Tulane University
Tulsa
Griffin's Career Day Not Enough at Tulsa
Oct 16, 2010 | Football
Oct. 16, 2010
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TULSA, Okla. - Ryan Griffin's career night was not enough for the Tulane football team as the Green Wave fell to Tulsa, 52-24, on Saturday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium in a Conference USA contest.
Griffin threw for a career-high 412 yards with a career-best 36 completions and 53 attempts and led the Tulane (2-4, 0-2 C-USA) to a season-high 527 yards of total offense, but the Green Wave defense was not able to stop the Tulsa (4-3, 2-2 C-USA) offense that racked up 538 yards of total offense, including 332 yards on the ground.
"I didn't play well enough," Griffin said about his performance. "This is a team game and not an individual game. I thought we moved the ball well. Hopefully, we can continue to move the ball this well the rest of the season, but we have to learn to capitalize on our opportunities in the red zone."
Casey Robottom and Ryan Grant each pulled down over 100 of Griffin's yards. Robottom had a career-best nine receptions for 109 yards and Grant had a career-high six catches for a career-best 128 yards. Cody Sparks also had a career evening with seven receptions for 83 yards.
Tulsa jumped out to an early lead in the game, taking the opening drive 58 yards in three plays that ended with a 33-yard touchdown run by Ja'Terian Douglas.
The Green Wave tied the score with a 43-yard pass from Griffin to Grant with 6:21 remaining in the opening quarter that capped a six-play, 66-yard drive. Unfortunately, Tulane did not find the endzone the rest of the first half and Tulsa scored 17 unanswered points to take a 24-7 lead into the locker room.
The Golden Hurricane scored their 17 points on three straight possessions. Tulsa retook the lead 14-7 on a Charles Clay 33-yard reception from G.J. Kinne that capped an eight-play, 88-yard drive. Damaris Johnson extended the lead with a 29-yard run with 5:53 left in the second quarter. His run ended a six-play, 66-yard drive.
A lost fumble by Robottom after a catch over the middle resulted in three more points for the Golden Hurricane after Kevin Fitzpatrick drilled a 37-yard field goal that ended the first half scoring.
Tulane opened the second by driving down the field for a 10-play, 78-yard drive resulting in s 28-yard touchdown pass from Griffin to Sparks. That cut the Tulsa lead to 10, 24-14, but the Golden Hurricane quickly answered 33 seconds later with a touchdown score of their own when Johnson scampered 40 yards into the endzone.
Tulane's Cairo Santos added a 25-yard field goal with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter and Albert Williams capped the Green Wave scoring with a one-yard run with 3:09 remaining in the game.
Tulsa scored three more touchdowns after the Johnson score early in the third quarter.
"We fumbled the ball and they got a field goal and we have the ball first and goal and our quarterback throws an interception and you just can't do that," Tulane head coach Bob Toledo said. "That's a mistake by a young sophomore quarterback that needs to learn to throw the ball away and give yourself a chance. We didn't run the ball as well as I would have liked and we had struggled with some injuries in the running game with injuries to Orleans Darkwa and Payten Jason."
The Green Wave had 81 yards on the ground on 35 carries. Albert Williams led the way with a career-high 17 carries for 47 yards. Payten Jason added six carries for 29 yards. Williams added three receptions and 39 yards to Tulane's air attack.
Griffin's interception came late in the third quarter at the Tulsa 10 yard line after a six-play, 65-yard drive.
Tulsa's Johnson led their ground game with 87 yards on just four carries and two touchdowns, while Douglas had 64 yards on five carries and one score and Kinne added 12 carries for 48 yards. Singleton had nine carries for 45 yards and two touchdowns.
"The thing they do well is their quarterback is so mobile," Toledo said. "You think you have him pinned and all of the sudden he makes a play with his legs. He threw the ball well so he's kind of like the gasoline that makes that machine run. They just have a lot of really good skilled athletes and in space their very dangerous and that obviously hurt us."
Kinne connected on 15 of his 25 pass attempts for 206 yards and two touchdowns. Clay pulled down four receptions for 86 yards and two scores.
Tulane will look to snap the two-game losing streak next Saturday when the Green Wave travel to El Paso to face UTEP at 8 p.m. CDT.
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