Tulsa Ranked No. 24 in Final AP Poll

DAMARIS JOHNSON

After winning their final seven games, including a road win over Notre Dame and a Sheraton  Hawai’i Bowl blowout over Hawai’i, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane finished the season as the No. 24 ranked team in the Associated Press final poll.

Tulsa ended the season in a two-way tie with SMU in the C-USA West Division.  

Tulsa finished the season with a 6-0 record at Chapman Stadium. That marks the 18th time TU has gone undefeated at home and the 15th time TU has gone undefeated and untied at home. The last time Tulsa finished a season undefeated at Chapman Stadium was in 1989 (5-0). The last time TU went 6-0 at home was in 1978.  

Tulsa’s head coach Todd Graham resigned Monday Jan. 10 to take the head coaching job at Pittsburgh. At Tulsa, Graham has compiled a 36-17 record in four seasons. He led Tulsa to two straight C-USA West Division titles (2007, 2008), one shared C-USA Western Division crown (2010), two appearances in the C-USA Championship Game (2007, 2008), two GMAC Bowl Championships and the 2010 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl Championship. 

Speculative lead candidates for the Tulsa coaching position include Chad Morris, Gus Malzahn, Steve Kragthorpe and Bill Blankenship.

Chad Morris was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa for 2010. However, he has taken the same job at Clemson as of Monday. Gus Malzahn was Morris’ predecessor at offensive coordinator at Tulsa. He has spent the last two seasons in that position at Auburn. 

Kragthorpe was Graham’s predecessor as Tulsa head coach. He is credited for revitalizing the program. Kragthorpe left Tulsa to coach at Louisville. Blankenship is currently the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at TU. He is a legend in the local football community and is credited for initiating the rise of Union High School’s football program during his tenure as head coach there.

Oklahoma finished 6th and Oklahoma State finished 13th. 

Auburn beat Oregon 22-19 in the BCS Championship game and is ranked No. 1. TCU is No. 2, Oregon No. 3, Stanford No. 4 and Ohio State rounds out the top five.

2010 Tulsa Football Schedule