Tulsa arrived in Dallas on Friday to take on the Mustangs of SMU and left empty-handed once again, suffering another discouraging defeat in what has definitely become a season to forget.
QB Luke Skipper had his least consistent performance of the season, completing only 9 of his 23 passing attempts with one touchdown. Last week, it was RB D’Angelo Brewer who sat out with an undisclosed injury. This week, it was Shamari Brooks’ turn to miss out, suffering an injury in the first quarter that would sideline him the rest of the game. Despite this stumbling block, the Golden Hurricane led for the entire night until the fourth quarter, when SMU QB Ben Hicks bombarded the TU secondary with two 30+ yard passes to set up a 9 yard touchdown run by RB Xavier Jones to give SMU a 35-34 advantage. Tulsa simply could not find an answer to their offensive struggles; a Mustang field goal and a very costly interception committed by Skipper with little time left would seal the Hurricane’s fate.
Injury is only the most recent plague which has beset this team. Penalty struggles, playcalling inconsistency, quarterback changes, defensive laziness, pure bad luck. The list grows larger every week, with a new setback stepping up to take the place of each resolved issue. The mark of true character in a team is the ability to continue to move forward and fight, despite all the disappointment and frustration of past mistakes or misfortunes. Starting now, character is all that this team can fight for. Putting up a good fight in front of a home crowd against #22 ranked Memphis would galvanize the team’s spirit for the rest of the season. It’s time to buckle down and break some hearts of our own.
