A final 2-10 record. A seven-game losing streak. Head coach gets canned. Eight double-digit losses.
Sounds like a horrible debut season in the American Athletic Conference for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Almost every stat recorded had a negative connotation next to Tulsa’s name, although a few ‘Hurricane players represented the program well in the stat column when the overall productivity of the team was strung out on futility.
With Tulsa’s season finalized after it fell 49-32 at home to East Carolina on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and with Bill Blankenship’s firing on Monday, its the perfect time to give out grades for each unit.
Warning: These grades would get Tulsa grounded for two weeks if it was back in elementary school.
Offense: B-
Tulsa improved its offensive production from 2013 to 2014, going from 356 yards per game to 412. Passing yards per game increased by nearly 80 yards (264.7), in large part from the somewhat surprising emergence of sophomore Keevan Lucas as one of the AAC’s top wide receivers, and quarterback Dane Evans’ grasping of the playbook – something he obviously hadn’t accomplished during his five games as the starter in ’13.
Although offensive production increased, rushing dipped from 164.8 yards per game to 147.8 in ’14, and scoring only increased from 21 points per game to 24.7.
Statistically, Evans was one of the better quarterbacks in the league if you throw out one tiny, okay, really big stat. He threw for 3,102 yards – second in the AAC behind East Carolina’s Shane Carden – and tossed 23 touchdowns, good enough for third among the conferences starting QBs. So what is the really big stat that skews Evans productive stats?
He tossed 17 interceptions, placing him at No. 1 in the AAC in a category you don’t want to be in. Evans also finished with a low quarterback rating (120.88) compared to Gunner Kiel’s league-best 150.38 QBR.
It’s not fair to place the brunt of the blame for the Golden Hurricane’s lack of scoring on Evans; his passes were often rushed standing behind a young offensive line. Still, even in victory – which isn’t saying much – Evans tossed two interceptions in the season opening double-overtime defeat of Tulane and proceeded to throw at least an interception in the next four games that were all losses.
Evans was helped in the running game by junior Zack Langer’s emergence as the primary running back after rushing for 152 yards and a touchdown against Texas State and Colorado State. The injury-plagued back, who missed the first game and had limited play against Oklahoma and Florida Atlantic, finished with 801 yards rushing (4.09 yards per carry) and four touchdowns before a hamstring injury cost him play against ECU in the season finale. Langer finished third in rushing in a pass-happy AAC.
I could have, and should have, given the offense a lower ranking because of Evans’ inability to protect the football and the team’s minimal lack of improvement in scoring from a season ago, but I was impressed with phenomenal play of Keevan Lucas, and so was the rest of the league.
Lucas’ 101 receptions for 1,219 yards and 11 touchdowns was tops in the league – even greater than ECU’s Justin Hardy who is the proud owner of the FBS record for career receptions.
Evans-to-Lucas is potentially a lethal weapon for the ‘Hurricane attack that can bring more wins for the next Tulsa head coach. But that won’t happen until Evans-to-wrong-colored-jersey gets fixed.
Defense: D-
As with Tulsa’s mid-season report card, reviewing the defensive side of things won’t take nearly as long. There just aren’t many positives to draw on.
Here’s one positive note that came from the defense:
Junior defensive lineman Derrick Alexander was one of the AAC’s top defensive players in ’14. He finished second in the league with 7.5 sacks for a loss of 58 total yards and third in tackles-for-loss with 12 for a loss of 72 yards. Alexander represents that one shining star that even the worst units have.
Now for some negativity – let me ring off a handful of stats to give you a more formal understanding of how bad Tulsa’s defense was in ’14:
(Note: Remember, Tulsa plays in the same conference as historically terrible SMU)
Pass defense: 272 yards allowed per game (No. 115 in FBS)
Rushing D: 214.83 yards (No. 110)
Total D: 486.75 (No. 117)
Scoring D: 39.25 (No. 122)
Only one other AAC member had worse overall defensive statistics this season than the Golden Hurricane. I’m sure you can guess who it is.
Factor in that Tulsa returned nine defensive starters in ’14 makes these stats appear even more depressing.
Blankenship’s demise was highly predicated on his inability to get the defense playing more effectively.
Special Teams: C+
Senior place-kicker Carl Salazar finished his final campaign making 12-of-18 field goal attempts (sixth in the AAC) in ’14 and making all extra point attempts.
Salzar was an average kicker for the ‘Hurricane, who could have jolted momentum for the team in a few losses if he had converted more field goals. Depending on the context of the game, missed field goals can deflate a team’s moral, sinking its confidence. Salazar definitely contributed to Tulsa’s lack of scoring in a handful of games.
The ‘Hurricane was an average special teams unit from kicking to the return game. Tulsa finished fifth in the conference in both yards per kickoff return and punt return with 20.39 and 7.45 yards, respectively.
Sophomore punter Dalton Parks was third in the AAC in punt average at mid-season, but moved up to No. 2 at season’s end with a 42.04 final punting average off 70 punts – the most in conference.
Coaching: F
Tulsa’s now-former head coach Bill Blankenship gets an F not because he failed at coaching or was not an exemplar leader for his team. He gets an F for getting fired from his position, which in spite of his early success, was a must for this program to have a bright future in its new home.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEBwoCJBjU8]Tulsa World’s Kelly Hines illustrated best Blankenship’s coaching timeline in a recent post:
Aug. 28, 2014
Tulsa debuts in the American Conference with a 38-31 double-overtime victory over visiting Tulane.
Oct. 31, 2014
Memphis beats the Hurricane 40-20, extending the Tulsa losing streak to seven games, the longest since the 2002 season.
Nov. 8, 2014
Blankenship coaches his final victory at Tulsa, a 38-28 triumph over SMU. The attendance of 14,269 was the lowest since the Hurricane’s 2004 season finale against UTEP (10,977).
Nov. 28, 2014
Tulsa is defeated 49-32 by East Carolina in
the season finale. Blankenship ends his TU coaching career at 24-27.
Dec. 1, 2014
TU announces that Blankenship has been fired.
The only high point for the season was on August 28 – no one cares about beating hapless SMU.
Blankenship struggled with getting his team to perform consistently. If the offense was doing well, the defense could never catch up and vise-versa. He recruited well given the challenges of hauling talent to a non-Power Five school with less than 4,000 undergrads, and may have found Tulsa’s QB of the future in 6-foot-4 Will Hefley.
It’s unfortunate the former Tulsa quarterback couldn’t keep the ball rolling after the team won the Conference USA championship in 2012. But, Blankenship’s firing was certainly not a product of his own success; Tulsa was winning consistently since 2003 before the recent two-season slide.
Questionable staff changes, such as hiring his inexperienced son as offensive coordinator, and continuing to call plays even when the offense portrayed a lack of flash all contributed to his demise as Tulsa’s head coach.
Overall: D
The ‘Hurricane earn a “D” for winning at least two games and playing competitively in a few losses during a dreadful season.
On paper, the 2014 Golden Hurricane were not much better than their ’13 counterparts. But on the field, this team had more grit and performed better than the team that one an extra game last season.
The boost in competition contributed to the team’s decline in the win/loss column. Tulsa had the misfortune of playing four of the five best teams in the AAC (at Memphis, at UCF, at Houston, and East Carolina), with three of the four coincidentally placed as the ‘Hurricane’s final three games of the season.
The offense played much better in ’14, while reciever Keevan Lucas emerged as the team’s best offensive player. It is important to note, however, that Tulsa ran more plays (958) than any other AAC member, which garners an asterisk next to the units overall performance.
For the second straight year, Tulsa failed to reach a bowl game for only the fourth time since 2003. 2014 is a season Tulsa fans want to soon forget, but this season, to their disdain, might be the precursor for where this program is headed in the AAC.
Whoever leads the ‘Hurricane in 2015 will have to rebuild the program brick-by-brick.
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