Tulsa Announces 2010 Football Schedule
Tulsa, Okla. –– Conference USA has released the league football schedule for the 2010 season, and the Golden Hurricane will host Tulane, Rice, UTEP and Southern Miss. Tulsa’s non-conference schedule was released on January 8th. The Hurricane will play a total of six Bowl teams from last season.
“We have a very challenging overall schedule, both in Conference USA and with our non-league schedule,” said Tulsa Head Coach Todd Graham. “We’ll play four of the top-5 teams from a year ago, including first-place East Carolina and third-place Southern Miss from the east, and the top two teams from the west division, Houston and SMU. Three of those games will be on the road, so our league schedule will be extremely difficult.”
“Our non-conference schedule with Bowling Green, who had a really good year last season, Oklahoma State, who was one of the top teams in the country last year, and Notre Dame, is very demanding. The overall schedule is one that creates a lot of opportunities for our football program, and one that we’ll have to be at our very best. We’re excited about our team and the schedule we’re presented with in 2010,” added Graham.
Four of Tulsa’s six road opponents –– Oklahoma State, and C-USA teams East Carolina, SMU and Houston –– were made bowl appearances last year, while a fifth Notre Dame was bowl eligible with six victories in 2009.
Tulsa opens the Conference USA schedule on the first weekend of the season as the Golden Hurricane travels to play two-time defending C-USA Champion East Carolina and new coach Ruffin McNeill. The Hurricane and Pirates will play on Sunday, September 5th in Greenville, NC, a game slated for ESPN2 at 2 pm (ET).
It’s the third straight season that Tulsa has opened the Conference USA slate on the road in the season opener. In 2008, the Hurricane opened up at UAB with a 45-22 victory and last year claimed a 37-13 victory over Tulane in New Orleans.
A week later, Tulsa begins its’ non-conference schedule with the home opener against Bowling Green on September 11th at H.A. Chapman Stadium. The two teams last played in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6, 2008, as the Hurricane claimed a 63-7 victory to improve its’ series record against the Falcons to 2-0.
BGSU played in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl last December, losing in the waning seconds to Idaho, 43-42.
The Hurricane will then travel the Cimarron Turnpike to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys a week later on Sept. 18th. TU and OSU have not played since the 2004 campaign. This contest is the first of a new three-game series that has Tulsa hosting the Cowboys in 2011 and returning to Stillwater in 2012.
Tulsa then closes the month of September with another non-league home game against Central Arkansas on Sept. 25th. Tulsa has played UCA once before, capturing a 62-34 win in the 2008 campaign.
Tulsa gets back into Conference USA play to start the month of October and for the second consecutive season the Hurricane will play its’ first three league games on the road.
On October 2, Tulsa continues Conference USA action with a road game at Memphis. The Tigers are under the leadership of first-year coach Larry Porter. Tulsa captured a 33-30 overtime win in the final game of the 2009 season at Chapman Stadium.
Tulsa then will travel to SMU for an October 9th date against the Mustangs. SMU captured a road win in Tulsa last year, 27-13.
The Hurricane will get its first C-USA home game in the fourth week of the conference schedule as Tulsa hosts Tulane on Oct. 16th. Tulsa has won the match-up against the Green Wave in each of the last five seasons since becoming league members and has an overall 5-1 record in the series.
After an open week (Oct. 23), Tulsa will close out its non-conference schedule in the middle of the Conference USA slate, as the Hurricane visits South Bend, Indiana, to play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, under first-year head coach Brian Kelly, on Oct. 30th. It will be the first time that these two teams have played on the gridiron.
The month of November has the Hurricane closing out the regular season with three home games at H.A. Chapman Stadium beginning with the Rice Owls on Nov. 6th. Tulsa has won the last three meetings against the Owls, including a 27-10 win last year.
Tulsa’s lone road game in November comes against the defending C-USA West Division Champion Houston Cougars and quarterback Case Keenum. The Hurricane travels to play Houston on Nov. 13th. Last year’s game saw the nation’s 13th-ranked Cougars kick a last second field goal in Tulsa to claim a 46-45 victory.
The Hurricane returns home for the final two weekends to face West Division foe UTEP on Nov. 20th, and the Eastern Division favorite Southern Miss on the final Saturday of the regular season, Nov. 27th.
Tulsa 2010 Football Schedule
Date Opponent
Sept. 5 at East Carolina*
Sept. 11 BOWLING GREEN
Sept. 18 at Oklahoma State
Sept. 25 CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Oct. 2 at Memphis*
Oct. 9 at SMU*
Oct. 16 TULANE*
Oct. 30 at Notre Dame
Nov. 6 RICE*
Nov. 13 at Houston*
Nov. 20 UTEP*
Nov. 27 SOUTHERN MISS*Conference USA Games
Updated 03-17-2010
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