Howdy from the Oil Capital of the World. Wiley Pettibone here, petroleum geology grad, Golden Hurricane lifer and the only man in Tulsa who reads a box score like a well log. Every good drive is a gusher. Every bad one is a dry well. And last Saturday in Houston, friends, the second quarter came in like Spindletop.
This week we've got two jobs on the rig. First, the core sample from our 38-17 win at Rice. Second, a Friday night date at Chapman Stadium with Army, a team that treats the forward pass the way I treat a dry hole: politely, and from a distance.
Part 1: The Core Sample, Tulsa 38, Rice 17
I'll be honest with you, because a geologist who fudges the readings gets people hurt. The first 19 minutes in Houston were a dry well. Rice quarterback Jacurri Brown ran 50 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, Tommy Bauchiero kicked a field goal, and then Brown ran 78 yards for another score. Tulsa trailed 17-7 early in the second quarter, and I started checking the drilling permits.
Then the pressure built, the way it does. Damari Alston had already punched in a 4-yard run. Baylor Hayes hit Javon Ross for an 11-yard touchdown with 2:48 left in the half, then found Oran Singleton Jr. from 8 yards out with 33 seconds left. Twenty-one points in the second quarter, and a 21-17 halftime lead. That's not a drive, friends. That's a field coming in.
After that, the Rice offense never struck oil again. The Owls were shut out over the final 40 minutes and 59 seconds. Owen Carey hit a 35-yard field goal in the third, Hayes threw a 6-yard touchdown to Sevion Morrison early in the fourth, and Trequan Jones ran 45 yards for a score, with Hayes running in the two-point try, to make it 38-17.
The readings, filed properly: Hayes completed 20 of 27 passes for 249 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Singleton caught seven balls for 87 yards. Jones ran 12 times for 77 yards, and Alston added 52 and a touchdown. Tulsa had zero turnovers and out-gained Rice 401-351. Tyson Williams led the defense with 12 tackles. Brown ran for 154 yards, a career-high-tying day, and I'll tip my hard hat to him. But a quarterback who completes two of six passes is a one-pump operation, and our defense eventually capped the well.
Tulsa is 4-3, 1-2 in the American, and the season has had some real geology to it. We opened by beating Oklahoma State 24-10, which I will mention at every family reunion until the Lord calls me home. We lost a 45-44 heartbreaker to North Texas and dropped a 34-26 game at Navy. Now we've won two of three, and we get the other service academy at home.
Part 2: Army Comes to Chapman
Friday night, 8:30 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN2. Army (4-2, 3-1 American) at Tulsa. Lights on, Route 66 out front, and a crowd that remembers last November.
What We Know About the Black Knights
I'll give the visitors their due, because Mama raised me to respect a hard worker. Army beat Florida Atlantic 56-24 last Saturday. Cale Hellums ran for 195 yards and five touchdowns. The Black Knights scored on their first seven possessions, ran for 479 yards and threw exactly two passes. Two. I have seen more forward passes at a church picnic.
Army leads FBS at 357.5 rushing yards per game and holds the ball 34:42 a game, third in the country. Hellums has 719 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. It's a slow, steady, deep-well operation, and it works.
Now let me tell you what the survey shows underneath. Army's defense allows 368.0 yards per game, 84th in FBS, and opponents convert 52.1 percent of their third downs on it. That's 124th in the country. Friends, that's not a defense. That's a porous rock formation. Oil flows right through it.
The Matchup, Explained With Rocks
Our honest problem: Tulsa allows 191.6 rushing yards per game, 121st in FBS, and Army runs the ball more than anybody in the country. If the Black Knights get their convoy rolling, it'll be a long night of watching the clock drain like a tank with a leak.
Our honest advantage: Tulsa is plus-11 in turnover margin, third in FBS. This defense takes the ball away. When you play a team that runs 60 times a game, every carry is another chance for somebody in gold to rip it loose. One fumble against an option team is a gusher. Two is a boom town.
On offense, Hayes has 1,081 passing yards, eight touchdowns and one interception this year, and Singleton leads the team with 38 catches for 474 yards. Army's pass defense allows 220.0 yards per game, 87th. I like Hayes throwing into that formation.
The thing that has to change is third down. Tulsa converts 31.3 percent, 125th in FBS. Against a defense that lets opponents convert 52.1 percent, Friday is a chance to fix that reading for good. Stay on the field, keep Army's offense on the sideline, and make the cadets watch.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com has Tulsa ahead 2-1 all-time. Tulsa won 49-39 at West Point in 2007. Army won 49-7 here in 2024, and I don't want to talk about it. And last November, Tulsa went to West Point and won 26-25. One point, on the road, against the academy. That one goes in the core library, labeled and sealed.
Town Report: Tulsa vs. "West Point"
Tulsa. We are a city of 413,066 people as of the 2020 census, and for most of the 20th century the whole world called us the Oil Capital of the World. That boom built a skyline full of Art Deco. We call ourselves the Birthplace of Route 66, and Chapman Stadium, which opened in 1930 as Skelly Field, sits right on it. Cain's Ballroom, built in 1924, is where Bob Wills popularized Western swing. The Gathering Place is a 66-acre park on the river with a boathouse, a skate park and trails. The Philbrook Museum of Art sits in an oil pioneer's old villa.
And we have the Golden Driller, a 76-foot, 43,500-pound statue of an oil worker in front of the Expo Center. The inscription at his base dedicates him to the men of the petroleum industry and credits what they built to "God's abundance." Amen to that. He has been the official state monument since 1979. You don't get a monument like that by throwing two passes a game.
West Point. Now, I love our troops, and I thank God for every one of them. But somebody has to read the survey on their hometown, and I've got the clipboard. West Point, New York, is not technically a town. It's a census-designated place inside the town of Highlands. The 2020 census counted 7,341 people. The Black Knights' entire hometown would fill about a quarter of Chapman Stadium, with room left over for the band.
West Point was picked because of an S-curve in the Hudson River, and during the Revolution they strung a great chain across that river to stop ships. Friends, that's a whole town built around a traffic jam. It's also where Benedict Arnold tried to hand the place to the British, which is the most famous thing to happen there that didn't involve a parade.
And the mascot. Army brings mules, a tradition that dates to 1899, chosen because mules hauled Army gear. A pack animal. We have a hurricane. I understand the hurricane is a little far from the ocean, and I've heard the jokes. But I'll take a storm over a cargo animal any Friday night.
Closing the Well
Here's my reading. Army is going to run the ball, and run it, and run it. We need to hit the rock hard, take the ball away when the chance comes, and let Hayes find Singleton when Army's defense creeps up. Win the turnovers. Win third down. Drill a gusher or two before halftime and make the cadets throw a third pass.
Come early, grab a seat on Route 66, and wave at the Golden Driller on the way in. He's been waiting since 1966. He can wait one more night for a win.
My call: Army Black Knights 28, Tulsa Golden Hurricane 24.