Tulsa Golden Hurricane - a quiet perfect season goes on for Todd Graham and his team

Just who is this team?...the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (singular, not plural) are sitting at 8-0 and will not be making an appearance in a BCS bowl even if they run the table...the Canes are from Conference USA...this Saturday, they travel to take on Arkansas of the SEC...their closest games this season came at SMU on October 11...Tulsa won 37-31...

Head Coach
Todd Graham is in his second year as the head coach at Tulsa...he posted a 10-4 mark in his first year which included a 63-7 trouncing of Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl...the 44-year-old Graham was previously the head coach, for 1 year, at Rice before coming to Tulsa...he also worked as a defensive assistant to Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia...

Offense
Tulsa is a high powered offense as they average 255 yards on the ground and 346 through the air per game...through eight games, they have scored 61 touchdowns...the offense is led by QB David Johnson who has thrown 32 TDs and 9 INTS...Johnson spreads the ball around to various receivers such as Brennan Marion (31 rec, 827 yards, 7TDS), Damaris Johnson (28,388,6), and Slick Shelley (25, 457, 6)...the running game is held down by Tarrion Adams who has 5 rushing TDs and 643 yards...

Tulsa has been in the red zone 50 times this season, and they have scored 44 times (38 TDs 6FGs)...

Defense
Tulsa's D gives up 382 yards per game...the defense does toughen as the game moves on...in the first quarter, they have given up 72 points, 58 in the second, 44 in the third, and 35 in the fourth...opponents have a 41% sucess rating in third down coversions...

James Lockett leads the team with 10 sacks and is followed by Mike Bryan with 7 sacks...

Kicking
The field goal kicker is Jarod Tracy who is 5 of 6 this year, however his longest field goal is 34 yards...Kevin Fitpatrick has made a 41-yard field goal this year...

Notables
This past weekend, Tulsa retired jersey number 83 in honor of former great and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent...other former players with their jerseys retired include: Billy Guy Anderson (#14), Jerry Rhome (#17), Ellis Jones (#31), Felto Prewitt (#36), Glenn Dobbs (#45), Marvin Matuszak (#64), and Howard Twilley (#81)...

Also honored was former Tulsa head football coach John Cooper...Cooper coached Tulsa from 1976-84 and compiled a record of 57-31...