoring, with Memphis ahead 14–7. The end of the quarter also saw the play of freshman quarterback Chad President, rushing for 11 yards on three attempts.
The second quarter was the highest-scoring of the game, with 35 total points. The quarter began with a pair of rushing touchdowns, by Tulsa’s Ramadi Warren and Memphis’s Jamarius Henderson. Memphis then made the next two scores, on a 21-yard pass to Henderson and a rush by Doroland Dorceus. Tulsa ended the half on one of the most phenomenal plays of the year* by Keyarris Garrett, as he caught a tipped hail mary pass with one hand before falling into the end zone.
Tulsa took a 35–21 deficit to the half, and got the ball to begin the third quarter. After they couldn’t get any points, Dorceus rushed for his second touchdown of the night, making it a three-touchdown gap for Tulsa.
Evans passed Tulsa back into the game, with touchdown passes to Garrett and Josh Atkinson, on the first play of the drive. Paxton Lynch decided to take his third touchdown in himself, with a three-yard rush. Memphis kicker Jake Elliott made a 30-yard field goal to give Memphis a 52–35 lead after three quarters.
Memphis quickly got back on the board again, as Tevin Jones caught his second touchdown of the evening. Rowdy Simon scored a rushing touchdown for Tulsa, yet the game was sealed with the final score of the night, a 20-yard touchdown run by Henderson.
Memphis found themselves ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after their 37–24 upset of the Ole Miss Rebels. The Memphis Tigers are one of four teams in the AP Poll that are not a part of the top “Power 5” NCAA football conferences.
They join the Toledo Rockets from the Mid-American Conference, as well as the Temple Owls and the Houston Cougars from the American.
Next week, the Hurricane take to the road to play the SMU Mustangs, while the Memphis Tigers go back home to play the Tulane Green Wave.
*Editor’s note: we’re not just saying that because we’re Tulsa fans. That play made it to SportsCenter’s top ten plays on Friday night which means it really was one of the most phenomenal plays Keyarris Garrett has made this season.
