Oct. 25, 2008

IRVING, Texas - David Johnson threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, ran for two more scores and No. 18 Tulsa downed UCF, 49-19, Sunday night on ESPN. Rice senior QB Chase Clement, who recently was named one of 10 finalists for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for college football, completed 20-of-25 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for two scores in the Owls' 42-17 win over Tulane Saturday. In other weekend league action, Memphis downed Southern Miss, 36-30, behind Curtis Steele's 178 yards and two touchdowns.

No. 18 TULSA 49, UCF 19
David Johnson threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, ran for two more scores and No. 18 Tulsa overpowered UCF 49-19 Sunday night in the Golden Hurricane's first game in the Top 25 in 17 years.

Damaris Johnson made up for a critical first-half fumble by returning the second-half kickoff 70 yards to set up a go-ahead touchdown. David Johnson zoomed in from 10 yards out to give Tulsa (8-0, 5-0 Conference USA) a 21-19 lead, and he kept the nation's top-ranked offense in gear from there on out.

UCF held Tulsa to a season-low 436 yards, nearly 200 below their 625-yard average, but had only 187 yards of its own.

Courtney Tennial scored on a 1-yard dive to complete a drive that was extended by Trae Johnson's leaping 29-yard catch on fourth-and-13 and again when David Johnson fumbled and then got the ball back after defensive back Johnell Neal coughed it right back up.

The country's top-rated quarterback added a 2-yard touchdown run and a 15-yard TD toss to a diving Trae Johnson as the Golden Hurricane kept pulling away.

The win helped make up for last season's pair of losses to the Knights (2-5, 1-2), including one in the Conference USA championship game, and moved Tulsa to 8-0 for only the sixth time in school history.

Getting the only college game on an NFL-free Sunday night, Tulsa pulled out all the stops by honoring NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent and future college Hall of Fame coach John Cooper in front of a sellout crowd.

Largent helped lead the Golden Hurricane onto the field and then had his No. 83 jersey retired at halftime, and Cooper waved to the crowd after getting a plaque during a second-quarter break. Cooper, who went on to become Ohio State's coach after his time at Tulsa, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.

For a brief time in the second quarter, it appeared Tulsa might give the game away as the Knights put up 19 straight points without having to rely much on the nation's worst offense.

Daren Daly hit a 54-yard field goal after Michael Such's punt got held up in the wind and went only 14 yards, and it only got worse from there. Damaris Johnson fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and receiver Brian Watters recovered and then caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Rob Calabrese three plays later for a 17-14 UCF lead.

A penalty on the kickoff pushed the Golden Hurricane back for the start of their next drive, and David Johnson had to track down a bad snap on second down and knock it out of the end zone for a safety that made it 19-14 at halftime.

Once Tulsa got back on top, Calabrese became the target of the Golden Hurricane defense. Tanner Antle, James Lockett and Roy Roberts each contributed to Tulsa's total of nine sacks on the same second-half drive and the Knights wound up with only 38 yards after halftime.

Watters had seven catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns for UCF, and freshman Brynn Harvey ran 24 times for 91 yards in his first career start.

RICE 42, TULANE 17
Chase Clement passed for two touchdowns and ran for two as Rice routed Tulane 42-17 on Saturday.

Clement was 20 of 25 for 168 yards, including touchdowns of 7 and 17 yards to James Casey. Clement also had eight carries for 57 yards and touchdown runs of 9 and 6 yards.

C.J. Ugokwe gained 111 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries for Rice (5-3, 4-1 Conference USA).

Tulane lost its third straight to fall to 2-5, 1-3.

Rice's Jarett Dillard, the NCAA career touchdown reception leader with 54, did not catch a touchdown pass, ending a streak of 11 consecutive games with at least one. He caught four passes for 41 yards.

The game was scoreless before Rice scored three touchdowns in a span of less than five minutes late in the first quarter and early in the second.

The scoring began when Clement threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Casey with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Clement ran 9 yards for a touchdown with 28 seconds left in the quarter.

Tulane lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and on the next play, Clement threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Casey for a 21-0 lead.

Terrance Garmon intercepted the Green Wave's Kevin Moore on the next possession, setting up Clement's 6-yard touchdown run for a 28-0 lead with 13:30 left in the second quarter.

Tulane's Ross Thevenot tried a 40-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half, but it was blocked and Chris Jones ran 55 yards for a touchdown and a 35-0 halftime lead.

It was the latest in a series of special teams breakdowns for the Green Wave, who allowed a punt return for a touchdown and a blocked punt for a touchdown against Alabama and a blocked field goal return for a touchdown against East Carolina.

Tulane finally scored when Thevenot made a 42-yard field goal on the first possession of the third quarter.

Joe Kemp's 42-yard touchdown pass to Casey Robottom got the Green Wave within 35-10 with 5:21 left in the third quarter.

The Owls came right back with an 8-yard touchdown run by Ugokwe to increase the lead to 42-10 with 2:48 left in the third quarter.

Kemp threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Albert Williams to make it 42-17 with 6:45 left in the game.

NAVY 34, SMU 7
Ricky Dobbs ran for 224 yards and four touchdowns on 42 carries as Navy became the first major college team in 11 years to not attempt a pass in its 34-7 victory against SMU on Saturday.

Navy, fourth in the nation in rushing coming in at 296 per game, ran 77 times for 404 yards. The last team to play a game without throwing a pass was Ohio University in a 21-17 victory against Akron on Oct. 25, 1997.

The game was played in a downpour, and the second half was played before a crowd of just several thousand.

Dobbs, a third-string quarterback, replaced Jarod Bryant, who injured his right shoulder on a 20-yard run in the first quarter, and quickly directed the Midshipmen (5-3) to two touchdowns on runs of 2 and 5 yards. He carried the ball on his first eight plays.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo reinserted Bryant early in the second quarter, but he was hurt again six plays later.

Dobbs returned and two plays later ran for 38 yards, and scored from a yard out on the next play. He added a 7-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada began the season as the Mids' quarterback, but aggravated a hamstring injury in a win over Wake Forest on Sept. 27 and was replaced by Bryant.

Navy,which became the second major college team to play 1,200 games, can qualify for the Eagle Bowl in Washington on Dec. 20 with one more win.

SMU (1-8), which began the game 11th in the nation in passing, averaging 302 yards per game, was held to 144 yards - 27 in the second half - and trailed 27-0 at halftime.

Bo Levi Mitchell, the Mustangs' freshman quarterback, had a pass intercepted by the Mids' Jeff Deliz in the first half. He's had 19 passes picked - most in the nation. Mitchell, who threw four touchdown passes in each of his last two games, was 16-for-28 for 157 yards.

SMU scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell to Aldrick Robinson with 5:25 to play in the third quarter. Robinson, who entered the game leading the nation in receiving yards, had seven catches for 94 yards. It was his 11th touchdown reception this season, tying Emanuel Tolbert's school record set in 1978 for most in a season.

Navy's Shun White scored on a 23-yard run early in the first quarter. It followed a 14-yard punt by the Mustang's Thomas Morstead. The touchdown gave White more than 2,000 yards in his career - the eighth player in school history to reach 2,000.

MEMPHIS 36, SOUTHERN MISS 30
Curtis Steele ran for 178 yards and two touchdowns to help Memphis beat Southern Mississippi 36-30 on Saturday night.

Even though the Tigers (4-5, 2-3 Conference USA) used a variety trick plays with a third-string quarterback Brett Toney heading the offense, racking up 285 yards rushing - 516 totaled yards on offense.

Starter Arkelon Hall and backup Will Hudgens were injured last week against East Carolina. Fourth-stringer Tyler Bass, who shared time with Toney, was injured in the third period on Saturday night, leaving Toney as the lone quarterback.

The Golden Eagles (2-6, 0-4) had a chance to drive for a winning touchdown, but an interception by Josh Weaver 1:31 left setup Steele's 22-yard touchdown to give Memphis a 36-24 lead. Steele, who finished with 29 carries, took a direct snap from the quarterback position for the score.

DeAndre Brown caught a 2-yard touchdown from Austin Davis as time expired for Southern Mississippi.

Davis completed 21-of-40 for 186 yards and two touchdowns on the night. He also rushed for 121 yards for the Golden Eagles. Damion Fletcher had 100 yards on 14 carries for the Golden Eagles.

The loss was the fifth straight for the Golden Eagles, and marked the first time they have lost four conference games in C-USA. It also assured Southern Mississippi of doing no better than .500 for the first time since 1993.

The Tigers drove 79 yards on seven plays, capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Toney to Carlos Singleton, who used his 6-foot-8 frame against the smaller defenders. The drive included a reverse option, had a receiver and running back taking direct snaps at quarterback and ran other misdirection plays.

On the next series, Bass came in the game, and on the third play, Memphis ran a hook-and-ladder, Bass throwing to Earnest Williams, who flipped to Steele, who carried the ball to the Southern Mississippi 11 for a 55-yard play. Bass swept right end for an 11-yard score to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

Bass connected with Singleton from 3 yards late in the half to put Memphis ahead 20-10 at halftime.

The Golden Eagles had 83 yards rushing in the first half, 76 of them by Davis. Fletcher, Conference USA's second-leading rusher with an average of 124.1, had only 9 yards in the first half.