Bringing it Back: A TCY Dynasty

[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





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!