Bringing it Back: A TCY Dynasty

[MalcPow]

With a new FOF on the way, I decided to fire up a little TCY to kill some time and make sure all my various mouse-clicking muscles were appropriately conditioned. After getting a couple of weeks into the recruiting season, I figured I would semi-chronicle things with a dynasty here. My TCY playing days are pretty far in the rearview mirror at this point, but I resuscitated my ten-year-old laptop last night and recovered many of my various notes about game plans, time management settings, and keeping my sweet frat bros girlfriended up and happy in the TCY universe.

I had a bit of a glory run with Army during my youth with this game, and I remember it being a kind of perfect storm of good starting academic rep, located in NY (a hotbed for recruits), and in a weak enough conference to dominate once the machine gets cranked up. I wanted something that was a bit more challenging, but yes, the general formula of academic success leading to a good program is probably going to be a big part of this career. It just permeates too many dimensions to neglect it. Dumb guys don't just hurt your ability to have a recruiting hook down the line, but they're really difficult to develop as well. Maybe I will get cute and force myself to bring a few idiots on board or something.

Having clicked my way through a few weeks already at this point, I'm not really sure I should be worried about that kind of challenge. The at least six or so seasons it takes to get things ramped up seem like a lot of effort for my awkwardly out of touch pace at the moment. (I'm probably just being slowed down by the knowledge that I logged multiple careers spanning multiple decades of this stuff, which feels COMPLETELY INSANE.)

[MalcPow]

Having laid that groundwork... I went with Tulsa.

Our Academic Reputation of 50 is comfortably in the middle of this TCY world and should make it tough for us to scoop up any actual scholar athletes early on.

Our program Prestige rating of 64 is even worse relative to other schools, and we're only a couple of points above the New York-based Sol8 schools.

We're playing in the WAC and I'll give you a look at our current standings:

2004 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
Fresno State 3 2 0 .600 104 87 2 0 0 1.000 47 16 Won 3
Hawaii 3 1 0 .750 159 75 2 1 0 .666 124 52 Won 2
Southern Methodist 2 4 0 .333 99 232 2 1 0 .666 75 69 Won 2
Rice 3 2 0 .600 121 129 2 1 0 .666 83 38 Lost 1
Texas-El Paso 3 2 0 .600 131 228 1 1 0 .500 50 56 Lost 1
Louisiana Tech 2 3 0 .400 68 170 1 1 0 .500 44 15 Lost 3
San Jose State 1 4 0 .200 65 208 1 1 0 .500 44 65 Lost 2
**Tulsa 1 3 0 .250 82 145 0 1 0 .000 21 59 Lost 1
Boise State 2 3 0 .400 129 140 0 2 0 .000 39 74 Lost 1
Nevada 1 4 0 .200 96 186 0 2 0 .000 13 96 Lost 3

It's not exactly a murderer's row lineup of power schools, but hopefully a few of them emerge as good teams over time.

Barring some real attachment taking place over the course of things, I'll be happy to move on to a new challenge after building these guys up.

We are playing with a playoff system instead of the bowls, but I doubt that will really apply to us early on.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
Tulsa Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
Harris, Shannon 12 QB Fr 9 67
Rasmussen, Sammy 18 QB Sr* 32 46
Ward, Maurice 10 QB Fr 14 40
Brandon, Brent 2 QB Jr 29 29
Bradbury, Terry 4 QB Jr* 12 14
Bostic, Ron 25 RB Fr 24 24
Rayburn, Grant 39 RB So 13 14
Herndon, Drew 30 RB* So* 11 30
Esparza, Fernando 48 RB* So 16 26
Bridges, Ike 26 RB* So* 15 16
Meier, Isaac 41 FB Jr 48 53
Graham, Leroy 43 FB Jr* 18 36
Kerr, Tyrone 29 FB Sr 22 33
Ellard, Darnell 92 TE Fr 10 53
Glover, Stephen 81 TE Jr 18 31
Dole, Alex 96 TE Jr 28 28
Rhodes, Marcus 98 TE Jr* 15 21
Winn, Al 7 WR Fr 20 52
Crane, Sammy 89 WR Jr 26 50
McPhee, Bryan 8 WR Sr 46 46
Kamilewicz, Billy 85 WR Sr 18 18
Singleton, Travis 80 WR Fr 15 15
Fulcher, William 82 WR* Fr 6 12
Stautner, Horace 83 WR* Fr 12 12
Poston, Kurt 53 C Sr* 52 52
Miyara, Teddy 58 C Fr 15 51
Uhlenhake, Randall 72 G Sr* 34 55
Shields, Glenn 73 G Sr 42 46
Hamilton, Gene 74 G So 23 38
Donaldson, Darrell 68 G Sr* 27 35
DeVito, Gabe 60 T Jr 33 41
Meadows, Hardy 69 T Sr 40 40
Johnson, Floyd 76 T Sr 39 39
Whitfield, Luther 61 T Jr 20 20
Davis, Luther 17 P Sr* 40 49
Bell, Mel 3 P Jr 31 34
Lane, Anthony 1 K So 30 42
Levine, Brady 14 K So* 11 42
Lucier, D.J. 97 DE Sr* 16 37
Sweeney, Kirk 78 DE So 11 22
Dayoc, Jerry 99 DE Sr* 9 9
Canady, Wally 77 DE* Fr 0 40
Saavedra, Vince 70 DE* So* 6 31
Stavros, Kirk 90 DE* Fr 11 11
Beckman, Cole 71 DT So* 15 52
Murphy, Pat 79 DT Sr 30 46
Sonnanstine, Joey 91 DT Fr 13 31
Briggs, Perry 75 DT Sr 28 28
Deyo, Skip 42 ILB Jr 23 48
Lofton, Clarence 49 ILB* So* 6 31
Griffin, Sherman 46 ILB* Jr 21 21
Chilton, Antoine 95 ILB* Fr 9 9
Grandy, Otis 50 OLB Sr 32 50
Banks, Justin 59 OLB So 23 38
Davidson, Anthony 51 OLB Sr 24 24
Houston, Gus 93 OLB* So 6 19
Kuhn, Lonnie 56 OLB* Fr 5 5
Hastings, Pat 35 CB Jr 21 27
Parker, Troy 24 CB Sr* 18 24
Coles, Levon 27 CB Sr 17 17
Vijitakula, J.B. 32 CB Jr 16 16
Burks, Steven 23 CB* Jr 22 22
Whitfield, Wade 44 S Sr 32 49
Snyder, Patrick 31 S Jr 43 48
Buchanan, Bryant 21 S Jr* 26 30
Bosela, Andy 33 S Jr 25 25
Ornelas, Bryan 22 S* Fr 9 14

* in eligibility - Player has been red-shirted. * in position - Player is
walk-on. ** before name - Player is in danger of becoming academically ineligible.

A quick roster snapshot. We are probably going to be pretty dang bad for awhile here.

I'm highlighting QB Maurice Ward and DT Joey Sonnanstine, both true freshmen who will start for us from day one and give us something to follow other than recruiting in the early years.

Ward isn't our highest rated QB, but he probably has the best bars even if they're really green. Sonnanstine is just a guy to follow, and his very high endurance means he's probably going to perform as well as any of our other crappy guys.

I'm going to crank through with updates as we get some signings and progress through things here.

[MalcPow]

We've got a decent recruiting class coming together. Mostly the product of being aggressive in-state early and looking up and seeing guys who weren't getting offers as the process went on. More on that later though.

We've got enough drama heading into our final game that it's worth an update. The boys have fought valiantly to a 5-5 record and a 4-3 conference record. We won our RIVALRY GAME against hated villain Louisiana Tech (wut?). And basically we've held our own.

We don't have much of a chance, but there is some combination of possibilities that leaves us with an opportunity to win the conference if we can beat UTEP in our finale and some other outcomes go our way.

[MalcPow]

Well, we did our part with a 27-0 win over UTEP, but a couple teams in front of us won their games handily as well. We end up with a winning record overall and in the conference.

The College Years
2004 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
Rice 7 4 0 .636 299 277 6 2 0 .750 240 144 Won 4
Fresno State 7 4 0 .636 257 189 6 2 0 .750 200 118 Won 3
Hawaii 8 3 0 .727 453 189 5 3 0 .625 294 142 Won 2
**Tulsa 6 5 0 .545 280 281 5 3 0 .625 219 195 Won 3
Texas-El Paso 6 5 0 .545 254 354 4 4 0 .500 173 182 Lost 1
Southern Methodist 4 7 0 .363 168 370 4 4 0 .500 144 207 Lost 1
Boise State 6 5 0 .545 275 318 4 4 0 .500 185 252 Won 2
Louisiana Tech 3 8 0 .272 192 330 2 6 0 .250 168 175 Lost 5
Nevada 3 8 0 .272 244 341 2 6 0 .250 161 251 Lost 3
San Jose State 2 9 0 .181 173 413 2 6 0 .250 152 270 Lost 2 

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2004 Summary for Tulsa

Record: 6-5
Rank: 64

Tulsa Team Rank
Rushes 309 104 (T)
Rushing Yards 1429 58 (T)
Yards Per Carry 4.62 12
Pass Attempts 387 19 (T)
Completions 222 22 (T)
Passing Yards 2720 32
Yards Per Attempt 7.02 60
3rd Down Conversions 40.5 31
Points Per Game 25.4 59
Turnovers 26 86 (T)
Turnover Margin -7 94 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 403 87 (T)
Rushing Yards 1693 85
Yards Per Carry 4.20 81 (T)
Pass Attempts 333 81 (T)
Completions 178 71 (T)
Passing Yards 2150 49
Yards Per Attempt 6.45 35
3rd Down Conversions 43.3 116
Points Per Game 25.5 62
Turnovers 19 82 (T)

Primary Formation: Single-Back Formation

Week Team Versus Oppnt
2 21 at KANS (102) 27
3 7 at OKST (62) 49
4 33 NAVY (90) 10
6 21 at HAWI (34) 59
8 41 BOIS (51) 18
9 23 at NEVA (106) 20
10 14 RICE (53) 30
11 13 at SMTH (94) 24
12 38 at LATC (105) 24
13 42 SJST (115) 20
14 27 TXEP (66) 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 Ward QB 386 221 2714 7.03 23 21
Team --- 387 222 2720 7.02 23 21

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
25 Bostic RB 116 649 5.59 3 30 35
48 Esparza RB 86 560 6.51 4 15 21
10 Ward QB 76 13 0.17 0 50 228
Team --- 309 1429 4.62 7 101 299

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 McPhee WR 102 63 920 14.6 278 6
7 Winn WR 81 45 594 13.2 284 8
89 Crane WR 64 34 434 12.7 175 4
85 Kamilewicz WR 44 23 247 10.7 58 2
25 Bostic RB 43 32 264 8.2 143 1
96 Dole TE 16 8 92 11.5 53 1
80 Singleton WR 14 4 82 20.5 18 0
Team --- 387 222 2720 12.2 1071 23

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
31 Snyder S 105 30 1.0 11 0 9
42 Deyo ILB 71 31 5.0 13 6 6
50 Grandy OLB 42 18 3.0 8 2 7
79 Murphy DT 39 19 5.5 10 0 0
44 Whitfield S 35 10 1.0 3 2 11
24 Parker CB 27 8 0.5 2 0 4
32 Vijitakula CB 24 7 0.0 2 1 3
46 Griffin ILB 23 10 2.0 3 0 1
35 Hastings CB 21 7 0.0 1 0 2
97 Lucier DE 20 12 5.0 5 0 0
78 Sweeney DE 19 8 5.5 6 0 0
91 Sonnanstine DT 17 15 2.5 3 0 0
49 Lofton ILB 16 3 1.0 2 0 3
51 Davidson OLB 16 4 1.0 3 0 1
27 Coles CB 16 7 1.0 4 1 2
90 Stavros DE 15 5 4.5 7 0 0
21 Buchanan S 15 6 0.0 1 1 2
Team --- 630 218 42.0 88 14 54

Overall, a really good showing from Ward as a true freshman starter. Things could have gone much worse on that front but he really got better as we entered conference play. I think we're likely to take a step back as a team next year as we graduate some guys and redshirt most of the incoming class. But it's nice to start with a winning year. DT Sonnanstine didn't really do much, but hey, he showed up and played a lot.

We'll break down the incoming class and sum up the end of the year in this universe in another post.

[MalcPow]

The 2004 Class

http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/9818/ydcg.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/ydcg.png/)

We end up landing a full class of 16 scholarship guys. (And we even had a few outstanding visit offers out there to guys we didn't offer scholarships, which I think means they could join us as walk-ons.)

OLB Mitchell Bissel is our highest ranked player, coming in at #156 in the country. He's an extremely local find, with his Sand Springs roots a mere 11 miles from campus. My scout thinks he's much better than the 57 we initially scouted him at, but my scout's poor with LBs.

Scout thoughts on the rest of these guys:

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8031/sjsg.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/14/sjsg.png/)

I think it's generally a solid group. And for better or worse (from some kind of challenge code of honor standpoint), we're bringing in a bunch of really smart and aspirant do-gooders who will move our program in the right direction academically.

It was a priority to get some WRs with the Single-Back Offense we're running, and I think we got two good ones in Hopkins and Rivera. And we'll probably keep trying to bring QBs in to see if we can snag somebody special to take over for Ward when he leaves or who develops past him. I may not have emphasized enough just what a dumpster fire our defensive roster was this year as well. Bringing in eight guys who will likely redshirt and then start for us is a big help.

All of these guys will probably play a ton for us at this phase of the career. I think we'll pretty much have to redshirt them all and look to ramp up that way, but we'll actually have some talent on the field in 2006.

[MalcPow]

In other news, Rice gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Colorado, 36-0. Rice's academic strength would actually make them a great rival if they can get some early prestige gains through on-field success. So it's generally a decent thing that they had a good year. Hawaii actually looks to have had the best year in the conference, finishing at 9-3 and an end season rank of 32. We end up in a clump of other WAC teams as the 56th ranked team overall.

Oklahoma completes a perfect 16-0 season with a win over Miami in the championship game. That will certainly help ensure that all the best players in the state have their idol eyes set westward. It's also probably a worthy house-rule for this little joyride that we try to play OU and Oklahoma St every year as well. That should make for a few annual beatdowns that keep us from getting too full of ourselves.

QB Maurice Ward is an Academic All-American and WR Al Winn ends up a Freshman All-American, prompting me to figure out who the hell he is. His 45 catches for 594 yards are a good reminder that the Freshman All-American team isn't much to get excited about.

We get pretty good grades from the professor and roll things over to a new year...

[MalcPow]

Rutgers and Southern Mississippi get hit with bowl bans.

QB Sammy Rasmussen, who had good ratings on the scout overview screen but shitty bars, decides to leave the team due to a lack of playing time.

A whole bunch of guys want more free time or lose relationships or generally suffer the misfortunes associated with our very study-focused approach to life last year.

CB Pat Hastings is suspended for taking money from a booster.

We lose our New England scout.

We blow everyone away with our 3.47 GPA. This only moves our Academic Reputation from 50 to 54, but it vaults us from an average subject ranking in the 50s to 18th. We're top 25 in a good number of majors now, and should have a real look at landing guys based on their preferences and not just based on the fact that nobody else wants them.

Rivals ranks us the 39th best recruiting class in the country.

We get a look at the team overview with some of the new toys in place:

The College Years
Tulsa Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
McConnell, Donnell 15 QB Fr 15 72
Harris, Shannon 12 QB So 11 67
Ward, Maurice 10 QB So 33 40
Brandon, Brent 2 QB Sr* 32 32
Villasenor, Horace 5 QB Fr 14 29
Bradbury, Terry 4 QB Sr* 15 15
Witt, Rod 44 RB Fr 34 59
Bostic, Ron 25 RB So 31 31
Rayburn, Grant 39 RB Jr 15 15
Herndon, Drew 30 RB* Jr* 12 30
Esparza, Fernando 48 RB* Jr 18 27
Bridges, Ike 26 RB* Jr* 15 16
Meier, Isaac 41 FB Sr 48 53
Graham, Leroy 43 FB Sr* 19 37
Ellard, Darnell 92 TE So 12 53
Glover, Stephen 81 TE Sr 19 31
Dole, Alex 96 TE Sr 26 26
Rhodes, Marcus 98 TE Sr* 17 21
Hopkins, Louis 8 WR Fr 12 52
Winn, Al 7 WR So 29 52
Rivera, Kevin 86 WR Fr 25 51
Crane, Sammy 89 WR Sr 28 50
Singleton, Travis 80 WR So 19 19
Stautner, Horace 83 WR* So 14 14
Fulcher, William 82 WR* So 8 11
Fantozzi, Ronnie 52 C Fr 20 85
Poston, Kurt 53 C Sr 57 57
Miyara, Teddy 58 C So 16 51
Farr, Ernie 67 G Fr 15 79
Uhlenhake, Randall 72 G Sr 53 55
Hamilton, Gene 74 G Jr 33 38
Donaldson, Darrell 68 G Sr 31 35
Austin, Billy Joe 66 G* Sr* 12 20
Richmond, Buddy 62 T Fr 15 79
DeVito, Gabe 60 T Sr 34 41
Whitfield, Luther 61 T Sr 28 28
Sachnik, Riddick 65 T* Fr 6 6
Davis, Luther 17 P Sr 42 49
Bell, Mel 3 P Sr* 35 35
Lane, Anthony 1 K Jr 26 42
Levine, Brady 14 K Jr* 15 42
Whiting, Jessie 79 DE Fr 17 77
O'Neal, Les 75 DE Fr 16 63
Lucier, D.J. 97 DE Sr 17 37
Sweeney, Kirk 78 DE Jr 17 22
Dayoc, Jerry 99 DE Sr 15 15
Canady, Wally 77 DE* So 1 41
Saavedra, Vince 70 DE* Jr* 6 31
Stavros, Kirk 90 DE* So 10 10
Bayer, Jamie 94 DT Fr 8 57
Bernstein, Raymond 76 DT Fr 21 53
Beckman, Cole 71 DT Jr* 19 52
Sonnanstine, Joey 91 DT So 21 31
Rivera, Ken 57 ILB Fr 15 70
Deyo, Skip 42 ILB Sr 32 48
Lofton, Clarence 49 ILB* Jr* 8 32
Griffin, Sherman 46 ILB* Sr 22 22
Chilton, Antoine 95 ILB* So 12 12
Bissel, Mitchell 51 OLB Fr 23 66
Banks, Justin 59 OLB Jr 26 38
Houston, Gus 93 OLB* Jr 11 19
Kuhn, Lonnie 56 OLB* So 6 6
Griffin, Dana 47 CB Fr 12 74
Hastings, Pat 35 CB Sr 18 28
Parker, Troy 24 CB Sr 17 24
Vijitakula, J.B. 32 CB Sr 17 17
Burks, Steven 23 CB* Sr 23 23
McNeil, Fernando 27 S Fr 24 64
Snyder, Patrick 31 S Sr 43 49
Buchanan, Bryant 21 S Sr* 25 30
Bosela, Andy 33 S Sr 24 24
Ornelas, Bryan 22 S* So 12 14

* in eligibility - Player has been red-shirted. * in position - Player is 
The College Years
walk-on. ** before name - Player is in danger of becoming academically ineligible. 

I suppose it could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. We've got some foundational OL guys, a real QB prospect, a pair of solid WRs, and some defensive building blocks. Not surprisingly, they're all very undeveloped as those are the sorts of guys you can scoop up when you're recruiting from the 'what the hell is left' handbook. We'll put them all in the weight room for a year and hope for the best.

[Izulde]

Your being in the WAC means I get to cheer for UNR to get its ass kicked every year, which is awesome. :D

[MalcPow]

We see that OU is a permanent game on our schedule so we'll always have that to look forward to. Oklahoma St refuses to play us in basically any configuration. So we end up with an away and home series with North Carolina and an away game at Oregon St on our schedule. That's going to be a very quick path to 0-3 before we get to conference play.

[MalcPow]

Your being in the WAC means I get to cheer for UNR to get its ass kicked every year, which is awesome. :D

They had a rough first season. Could be tough for them until Kaepernick shows up in a few years. :)

[MalcPow]

In a sweet side note, our 'Student Goodwill' has dropped from Terrific to Terrible. Thanks guys.

We do have 24 luxury boxes though, which I remember is kind of rare for a low end school like us.

We also hired some new staff members. A new Syndicate guy, a new OC, a new DC, some scouts. I won't bore with too many of the details.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6299/lmi0.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/lmi0.png/)

New guy much better than old guy.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8293/6we0.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/6we0.png/)

Ditto.

[MalcPow]

We open with a 66-6 annihilation at the hands of the defending champion Sooners in Week 2. This game will be a nice annual litmus test on just how awful we are. This season is probably going to be our worst so, well, yeah, we are horrendously awful.

UNC beats us up, 37-8. #22 ranked Oregon St whips us 42-20. And we're off to the spectacular 0-3 start our half-assed tough scheduling house rule had us perfectly positioned for. We've got very little chance at a winning season now, but hey, this is our down year.

Rice beats us 45-14. We also institute a new little quirk in recruiting this week as we go after DE Jerald Simmons. He looks like a world class non-student with a lot of talent. It would be interesting to land him and try to develop a dunce or two in each class.

Hawaii beats us 22-17. At 0-5, any low is possible this year.

We scratch back and beat #35 ranked Fresno St, 31-24.

Nevada beats us 44-39. We're 1-6.

[MalcPow]

We beat SMU 35-31 to get to 2-6. Recruiting has been a bit shaky. We might end up with multiple dunces or semi-dunces. Got scooped on a couple of guys I thought we had locked up. We did land uber-dunce DE Jerald Simmons though. We'll have to see what his 1.96 GPA means for his brain ratings. I have a feeling we won't be redshirting him.

We win 42-18 over San Jose State, one of the few teams with a real claim to a place beneath us in the college football world.

We win 31-14 over #38 ranked UTEP. We're at 4-6, and regardless of what happens in the finale we'll have salvaged a vaguely respectable season.

We beat rivals Louisiana Tech 28-21 to salvage a 5-6 record from an 0-5 start.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2005 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
Hawaii 10 1 0 .909 324 224 8 0 0 1.000 259 156 Won 10
Rice 8 3 0 .727 266 197 6 2 0 .750 196 138 Won 4
**Tulsa 5 6 0 .454 271 364 5 3 0 .625 237 219 Won 4
Texas-El Paso 7 4 0 .636 299 274 5 3 0 .625 232 192 Lost 2
Louisiana Tech 5 6 0 .454 243 332 4 4 0 .500 186 246 Lost 1
Boise State 5 5 0 .500 272 241 4 4 0 .500 234 182 Won 1
Fresno State 5 6 0 .454 337 251 3 5 0 .375 247 209 Lost 4
Southern Methodist 3 7 0 .300 210 306 2 6 0 .250 173 237 Lost 5
Nevada 3 7 0 .300 213 325 2 6 0 .250 179 260 Won 1
San Jose State 1 10 0 .090 206 443 1 7 0 .125 182 286 Lost 4

We finish 3rd in the conference with a 5-3 record there.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2005 Summary for Tulsa

Record: 5-6
Rank: 75

Tulsa Team Rank
Rushes 326 96
Rushing Yards 1195 87
Yards Per Carry 3.66 67 (T)
Pass Attempts 407 23 (T)
Completions 213 35 (T)
Passing Yards 2545 42
Yards Per Attempt 6.25 93
3rd Down Conversions 35.8 61
Points Per Game 24.6 61
Turnovers 21 61 (T)
Turnover Margin +7 31 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 408 83 (T)
Rushing Yards 2001 112
Yards Per Carry 4.90 119
Pass Attempts 337 68 (T)
Completions 174 43 (T)
Passing Yards 2418 65
Yards Per Attempt 7.17 62
3rd Down Conversions 39.8 90
Points Per Game 33.0 102
Turnovers 28 17 (T)

Primary Formation: Single-Back Formation

Week Team Versus Oppnt
2 6 OKLA (1) 66
3 8 at NCAR (109) 37
4 20 at ORST (35) 42
5 14 at RICE (36) 45
6 17 HAWI (12) 22
7 31 FRST (68) 24
8 39 at NEVA (103) 44
10 35 at SMTH (101) 31
11 42 at SJST (122) 18
12 31 TXEP (45) 14
13 28 LATC (80) 21

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 Ward QB 374 200 2423 6.47 23 14
12 Harris QB 23 10 56 2.43 0 0
Team --- 407 213 2545 6.25 23 14

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
25 Bostic RB 118 545 4.61 5 30 52
10 Ward QB 83 1 0.01 2 53 248
48 Esparza RB 47 225 4.78 2 11 17
30 Herndon RB 45 251 5.57 0 5 8
Team --- 326 1195 3.66 9 107 352

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Singleton WR 107 58 821 14.1 245 11
7 Winn WR 83 42 585 13.9 225 3
89 Crane WR 71 34 462 13.5 186 5
25 Bostic RB 38 26 156 6.0 89 0
83 Stautner WR 33 13 180 13.8 41 1
82 Fulcher WR 21 11 106 9.6 23 1
96 Dole TE 20 13 141 10.8 50 1
92 Ellard TE 18 8 48 6.0 40 1
Team --- 407 213 2545 11.9 930 23

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
31 Snyder S 98 32 0.0 13 2 8
42 Deyo ILB 91 38 0.5 13 1 5
24 Parker CB 44 11 0.0 4 1 3
93 Houston OLB 32 7 6.5 7 1 3
33 Bosela S 31 11 0.0 9 0 3
23 Burks CB 29 2 0.0 1 1 2
21 Buchanan S 27 12 0.0 1 6 5
97 Lucier DE 26 7 6.0 10 0 0
91 Sonnanstine DT 23 8 6.0 9 0 0
59 Banks OLB 21 6 0.0 4 1 1
40 Strauss OLB 18 3 1.0 1 2 0
46 Griffin ILB 17 6 1.0 1 0 1
78 Sweeney DE 16 3 3.5 5 0 0
49 Lofton ILB 15 5 0.0 1 0 0
90 Stavros DE 14 5 4.0 5 0 0
32 Vijitakula CB 14 1 0.0 0 0 5
71 Beckman DT 13 8 0.0 2 0 0
Team --- 606 184 32.5 91 18 38

Ward has another solid year at QB. The defense was just awful for us until we got to the back part of our schedule. We'll have to hope that changes with a bit more talent next year.

Hawaii has a good season but knocked out in the first round. Miami comes back after losing in the title game last year to win it this year.

[MalcPow]

The 2005 Class

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8134/iuix.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/iuix.png/)

It's another full class, but we only snag four guys from the top 1000 players. We get a decent number of smart guys who have something interesting going for them, but it's mostly a crop of good players who we have a shot at developing.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/1597/ikvz.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/819/ikvz.png/)

DE Jerald Simmons grades out as our best chance at a really good talent, but it will be an adventure to try and develop him. We actually took shots at a couple other guys with his low academic-high talent profile and missed. Probably for the best in the end.

[MalcPow]

S Patrick Snyder ended up being the WAC Defensive Player of the Year. That's what happens when your DL and LBs are so bad that your safety has to make a crapload of tackles.

Hawaii ends the year at #23. Rice is at #41. We slip a bit behind UTEP, Boise St, and Fresno St to a #78 end of season ranking. It's good to see some other teams establishing themselves. If memory serves though, Hawaii has some geographic disadvantages which might make them a short-lived power.

It also looks like we may have been a touch aggressive with some of our study hall times for the freshman class. A couple guys barely stayed qualified and a good number of them will probably hurt our academics. Very smooth on my part.

Our grades from the professor aren't as good this year (49/100 overall) but she likes our recruiting class and academics. We didn't play a single televised game apparently, so a big goose egg in the TV revenue line. I think opening up with tough out of conference games is going to make it difficult for us to get a cheap early ranking and some time on ESPNU2. Here's hoping we can land one of those games in Week 1 this year instead of 3 or 4.

[MalcPow]

Ouch, Rivals ranks us the 105th recruiting class in the country. A good number of Sol8 teams are above us and we're sandwiched between fake Sol8 powers Rochester and New York. I think Rivals is wrong about this group because I trust my scouts and the work done by our analytics department on high school performance. Mostly I just love these guys because they're mine and stuff.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
Tulsa Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
McConnell, Donnell 15 QB So* 21 72
Harris, Shannon 12 QB Jr 12 67
Ward, Maurice 10 QB Jr 50 50
Brandon, Brent 2 QB Sr 33 33
Villasenor, Horace 5 QB So* 21 29
Bradbury, Terry 4 QB Sr 19 19
Witt, Rod 44 RB So* 50 59
Bostic, Ron 25 RB Jr 40 40
Rayburn, Grant 39 RB Sr 15 15
Herndon, Drew 30 RB* Sr* 12 30
Esparza, Fernando 48 RB* Sr 19 27
Bridges, Ike 26 RB* Sr* 17 17
Meier, Isaac 41 FB Sr 48 53
Graham, Leroy 43 FB Sr 21 37
Ellard, Darnell 92 TE Jr 13 53
Rhodes, Marcus 98 TE Sr 17 21
Palelei, Jeremy 81 TE* Fr 4 4
Slivka, Winfred 89 WR Fr 17 58
Hopkins, Louis 8 WR So* 26 52
Winn, Al 7 WR Jr 41 52
Rivera, Kevin 86 WR So* 40 51
Woods, Roosevelt 87 WR Fr 15 30
Singleton, Travis 80 WR Jr 22 22
Stautner, Horace 83 WR* Jr 15 15
Fulcher, William 82 WR* Jr 8 11
Mason, Stan 53 C Fr 17 86
Fantozzi, Ronnie 52 C So* 46 85
Miyara, Teddy 58 C Jr 17 51
Farr, Ernie 67 G So* 37 79
Cox, Roman 68 G Fr 10 51
Hamilton, Gene 74 G Sr 29 38
Austin, Billy Joe 66 G* Sr 12 20
Richmond, Buddy 62 T So* 25 79
Probin, Winfred 63 T Fr 4 43
Fisher, Kris 72 T Fr 10 40
Emerson, Wes 73 T* So 5 17
Sachnik, Riddick 65 T* So 6 6
Bell, Mel 3 P Sr 37 37
Reynolds, Corwin 18 P* Fr 6 6
Lane, Anthony 1 K Sr 33 42
Levine, Brady 14 K Sr* 17 42
Whiting, Jessie 79 DE So* 22 77
Simmons, Jerald 99 DE Fr 36 68
O'Neal, Les 75 DE So* 39 64
Sweeney, Kirk 78 DE Sr 13 21
Canady, Wally 77 DE* Jr 4 41
Saavedra, Vince 70 DE* Sr* 11 31
Stavros, Kirk 90 DE* Jr 10 10
Anthony, Craig 96 DT Fr 14 74
Bayer, Jamie 94 DT So* 7 58
Beckman, Cole 71 DT Sr* 24 53
Bernstein, Raymond 76 DT So* 27 53
Sonnanstine, Joey 91 DT Jr 24 30
Covington, Brett 97 DT Fr 4 29
Carpenter, Lance 54 DT* So 15 15
Grier, Burt 69 DT* So* 3 3
Rivera, Ken 57 ILB So* 33 70
Woodbury, Gerald 46 ILB Fr 16 59
Hebert, Ian 55 ILB Fr 6 45
Lofton, Clarence 49 ILB* Sr* 7 32
Chilton, Antoine 95 ILB* Jr 13 13
Bissel, Mitchell 51 OLB So* 54 66
Dawkins, Omar 50 OLB Fr 11 66
Banks, Justin 59 OLB Sr 28 38
Houston, Gus 93 OLB* Sr 13 19
Strauss, Everett 40 OLB* So 7 19
Kuhn, Lonnie 56 OLB* Jr 8 8
Griffin, Dana 47 CB So* 28 74
Bobbitt, Lionel 42 CB Fr 28 62
Bruce, Hardy 29 CB Fr 8 29
Hastings, Pat 35 CB Sr 22 28
Conley, Dexter 34 CB* So 5 5
Thornton, Benjamin 28 S Fr 23 100
McNeil, Fernando 27 S So* 38 64
Scoggins, Cornelius 32 S Fr 9 50
Buchanan, Bryant 21 S Sr 25 30
Ornelas, Bryan 22 S* Jr 14 14

* in eligibility - Player has been red-shirted. * in position - Player is
walk-on. ** before name - Player is in danger of becoming academically ineligible.

I'll write-up some thoughts on the roster, new and old, in a bit. I went ahead and underlined guys who are projected to start or get a lot of time for us this year.

[MalcPow]

We got good development out of a number of guys. And I'll walk through our depth chart...

QB: Ward is up to 50/50. I think we have to stick with him. He has played well and he's pretty clearly our best guy right now. McConnell will probably get a few years of starting in down the line, especially since we couldn't get a QB in our last class.

RB: RS Freshman Rod Witt's going to get the bulk of the work here.

WR: A pair of RS Freshmen Hopkins and Rivera will play with Junior Winn.

OL: The three solid RS froshes will play a lot. And then we have a whole bunch of crap around them.

DL: Might be our most improved unit. I feel like we go three deep at DE and DT since we're not going to redshirt newcomer Jerald Simmons. (He came in at 0 Intelligence and 0 Aspiration, so we might as well try to get a year out of him.)

LB: We're young, just like everywhere else, but ILB Ken Rivera and OLB Mitchell Bissel are two of our better players. Bissel, a year of after being our highest ranked recruit, is a 54/66 and our highest current rating guy on the roster.

DB: Probably our weakest unit. I'm glad we were able to bring in two CBs and two safeties in this latest class, but we need those guys now. CB Dana Griffin and S Fernando McNeil will have to stay healthy and do a lot of the work as first year starters.

[MalcPow]

We go with a 28/27/10/18 breakdown for Jerald Simmons' Stdy/Wgt/FtSt/Rlx breakdown. I'm not sure 28% Study Hall is going to be enough for a 0/0 guy, but we'll try to be liberal with the attention blocks as well.

Also, we once again couldn't get Oklahoma State to play us. So we open up in Lubbock against Texas Tech.

[MalcPow]

Texas Tech beats us 45-24 in the opener. This one was actually reasonably close for most of it. I don't think we're good, but hanging with solid teams on the road isn't a bad sign. Ward throws 4 picks though. And ILB Ken Rivera is hurt for the rest of the season. So that sucks.

Oklahoma comes in and destroys us 70-17. We play three QBs. Just destroyed in every aspect of the game. Not a shock. The litmus test game is probably not going to tell us anything nice for awhile.

[MalcPow]

Week 4 v North Carolina: 34-27 (OT)

We come back and beat North Carolina 34-27 in OT at home. UNC just might not be very good, but any win over a big conference team is something to be proud of right now. Ward still throws three picks though. His conference and non-conference splits are probably one of the more hilarious discrepancies going.

Week 5 @ Southern Methodist: 28-20

We open conference play with a 28-20 win at Southern Methodist. They throw four picks and Ward takes care of the ball. 2-2.

Week 6 @ Nevada: 38-10

A pretty clean game from us. We seem to be giving up loads of yardage, but winning with ball security and a solid offense.

[MalcPow]

Week 7 v San Jose St: 35-22

Another solid win. We're 4-2 and 3-0 in the conference. We're definitely off to a better start than I expected. We also get a commitment from QB Tommie Wilkerson, a top 1000 guy who looks like a future starter for us. DE Jerald Simmons breaks his jaw and is likely out for the year. That probably flushes any real chance we had of developing him.

Week 8 v #48 Rice on TV5: 49-42

Barn-burner with the Owls as Ward throws for 380 yards and 5 TDs.

Week 9 v #50 Boise St on TV3: 27-13

We're ranked #43 in the country coming into this one and playing the last of the TV3 stations. This is pretty big stuff for the lowly Golden Hurricane. We actually play really well and outgain them 495-203 with Ward throwing 3 TDs. We lose another player from our defensive front, as DT Joey Sonnanstine picks up a long-term injury. I seemed to remember WRs getting injured frequently in this game, but it's been our DL and LBs just getting chewed up in this career.

We're 6-2 and 5-0 in the conference. We've been fortunate with playing a number of tougher teams at home so far. Recruiting has been a mixed bag again, we're going to have to start backfilling with a few lonely hearts who haven't been asked out yet.

[Coffee Warlord]

The rush of TCY stuff makes me wish I had any shred of identifiable information to get my licenses back.

[MalcPow]

Week 11 @ #25 Fresno St on TV3: 27-21

Our biggest game of the season against an 8-1 Fresno St squad ranked in the top 25. We only score 3 in the second half, but we hang on to win on the road in Fresno. QB Maurice Ward with another really solid day. No picks.

Week 12 v UTEP on TV4: 43-0

We clinch our first WAC title with an absolutely dominating performance at home against UTEP. We hold them to 28 passing yards. We score on a punt return, a pick six, and 3 passing TDs from Ward. Really unexpected progress from this team this year. We face La Tech on the road in our regular season finale, but with the conference locked up we're already guaranteed a playoff spot.

Week 13 @ Louisiana Tech: 28-27

We go down 27-0 in this one midway through the 3rd and somehow rally back to win 28-27. Very strange game from us, and probably more like the team we expected to be. Tale of two halves from Ward as he throws for 3 TDs and runs for our other score in the comeback. We finish 8-0 in the conference and keep our nine game winning streak rolling after the demolition from OU in our second game.

[MalcPow]

We also fill out our recruiting class. It's a similar mix to previous years, with no Top 100 guys but seven Top 1000 guys and a solid group of depth behind them. We've had awful luck with TE recruiting and OU snuck in and snagged a guy I thought we had locked up at the last hour. We get to 16 guys in Week 13 though, which is pretty solid. As mentioned earlier, QB Tommie Wilkerson will probably end up getting a few starting years for us, so the class will likely be judged on whatever happens there. We'll post some screenshots later.

Conference standings...

The College Years
2006 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
**Tulsa 9 2 0 .818 350 297 8 0 0 1.000 275 155 Won 9
Fresno State 9 2 0 .818 331 215 6 2 0 .750 204 114 Won 1
Rice 6 4 0 .600 332 264 5 3 0 .625 296 224 Won 2
Texas-El Paso 6 5 0 .545 342 304 5 3 0 .625 270 197 Won 1
Boise State 5 5 0 .500 224 271 5 3 0 .625 197 181 Lost 2
Hawaii 6 5 0 .545 263 256 4 4 0 .500 173 181 Lost 1
San Jose State 3 8 0 .272 228 325 3 5 0 .375 201 215 Won 1
Louisiana Tech 4 7 0 .363 248 340 2 6 0 .250 188 257 Lost 5
Southern Methodist 3 8 0 .272 280 295 2 6 0 .250 211 212 Lost 1
Nevada 0 10 0 .000 73 405 0 8 0 .000 57 336 Lost 11

Hawaii fell off some this year, which is probably the beginning of the end. Fresno St was a real power and legitimately ranked this year, so that's a good sign. And Rice being up there is good for the conference and a future challenge. An academic powerhouse in Texas has some advantages in this game. Nevada goes ofer and does it in style, averaging 5.7 points per game and allowing 33.6, yikes.

[revrew]

I certainly don't want to threadjack, but I respect MalcPow's opinion, so I'd like to ask: I never bought TCY. Now that we're years into the FOF MP and multiple updates on FOF, is TCY worth going back an reinvesting in for the first time? Or is too outdated/flawed to really appeal to seasoned FOF players?

[MalcPow]

I certainly don't want to threadjack, but I respect MalcPow's opinion, so I'd like to ask: I never bought TCY. Now that we're years into the FOF MP and multiple updates on FOF, is TCY worth going back an reinvesting in for the first time? Or is too outdated/flawed to really appeal to seasoned FOF players?

Well, I would only recommend it to an FOF player, as it sits in a similar place on the design dimensions of interface, graphics, and workflow. (Which is apparently a terrible place for some people.) It's an old girlfriend for me and I have some gameplans that work pretty well (without really remembering any tinkering that got me to them), so the game is enjoyable. Having messed around with it again, and I will keep this dynasty going over time, it would be a pain to play without the familiarity factor that streamlines a lot of decisions though. It also hurts that there isn't nearly as much "research" that has survived out there to help a new player cut some corners.

That said, I think it's $20 now, or less. Final verdict, it's a tedious game in a lot of ways that still survives for me, but I have a lot of affection for it. I'll look to post gameplans and time management settings in future posts as a general quick tip type thing for people firing the game back up.

[MalcPow]

Our somewhat prodigal dynasty returns... and here's an overview of this year's recruiting class before we hit sim on our Round 1 playoff game against Utah.

The 2006 Class

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/9291/ehvh.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/ehvh.png/)

QB Tommie Wilkerson is the big get because, well, QB is the most important thing going in life. (Insert obligatory Blake Bell sucks reference as I watch the end of this OU-Texas debacle.) RB Greg Rossburg is important as well, as our single-back offense works a lot better with a good runner back there and we'll need an heir when Rod Witt moves on.

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/4316/uo9t.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/uo9t.png/)

Another solid class for us really. Most of these guys are smart enough that they should develop, and they should be talented enough to be worth something when they do.

[MalcPow]

Round 1: #15 Utah v #26 Tulsa on TV3

Utah is probably the best draw we could have hoped for and they're only 7 point favorites. I suspect we'll still get beat up, but I've got some small pocket of hope that we can hang. ILB Ken Rivera makes it back to probable for this one so he gets his first start since a dislocated shoulder in our opener.

...

Utah 44 - Tulsa 31

Ken Rivera actually starts the scoring with an Int-TD, so welcome back buddy. But Ward goes 12-33 with 3 picks and we get generally manhandled. We give up 293 rushing yards. Ultimately, we hang in though, which is something to feel good about.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2006 Summary for Tulsa

Record: 9-3
Rank: 26

Tulsa Team Rank
Rushes 334 96
Rushing Yards 1278 78
Yards Per Carry 3.82 61
Pass Attempts 413 23
Completions 245 20 (T)
Passing Yards 3183 23
Yards Per Attempt 7.70 47
3rd Down Conversions 32.2 90 (T)
Points Per Game 31.7 26
Turnovers 20 52 (T)
Turnover Margin +12 10 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 400 67 (T)
Rushing Yards 1522 71
Yards Per Carry 3.80 60 (T)
Pass Attempts 452 121
Completions 251 123
Passing Yards 3281 122
Yards Per Attempt 7.25 62 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 38.8 83 (T)
Points Per Game 28.4 78 (T)
Turnovers 32 8 (T)

Primary Formation: Single-Back Formation

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 at TXTC (81) 45
3 17 OKLA (4) 70
4 34 NCAR (123) 27
5 28 at SMTH (105) 20
6 38 at NEVA (124) 10
7 35 SJST (108) 22
8 49 RICE (50) 42
9 27 BOIS (51) 13
11 27 at FRST (21) 21
12 43 TXEP (55) 0
13 28 at LATC (89) 27
16 31 vs UTAH (15) 44

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 Ward QB 377 229 2945 7.81 28 15
Team --- 413 245 3183 7.70 29 17

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
44 Witt RB 183 966 5.27 4 50 82
10 Ward QB 86 -24 -0.27 4 56 290
25 Bostic RB 46 278 6.04 3 9 9
Team --- 334 1278 3.82 12 122 404

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Rivera WR 142 95 1511 15.9 709 14
8 Hopkins WR 97 51 731 14.3 338 8
44 Witt RB 55 38 232 6.1 205 1
7 Winn WR 52 27 390 14.4 140 3
98 Rhodes TE 26 15 177 11.8 51 2
83 Stautner WR 15 7 64 9.1 16 1
25 Bostic RB 13 5 20 4.0 10 0
Team --- 413 245 3183 12.9 1474 29

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
51 Bissel OLB 79 26 3.5 15 2 6
27 McNeil S 78 31 0.0 4 6 20
76 Bernstein DT 50 21 9.0 13 0 0
59 Banks OLB 47 8 3.5 9 3 7
47 Griffin CB 47 14 1.5 3 4 11
75 O'Neal DE 46 26 4.0 5 0 0
79 Whiting DE 37 12 5.5 15 0 0
21 Buchanan S 35 10 0.0 1 1 4
22 Ornelas S 25 5 0.0 0 1 1
35 Hastings CB 23 9 0.0 2 1 2
57 Rivera ILB 22 8 1.0 5 1 1
34 Conley CB 20 4 1.0 3 2 0
49 Lofton ILB 19 9 2.0 2 0 3
71 Beckman DT 18 9 2.0 3 0 0
99 Simmons DE 18 7 3.0 5 0 0
36 Mills CB 17 12 1.5 1 0 1
91 Sonnanstine DT 13 4 5.5 7 0 0
Team --- 694 227 50.0 101 22 60

RB Rod Witt has a decent year. Our pair of RS-FR receivers, Louis Hopkins and Kevin Rivera show some really good signs. QB Maurice Ward has been better every year, but we will have a couple of RS-SO guys who may take development bumps to get close to him. I'm probably just being greedy. We had a great year. It'll probably be Ward's show again in his senior season.

That #26 final ranking is pretty impressive as well.

[MalcPow]

OLB Mitchell Bissel is a First Team All-American and WR Kevin Rivera is a Second Team All-American. Big honors for a pair of guys we hope to have for three more years. Bissel is also the WAC DPOY and Rivera takes home the conference OPOY and MVP awards.

We dominate a lot of the All-WAC team spots as well. I knew we'd be better with our first crop of red-shirted recruits on the field, but this was a leap forward. I had considered playing this career with an eye toward jumping to the first big conference school that offers us a job, but there might be a challenge here where we try to win a title at Tulsa.

Miami wins the National Championship.

[MalcPow]

The Professor gives us an 81/100 overall grade for 2006. We get massive boosts in TV revenue and donations.

Our recruiting class is ranked 83rd. It's a bump up from our 105th from last season but I don't think either is a fair reflection of the players we brought in. We've been light on really highly ranked guys, with no Top 100 recruits yet, but we have some real talent coming in. The 2004 class that performed so well last year was an unexpected 39th though, so maybe these rankings are giving us our first hints that these last two classes ain't so hot.

Michigan, Purdue, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Houston, and Akron all hire new coaches. Too early to think seriously about that sort of thing, but I'd be open to jumping somewhere eventually.

[MalcPow]

We end up with a road trip to Air Force in Week 1 and a home game against Rutgers in Week 4. Oklahoma State refuses to schedule us again. Fear the Hurricane.

We redshirt the whole class. I'm also reminded looking over the roster that we continue to whiff completely on bringing in a TE. Three classes without one and it's a real weakness for us.

The College Years
Tulsa Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
Ward, Maurice 10 QB Sr 54 54
McConnell, Donnell 15 QB Jr* 30 72
Villasenor, Horace 5 QB Jr* 27 29
Harris, Shannon 12 QB Sr* 23 67
Wilkerson, Tommie 4 QB Fr 10 79
Witt, Rod 44 RB Jr* 66 66
Bostic, Ron 25 RB Sr 38 38
Rossburg, Greg 48 RB Fr 36 57
Bridges, Ike 26 RB* Sr 18 18
Herndon, Drew 30 RB* Sr 13 30
Thompson, Amos 33 FB* Fr 7 7
Holliday, Charles 21 FB* Fr 0 0
Ellard, Darnell 92 TE Sr 13 53
Palelei, Jeremy 81 TE* So 5 5
Jamison, Erik 85 TE* Fr 0 9
Rivera, Kevin 86 WR Jr* 56 56
Winn, Al 7 WR Sr 41 52
Hopkins, Louis 8 WR Jr* 40 52
Slivka, Winfred 89 WR So* 33 58
Humphries, Darrell 9 WR Fr 27 81
Singleton, Travis 80 WR Sr 21 21
Holliman, Leo 88 WR Fr 17 53
Woods, Roosevelt 87 WR So* 17 30
Stautner, Horace 83 WR* Sr 19 19
Fulcher, William 82 WR* Sr 11 11
Fantozzi, Ronnie 52 C Jr* 59 85
Mason, Stan 53 C So* 36 87
Miyara, Teddy 58 C Sr 21 52
Farr, Ernie 67 G Jr* 59 79
Cox, Roman 68 G So* 32 50
Reed, Quentin 61 G Fr 10 59
Popson, Scott 64 G* So 0 2
Richmond, Buddy 62 T Jr* 27 80
Probin, Winfred 63 T So* 13 43
Fisher, Kris 72 T So* 11 41
Preston, John 78 T Fr 10 42
Turner, Joseph 66 T Fr 2 37
Sachnik, Riddick 65 T* Jr 7 7
Benton, Trevor 60 T* So 7 7
Emerson, Wes 73 T* Jr 6 18
Reynolds, Corwin 18 P* So* 6 6
Drakeford, Matt 1 P* Fr 3 20
Levine, Brady 14 K Sr 22 42
Horner, Randal 17 K* Fr 1 6
O'Neal, Les 75 DE Jr* 47 64
Whiting, Jessie 79 DE Jr* 31 77
Simmons, Jerald 99 DE So 22 68
Perry, Burt 98 DE Fr 15 69
Zimmerman, Neil 93 DE Fr 7 50
Stavros, Kirk 90 DE* Sr 14 14
Saavedra, Vince 70 DE* Sr 10 31
Canady, Wally 77 DE* Sr 2 41
Bernstein, Raymond 76 DT Jr* 33 53
Sonnanstine, Joey 91 DT Sr 26 30
Anthony, Craig 96 DT So* 25 74
Covington, Brett 97 DT So* 24 29
Reeg, Dwayne 74 DT Fr 21 67
Beckman, Cole 71 DT Sr 20 53
Burns, Bernie 59 DT Fr 11 64
Bayer, Jamie 94 DT Jr* 11 58
Carpenter, Lance 54 DT* Jr* 18 18
Grier, Burt 69 DT* Jr* 4 4
Rivera, Ken 57 ILB Jr* 45 70
Woodbury, Gerald 46 ILB So* 30 59
Hebert, Ian 55 ILB So* 21 45
Disney, Skip 43 ILB Fr 4 39
Chilton, Antoine 95 ILB* Sr 12 12
Lofton, Clarence 49 ILB* Sr 10 32
Holmes, Clay 45 ILB* So 1 28
Bissel, Mitchell 51 OLB Jr* 68 68
Dawkins, Omar 50 OLB So* 21 66
Kuhn, Lonnie 56 OLB* Sr 10 10
Strauss, Everett 40 OLB* Jr 7 19
Bobbitt, Lionel 42 CB So* 49 62
Griffin, Dana 47 CB Jr* 42 74
Bruce, Hardy 29 CB So* 25 29
Keith, Jason 31 CB Fr 18 57
Harts, Luther 35 CB Fr 12 48
Mills, Marlon 36 CB* So 9 21
Conley, Dexter 34 CB* Jr 5 5
Blackburn, Clay 23 CB* So 5 5
McNeil, Fernando 27 S Jr* 62 64
Thornton, Benjamin 28 S So* 43 100
Scoggins, Cornelius 32 S So* 24 50
Gil, Tyrell 20 S Fr 19 81
Stargell, Cornelius 39 S Fr 16 32
Ornelas, Bryan 22 S* Sr 16 16
Dinh, Daryl 38 S* So 3 3

We have some D-Line depth that makes it a little less clear who will start, but the rest of our spots are pretty set. TE is a big blind spot. We have some real WR depth though, which should help us. I guess we're at the point where we can target spots in recruiting. TE will have to be one of those.

[MalcPow]

Week 1 @ Air Force: 27-30

I wish there was a clear explanation or something, but we just didn't quite have enough. Ward 18-38 passing probably didn't help. It's tough to know just how good Air Force might be but they're ranked #18 after the game, so we'll just take this and move on.

Week 2 @ Oklahoma: 14-63

We throw 5 picks, Ward gets pulled in garbage time... our annual beatdown. We should probably start one of our young QBs in this game for the next few years just to give them the development in an obvious loss.

Week 4 v Rutgers: 41-24

We get our first win. Ward still throws 3 picks and we can't run the ball at all. Rutgers comes into this one ranked 110th, so we're not taking much from this one.

[MalcPow]

Week 5 v Rice: 24-35

Disappointing home loss in our conference opener here. Two more picks from Ward. Really thinking of making a change, but we're going to give it a few more weeks. Our magic from last season appears to have worn off. It's actually a good thing as I felt like we were too good too fast.

Week 6 @ Nevada: 38-14

We bounce back but Ward throws 3 picks. He's on fire lately.

Week 7 @ San Jose St: 28-14

We even up to 3-3 and send SJSU to 0-6. Not a lot to report. Ward cuts it down to one pick this week. Attababy.

[MalcPow]

Week 8 v Hawaii: 33-28

3 more picks for Ward. If we weren't 3-1 in the conference and a game back of first, I'd make the change. But we are, so we're sticking with the senior. We're ranked #53 right now and we've lost to every team we've played ranked higher than #60. So we're not so good. We did land a TE in recruiting this week though. *fist pump*

Week 9 @ #40 UTEP on TV5: 35-10

I guess this is why we stick with him. Ward 23/35 for 284 yards and a pair of TDs. He apparently has mastered the ability to do just enough in these conference games. And by that I mean he's a born winner bros.

Week 10 v Boise St: 42-7

Boise's one of the worst team's going in this universe, and they're in a real fight with San Jose St to be at the bottom of the conference. We do what we should and backup QB Donnell McConnell gets into the game and promptly throws an interception. It might be the offense...

[MalcPow]

Week 11 @ #37 Fresno St on TV4: 5-17

We get our requisite couple picks from Ward but can't really do much. We were ranked #35 going into this one, which makes this a clash of titans as far as the WAC is concerned. The loss drops us into a tie with a number of other 2-loss conference teams for second place. I imagine it makes it impossible or extremely unlikely for us to somehow win the WAC title again.

Week 13 v Louisiana Tech: 17-24

We stumble in with a loss to alleged rival Louisiana Tech. 14 point favorites at home and QB Maurice Ward ends his career with a whimper. He was 17-36 for 186 with a pick. I've probably been a little hard on him over the course of this season, but his regression was a real surprise this year.

As our signature guy these first few years, here's a quick look at his career:

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9438/2wdk.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/407/2wdk.png/)

The dropoff this year with better talent around him is interesting. I probably shouldn't be greedy. We've been a winning program with a guy we didn't recruit at a crappy starting school.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2007 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
Rice 8 4 0 .666 331 264 7 1 0 .875 259 141 Lost 2
Fresno State 6 5 0 .545 330 245 5 3 0 .625 247 170 Lost 2
Louisiana Tech 5 6 0 .454 212 278 5 3 0 .625 174 199 Won 1
**Tulsa 6 5 0 .545 304 266 5 3 0 .625 222 149 Lost 2
Texas-El Paso 6 5 0 .545 266 244 4 4 0 .500 181 171 Lost 2
Southern Methodist 4 7 0 .363 258 292 4 4 0 .500 228 198 Lost 1
Hawaii 4 7 0 .363 239 347 3 5 0 .375 181 249 Won 1
Boise State 4 7 0 .363 307 350 3 5 0 .375 225 252 Won 3
San Jose State 2 9 0 .181 225 388 2 6 0 .250 191 253 Won 1
Nevada 3 8 0 .272 230 361 2 6 0 .250 153 279 Lost 5

We end up tied for 2nd, but we lost to both of the other teams. So we were never really that close. All three teams above us beat us actually. Rice winning the conference is good again for competitive reasons. They were knocked out in Round 1 of the playoffs by Purdue.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2007 Summary for Tulsa

Record: 6-5
Rank: 55

Tulsa Team Rank
Rushes 362 75
Rushing Yards 1357 65
Yards Per Carry 3.74 42
Pass Attempts 418 25
Completions 222 30
Passing Yards 2712 36
Yards Per Attempt 6.48 84
3rd Down Conversions 35.1 65
Points Per Game 27.6 43
Turnovers 30 108 (T)
Turnover Margin -1 64

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 350 17
Rushing Yards 1018 17
Yards Per Carry 2.90 25
Pass Attempts 371 102
Completions 177 45 (T)
Passing Yards 2287 42
Yards Per Attempt 6.16 12
3rd Down Conversions 27.5 10
Points Per Game 24.1 56 (T)
Turnovers 29 16 (T)

Primary Formation: Single-Back Formation

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 at AIRF (46) 30
2 14 at OKLA (2) 63
4 41 RUTG (107) 24
5 24 RICE (38) 35
6 38 at NEVA (108) 14
7 28 at SJST (117) 14
8 33 HAWI (74) 28
9 35 at TXEP (57) 10
10 42 BOIS (83) 7
11 5 at FRST (50) 17
13 17 LATC (77) 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 Ward QB 398 213 2621 6.58 20 20
Team --- 418 222 2712 6.48 21 23

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
44 Witt RB 202 997 4.93 8 51 91
10 Ward QB 92 29 0.31 3 60 274
25 Bostic RB 45 209 4.64 2 9 8
Team --- 362 1357 3.74 15 124 384

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 Hopkins WR 131 64 912 14.2 312 9
86 Rivera WR 129 67 1044 15.5 344 5
44 Witt RB 45 33 209 6.3 121 2
89 Slivka WR 39 21 295 14.0 129 2
25 Bostic RB 20 11 53 4.8 43 0
81 Palelei TE 18 10 48 4.8 21 1
87 Woods WR 18 7 51 7.2 20 1
Team --- 417 222 2712 12.2 1037 21

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
57 Rivera ILB 83 25 3.5 18 3 16
28 Thornton S 59 26 1.0 10 0 8
51 Bissel OLB 55 19 0.0 12 1 3
27 McNeil S 46 18 0.0 8 8 13
76 Bernstein DT 32 15 5.0 10 0 0
42 Bobbitt CB 32 20 0.0 3 2 14
96 Anthony DT 29 10 2.5 6 0 0
50 Dawkins OLB 29 11 4.5 7 1 2
79 Whiting DE 28 18 9.0 12 0 0
75 O'Neal DE 27 18 2.5 7 0 2
47 Griffin CB 23 6 1.0 1 1 1
29 Bruce CB 19 1 0.0 1 0 5
86 Rivera WR 12 0 0.0 0 0 0
Team --- 595 203 30.0 99 18 64

WRs Kevin Rivera and Louis Hopkins are 1st Team All WACers. Rivera is the MVP and OPOY even. QB Maurice Ward goes out as the 1st Team All WAC QB, which seems surprising. ILB Ken Rivera is also 1st Team.

Florida wins the National Championship.

[MalcPow]

The 2007 Class

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/6956/bxug.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/bxug.png/)

We finally land a Top 100 prospect, and we end up with two of them. DE Gus Franz is the #34 overall player and the 6-7, 257 lb West Virginian looks like a beast in the making. RB Gary Edinger is the #70 overall player, and should be an impact performer for us. QB Carlton Humphrey is allegedly "much better than scouted" and only threw 2 picks in his last high school season. I think we may prioritize fewer picks going forward.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9843/jtv0.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/jtv0.png/)

DE Rondell Bryant looks pretty good as well. We only had 12 scholarships left but we used them all. I forget what that means for next year... no recruiting? We only have one scholarship player who will be in their last season of eligibility next year. Guess we will have to find the PERFECT guy for that spot.

[MalcPow]

Wow, the professor crushes us with a 38 Team Performance grade. I think that's her way of saying we were a lot more talented than our final ranking. Probably true. Very little in the way of TV revenue and Alumni Donations as well.

50/100 Overall. Shurg.

[CraigSca]

More plz, k thx.

[MalcPow]

More plz, k thx.

Heh, yessir :)

[MalcPow]

Our Defensive Coordinator retires at age 35. Must be nice. We end up hiring this guy:

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/4022/64d5.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/64d5.png/)

We take Drietz away from Kansas. He was one of two currently employed DCs who were willing to jump to us. Most of our options were very similar. Ended up going with Drietz over a comparable guy. The big difference was Drietz as Terrific playcaller and congeniality option, and the other guy was much Excellent on injuries. Hopefully we can hire somebody better in the next few years who can actually develop as well.

[MalcPow]

Oklahoma State finally agrees to play us. And they even agree to come down to our place in Week 1. We also get Baylor to come to town for Week 3. Hopefully, we can schedule some localish games like this every year.

The College Years
Tulsa Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
McConnell, Donnell 15 QB Sr* 30 72
Harris, Shannon 12 QB Sr 27 67
Villasenor, Horace 5 QB Sr* 27 29
Wilkerson, Tommie 4 QB So* 26 79
Humphrey, Carlton 13 QB Fr 11 77
Witt, Rod 44 RB Sr* 72 72
Edinger, Gary 24 RB Fr 51 74
Rossburg, Greg 48 RB So* 46 57
Thompson, Amos 33 FB* So 8 8
Holliday, Charles 21 FB* So 0 0
Stevens, Drew 84 TE Fr 16 70
Palelei, Jeremy 81 TE* Jr 6 6
Jamison, Erik 85 TE* So 1 9
Rivera, Kevin 86 WR Sr* 63 63
Hopkins, Louis 8 WR Sr* 43 53
Slivka, Winfred 89 WR Jr* 42 59
Humphries, Darrell 9 WR So* 38 81
Schneider, Kris 7 WR Fr 26 59
Holliman, Leo 88 WR So* 25 53
Singleton, Travis 80 WR Sr 23 23
Woods, Roosevelt 87 WR Jr* 23 30
Gooch, Tracy 6 WR Fr 15 39
Fantozzi, Ronnie 52 C Sr* 68 85
Mason, Stan 53 C Jr* 55 87
Cardinell, Tito 54 C Fr 31 74
Farr, Ernie 67 G Sr* 83 83
Cox, Roman 68 G Jr* 42 50
Reed, Quentin 61 G So* 24 59
East, Rob 28 G* So* 2 13
Popson, Scott 64 G* Jr* 0 2
Richmond, Buddy 62 T Sr* 36 80
Preston, John 78 T So* 23 42
Probin, Winfred 63 T Jr* 14 43
Turner, Joseph 66 T So* 13 37
Fisher, Kris 72 T Jr* 11 41
Sachnik, Riddick 65 T* Sr 7 7
Emerson, Wes 73 T* Sr* 6 18
Reynolds, Corwin 18 P* Jr* 5 5
Drakeford, Matt 1 P* So* 4 20
Clancy, Marshall 2 K* Fr 4 4
Horner, Randal 17 K* So* 2 6
Whiting, Jessie 79 DE Sr* 50 77
O'Neal, Les 75 DE Sr* 47 64
Zimmerman, Neil 93 DE So* 34 50
Perry, Burt 98 DE So* 29 69
Franz, Gus 92 DE Fr 28 100
Simmons, Jerald 99 DE Jr 24 68
Dollilole, Chad 70 DE Fr 20 49
Bryant, Rondell 95 DE Fr 8 93
Stavros, Kirk 90 DE* Sr 13 13
Canady, Wally 77 DE* Sr 7 41
Bernstein, Raymond 76 DT Sr* 37 53
Anthony, Craig 96 DT Jr* 34 74
Reeg, Dwayne 74 DT So* 32 67
Burns, Bernie 59 DT So* 25 64
Covington, Brett 97 DT Jr* 23 29
Bayer, Jamie 94 DT Sr* 14 58
Benton, Troy 71 DT Fr 11 73
Rivera, Ken 57 ILB Sr* 69 70
Woodbury, Gerald 46 ILB Jr* 31 60
Hebert, Ian 55 ILB Jr* 25 46
Disney, Skip 43 ILB So* 19 38
Holmes, Clay 45 ILB* Jr* 2 29
Bissel, Mitchell 51 OLB Sr* 66 66
Dawkins, Omar 50 OLB Jr* 20 66
Kuhn, Lonnie 56 OLB* Sr 11 11
Strauss, Everett 40 OLB* Sr* 8 19
Bobbitt, Lionel 42 CB Jr* 74 74
Griffin, Dana 47 CB Sr* 43 74
Bruce, Hardy 29 CB Jr* 38 38
Harts, Luther 35 CB So* 28 48
Keith, Jason 31 CB So* 28 57
Castine, Hugh 25 CB Fr 11 43
Mills, Marlon 36 CB* Jr 9 21
Blackburn, Clay 23 CB* Jr 7 7
Conley, Dexter 34 CB* Sr 6 6
McNeil, Fernando 27 S Sr* 73 73
Thornton, Benjamin 28 S Jr* 56 100
Gil, Tyrell 20 S So* 45 82
Scoggins, Cornelius 32 S Jr* 27 51
Stargell, Cornelius 39 S So* 24 31
Brennan, Robert 22 S Fr 21 42
Dinh, Daryl 38 S* Jr 3 3

We have a lot of DL depth, so we'll rotate those guys. I'll profile some key/new guys below.

[MalcPow]

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1733/n2cx.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/n2cx.png/)

Redshirt freshman Tommie Wilkerson is going to get our starting QB job. Mostly because he's very comparable to some of the other guys we have, but is a year younger and came with a bit more recruiting pedigree.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/5936/1bxm.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/571/1bxm.png/)

WR Darrell Humphries is another redshirt freshman who will see a lot of playing time for us this year. I'm hoping both of these guys can be part of our first wave of really good teams.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1498/g7sb.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/g7sb.png/)

New freshman DE Gus Franz will be redshirted, but our highest rated recruit ever (#34) hits the roster at a very promising 28/100.

[MalcPow]

Week 1 v Oklahoma St on TV3: 21-28

We outgain them 425-274, but they get a pick six and we turn it over five times total. Three fumbles, which hopefully can be chalked up to some bad luck. Still a frustrating game. We're going to get destroyed by OU again, but I thought we had a chance in this one. Missed opportunity.

Week 2 @ Oklahoma: 24-27

Well, wow. I guess I should talk tough and say there are no moral victories or something, but this is a pretty big one. We nearly match them on yardage, we only turn the ball over once (another pick six of course), and we generally play them straight up on the road. It will probably end up saying as much about them as us, but we've had a chance to win two games against major conference teams. The defense looks good enough to keep us competitive against anyone.

Week 3 v Baylor: 51-17

No turnovers and we hold them to 189 total yards. We sack them seven times. Tommie Wilkerson plays a very clean game and gets pulled early in the blowout. He goes 8-12 for 93 yards and 2 TDs. We win this one with dominant defense and a really clean offense.

[CraigSca]

looks like you're on the cusp of turning this around!

[MalcPow]

A little break but have some free time tonight for a bit...

Week 5 v Boise St: 38-7

We outgain them 529-114. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but this defense might simply be too much for our conference opponents. Tommie Wilkerson goes 33-45 for 391 yards, 4 TDs, and (still) 2 picks. We will take it.

Week 6 v Rice: 27-13

I'm not sure yet if these guys are good this year, but we handle them comfortably. 3 TDs and only one pick from Wilkerson. We're ranked #56 in the country but that OU team we took to the brink in Norman is #4. So we might be decent.

Week 7 Tulsa (3-2) @ #17 Fresno St (4-0) (-10) on TV3: 9-3

Uh yeah. I added some extra info to the line ahead of this one because it might be our game of the year. 10 point dogs on the road against a Fresno St team the pollsters seemed to like. We end up with something close to a baseball score, sacking them 8 times and holding them to 87 total yards. The offense is behind the defense, but it's good enough. We gain 295 yards and our three field goals are enough.

I don't really remember this dominant defense being a theme of past careers. This is a little silly right now.

[MalcPow]

Week 8 #46 Tulsa (4-2) (-16) @ UTEP (3-2): 28-18

We're starting to have some DL injuries, but we power through and hold another team under 200 yards of offense. Wilkerson throws a few picks but we run the ball well and control most of the game.

Week 9 #48 Southern Methodist (4-1) @ #41 Tulsa (5-2) (-18) on TV4: 18-35

The defensive party comes to an end. We give up 405 yards and they basically just beat us. I guess we can attribute the change to the injury DE Jesse Whiting suffered last week? He'd been a stud, with 7 sacks in 7 games. *shurg* We'll hope to bounce back in Week 11 after our bye.

[MalcPow]

Week 11 #48 Tulsa (5-3) (-20) @ San Jose St (0-8): 38-8

We don't suffer the embarassment of being SJSU's only win. The defense comes back to life a bit. Tommie Wilkerson navigates a game without throwing an interception. DE Jesse Whiting is Doubtful but could come back if we wanted to push him.

We've got poll position in the conference with two games left. Fresno St is tied with us at 5-1 in WAC play, but we beat them so we've got the breaker. SMU is right behind at 4-2 after an upset loss this week against UTEP. So we're in a good spot, we just can't lose...

Week 12 Hawaii (2-7) @ #42 Tulsa (6-3) (-22): 42-6

Three picks from Wilkerson but we outgain them 533-113. Good win and we have a chance to make the playoffs by beating a mediocre La Tech team on the road next week. We'll probably bring DE Jesse Whiting back for that one. HE'S THE KEY TO THE TEAM. (We're actually getting some impressive play out of redshirt frosh DE Neil Zimmerman after trying a different guy in the SMU loss. Let's see what happens when we play them both.)

Week 13 #37 Tulsa (7-3) (-11) @ Louisiana Tech (4-6): 31-24

We sneak out with the win and clinch the conference. Nice.

And of course, DE Neil Zimmerman blows out his Achilles and will miss 26 weeks. It's the Dynasty Mention Curse.

[MalcPow]

We draw Stanford in the playoffs. I don't think we're anywhere close to winning playoff games while we're still struggling with La Tech, but the rankings seem to think this one will be close.

Round 1 #28 Stanford (8-3) (-5) v #32 Tulsa (8-3) on TV4

Tommie Wilkerson goes 20-37 for 213 yards, 2 TDs and a pick. RB Rod Witt runs for 118. We get sacked seven times.

But somehow outgain them 372 to 309 and pull of the upset.

W: 31-21

[MalcPow]

Round of 16 #8 Illinois (10-1) (-7) v #28 Tulsa (8-3) on TV3

Wilkerson goes a whole game with no picks. Neither team can run the ball worth a damn. They outgain us by a bit and have a fair amount of success throwing the ball.

Party ends here. But we weren't outclassed.

L: 20-29

[MalcPow]

Some mild shock in this one...

The College Years
2008 Season Standings, Western Athletic

School W L T Pct PF PA W L T Pct PF PA Streak
**Tulsa 9 4 0 .692 378 236 7 1 0 .875 231 114 Lost 1
Fresno State 12 2 0 .857 345 193 7 1 0 .875 209 93 Lost 1
Southern Methodist 8 3 0 .727 280 190 5 3 0 .625 209 164 Won 2
Nevada 6 5 0 .545 317 337 4 4 0 .500 238 254 Won 1
Rice 6 5 0 .545 277 246 4 4 0 .500 188 164 Won 1
Boise State 3 8 0 .272 218 372 3 5 0 .375 177 224 Lost 3
Louisiana Tech 4 7 0 .363 251 291 3 5 0 .375 174 215 Lost 4
Hawaii 3 8 0 .272 230 344 3 5 0 .375 206 244 Won 1
Texas-El Paso 6 5 0 .545 277 276 3 5 0 .375 176 187 Lost 1
San Jose State 1 10 0 .090 187 382 1 7 0 .125 143 292 Won 1

Fresno St actually made the playoffs as an at-large team this year. They beat USC in round 1 and Pitt in the round of sixteen before getting blown out by UCLA 38-0. That's a WAC at-large team making it to the Quarterfinals. It's fair to say we have found our likely long-term rival. Our 9-3 win over them was their only loss before their deep playoff run.

[MalcPow]

The College Years
2008 Summary for Tulsa

Record: 9-4
Rank: 34

Tulsa Team Rank
Rushes 448 35 (T)
Rushing Yards 1590 40
Yards Per Carry 3.54 58
Pass Attempts 458 9
Completions 263 11
Passing Yards 3451 12
Yards Per Attempt 7.53 51
3rd Down Conversions 34.7 61
Points Per Game 29.0 29 (T)
Turnovers 24 82 (T)
Turnover Margin +11 12 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 409 76 (T)
Rushing Yards 730 2
Yards Per Carry 1.78 4
Pass Attempts 408 116
Completions 204 103 (T)
Passing Yards 2470 68
Yards Per Attempt 6.05 10
3rd Down Conversions 24.4 4
Points Per Game 18.1 19 (T)
Turnovers 35 2 (T)

Primary Formation: Single-Back Formation

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 21 OKST (87) 28
2 24 at OKLA (3) 27
3 51 BAYL (106) 17
5 38 BOIS (98) 7
6 27 RICE (56) 13
7 9 at FRST (10) 3
8 28 at TXEP (61) 18
9 18 SMTH (37) 35
11 38 at SJST (124) 8
12 42 HAWI (97) 6
13 31 at LATC (91) 24
16 31 vs STAN (33) 21
17 20 vs ILLN (9) 29

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
4 Wilkerson QB 442 254 3309 7.48 30 15
Team --- 458 263 3451 7.53 32 15

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
44 Witt RB 196 1025 5.22 8 56 94
4 Wilkerson QB 165 145 0.87 1 84 373
48 Rossburg RB 57 314 5.50 2 19 20
Team --- 448 1590 3.54 12 166 500

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
9 Humphries WR 125 75 1170 15.6 425 14
86 Rivera WR 93 56 825 14.7 309 6
89 Slivka WR 61 38 522 13.7 135 3
84 Stevens TE 56 29 335 11.5 119 2
44 Witt RB 53 29 211 7.2 194 2
8 Hopkins WR 38 19 239 12.5 96 4
48 Rossburg RB 18 10 72 7.2 31 0
Team --- 458 263 3451 13.1 1354 32

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
57 Rivera ILB 108 35 8.5 24 0 16
28 Thornton S 66 28 0.0 8 11 6
27 McNeil S 56 24 0.0 7 4 15
51 Bissel OLB 45 20 2.0 9 2 5
42 Bobbitt CB 43 13 0.0 6 5 5
76 Bernstein DT 34 4 8.5 17 0 0
79 Whiting DE 33 7 7.5 18 0 0
47 Griffin CB 26 6 1.5 2 0 3
29 Bruce CB 25 6 0.0 3 0 6
50 Dawkins OLB 22 12 3.0 6 2 2
75 O'Neal DE 20 10 3.5 13 0 0
93 Zimmerman DE 17 8 5.5 8 0 0
98 Perry DE 15 8 1.5 5 0 0
43 Disney ILB 14 4 1.0 2 0 2
86 Rivera WR 13 0 0.0 0 0 0
Team --- 687 210 50.0 144 27 67

As discussed, we were a pretty dominant defensive team this year. The 35 forced turnovers in 13 games is pretty impressive and good for 2nd in the country. I can't complain much about Wilkerson's performance as a RS-FR. If we can cut down on the picks going forward, we could be really good.

We highlighted WR Darrell Humphries before the year as another RS-FR who could do big things. He definitely delivered with a 75-1170-14 line. ILB Ken Rivera had a stupid year. I'm sure he'll be in line for some accolades in the next post.

[MalcPow]

ILB Ken Rivera is a 2nd Team All-American. He's also WAC DPOY.

QB Tommie Wilkerson is the WAC OPOY and MVP.

WR Darrell Humphries, G Ernie Farr, CB Lionel Bobbitt, and S Benjamin Thornton are also First Team WACers. RB Rod Witt is a 2nd Team guy.

Florida beats Oklahoma in the National Championship game.

[MalcPow]

The 2008 Class

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2015/1uhr.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/703/1uhr.png/)

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/607/v1ze.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/v1ze.png/)

It's honestly one of our crappier classes on the surface. We missed on a high percentage of our earlier targets and had to backfill with available guys. I think we ended up doing ok, but we landed some high profile guys last year and, well, that did not turn out to be a trend.

CB Cary Webster looks really good. And he's our highest ranked guy at #117.

[MalcPow]

The professor is very fond of our season, giving us an 80/100 score overall.

We go 87-85-84 for Team, Academic, and Recruiting performance. I believe the Recruiting grade is relative to the senior class that is exiting, and this is our last group of graduating scrubs. Next year will be our first crop of recruits in their last year of eligibility. Hopefully the prestige bump from our playoff run makes the recruiting trail a little easier or that grade will definitely take a hit.

[MylesKnight]

MP, you still working on this? Good stuff!