Davis Brin passed for 285 yards and two touchdowns to help Tulsa post a solid 30-17 victory over Old Dominion on Monday afternoon in the Myrtle Beach Bowl at Conway, S.C.
Josh Johnson caught eight passes for 129 yards and a touchdown as the Golden Hurricane (7-6) won their fourth consecutive game. Shamari Brooks rushed for 107 yards and a score on 26 carries to move into second place in school history with 3,729 yards, passing Tarrion Adams (3,651 yards from 2005-08).
Ethan Hall also caught a touchdown pass and Zack Long booted three field goals for Tulsa, which outgained Old Dominion 529 to 247 while controlling the contest. The Golden Hurricane had a huge edge in plays (99 to 47) and first downs (35 to 10) while controlling the ball for 39 minutes, 43 seconds.
LaMareon James returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for the first of Old Dominion's two touchdowns. Hayden Wolff completed 19 of 28 passes for 176 yards and one interception and Blake Watson rushed for 77 yards and a score for the Monarchs (6-7), who had a five-game winning streak halted.
James supplied electricity at the outset by navigating his way down the field for his second kickoff return of the season.
But the Golden Hurricane needed just 1:42 to answer and Brooks capped the seven-play, 74-yard drive by scoring from the 1.
Tulsa moved ahead 14-7 later in the quarter as Brin (22-of-34 passing) tossed a 23-yard scoring pass to Johnson with 4:47 to go.
Old Dominion's Nick Rice kicked a 32-yard field goal with 12:50 left in the second quarter, but Long countered with a 35-yarder with nine seconds remaining to give the Golden Hurricane a 17-10 halftime lead.
Long added field goals of 25 and 32 yards in the third quarter to boost Tulsa's advantage to 23-10.
The Monarchs threatened early in the fourth quarter as Wolff connected with Ali Jennings III for 30 yards. But Tulsa's Tyon Davis punched the ball out of Jennings' grasp inside the 5-yard line, and it rolled into the end zone and out the right side for a touchback.
The Golden Hurricane responded with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that increased their lead to 30-10. Brin capped it with a 4-yard toss to Hall with 9:04 left in the contest.
Watson scored on a 2-yard run to pull Old Dominion within 13 with 7:15 remaining.
--Field Level Media
Old Dominion | Tulsa | |
Blake Watson | Player | Shamari Brooks |
14 | Attempts | 26 |
77 | Yards | 107 |
5.5 | Avg Yards | 4.1 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Old Dominion | Tulsa | |
Ali Jennings III | Player | Josh Johnson |
6 | Receptions | 8 |
74 | Yards | 129 |
12.3 | Avg Yards | 16.1 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Old Dominion | 247 | 71 | 176 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |
Tulsa | 529 | 244 | 285 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 |