Last year’s loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Gerald J. Ford Stadium was perhaps the most frustrating of the SMU Mustangs’ 1-11 season, as the Ponies marched for what should have been the game-winning drive, only to see a last-minute should-be touchdown fall harmlessly to the turf, allowing Tulsa to escape with the win.

Todd Graham is in his third season as Tulsa's head coach (photo by tulsahurricane.com).

This year’s Mustangs are more talented, and based on their three victories, more productive, but Tulsa (4-3 overall, 2-1 in Conference USA games) remains one of the conference’s most talented teams, and opened a lot of eyes by hanging tough against No. 5 Boise State in a hard-fought 28-21 loss two weeks ago. Third-year head coach Todd Graham’s team has outscored its opponents this season by an average of 29.9-19.6 points per game.

SMU has won 10 of the previous 16 meetings between the schools, and has a 4-3 advantage in games played in Tulsa.

OFFENSE

The Golden Hurricane is an dangerous offensive unit, but more athletic than its 2008 counterpart, in large part because of the change at the quarterback position. Last year’s offense was guided by efficient-but-less-than-flashy David Johnson. In his place this season is former Texas transfer G.J. Kinne, an extremely mobile athlete who can create a lot of headaches for defenses when he gets out of the pocket, either by throwing on the run or by tucking the ball and taking off upfield.

The theory is to keep Kinne in the pocket to try to eliminate the big play, but that philosophy is not without its flaws, because even when Kinne stands in the pocket and throws, he is still exceptionally careful with the ball. Kinne has completed 107-of-178 passes (60.1 percent) for 1,488 yards and 12 touchdowns, and has thrown just two interceptions in seven games.

“We can’t have our eyes in the backfield at all — that’s what’s going to get you beat,” cornerback Sterling Moore said. “We’ve got to play our man and stay on our assignments, and not worry about what’s going on in the backfield. If he gets outside the pocket, that’s fine. We’re going to cover down the field, because I feel like we did a fairly good job of that in Houston, when (quarterback Case) Keenum got outside the pocket, so we’re going to have to stay on our coverage whether he stays in the pocket or gets outside the pocket.”

New starting quarterback G.J. Kinne has thrown just two interceptions through seven games, and also is a dangerous scrambler (photo by tulsahurricane.com).

Moore said although Kinne has made few mistakes, the SMU defensive line’s ability to generate pressure should increase the Mustangs’ ability to create turnovers.

“It’s always helpful when they can do that,” Moore said of the need to get pressure from the SMU defensive line. “In Houston, they made Keenum make some throws I think he didn’t want to throw, but he threw them anyway. If they can do that against Tulsa, that’s going to be great, because I feel like this is a game where the defense, especially the secondary, is going to bounce back and get some interceptions because we feel like we’ve been lacking in that department in the last couple of games.

“Their quarterback starts out about five (yards deep) and takes his steps back to about seven, but then he steps back up to five when he gets ready to throw the ball, so if we can good pressure with our front three, we should get to him. Our front three are all fast and quick, and they showed what they can do against Houston. They can produce when they need to.”

Part of Kinne’s effectiveness stems from his ability to spread the ball around, as five receivers have at least 12 receptions. The leader is diminutive (5-8) wideout Damaris Johnson, an über-athletic target who leads the team with 25 receptions and 446 receiving yards, and with a team-high 523 yards on 22 kickoff returns. Across the field from Johnson will be Slick Shelley, a 6-foot-4 leaper who creates obvious physical mismatches of his own. Shelley is tied for third on the team with 20 receptions, and is second on the team with four touchdown catches.

“They’re both a concern, but I’d probably say Damaris, by a little bit,” Moore said when asked which Tulsa wideout causes more concern for the SMU defense, “because he’s a big-play guy — any time he touches the ball, it could be a touchdown, so we’ve really got to try to contain him.”

Tulsa likes to throw the ball deep, and not just to Shelley. Even Johnson, despite his lack of size, is a top downfield target for Kinne.

Wide receiver Damaris Johnson leads the Tulsa offense with 25 receptions and 446 receiving yards (photo by tulsahurricane.com).

“They throw (deep) to everybody,” Moore said. “Johnson’s only like 5-8, but they’ve thrown some fades to him, and he’ll go up and get it. He’s a playmaker. They’ll throw to anybody, no matter whether they’re tall or short, from anywhere on the field. I’ve seen a lot of throws to the middle of the field, to the post, so we’re going to have to be conscious of that.

“He’s a great athlete and a great player. They line him up everywhere and give him the ball on fly sweeps and everything, and we just have to contain him and be really physical with him, even when he doesn’t have the ball, to try take away from him when he does have the ball.”

A quick glance at the Tulsa statistics might suggest that stopping the Golden Hurricane’s passing game means shutting down the offense, because no Tulsa runner is averaging more than Jamad Williams’ 32.1 rushing yards per game. But the numbers are deceiving, because TU has eight players with double-digit rushing averages this season.

“They actually rely on the run quite a bit — they just spread it out between everybody, whether it’s the fly sweeps or the reverses, and things like that,” Moore said. “They’re going to get the ball to their playmakers any way possible, whether it’s through the air or on the ground.”

DEFENSE

The Golden Hurricane has forced 15 turnovers in seven games, including eight interceptions and seven recovered fumbles.

Tulsa relies heavily on its secondary, operating its defense out of a base 3-3-5. SMU left guard Josh LeRibeus said that although the Tulsa defense is backloaded with five defensive backs, the Golden Hurricane’s front six is still able to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

“They try to generate pressure with their line,” LeRibeus said. “Half the time they’ll go in with their heads down, and sometimes they’ll do a little spin move on you, but they’re pretty straight-forward. They’ve got a bunch of different stunts they use — more than Houston, and teams like that. It’s not on every play, but they have some different ones that we have to prepare for.”

LeRibeus said the most dangerous player in Tulsa’s defensive front is defensive end Odrick Ray, a 6-3, 261-pound junior who leads the TU defense with four sacks.

“The main guy that I saw (on film) who kept is Ray,” LeRibeus said. They put him everywhere on the line to try to create mismatches — they’ve had him at nose and both ends to try to get him free to get sacks. He’s got a lot of moves.”

Senior cornerback John Destin has four of Tulsa's eight interceptions this season (photo by tulsahurricane.com).

The strength of the Tulsa defense is in its linebackers, where middle linebacker Mike Bryan and weakside linebacker Tanner Antle are second and third on the team in tackles with 52 and 41, respectively.

In addition to being effective run-stoppers, LeRibeus said the Tulsa linebackers are instrumental in helping with the pass rush. The starters — Bryan, Antle and strongside linebacker George Clinkscale have accounted for just four sacks between them, but they come on an assortment of blitzes, and even if they don’t end up sacking the quarterback, they force opposing offenses to account for them, often leaving the defensive line in one-on-one situations.

Tulsa’s five-man secondary is a bit of a misnomer. In addition to the two cornerbacks and free safety, TU employs two other safeties, the “Bandit” and the “Spur” — one of whom often walks up into a linebacker position, virtually creating a 3-4 alignment. The idea is simply to get more speed on the field, particularly in the areas normally occupied by linebackers, just like SMU does in obvious passing situations when Bryce Hudman and/or Robert Mojica is added as a nickel or dime back but plays forward in a position where linebackers normally roam.

Starting “Bandit” DeAundre Brown leads the Tulsa defense with 61 tackles, including two tackles-for-loss and a sack. Starting cornerback John Destin is the only Golden Hurricane defender with more than one interception; his team-high four give him half of the Tulsa team total.