Oct. 27, 2008

For the second straight week, two Tulsa players have earned Conference USA Football Player of the Week honors. Junior safety James Lockett won the defensive honor and freshman kick returner Damaris Johnson took the special teams award for the second straight week. The Golden Hurricane duo is joined by junior running back Curtis Steele of Memphis as this week's three honorees.

In Tulsa's 49-19 win over UCF, Lockett tallied five solo tackles, including three quarterback sacks for -27 yards and forced two fumbles. As a team, Tulsa had a NCAA season-high-tying nine sacks. Lockett's first forced fumble resulted in Tulsa scoring the first touchdown of the game. His second caused fumble led to a score that put the Golden Hurricane up 28-19 in the third quarter. Lockett is the first TU player to force two fumbles in a game since Nick Bunting accomplished it in the 2005 C-USA Championship Game. He finished the game with five total tackles.

For the second straight week, Johnson went over 100 yards in kickoff returns with four returns for 134 yards and a 33.5 average per return. With Tulsa trailing 19-14 to start the second half, Johnson took the second half kickoff 70 yards to the UCF 29-yard line and three plays later Tulsa scored the go-ahead touchdown. For the game, he had a game-high 183 all-purpose yards. Johnson is the first C-USA player to be named Special Teams Player of the Week in consecutive weeks since TCU's Nick Browne on Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, 2003.

Steele rushed for a career high two touchdowns with 178 yards on 29 carries in a 36-30 victory over Southern Miss. Both of his touchdowns came in the fourth quarter to help secure the Tigers' six-point lead, including an eventual game-winning touchdown carry for 22 yards with 1:24 left in the game. Steele amassed 237 all-purpose yards in the contest, which ranks tied for 12th all-time at Memphis and is the most since the DeAngelo Williams era ended in 2005. He also registered 59 yards receiving on a hook-and-ladder play in the first quarter that led to a Memphis touchdown and a 14-0 lead for the Tigers to start the game. Steele averaged 6.1 yards per carry en route to his second highest rush total of his career and fourth 100-yard game of the season, which ranks tied for fifth at Memphis. He amassed 126 of his rushing yards in the second half, with 80 yards on 12 carries coming in the fourth quarter and mostly taken on direct snaps.