Prince Rushes for 231 Yards
10/21/2022
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. –– Deneric Prince rushed for a career-high 231 yards in leading Tulsa to a 27-16 victory over the Temple Owls Friday night in front of 13,607 fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Hurricane improved to 3-4 on the season and 1-2 in American Athletic Conference play, while Temple fell to 2-5 and 0-3 in league play.
Tulsa’s run game amassed a season-high of 299 yards and 454 total yards, while the Hurricane defense held the Owls to 280 yards. The Hurricane fell behind early 10-0 on an interception return and field goal, but the defense kept the Owls out of the end zone until a fourth quarter score.
Although the rushing attack took control of the game for Tulsa, the Hurricane passing game shared the spotlight as Keylon Stokes became the school’s career receiving leader on his third reception of the game and ended with 37 yards on four catches. He broke Howard Twilley’s record that has lasted for more than 55 years and now has 3,352 career yards, surpassing Twilley’s mark of 3,343.
In addition to Prince’s 84-yard TD run, the senior running back also had an 18-ayrd reception for a score in the first half. Quarterback Davis Brin finished the game with 155 yards on 15-of-22 passes for the Hurricane.After a scoreless first quarter, Tulsa’s offense came alive in the second quarter, scoring 14 points to take a 14-10 halftime lead.
In second half it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that either team scores as Tulsa put three points on the board early in the period when Zack Long connected on a 24-yard field goal, capping a 10-play, 62-yard drive for the Hurricane.
The score gave Tulsa a seven-point lead at 17-10 with 13:33 remaining in the contest.
A series later it took just one play as Prince rattled off the school’s fourth-longest run in history with a 84-yard scamper to turn it into a 24-10 Tulsa lead.
The Owls scored its first offensive touchdown at the 6:08 mark of the final stanza to cut into Tulsa’s lead 24-16 after failing on a two-point conversion. When Temple got the ball back with 2:58 remaining, Tulsa’s defense shut down the Owls on four straight plays to retake possession. Long knocked through a 39-yarder for what would be the final score at 27-16.
Temple jumped out to a 10-0 lead before the first five minutes clicked off the clock as Tulsa turnovers led to its deficit. Brin’s first two passes were picked off by Temple defenders. The first resulted in a 35 interception return by Layton Jordan for a 7-0 lead, while the second led to a Owls field goal.
The defenses dominated after the first quarter as the Owls held Tulsa to 26 total yards, 1.9 yards per play, had two interceptions and three quarterback sacks. The Hurricane defense limited the Owls to 50 yards of total offense and 3.1 yards per play.
Tulsa’s offense got on track in the second quarter by totaling 189 yards, 120 via the air and 69 on the ground, for an 8.2 average per play. The Hurricane took its first 2nd-quarter possession 94 yards in nine plays as Brin connected on screen pass to Deneric Prince for an 18-yard touchdown.
On its third possession of the second quarter, Brin led the Hurricane on an 86-yard, 10-play drive that resulted in a 3-yard shovel pass to Ethan Hall for a 14-10 Tulsa lead with just 0:11 left on the first-half clock.
Tulsa ended the first half with a 215 to 104-yard edge in total offense with 95 yards coming on the ground and 120 passing yards.
TEAM STATS
COURTESY TULSA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
