In our next opponent preview, we look at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Like the SMU Mustangs, Tulsa isn’t returning much of their production this season. They rank 126th in returning production, according to ESPN (ESPN+).
Tulsa finished 5-7 last year and returns 41 percent of their offense which ranks 122nd, and returns 38 percent of their defense, which ranks 126th.
They lose their top quarterback Davis Brin but return Braylon Braxton, who played in nine games last year. He completed 56.4 percent of his passes for 1,133 yards, 10 touchdowns, and two interceptions.
The Golden Hurricane have to replace their top two running backs. No longer with the program are Deneric Prince and Steven Anderson, who combined for over 1,000 combined yards.
They did add Oklahoma State Cowboys transfer Braylin Presley, who was a really good high school running back before being moved to receiver at Oklahoma State. He’s now back playing running back and should be competing for a starting spot. The big loss for Tulsa is their top two wide receivers from a year ago.
Keylon Stokes and J.C. Santana combined for over 2,000 yards last season and will be big losses for their offense.
Defensively they lose six of their top eight tacklers from a year ago, only returning Kendarin Ray and Tyree Carlisle in the secondary.
However, they added USC Trojans transfer Julien Simon and Oklahoma State transfers Kanion Williams and Demarco Jones.
All should compete for starting spots, but the three have combined for less than 50 tackles. Tulsa also had five other transfers who should factor into the two deep.
Tulsa does bring in a new coaching staff, with the head coach being someone very familiar to Sooner fans. New head coach Kevin Wilson was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma from 2002-2010.
He’s been the OC for the Ohio State Buckeyes since 2017, so you can expect the offense to be completely different and incredibly explosive. The Tulsa offense could provide some fireworks.
That being said, this is another game Oklahoma should not struggle with because even though it’s on the road, this will be a game with the majority of the crowd wearing crimson and cream.
Score Prediction: 45-10 Oklahoma
Predicted Record: 3-0
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