The big sports news in Tulsa right now isn't the Tulsa football team. Rather it's the PGA Tour Championship taking place at Tulsa's Southern Hills Golf Course, featuring the hottest personality in sports right now - Tiger Woods.
Perhaps it's fortunate that the Tulsa football team is on the road this week, especially following that 25-point loss to BYU Saturday night. If it was playing at home, perhaps no one would have showed up, preferring instead to watch Tiger on the links.Tulsa is in town to meet Utah Saturday at Rice Stadium (noon) and will be trying to get back on the winning track after having its three-game winning streak halted by the Cougars.
The Golden Hurricane (3-3, 1-2) are pretty much out of the running for the Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division title with two losses already. But a win Saturday could do some serious damage to the Utes' hopes of a division title. Utah comes into the contest 4-0 and 6-1 overall.
The Hurricane have been impressive at times this year, handing Iowa its only loss of the season as well as defeating Oklahoma on the road and defending WAC champ Colorado State.
Against BYU, they were only trailing by four late in the third quarter before the roof fell in and BYU scored 21 unanswered points.
Defense is a big worry for Tulsa, particularly against the run. The Golden Hurricane rank 15th in the WAC and sixth from the bottom in the entire nation in rushing defense, allowing 238.9 yards per game. Fortunately, they won't have to worry about the Utes' Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who leads the WAC in rushing, since he is out with knee surgery, but Juan Johnson could give them problems.
Defensive end Salifu Abudulai leads the team as well as the WAC with nine quarterback sacks and is just two off the school record. Middle linebacker Muadianvita Kazadi leads the team in tackles with 63 and is ninth in the WAC.
Offensively, Tulsa has been pretty balanced between the run and the pass, ranking sixth in the league in rushing and ninth in passing. The Hurricane will be without starting quarterback John Fitzgerald, who suffered a knee injury against BYU. However, backup Troy DeGar has plenty of experience, starting 11 games last year and three games this year. He has completed 46 percent of his passes for 633 yards and three touchdowns.
The worry for Tulsa is if DeGar goes down, because he is backed up by true freshman Michael Wall, who is trying to redshirt this season.
Running back Reggie Williams has four 100-yard rushing games this year and has 574 yards total. The only other Tulsa running back with more than 100 yards is Solomon White, who has 171 yards on the year. Wes Caswell is the top receiver with 31 catches.