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Tulsa overcame an 18-point fourth quarter deficit for a 46-45 win over the UTSA Roadrunners Saturday afternoon in front of a Homecoming crowd of 17,439 fans at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and improved the Hurricane record to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in American Athletic Conference play.
Tulsa trailed 35-7 at halftime and was behind 42-24 heading into the fourth period. The Hurricane outscored the visiting Roadrunners 39-10 in the second half for its second biggest comeback in school history and the largest fourth quarter come-from-behind victory since the 1995 season. Tulsa trailed Fresno State 31-0 in the second quarter of a 2016 game and came back from a 23-3 deficit with just over six minutes remaining in a 1995 home matchup over Oklahoma State.
Cooper Legas, who entered the game at quarterback in the second quarter, completed 16-of-31 passes for 333 yards and a career-best five touchdowns. Kamdyn Benjamin ended the game with seven receptions for 125 yards and three TDs, covering 74, 20 yards and the game-winning four-yard reception.
“The guys battled their tails off. It was all those guys,” said Head Coach Kevin Wilson. “All I told them before the game was it’s one play, it's six seconds. There's 86,400 seconds in a day. A play is six. We've got 180 of them. If you divide those, there's 1446 segments and we've got 180 plays. There's 1,300 left to do whatever you want to do the rest of the day, but when you're playing, play hard.”
Tulsa came alive in the second half as the Hurricane outscored the Roadrunners 39-10 in the final 30 minutes. Tulsa gained 333 total yards in the second half with 264 coming through the air and 57 yards on the ground, while the Hurricane defense held UTSA to negative one-yard rushing and 183 passing yards after halftime.
“I think it was just the belief that we can always do it. Our big thing this week was play the next play, don't worry about what happened before, if it was good, bad, indifferent, play the next play, and that's what we were doing,” said Benjamin. “Every play, just give it your all, see what happens, go out and make a play. That was our mindset, and that's what we did, and it paid off for us.”
It was the defense that got the Hurricane revved up at the 11:52 mark of the third quarter when Amieh Williams scooped up a fumble, forced by a Vontroy Malone sack, and ran 35 yards for Tulsa’s first points of the second half, cutting its deficit to 21 points at 35-14.
In addition to the defense’s touchdown, the Hurricane totaled seven TFL for -31 yards and two sacks for -22 yards against the Roadrunners.
Four of Legas’ five TD passes came in the final 20 minutes of the contest. He connected with Benjamin for a 74-yard strike at the 4:50 mark of the third quarter in just a 0:40 drive to make it an 18-point game and setting the stage for Tulsa’s fourth quarter heroics.
At 14:21 on the game clock, Legas led Tulsa on a 67-yard, eight-play drive and found running back Viron Ellison Jr. for the final four yards. After a UTSA unsportsmanlike penalty on the PAT, the Hurricane decided to go for the two points as Legas ran in for the conversion on what would eventually be the difference in the one-point game, making the sore 42-32.
The Roadrunners marched to the Tulsa 19-yard line but the defense forced a 4th-and-9 and a 37-yard field goal giving UTSA a 13-point lead, 45-32, with under six minutes remaining in the contest.
With 5:21 on the clock, Legas led the Hurricane on a 10-play, 75-yard drive with the scoring play coming on 4th-and-5 from the UTSA 20-yard line as Benjamin again was the target of the 20-yard TD pass, making the score 45-39 with 2:26 left.
The Tulsa defense shut down the Roadrunners on a three-and-out thus giving the offense the ball with 2:02 remaining as the Hurricane began the drive 92 yards away from the end zone. Tulsa averted disaster when a fumble on a first-play sack of Legas was recovered by tackle Rey Burnett putting the Hurricane at the 5-yard line.
From there, Legas completed 4-of-6 passes for 87 yards in the game-winning drive as he hit Joseph Williams for 27 yards, Zion Steptoe for 34, Corey Smith for 22 yards and found Benjamin for the final four yards with 1:01 left on the clock. Seth Morgan added the point-after for a 46-45 lead.
UTSA’s last ditch effort with 1:01 on the clock ended with Tulsa’s defensive stand on 4th-and-10 from the 50-yard line, thus giving the Hurricane its second largest comeback in school history.
The Roadrunners jumped out to a quick start and built a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. UTSA tallied scores on their first and third possessions of the game, while totaling 158 first quarter yards compared to Tulsa’s 42 yards.
UTSA took a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter after a Tulsa fumble gave the Roadrunners the ball at the Hurricane 31-yard line. The Roadrunners scored on a 23-yard pass play but missed the PAT wide right. Tulsa responded for its first score with a 75-yard, six-play drive that saw Legas hit Bill Jackson down the middle of the field for a 31-yard TD, cutting the Hurricane deficit to 13 points, 20-7.
The visitors came right back on the next possession with a seven-play, 75-yard drive for a 27-7 lead with nine minutes remaining on the first half clock. UTSA made it a 35-7 game with 1:01 left in the half on a 28-yard fumble return and a two-point conversion.
For the half, UTSA held a 364 to 100-yard edge in total yards, passing for 260 yards and rushing for 104. Tulsa managed 106 passing yards but was held to -6 yards on the ground through the first 30 minutes.
Tulsa will look to add a second straight victory next Saturday with a visit to Birmingham, Alabama, against the UAB Blazers in a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.