As For Football
An insider's guide for cadets, Old Grads, and Army Football fans.
Cover image via Mike K. Heit at last year's Tulsa game.

Army Football Preview: at Tulsa

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The Black Knights got another monster win this past weekend at home against the Florida Atlantic Owls. That win moved them to 4-2 overall, 3-1 in the American Conference, and with that — combined with Memphis’s loss to Tulane last week — Army looks to be right back in the conference championship race.

This week, though, the Army Team will go on the road for a Friday night game in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that has become critically important for both teams. For Army, a win this week allows them to keep pace with UTSA and North Texas, the current conference leaders. For Tulsa, now 4-3, 1-2 in the American, another loss would mean dropping four of their last five and perhaps put a bowl berth in jeopardy with Tulane, FAU, and UTSA remaining still ahead on their schedule.

A week after Army held arguably the best offense in the conference to just 24 points, 17 points below their per game average, seemingly every betting analyst in America is giving the Black Knights no chance whatsoever in this game. Friends, that opinion feels a little surprising, especially with how consistent it’s been across the board from various pro bettors. But if you’ve not watched the team and only look at the raw statistics, maybe you don’t understand why Army’s defense looked rough the first few weeks before turning the corner two weeks ago. 

Or maybe these guys just think the Black Knights have a bunch of bums out there.

Here’s hoping these guys take it personally. Literally no one is giving them a chance this week, wild as that is a week after they doubled up an actually great team with a legitimately winning record.

Speaking personally, I’d be mad if they were talking about me like that.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Tulsa Head Coach Tre Lamb is in his second season leading the Golden Hurricane. He and his team got off to an electric start early this year, beating a good-looking Oklahoma State team at home in Week One, followed by Sam Houston State and East Texas A&M. Since then, though, this team has gotten blown out by SEC bottomfeeder Arkansas, lost an overtime heartbreaker at home to North Texas, and let Navy come back from a multi-touchdown deficit in the second half to take that game, 34-26. 

Tulsa finally got a win against hapless Rice (1-6, 0-3 in the American) last week, but though the Hurricane won by three touchdowns, they still gave up 289 yards rushing on 5.4 yards per carry to an at-best mediocre Owls attack. This included 154 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns from Rice QB Jacurri Brown. This came a week after Tulsa let Navy QB Jackson Gutierrez rush for a whopping 232 yards and three touchdowns to overcome a four turnover performance from the Squids’ offense.

The good news, then, if you’re the Tulsa defense, is that you’ve seen a LOT of quarterbacks running the football in the very recent past. We’ll see how well they can adjust given all that game tape.

Offense

Tulsa runs a standard collegiate read-option rushing attack led by QB Baylor Hayes. Since we’re talking about offensive styles that defenses have seen a lot lately, Army has seen this particular style offense in four of its last five contests — against USF, at Temple, at La. Tech, and against Tulane. Tulsa’s variant is probably closest to Temple’s or La. Tech’s, though Hayes is not the runner that Temple QB Ajani Sheppard is. Similarly, La. Tech QB Trey Kukuk has been both more accurate and a much better runner. But again, just based on styles, Army has seen this style of offense four times in the past five weeks.

As with Tulsa, here’s hoping they can do something with all that game tape.

Hayes has gone 99/161 passing this season for 1,081 yards (61.5%) with eight touchdowns against just one interception and six sacks. In broad terms, he’s not the most accurate passer, but he takes excellent care of the football. RBs Damari Alston and Trequan Jones carry the load on the ground. Together they have 147 carries for 692 yards (4.7 yards per carry) with six rushing touchdowns. Hayes himself is the team’s fourth-leading rusher, having taken 23 carries for 113 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and two rushing touchdowns. All of this is extremely similar to Temple’s offense generally and to Sheppard’s performance in particular. Sheppard has been a 61.7% passer this season for slightly more yardage with three times as much rushing. Not surprisingly, Temple’s running backs also average about a yard per carry more on the ground.

WR Oran Singleton Jr. leads the Golden Hurricane in receiving with 38 catches for 474 yards and four touchdowns, but Tulsa generally spreads the ball around quite a bit. Five different guys have at least 13 catches, including Alston, their leading running back, who has 15 for 108 yards. Tulsa averages less than 7 yards per attempt through the air, so we should expect to see a decent number of screens and swing passes out of the backfield this week. They can push the ball down the field, but just based on the numbers, this mostly looks like a possession passing game. Given that they also run the ball slightly more often than they throw it, this is a team that very much wants to drive the ball meticulously down the field, hopefully to set up some eventual explosive plays.

Army’s defense will need to counter this the same way they countered Tulane and FAU, by stopping the run, making Tulsa methodically drive the length of the field, and playing good defense down in the red zone. Tulsa has converted just 31.3% of their third downs this season (126th in the FBS), so if the Black Knights can force a few third-and-longs, they’ll most likely give their offense a real chance to win this game.

Defense

Tulsa’s defense has given up a lot of rushing yards this season. They currently rank 121st in the FBS, having allowed 191.6 rushing yards per game and ten rushing touchdowns on 4.3 yards per carry. Some of that will be because of their recent opponents, Rice and Navy, but they also gave up 227 yards rushing on 5.0 yards per carry to North Texas in a game in which the Mean Green also threw for 332 yards. Really, their rushing defense hasn’t looked good since the Arkansas game, when they gave up 309 yards passing but just 132 yards rushing on a mere 3.1 yards per carry. Granted, the Razorbacks have one of the worst rushing offenses in the country, averaging just 111.6 yards per game on 3.3 yards per carry.

The problem for the pro-bettors this week — and for Tulsa’s defense — is that Army isn’t just the nation’s leading rushing attack with 357.5 rushing yards per game. The Black Knights also have the country’s most explosive rushing attack, putting up a whopping 6.5 yards per carry. I know you don’t watch the games, but MOST of those explosive runs haven’t come from the option. They’ve come on either simple Quarterback Zone or Follow plays or on very straightforward Fullback Dives. 

To put that another way, Army is currently rushing for more yardage per play than Tulsa has hit per play through the air, and the Black Knights have mostly done it between the tackles. If anything, Army’s offensive coaching staff would probably like to slow their offense down at times, but they keep breaking loose. This is a truly insane problem to have! Moreover, the Black Knights have twenty-five rushing touchdowns this year, tied for first in the FBS with Louisville.

With all of that said, Tulsa’s defense has been truly excellent at creating turnovers this season. They have eight fumble recoveries and seven interceptions against just three fumbles lost and one interception thrown by Baylor Hayes. The Golden Hurricane also have a very good red zone defense, having allowed just seven rushing touchdowns and six passing touchdowns plus four field goals down inside the twenty-yard line. Army will therefore have to take care of the football this week and finish drives in the end zone. Indeed, to extend the comparison to Temple, arguably the biggest difference between those teams is their turnover margin.

Special Teams

Tulsa PK Owen Carey has gone 19/21 on extra points and 5/6 on field goals with a crucial miss from 40+ against Navy. P Max Tulen averages about 44 yards per kick. He hit a 55 yarder against Rice, but interestingly, he has landed zero kicks inside the twenty-yard line in the last two games.

RB Trequan Jones returns kicks for the Golden Hurricane. He’s averaged about 18 yards per return over the last two games. That could be a critical match-up for an Army special teams unit that has struggled with kickoff returns a few times this year.

Final Thoughts

Friday night’s weather looks ideal. Temperatures should start in the mid-sixties at kickoff and might fall into the mid-fifties as the game progresses. The forecast ten miles per hour of wind shouldn’t be a factor, though that could obviously change in a place known for occasional windiness.

As noted, the Black Knights are currently one-and-a-half to two point underdogs in a game that Massey says they should win by six and in which SP+ gives them a one-point advantage after taking into account the effects of being on the road.

Nobody respects these Black Knights. It’s high time they go out and show people why they should.

Go Army! Beat Tulsa!!!

About the Author

Danno E. Cabeza

Danno E. Cabeza is a member of the West Point Class of 1995 and former Army Swimmer. He now serves as Editor and Managing Partner at As For Football. His new book,
The Return of Dr. Necropolis, comes out December 29th, 2026. Read more of his work at Casa Cabeza.

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