Written By: Erik Slaby
(Miami, FL) On sunny, humid afternoon here in Miami, at Marlins Park, the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane (10-3) defeated the Central Michigan University Chippewas (6-7), 55-10 to win the 3rd Annual Miami Beach Bowl. It was a dominating performance by Tulsa, as they led the entire game.
By the end of the first quarter, it looked like the game would be a low-scoring affair as Tulsa only led 10-3. It was a bit of a slow start for Tulsa early on, but they were able to move the ball up and down the field with ease as shown on their first scoring drive. On that drive, Tulsa drove 93 yards down the field, in 17 plays and took five minutes and twenty-nine seconds off the game-clock. The drive ended with a five yard touchdown pass from Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans to wide receiver Josh Atkinson. From that point on, Tulsa took the lead and never looked back.
Offensively, Tulsa was led by Evans who completed 28 of 38 passes, for 305 yards and five touchdowns. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award after the game. With his fifth touchdown pass of the game, he set the school record for most touchdown passes in a career with 84. In addition to his individual record setting performance, the rest of the offense went into the record books as well.
Wide receiver Josh Atkinson led Tulsa in receiving with 12 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown and in this game, he eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving this season. Fellow wide receiver Keevan Lucas also had three touchdown catches. With Atkinson accomplishing this feat, Tulsa has become the first team ever in NCAA FBS history to have a 3,000 yard passer in Evans, two receivers with over 1,000 yards receiving in Atkinson and Lucas, as well as two running backs with over 1,000 yards rushing in James Flanders and D’Angelo Brewer all in the same season. Evans spoke after the game about this accomplishment.
“It’s the first time in NCAA history that it’s happened, and that’s pretty cool,” Evans said. “To imagine that we had won five games combined before Coach Monty (head coach Phillip Montgomery) got here the last couple seasons, and now we have guys going into NCAA history, that just shows you what that man means to us.”
Central Michigan had a very rough afternoon as it seemed like they were plagued by dropped passes, miscommunication, penalties or poor throws offensively for the entire game. At points, it would look like they were beginning to establish a rhythm but then they would end up hurting themselves and stopping their own drives. Defensively, they struggled as the Tulsa offense was able to cut through the defense at will and nothing Central Michigan did seemed to hamper them in any way.
Quarterback Cooper Rush led the offensive and finished with 24 completions on 49 attempts, 241 yards passing and unfortunately, three interceptions, with one of them being returned for a touchdown. Running back Jahray Hayes had the lone touchdown of the game for Central Michigan. Central Michigan head coach John Bonamego spoke after the game about the overall performance.
“I felt like we matched up a little better than what we demonstrated today,” Bonamego stated. “We weren’t able to finish drives, we hurt ourselves in penalties, and defensively we could never get off the field. When you perform that way against a good football team, you get beat.” He also added that Central Michigan will, “take this (loss), learn from it, and build for the future.”
With this win, Tulsa now has at 10 wins this season, making it the first time since 2012 that they finish a season with at least 10 wins. This win and performance by this Tulsa team this season looks to have a positive effect on this program moving forward. Tulsa head coach Phillip Montgomery spoke after the game about the win and the future.
“We’ve had great leadership on this team and at our university in general,” Montgomery said. “We are really excited about the direction that Tulsa football is headed and couldn’t be happier with the way this season ended for us.”
By the end of the first quarter, it looked like the game would be a low-scoring affair as Tulsa only led 10-3. It was a bit of a slow start for Tulsa early on, but they were able to move the ball up and down the field with ease as shown on their first scoring drive. On that drive, Tulsa drove 93 yards down the field, in 17 plays and took five minutes and twenty-nine seconds off the game-clock. The drive ended with a five yard touchdown pass from Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans to wide receiver Josh Atkinson. From that point on, Tulsa took the lead and never looked back.
Offensively, Tulsa was led by Evans who completed 28 of 38 passes, for 305 yards and five touchdowns. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award after the game. With his fifth touchdown pass of the game, he set the school record for most touchdown passes in a career with 84. In addition to his individual record setting performance, the rest of the offense went into the record books as well.
Wide receiver Josh Atkinson led Tulsa in receiving with 12 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown and in this game, he eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving this season. Fellow wide receiver Keevan Lucas also had three touchdown catches. With Atkinson accomplishing this feat, Tulsa has become the first team ever in NCAA FBS history to have a 3,000 yard passer in Evans, two receivers with over 1,000 yards receiving in Atkinson and Lucas, as well as two running backs with over 1,000 yards rushing in James Flanders and D’Angelo Brewer all in the same season. Evans spoke after the game about this accomplishment.
“It’s the first time in NCAA history that it’s happened, and that’s pretty cool,” Evans said. “To imagine that we had won five games combined before Coach Monty (head coach Phillip Montgomery) got here the last couple seasons, and now we have guys going into NCAA history, that just shows you what that man means to us.”
Central Michigan had a very rough afternoon as it seemed like they were plagued by dropped passes, miscommunication, penalties or poor throws offensively for the entire game. At points, it would look like they were beginning to establish a rhythm but then they would end up hurting themselves and stopping their own drives. Defensively, they struggled as the Tulsa offense was able to cut through the defense at will and nothing Central Michigan did seemed to hamper them in any way.
Quarterback Cooper Rush led the offensive and finished with 24 completions on 49 attempts, 241 yards passing and unfortunately, three interceptions, with one of them being returned for a touchdown. Running back Jahray Hayes had the lone touchdown of the game for Central Michigan. Central Michigan head coach John Bonamego spoke after the game about the overall performance.
“I felt like we matched up a little better than what we demonstrated today,” Bonamego stated. “We weren’t able to finish drives, we hurt ourselves in penalties, and defensively we could never get off the field. When you perform that way against a good football team, you get beat.” He also added that Central Michigan will, “take this (loss), learn from it, and build for the future.”
With this win, Tulsa now has at 10 wins this season, making it the first time since 2012 that they finish a season with at least 10 wins. This win and performance by this Tulsa team this season looks to have a positive effect on this program moving forward. Tulsa head coach Phillip Montgomery spoke after the game about the win and the future.
“We’ve had great leadership on this team and at our university in general,” Montgomery said. “We are really excited about the direction that Tulsa football is headed and couldn’t be happier with the way this season ended for us.”