Jan. 26, 2012
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa's 2012 football schedule is highlighted with five Bowl teams from this past season, including road contests at Iowa State and Arkansas, it was announced today. Tulsa is coming off of an 8-5 season in 2010 under first-year Head Coach Bill Blankenship against a schedule that featured four top-10 ranked opponents.
In the 2012 campaign, five of Tulsa's first eight games will be played at H.A. Chapman Stadium. The Hurricane will face four programs with a first-year head coach, including three of the first five contests.
Tulsa's 2012 opponents who were bowl participants last season include Iowa State (New Era Pinstripe Bowl), Marshall (Beef O'Brady's Bowl), Arkansas (Cotton Bowl), Houston (Ticket City Bowl) and SMU (BBVA Compass Bowl), combining for a 4-1 bowl record.
"I'm most excited about the fact that we have more early season home games than we've had the last few years," said Blankenship. "I think it gives us an opportunity to really build some momentum and give our fan base something to be excited about. We have a very attractive non-conference schedule with Iowa State and Fresno State early and certainly a late game at Arkansas. I think those are really strong non-conference games and will give us a chance to show how we do regionally and also against a team that could be in our conference in the future."
The Hurricane will open the season against the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames Iowa on September 1st. The Cyclones finished the 2011 regular season at 6-6 and then lost to Rutgers in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. The two teams have played just once previously in the 1961 season as ISU pulled out a 27-6 victory at Tulsa's Skelly Stadium.
A week later will mark the first time in five years that Tulsa has opened the Conference USA season on its home field as the Hurricane hosts the Tulane Green Wave on Sept. 8th. It's the third time in the last four seasons that Tulsa and Tulane have opened the league campaign against each other. Last year, Tulsa claimed a 31-3 victory and in 2009 defeated the Green Wave by a score of 37-13, as both games were played at the Louisiana Superdome.
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The last year that Tulsa had a C-USA home opener came in the 2007 season against UAB.
Tulane will have a new head coach leading the Green Wave to Tulsa in the likes of Curtis Johnson, who came from the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
"I think it's exciting and an advantage for us to open up the league schedule at home, although I think our guys have shown to be pretty good on the road early. We'll have to be road warriors in November, but I think we have a chance to build some momentum early on with some home games and hopefully engage our fan base. I think it should be a very exciting year," added Blankenship.
FCS foe Nicholls State, coached by former Tulsa offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs (2003-06), comes to town on Sept. 15th.
Tulsa renews its rivalry with former Western Athletic Conference opponent Fresno State a week later on Sept. 29th. The Bulldogs finished the 2011 season with a 4-9 record, as two losses came to top-10 teams, Nebraska and Boise State, and their final three defeats were by an average of only 4.3 points.
The last meeting between the two schools came in the 2005 AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis as the Hurricane captured a 31-24 victory. FSU had won the previous four games in the series.
Fresno State will be under the direction of first-year coach Tim DeRuyter, who spent the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
Tulsa gets back into Conference USA action a week later with a road game at UAB on Sept. 29th. The Blazers are under the direction of first-year head coach and Tulsa native and Booker T. Washington graduate Garrick McGee.
The Hurricane has won all three of the previous meeting, including a 37-20 home win last year. The only other game in Birmingham came in 2008 as Tulsa captured a 45-22 victory.
A second straight C-USA road game awaits the Hurricane on the first weekend in October as Tulsa travels to play the Marshall Thundering Herd on Oct. 6th. Tulsa leads the series 3-0 after claiming a 59-17 home victory at H.A. Chapman Stadium this past year.
Consecutive home contests against UTEP (Oct. 13) and Rice (Oct. 20) will precede Tulsa's bye week on Oct. 27th. Tulsa captured road wins in 2011 at both schools with a 57-28 win in El Paso and a 38-20 victory at Rice. The Hurricane holds a 12-8 series advantage against the Miners and riding a two-game winning streak, while Tulsa leads the Rice series 9-7-1 having captured victories in eight of the last nine games.
The Rice contest is Homecoming Weekend for the Hurricane.
Following a bye week, Tulsa will finish out its non-conference schedule with a trip across the border to play the Arkansas Razorbacks on November 3rd. It will be the 72nd meeting in the series and the 41st straight time that the game will be played in the state of Arkansas.
The last time the two teams met came in 2008 as Arkansas escaped with a 30-23 victory, snapping an eight-game winning streak for the 18th-ranked Hurricane.
The Razorbacks finished the 2011 season with an 11-2 record and a final Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Poll ranking of fifth in the nation.
"We want to play a team of Arkansas' caliber. We want a game with at least one national power every year because for us to get where we want to be we have to be able to compete at that level. If we're not playing Oklahoma, we want to play Arkansas. If we're not playing Oklahoma State, we'd hope to play a team of that caliber every season," said Blankenship. "I honestly like that we play Arkansas in November. It's a chance to see how we'll grow as a team and hopefully we'll be a little bit more mature by the time we go into Fayetteville."
The final three games of the regular season will pit the Hurricane against three teams scheduled to leave the league and join the Big East Conference following the season, including C-USA West Division rivals Houston and SMU, and two-time C-USA Championship game opponent of the Hurricane, the UCF Knights.
"That three-game stretch can be a good little farewell tour. It can make for some interesting dynamics during the last three weeks of the season. Certainly, it can be much like this past year - where we're building to a crescendo of playing for a championship and those are the teams that we'll have to beat and it's going to happen in November," said Blankenship.
Tulsa travels to Houston on Nov. 10th looking to avenge a 48-16 loss against the No. 7-ranked Cougars from this past season. The last trip to Houston in 2010 saw the Hurricane capture a 28-25 victory. The Cougars, too, will be under the guidance of first-year head coach Tony Levine.
A week later, UCF closes out the Hurricane home schedule on Nov. 17th. A 24-17 road victory this past season gave Tulsa a 3-2 lead in the series.
Tulsa closes out the regular season on the road Thanksgiving Weekend against the SMU Mustangs (Nov. 24). Tulsa grabbed a 38-7 home win this past year against the Mustangs and have posted a 5-4 record over the last nine years, but trail the all-time series by a 12-7 margin.
Television selections will be made over the next few weeks.
2012 Tulsa Football Schedule Sept. 1 at Iowa State Sept. 8 TULANE* Sept. 15 NICHOLLS STATE Sept. 22 FRESNO STATE Sept. 29 at UAB* Oct. 6 at Marshall* Oct. 13 UTEP* Oct. 20 RICE* (HOMECOMING) Nov. 3 at Arkansas Nov. 10 at Houston* Nov. 17 UCF* Nov. 24 at SMU*BOLD CAPS indicate Home Games * Conference USA Games Games dates and times are subject to change
