2011 Tulsa Football Predictions

Written by Jack Jones

Todd Graham leaves the Tulsa football program in good hands. Graham spent four years here and managed to put together back-to-back double-digit wins for the first time in school history. Last year’s team went 10-3 and finished ranked #24 in the final AP poll after a 62-35 victory in the Hawai’i bowl over the Warriors. The Golden Hurricane carry a seven-game winning streak into this season, and are in great shape for their new head coach after Graham bolted for Pittsburgh.

Bill Blankenship takes over after spending 22 years in the HS ranks, and the previous four seasons as a RB, WR and ST coach at Tulsa. That means he has no head coaching experience and he’s never even been a coordinator. This is the perfect place for him to get his feet wet considering Tulsa returns 18 starters (tied most in CUSA) and they only lose 13 lettermen (second-fewest in conference). Now it’s his job to maximize the talent he has in front of him, while also bringing in the recruits that can keep this program afloat. Here is an outlook of their offense and defense, along with my prediction on where Tulsa will finish in the conference.

Offense:

Tulsa featured the most prolific offense in CUSA last season at 41.4 points and 506 total yards per game. Despite those gaudy numbers, this team has a chance to be even better in 2011. That’s because the Golden Hurricane bring back 10 starters on offense. Greg Petersen takes over as offensive coordinator and must find a way to get the same production from this talent that Graham did before him. He was the OC at Northern Colorado last year and held the same position at Colorado State in 2008-’09.

GJ Kinne returns for his senior season at quarterback after earning first-team All-CUSA honors last year. He threw for 3,650 yards and 31 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, while also leading the team in rushing (561, 7 TD). He’s certainly glad to have back senior WR Damaris Johnson, who led the team with 57 receptions for 872 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Golden Hurricane do lose second-and-third leading receivers Charles Clay (43, 526, 7) and Trae Johnson (30, 498, 3), but they bring back two more with starting experience. Sophomore Thomas Roberson (30, 367, 2) and junior Ricky Johnson (22, 351, 1) team up with DaMaris Johnson to form a solid receiving corps.

The Golden Hurricane got most of their production on the ground last season from Kinne and Damaris Johnson (55 attempts, 560 yards, 7 TD). They are going to need more from their tailbacks this season. Sophomore Trey Watts (197 yards, 3.2/carry, 1 TD last year) figures to get most of the touches. They also welcome back sophomore Ja’Terian Douglas (335, 7.8, 3) and junior Alex Singleton (391, 4.7, 9). All three backs got plenty of touches last year and this trio should be even stronger in 2011.

This team figures to have one of the top offensive lines in the conference. It’s a unit paved the way for 217 rushing yards/game and 5.3/carry last season. All five starters return up front (113 career starts), making this one of the most experience groups in the land. Junior C Trent Dupy was the best of the bunch as he earned second-team All-CUSA honors last season. Not only is this line set up to be great now, they also bring in Oklahoma transfer Kody Cooke, Texas Tech transfer Joe King, Notre Dame transfer Matt Romine, and redshirt freshman Jake Alexander, who turned down offers from SEC schools.

Defense:

While the offense was very exciting last season, there wasn’t much to like about this Tulsa defense. The Golden Hurricane surrendered 30.3 points and 451 total yards per game. The new defensive coordinator in charge of turning it around is Brent Guy, who has not been in this position since Arizona State from 2001-’04. He was the head coach at Utah State ‘05-’08 and posted a dismal 9-38 record there. Eight starters return on defense, including 13 of their top 15 tacklers. Guy will have plenty of talent to work with this season.

Tulsa was actually very stout against the run last season, yielding only 132 yards/game on 3.9/rush. The only loss along their defensive line is DE Odrick Ray (14 tackles, 6 for loss). The Golden Hurricane bring back five of their top six linemen this season. Senior DE Tyrunn Walker (43 tackles, 12 for loss) earned second-team All-USA last season, and opposite him will be junior DE Cory Dorris (46, 5.5). They will start junior Derrick Jackson and senior Darrell Zellars at defensive tackle on the inside. This figures to be the best defensive line they’ve had at Tulsa in at least 5 years.

The Hurricane return their top two tacklers at linebacker this season. Senior MLB Curnelius Arnick (115 tackles, 9 for loss, 4 INT) and sophomore WLB Shawn Jackson (88, 15.5, 2) were absolute beasts in 2010. Not only are these two back, but they also have junior CANE LB DeAundre Brown returning after missing all of last season due to an academic redshirt. Brown was their #1 tackler in 2009. This unit is more experienced and one of the best linebacking corps in the conference.

Tulsa certainly has room to improve in their secondary, where they yielded a whopping 319 passing yards/game and 60.4% completions. Their only loss in the secondary is CB Charles Davis, who earned third-team All-CUSA after finishing with 46 tackles, 11 pass break-ups and 2 interceptions. The Hurricane return seven of their top eight from last season. First-team All-CUSA FS Marco Nelson was tremendous in his freshman season, finishing third on the team in tackles (86) while breaking up 6 passes to go along with 6 interceptions. Junior SS Dexter McCoil (56 tackles, 3 pbu, 6 INT) and senior CB John Flanders (45 tackles, 5 pbu, 2 INT) return to their starting positions. Junior CB Lowell Rose made six starts here last year and rounds out the secondary. This unit will certainly put up better numbers than the monstrous ones they gave up a year ago.

Conference USA Prediction: 2nd Place West Division – The Hurricane come into the season with a ton of momentum, having won seven straight games. With 18 starters returning, there’s no question that this is a team to be reckoned with in the West. They talent is there to match Houston, but I’m concerned with the lack of experience at head coach and both coordinator spots. I don’t believe the fellas in charge are going to be able to get as much out of their players as Graham and his staff did. The schedule sets up pretty well with both SMU and Houston at home, but they do have to travel to face Rice and UCF. While I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the West, I’m placing them second behind the Cougars due to their coaching situation.

Latest Conference USA Football Predictions by Team
Central Florida Football Predictions	Southern Miss Football Predictions
East Carolina Football Predictions	UAB Football Predictions
Marshall Football Predictions	Memphis Football Predictions
SMU Football Predictions	Houston Football Predictions
Tulsa Football Predictions	Rice Football Predictions
Tulane Football Predictions	UTEP Football Predictions

College Football Predictions
ACC Football Predictions	Big 12 Football Predictions
Conference USA Football Predictions	Independents Football Predictions
PAC 12 Football Predictions	SEC Football Predictions
Big East Football Predictions	Big Ten Football Predictions
MAC Football Predictions	Mountain West Football Predictions
Sun Belt Football Predictions	WAC Football Predictions

Comments

Got something to say?