Tulsa World

[DallasDiehard]

I went to the Tulsa newspaper's website and they make you PAY to read their site! I can understand them wanting you to register - give them an e-mail address and/or physical address so they can pummel you with marketing spam/junkmail. But to PAY to read that paper? Come on! The only other paper I can think of that makes you pay for their on-line edition is the Wall Street Journal (or is it the NYTimes?) And the Tulsa World can not be uttered in the same breath with those papers. It's not a bad paper, but to make folks (non-print subscribers) pay is ridiculous. It's not like they have the market cornered on election coverage, and it's not like they're the only media outlet covering the Sooners and Cowboys. If they have their stories (even a limited number of stories) available for free, they could increase their readership base. But there's not enough demand to read that thing. I want to see what the Tulsa media types are writing about Saturday's game, but their opinions aren't worth $7 a month.

[TUfan]

Don't worry. You are not the only one to complain. Tulsa fans hate the Tulsa World too (in some ways). None the less-- if there is something said it will find its way to the Tulsa message board. I will do my best to try to post them there, but in the mean time, you can always check out the Tulsa Rivals site for the stories.

[DallasDiehard]

What's the URL for the tulsa message board?
Thanks

[TUfan]

http://tulsa.rivals.com/forum.asp

[Laura Bush Lover]

Scouting report: SMUMustangs
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
11/1/2004

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INFO
Coach: Phil Bennett (4-28, 3rd season)

Location: Dallas.

Stadium: Gerald J. Ford Stadium (32,000, natural grass).

Web site: www.smumustangs.com


OFFENSE
Formation: Multiple, spread

Run-pass ratio: 281-269 (51.09 pct)

NCAA ranks: 117th scoring (12.0 ppg), 93rd rushing (112.0 ypg), 69th passing (203.88), 95th overall (315.88).

Top players: QBs Tony Eckert and Jared Romo rank 12th and 13th among WAC players in total offense. WR Chris Foster ranks 13th among WAC players in receptions per game.


DEFENSE
Formation: 4-3.

NCAA ranks: 113th scoring (38.50 ppg), 115th rushing (244.00 ypg), 97th passing (233.38 ypg), 115th overall (477.38 ypg).

Top players: FS Alvin Nnabuife and CB Rolando Humphrey are among the WAC's leading tacklers. DL Allan Adami was second-team All-WAC last season.


SPECIAL

TEAMS
NCAA ranks: 116th net punting (29.91), 42nd punt returns (10.75), 75th kickoff returns (19.11).

Top players: Blake Warren ranks 38th nationally with a punt return average of 10.75. Chris McMurtray is 4-of-5 on field goal attempts. Ryan Mentzel ranks second in the WAC with a punting average of 40.94.


NOTABLE
At this time one week ago, Tulsa's last opponent (Rice) was surrendering 144.0 yards per game. SMU is allowing exactly 100 rushing yards per game more than that. . . . The Mustangs are having trouble running. Romo leads in rushing yards (48.33 per game).


SCHEDULE
si Sept. 4: Texas Tech L, 27-13
Sept. 11: at TCU L, 44-0
Sept. 18: at Oklahoma State L, 59-7
Sept. 25: San Jose State W, 36-13
Oct. 2: at Boise State L, 38-20
Oct. 9: at Rice L, 44-10
Oct. 16: Louisiana Tech L, 41-10
Oct. 30: at Fresno State L, 42-0
Nov. 6: Tulsa
Nov. 13: Nevada
Nov. 20: at UTEP

[Laura Bush Lover]

November perfection
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
11/1/2004

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This month has been an unblemished one for Kragthorpe and top-ranked USC's Carroll.
October ended Sunday and that's great news for the University of Tulsa.

Why? TU's Steve Kragthorpe and USC's Pete Carroll are the only Division I-A head football coaches who have a perfect record in November.

"It's tremendous company to have your name mentioned with Pete Carroll," Kragthorpe said. "It's like comparing apples and oranges in terms of what he has done and what I have done, though."

Carroll, who guided USC to a share of the national championship last season, is 10-0 in November games since becoming USC's coach in 2001. The Trojans went 3-0 in '01, 4-0 in '02 and 3-0 in '03.

Kragthorpe is 4-0 in November games. In his first season as a head coach last year, Kragthorpe guided TU to November victories over UTEP, Rice, Louisiana Tech and San Jose State. The four-game streak allowed the Golden Hurricane to clinch its first winning season since 1991 and a Humanitarian Bowl bid.

How Kragthorpe fares in his second November will determine the destiny of the 2004 Hurricane. Winning remaining games against SMU, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and UTEP would allow Tulsa, which is 2-6 overall and 1-3 in WAC games, to finish

with a .500 regular season record. Tulsa has not finished with .500 or better records in consecutive seasons since going 6-5 and 7-4 in 1985 and 1986.

Is Tulsa, which was winless against Division I-A competition this season before beating Rice 39-22 Saturday night, capable of turning up the temperature to create another hot November?

"Again, it's one at a time," Kragthorpe said. "We've got to go to SMU and they are a very talented football team. They have got their back against the wall right now and they are very dangerous because, like I said, they are an athletic team that can throw the ball well, they can run the ball well and they are going to come after you and try to pressure your offense from a defensive standpoint. So we have got our work cut out for us to go on the road and win a football game, which is something we have not done this season."

Kragthorpe said TU is "starting to play pretty good football right now." Before securing the most lopsided victory over Rice in school history, the Hurricane took unbeaten Boise State down to the wire and lost in triple overtime at Nevada. Kragthorpe said TU will have to continue to play good football to win any more games.

A football cliche says teams are remembered for what they do in November.

"November is the month when championships are won," Carroll said.

Said Kragthorpe, "Whether you are winning a championship in November or whether you are concluding your season in a positive fashion, I do think there is a lot to be said for how you finish. That's certainly something we are going to continue to emphasize is how we finish this season."

Although Carroll and Kragthorpe are the lone Division I-A coaches with perfect records, Connecticut's Randy Edsall deserves partial membership in the club. He is unbeaten in November games since the Huskies jumped to Division I-A in 2002. But an Edsall-coached squad went 0-4 against I-A opponents in November 2001, when UConn was in its final year at the I-AA level.

Kragthorpe's last November loss came on Nov. 24, 2002, when he was quarterbacks coach of the Buffalo Bills. Carroll's last November loss came on Nov. 28, 1999, when he was the New England Patriots' head coach. The common denominator was Drew Bledsoe, who was the losing quarterback in both defeats.

[DallasDiehard]

Thanks for the reports, LBL!

[Laura Bush Lover]

TU's Davis all revved up about TDs
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
11/2/2004

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Hurricane return man, car buff can set an NCAA record at SMU.
Football really is a simple game. Darious Davis, father of University of Tulsa kick returner Ashlan Davis, told a story to illustrate that point.

"When he started out playing pee wee football, I told him 'if you like running with the ball and don't like getting hit, the best thing to do is just try to outrun everybody.' "

Oh, is that all?

Ashlan is still putting dad's advice to good use. The junior receiver is the second player in NCAA history to return kickoffs for touchdowns in three straight games and he will try to become the first to do it four games in a row when TU plays a Saturday game at SMU.

Davis is from Mesquite, Texas, so plenty of friends and family members will make the short trip to Gerald J. Ford Stadium to watch his history-making bid. No Division I-A player has ever returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in a season, much less in four straight games.

Davis is not the fastest player on TU's team, according to coach Steve Kragthorpe, but has a knack for returning kicks and is capable of accelerating from zero to touchdown in a matter of seconds.

The car analogy is

appropriate because Davis' off-the-field love is automobiles. His former high school coach, Bill Taylor, used to spot hot rod magazines in Davis' locker all the time.

Davis gained an appreciation for fast cars as a kid because his father is a mechanic who often took his boys to motor sports events.

"Their bedroom wall is covered with pictures and posters of cars," said Davis' mother, Carla. "I want to take them down, but they tell me just to keep the door closed and don't take the posters off the wall."

Davis likes to get his hands dirty working on cars and his dream is to someday own a car customizing shop, according to his father.

The family owns several classic autos, including a 1969 Camaro, a 1953 Ford truck and a 1966 Chevrolet truck.

Davis drove the souped-up Camaro while he was attending Tyler (Texas) Junior College, but is currently without wheels.

Why?

Carla said he got so many speeding tickets that mom and dad took the car away.

Opponents wish it was that easy to slow Davis down on Saturdays. He ranks eighth nationally with a kickoff return average of 29.79 yards per attempt, including 41.44 the last three games.

Regardless of distance, few players have come farther.

Davis was a defensive back and backup running back as a junior at Poteet High School in Mesquite. He was the team's leading rusher as a senior.

Dad shopped the 5-foot-8 kid to recruiters from schools like LSU and Texas A&M. The reply was "thanks, but no thanks."

Davis' father acknowledged that LSU and A&M have done well with players they chose to recruit. The Tigers, after all, shared a national championship last season. But, he said, "They overlook kids that are smaller that they haven't heard of. I think that's one of the main things that hurts them. They overlook some of the kids they don't know about and, before they know it, they are the same kids who come back and burn you."

Davis flew so far under the recruiting radar screen that he walked on at Tyler Junior College.

"He went to Tyler as a defensive player and they found out he was running too fast backwards and was tripping over himself," said Davis' father. "So they said 'let's turn him around and run him the other way' and they found out he was faster than most of the kids they had down there."

Taylor, no longer the coach at Mesquite Poteet, remembers Davis as a player who was a gamer despite not always going full-throttle in practice.

"When the lights came on, he turned it on," said the former coach, who recalled that Davis returned at least three kickoffs for scores in high school.

Taylor said Davis always seemed to have more confidence in himself than other people had in him. "I knew he always had the ability to play at a Division I school if people would just give him a chance."

Davis blossomed as a pass catcher at Tyler, producing nearly 1,000 receiving yards during his final season there. Tulsa needed a receiver to replace Romby Bryant and was one of three I-A programs (Louisiana Tech and Wyoming were the others) to offer Davis a scholarship.

"Nobody believed in me," he told the Tulsa World earlier this year. "Every day I feel I have to prove myself. If you're not improving your play every day, somebody is out there getting better than you."

When Davis filled out a preseason questionnaire for TU sports information director Don Tomkalski, he wrote that his ideal ESPN highlight would be "shaking everybody on the field at least once."

He's essentially done that three straight games. Kragthorpe said Davis broke three tackles during an 83-yard return against Rice.

Rice coach Ken Hatfield said Davis is an outstanding return man who earned his place in the NCAA record book. Hatfield said he believes Davis' success is contagious because it makes everyone else on TU's kickoff return unit "try that much harder."

Kragthorpe agreed, adding that other players on the kickoff return team are starting to take "ownership" of Davis' accomplishments. Said the coach, "Ashlan has made some great individual efforts, but you couldn't do it without the 10 other guys out there.

"So I think that is a group right now that has a lot of confidence and knows that we've got a chance to take it to the house every time we touch it."

[Laura Bush Lover]

No margin for error
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
11/4/2004

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There is none for non-BCS conference stars when it comes to Heisman Trophy voting
It was 40 years ago that University of Tulsa quarterback Jerry Rhome finished second in Heisman Trophy balloting. TU receiver Howard Twilley was the Heisman runner-up the next season.

Because of the class structure that exists in college football now, they could be among the last of their species. Will a player from a non-BCS conference ever finish first or second in Heisman voting again?

Fair or unfair, teams from BCS conferences (college football's six power broker leagues) are automatically assumed to be better than non-BCS conference teams. That's why Utah and Boise State, both unbeaten, rank no better than 7th and 16th in this week's Associated Press poll.

Players from non-BCS schools must overcome a similar stigma. They have to put up unbelievable numbers, and they have almost zero margin for error, if they want to be in contention for postseason awards.

Hawaii's Timmy Chang will become college football's all-time passing leader Saturday, but he vanished from the Heisman radar screen as soon as the Warriors dropped a season opener to Florida Atlantic. Lose a game and you are demoted from Heisman hopeful to novelty act. That's not the



case at Notre Dame, where Paul Hornung won the 1956 Heisman despite playing for a 2-8 team.

Since 1995, the top three spots in every Heisman race have gone to players from schools currently aligned with BCS conferences. The only players from non-BCS leagues to crack the top five during that span were Marshall's Randy Moss, fifth in 1997; Marshall's Chad Pennington, fifth in 1999; TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson, fourth in 2000; and Fresno State's David Carr, fifth in 2001.

Check NFL accomplishments since and try to make a case that any of them weren't capable of putting up big numbers for a BCS school.

"I would imagine if David would have been at a BCS school it might have helped him (in the Heisman race)," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. "But it shouldn't have made any difference. ... With the teams he played on national TV and the type of numbers he put up, he should have definitely been in contention. Why he wasn't, that's still a mystery to me. But he was the first player picked in the draft, so obviously somebody understood he was a good player."

TU coach Steve Kragthorpe believes a player from a non-BCS conference can be a legitimate Heisman contender "if he is truly, in most people's eyes, the best player in college football."

But Kragthorpe indicated the player will have to put up striking numbers "just to dispel in some peoples' minds the level of competition." He thinks it is worth keeping an eye on Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky, who is on pace to accumulate big career numbers.

USA Today's Kelly Whiteside oversees Heisman voters in the New York City area. She said Utah quarterback Alex Smith is giving hope to players and schools not affiliated with BCS conferences.

"That's what it is going to take is a BCS-buster school like Utah to be a top 10 team in the country and to have a star-power quarterback or a star-power running back be among the nation's best players," she said.

"For a non-BCS school outside the top 10, I don't see it. I think there are too many obstacles to overcome for a guy who plays for one of those teams to win the Heisman. But with what Utah is showing right now, I think there is reason to hope that Alex Smith could earn an invitation."

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated.com indicated Smith probably can't win. "The Heisman electorate is filled with people who only casually cover the sport . . . who have not yet caught on or perhaps refuse to accept the fact that Utah is a legitimate team," he told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Fortunately for Rhome and Twilley, "BCS" wasn't part of the national lexicon when they played. Tulsa competed in the Missouri Valley Conference then and MVC football was likely viewed suspiciously by Heisman voters. But Rhome said he has never considered TU to be anything but a big-time program.

Coach Glenn Dobbs turned TU into a statistical giant when his Golden Hurricane teams led the nation in passing every year from 1962-66. Rhome and Twilley flourished and set numerous NCAA records during that span.

Rhome credited Dobbs and former Tulsa World sports editor Bill Connors for spawning publicity that allowed TU to produce Heisman contenders.

Rhome said Connors "was our No. 1 supporter in the state of Oklahoma. He wrote a whole lot of articles. He had a lot to do with us getting recognition."

How did Dobbs make a publicity impact?

"Before the season started, he wrote letters to about every sports writer in America and predicted all these things that were going to happen and they happened," Rhome said. "He said we would break records and be the No. 1 passing team. It was unreal for him to step out on a limb like that and predict what his team was going to do."

Stories about TU football appeared in newspapers coast-to-coast. That was big in a pre-ESPN era. Rhome realized the impact of the exposure when he was once approached by someone in Seattle who said that, as a kid, he and a buddy pretended to be Rhome and Twilley while playing backyard football.

Rhome passed for then-NCAA records of 2,870 yards and 32 touchdowns as a senior and was the national leader in total offense and passing efficiency. He was second in Heisman voting to Notre Dame's John Huarte, who threw for 2,062 yards and 16 TDs. Huarte's margin of victory (74 points) is sixth-smallest in history. Finishing third was Illinois linebacker [deleted] Butkus.

Sports Illustrated described the '64 vote as controversial. Rhome said he always considered himself fortunate to be in the mix. Did he deserve to win?

"I can't answer that," he said during a recent telephone interview. "(Huarte's team) had a great year. They were undefeated (before losing a regular season finale against USC). He had a great year. There were other people that had good years."

Rhome said he didn't give much thought to the Heisman back then because he was focused on helping TU secure its first bowl bid in 11 years.

"Now they make such a big deal about the Heisman. I think back and think it would have been really nice to win it, but it wasn't meant to be. I'm not taking anything away from Huarte. He had a great year."

Twilley finished second to USC's Mike Garrett in 1965. NCAA records Twilley set that year were most receptions per game (13.4) and most consecutive 200-yard games (three).

"Howard had two unbelievable years in a row and no receiver that came before him or after him for years and years and years came close to duplicating what he did," Rhome said.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Strike a pose
Tulsa's Jerry Rhome and Howard Twilley finished second in Heisman Trophy voting in 1964 and 1965, respectively. Following are top three placers in Heisman balloting since.

1964: John Huarte (Notre Dame), Jerry Rhome (Tulsa), [deleted] Butkus (Illinois).
1965: Mike Garrett (USC), Howard Twilley (Tulsa), Jim Grabowski (Illinois).
1966: Steve Spurrier (Florida), Bob Griese (Purdue), Nick Eddy (Notre Dame).
1967: Gary Beban (UCLA), O.J. Simpson (USC), Leroy Keyes (Purdue).
1968: O.J. Simpson (USC), Leroy Keyes (Purdue), Terry Hanratty (Notre Dame).
1969: Steve Owens (Oklahoma), Mike Phipps (Purdue), Rex Kern (Ohio State).
1970: Jim Plunkett (Stanford), Joe Theismann (Notre Dame), Archie Manning (Texas).
1971: Pat Sullivan (Auburn), Ed Marinaro (Cornell), Greg Pruitt (Oklahoma).
1972: Johnny Rodgers (Nebraska), Greg Pruitt (Oklahoma), Rich Glover (Nebraska).
1973: John Cappalletti (Penn State), John Hicks (Ohio State), Roosevelt Leaks (Texas).
1974: Archie Griffin (Ohio State), Anthony Davis (USC), Joe Washington (Oklahoma).
1975: Archie Griffin (Ohio State), Chuck Muncie (California), Ricky Bell (USC).
1976: Tony Dorsett (Pittsburgh), Ricky Bell (USC), Rob Lytle (Michigan).
1977: Earl Campbell (Texas), Terry Miller (Oklahoma State), Ken McAfee (Notre Dame).
1978: Billy Sims (Oklahoma), Chuck Fusina (Penn State), Rick Leach (Michigan).
1979: Charles White (USC), Billy Sims (Oklahoma), Marc Wilson (BYU).
1980: George Rogers (South Carolina), Hugh Green (Pittsburgh), Herschel Walker (Georgia).
1981: Marcus Allen (USC), Herschel Walker (Georgia), Jim McMahon (BYU).
1982: Herschel Walker (Georgia), John Elway (Stanford), Eric Dickerson (SMU).
1983: Mike Rozier (Nebraska), Steve Young (BYU), Doug Flutie (Boston College).
1984: Doug Flutie (Boston College), Keith Byars (Ohio State), Robbie Bosco (BYU).
1985: Bo Jackson (Auburn), Chuck Long (Iowa), Robbie Bosco (BYU).
1986: Vinny Testaverde (Miami), Paul Palmer (Temple), Jim Harbaugh (Michigan).
1987: Tim Brown (Notre Dame), Don McPherson (Syracuse), Gordon Lockbaum (Holy Cross).
1988: Barry Sanders (Oklahoma State), Rodney Peete (USC), Troy Aikman (UCLA).
1989: Andre Ware (Houston), Anthony Thompson (Indiana), Major Harris (West Virginia).
1990: Ty Detmer (BYU), Raghib Ismail (Notre Dame), Eric Bieniemy (Colorado).
1991: Desmond Howard (Michigan), Casey Weldon (Florida State), Ty Detmer (BYU).
1992: Gino Torretta (Miami, Fla.), Marshall Faulk (San Diego State), Garrison Hearst (Georgia).
1993: Charlie Ward (Florida State), Heath Shuler (Tennessee), David Palmer (Alabama).
1994: Rashaan Salaam (Colorado), Ki-Jana Carter (Penn State), Steve McNair (Alcorn State).
1995: Eddie George (Ohio State), Tommie Frazier (Nebraska), Danny Wuerffel (Florida).
1996: Danny Wuerffel (Florida), Troy Davis (Iowa State), Jake Plummer (Arizona State).
1997: Charles Woodson (Michigan), Peyton Manning (Tennessee), Ryan Leaf (Washington State).
1998: Ricky Williams (Texas), Michael Bishop (Kansas State), Cade McNown (UCLA).
1999: Ron Dayne (Wisconsin), Joe Hamilton (Georgia Tech), Michael Vick (Virginia Tech).
2000: Chris Weinke (Florida State), Josh Heupel (Oklahoma), Drew Brees (Purdue).
2001: Eric Crouch (Nebraska), Rex Grossman (Florida), Ken Dorsey (Miami, Fla.).
2002: Carson Palmer (USC), Brad Banks (Iowa), Larry Johnson (Penn State).
2003: Jason White (Oklahoma), Larry Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh), Eli Manning (Mississippi).

[Laura Bush Lover]

Notepad
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
11/4/2004

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Tulsa plays a Saturday game at SMU and that means it's reunion time for Golden Hurricane receiver Ashlan Davis and Mustangs quarterback Tony Eckert. They are former Tyler (Texas) Junior College teammates.

"I wish I could still be playing with him, but I'm not," Eckert said.

TU was not in the market for a junior college quarterback and did not pursue Eckert, who said it will be "kind of weird" to play against Davis.

Eckert threw for 2,359 yards last season while helping Tyler to its first 10-win season since 1969. Davis produced 960 receiving yards at Tyler last year and leads TU with a 16.8 receiving average, but has gained notoriety as a special teams player. He has tied NCAA records for kickoff returns for a touchdown in consecutive games and in one season (three each).

"That is really something," Eckert said. "He's a great kid and I'm really happy for him."

Eckert hinted that Davis has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. The quarterback said Davis caught tipped passes and turned them into touchdowns two or three times in junior college games.

Transfer of power: TU quarterback Jerry Rhome was a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1964. He began his career at SMU.

Rhome



said he never would have transferred "if they hadn't fired my coach."

Bill Meek, who favored a passing offense, was fired and replaced by Hayden Fry, who emphasized the run and wanted to throw primarily on third-and-long, according to Rhome.

A prolific passer, Rhome considered Mississippi and Nebraska before enrolling at Tulsa. Mississippi was scratched after Rhome was told he would have to pay for his tuition and expenses during his first year on campus. He stopped to visit TU's campus en route to Nebraska and never made it to Lincoln.

The one that got away came back to haunt Mississippi. In 1964, Rhome led TU to a 14-7 victory over Ole Miss in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Crash course: SMU tailback Foy Munlin considers himself lucky to be walking.

On Aug. 19, Munlin was driving a car that was hit head-on by a pick-up truck. The first thing he did when he got out of the car was to run down the street to make sure his limbs still functioned, according to the Dallas Morning News. He sprained a thumb and shoulder, but started the season opener.

Munlin is a senior, but is playing his first and only season at SMU. He transferred from Texas Tech because he wanted to play for a team that places a bigger priority on running.

Life after death: SMU's 1989 team, the school's first following the NCAA's so-called "death penalty," was honored at halftime of a previous home game this season. The '89 team went 2-9.

SMU, which will finish this year with a losing record, has just one winning season -- 6-5 in 1997 -- since relaunching the football program. The Mustangs strung together six straight winning seasons prior to the "death penalty."