I witnessed TU take down Notre Dame in South Bend. Was one of the most exciting TU games I’ve ever been a part of.
A lot has changed since then.
A lot has changed since then.
8 Years Ago Today
- Thread starter goldenhurricane2
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I was there too. Still have the t-shirt that Notre Dame had made up "Tulsa vs Notre Dame: 1st Ever Meeting".
I will forever cherish the memory of TU fans standing outside of where the team entered/exited the stadium just down the walkway from Touchdown Jesus and remembering the cheers and the absolutely GIANT smiles on every face that came out of the locker room.
Notre Dame fans, for the most part, were pretty gracious. We had numerous people coming up to us as we were walking back to our car congratulating us on the win and wishing us luck the rest of the season.
What a great day for Tulsa football. I’ve been to many, many TU road games & many different stadiums. That Notre Dame trip was my all time favorite. We visited the College Football Hall of Fame (it has since been moved to Atlanta). They had a Tulsa Football exhibit that week, it was great to see!
Then the campus itself was beautiful & the stadium was classic. We listened to their marching band as they marched across the campus. The local people we met were friendly and acted as tour guides on campus. We would’ve considered it a great trip regardless of the outcome of the game.
Winning the game moved it from a top 5 trip to a #1 road trip for me. I heard some people didn’t have a great post game experience, but we did. We were congratulated by Notre Dame fans on the way out to our SUV, & also at the restaurant afterwards.
Perfect fall day, beautiful location & atmosphere, & a Tulsa win over Notre Dame. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Then the campus itself was beautiful & the stadium was classic. We listened to their marching band as they marched across the campus. The local people we met were friendly and acted as tour guides on campus. We would’ve considered it a great trip regardless of the outcome of the game.
Winning the game moved it from a top 5 trip to a #1 road trip for me. I heard some people didn’t have a great post game experience, but we did. We were congratulated by Notre Dame fans on the way out to our SUV, & also at the restaurant afterwards.
Perfect fall day, beautiful location & atmosphere, & a Tulsa win over Notre Dame. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Entire family (huge ND fans) rented a house that weekend by campus. Families send their kids to college or pay off their mortgages by renting their houses for football weekends. Walking out I asked my dad (again, one of the biggest ND fans in the world that folks believe he's an alum even though he graduated from Xavier - he's actually a member of the SW FL ND ALUM CLUB!!!) "in 70 years did you ever think Tulsa would play ND?" "NO" --- "and win?" "HELL NO"
Great weekend. I have the SB and TW newspaper clippings framed in my Tulsa room at home.
Great weekend. I have the SB and TW newspaper clippings framed in my Tulsa room at home.
Absolutely! I know the reason we bought tickets and went was because it was simply at Notre Dame and how many opportunities do you get to go to a place that is essentially a shrine to the history of college football? The named entrances after the all-time great coaches. The championship banners, the All American banners and plaques. How intimidating is it as an opposing player to go in through the Knute Rockne gate and see all of the championship banners greeting you?
The win was icing on the cake.
I think it was the GHC that mailed members an 8.5" x 11" photo of Flanders' interception in the end zone to end the game. The look on one of the cheerleader's face in the background is etched in my mind as you can imply what he's thinking when that happened
I still have that photo on my wall.
I won tickets to the game in a hand of poker from a Notre Dame season ticket holder. Then couldn't go because I had a work thing I couldn't get out of no matter how hard I tried (which went away 3 days before the game, too late to get the tickets back). When we won, I was so excited I jumped up and down... landing on god knows what and bruising my heal. I was gimpy for a couple of weeks... a constant reminder that TU Football was a hell of a lot of fun.
I won tickets to the game in a hand of poker from a Notre Dame season ticket holder. Then couldn't go because I had a work thing I couldn't get out of no matter how hard I tried (which went away 3 days before the game, too late to get the tickets back). When we won, I was so excited I jumped up and down... landing on god knows what and bruising my heal. I was gimpy for a couple of weeks... a constant reminder that TU Football was a hell of a lot of fun.
Can't help it. I'm sorry.
Do you think having a scholarship kicker matters? Flanders int isn't what won the game, it secured it. A field goal kicked in South Bend was the deciding points.
We could easily be sitting here saying how crazy it was down in Austin.
Head coaching decisions matter, they will decide wins and losses at the highest level.
Do you think having a scholarship kicker matters? Flanders int isn't what won the game, it secured it. A field goal kicked in South Bend was the deciding points.
We could easily be sitting here saying how crazy it was down in Austin.
Head coaching decisions matter, they will decide wins and losses at the highest level.
Its a travesty that a kicker was not recruited. The kid at Holland Hall is miles better than what TU is stuck with . Sure miss all the talent that TU had eight years ago . It was so much fun to watch them kick ass , now we get beat by the likes of Tulane...our old punching bag.
Actually the deciding points were a blocked PAT we ran back for 2 pts...the Notre Dame kicker was also a walk-on who had never missed a FG (which makes Kelly's decision to throw into the end zone at the end an absolute head scratcher).
BTW, I mentioned it in the game thread from last Saturday, but Romo kicked the last extra point we had and he looked good doing it. He needs to speed his approach up just a bit and start as the ball is snapped versus waiting for the holder to have it to make sure a speed rusher off the edge doesn't get to it. The kick was really high so I don't think there was a chance to block it at the LOS scrum.
If he can kick it straight from 40 yards consistently I'd be happy. He has a big leg so I'm thinking he has 55 yard range in him with enough reps and coaching to keep the ball straight. I'm a realist and even the best kickers on the planet miss an occasional kick, but inside of 40 yards good kickers should make 95% of their FGA. 40-50 yards and I'd expect 85-90%. The very best kickers are still 80% from 50-55 yards (and guys like Vinatieri, Gostkowski, Janikowski, Justin Tucker are probably 90% on those kicks). I'd settle for our guy to make 60% of his FGs from 50+ if it meant he was 95% from inside 40.
There are 2 All American kickers in Tulsa area HS this year. The kid from Holland Hall who is committed to Columbia, and Noah Rauschenberg from Union who I don't believe he has committed anywhere yet. Ivy League schools don't give athletic scholarships, just merit and need based. I've seen Rauschenberg kick and he is money from inside 40 yards and he's kicked a few from 50+ the last 2 seasons. A scholarship offer to either one of them might be enough to get them here over walking on somewhere else knowing what the situation is and being able to be the guy for 4 years can be a nice lure.
Watch the highlights again. Tulsa kicked a field goal to win it. The last points scored in the game. If he doesn't make it we never have a chance to intercept to secure the win. Notre Dame wouldn't have had to do anything they would have been up 2.
Every Div I prospect in Tulsa is being recruited by Chad. He announced his intention to recruit Tulsa heavily and mend the school’s relations with Tulsa ISD coaches especially within minutes of being named head coach.
Chad Morris is going to steal anything he can from Oklahoma, and he's already said it. We need to get our crap together and get the missing pieces. I don't believe that we lack talent across the board, but I do feel that we are lacking in several specific skill positions and it's killing us. Add a few kids like we did on defense and it could change the future in a hurry.
I know Fitzpatrick made the kick that put us on top, but the 2 extra points we had came as a result of the blocked PAT and return. I believe the score at that time was 9-6
Has Arkansas offered him a scholarship yet? I'd be shocked if they did since they have so many other glaring holes and deficiencies and especially knowing what Morris is trying to do on offense and having very few pieces that fit into what he is trying to do right now. That offense, while we all know it works with the right pieces, looks like a jigsaw puzzle missing a ton of the pieces and some pieces in the wrong places. With only 25 scholarship to give out, I'd be shocked if they were offering a kicker.
BTW, their kicker wasn't great, especially on kickoffs, but he did a solid job kicking PATs and short FGs against us. What Arkansas can offer Rauschenberg if they don't offer a scholarship is in-state tuition and some academic and need based financial aid making a walk on situation in Fayetteville about the same as if he walked on at OkState or OU. TU doesn't have that luxury unless he's a National Merit Scholar and we give him one of those Presidential Scholarships. I still say if TU offered an athletic scholarship to either one of those kids they'd have a chance.
We should always give a scholarship to our kicker and punter. Those positions along with the QB win and lose more games than any other player.
If anyone has the chance to go to ND again take it. The recent upgrades make it a top 10 stadium by today's high standards
Yeah, they've had some $ kickers through the years...which makes the short miss against Iowa State all that more puzzling
He is probably being asked to be a preferred walk-on at Arkansas where they'll get him some scholarship money through the regular financial aid process and because of the in-state deal students from the (918) area code can get with UA, it makes it easier for parents to make up that difference.
As Lawpoke said, OSU usually puts their FG kickers on scholarship right away. Whether or not they offer that scholarship up front is a different story as they may ask him to wait a couple days past the original signing day to see where they stand in the # of scholarships they have left.
If TU came in and offered a scholarship now, they may be able to snag him.
And I still think Romo can be the guy and may give Monty more options when drives stall on the 35 yard line and you still have 10 yards to go.
If Monty is the coach next year it won't matter who the kicker is.
Our issues our systematic which is why we're in year four and we haven't developed a QB and are hoping Baylor developed one for us to play.
In 2016 with Dane Evans at quarterback , Tulsa's "systematic problem" was not so apparent . Every college football staff can evaluate and recruit four star talent, the hard part is getting their signature on the dotted line .
In 2016 the team was entirely Bill Blankenship's. We have seen what four years of this coaching and recruiting produce. Good players who regress. Just go look at any of the QB's who have started since Evans, they play well two three games and then drastically go down.
You want to blame the coaching for lack of improvement . I lean toward the lack of recruiting better talent . The best newcomer this season is Zaven Collins
Brooks is the only true FR to get any meaningful snaps on offense in 2 years since the 2016 season. Keenan Johnson got some in 2016 when we made a change from one of the WRs to him. We are at a point where I think that some of the player decisions are coming down to playing the oldest guys because they are the oldest guys. Lots of coaches make that mistake. I have already seen more from Josh Stewart this season as an outside WR that makes me think he should be in games over Hobbs. I've seen more speed from Crawford that makes me think he needs a couple of series at WR each game.
With only 4 games left and no hope of a bowl game at this point, we better see some more of the young kids out there to see what they can do. It can't get worse. I want to see TK Wilkerson and Reed Martin in the backfield, I want to see Davis Brin for a couple of series. JC Santana, Cooksey, etc. Let's see some of the OL that will need to take over next season. You lose nothing by putting them in a game for a trial against real competition versus them just seeing time in a scrimmage. The new rules allow you to do that to see what you've got without losing a RS.
My problem with it being recruiting is I am not seeing players getting physically beat. We're not being overpowered, we're not being out ran, out jumped, out athleted.
We are not getting abused in one on one situations. The talent to compete is more than there. Texas and Arkansas didn't beat us down. They just played better than us, had fewer mistakes and bad decisions. That's a coaching difference.
Houston and USF are top 25 teams who have had monster recruiting classes and winning records vs the A5 since 2013. We aren't getting physically beat by them.
Even so, if you are right....who recruits these kids? Evaluates them and offers?
The players aren't the problem. The head coach and offensive coordinator are. Which is why we see improvement on the defense and regression on the offense. This is particularly obvious at the QB position where all three starters have consitantly performed worse the longer they were a starter.
That's putting a high expectations of football situation awareness on a head coach who has repeatedly proven he has none. My guess is we will basically never see the freshmen. Monty has to win or he is fired, he won't risk playing them and losing. Which means he'll lose.
He's losing with the upperclassmen he continually runs out there who have shown they aren't getting the job done. I've been consistent in my criticism of 4 positions that have been primary culprits this season. No idea why new players aren't being tried in those positions to see if production improves.
You know why, you just don't want it to be true. Our coach is a bad decision maker.
back to the win. I have the postcard of the painting on the wall, and the NY Times article and the tee shirt stored away, maybe someday to be framed. And, of course, I won't forget the $$$ Barolo at dinner at 10 PM in Chicago to celebrate.
I totally agree with you about Hobbs...the only time he really cut it loose was on the pass route over the middle against Houston, then he fumbled . He just doesn’t play with any urgency and drops way too many balls . I thought he was going to be another Josh Atkinson , but he not even close .
