T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T u l s a Golden Hurricane Football TULSA vs. #1 OKLAHOMA • Saturday • Sept. 3, 2011 7:11 pm (CT) • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Okla. RELEASE #1 GAME #1 THE GAME . The TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (10-3, 6-2 C-USA GAME CAPSULE in 2010) opens the 2011 football season on the road against the nation's No. • THE GAME: Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs. 1-ranked OKLAHOMA SOONERS (12-2, 6-2 Big 12 in 2010) . the two teams will #1 Oklahoma Sooners, Saturday, Sept. 3, kick-off the season on Saturday, September 3, 2011 in a nationally televised game 7:11 pm (CT) on FX from the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (82,112) in Norman, • THE SITE: Gaylord Family Oklahoma Oklahoma . kick-off time is 7:11 pm (CT). Memorial Stadium (82,112) • THE SERIES: OU leads 16-7-1 THE SERIES . This is the 25th meeting between Tulsa and Oklahoma • THE COACHES: Tulsa's Bill Blanken . OU leads the series 16-7-1 . the Sooners have won the last five meetings, ship (0-0, 1st year); Oklahoma's Bob including the last time in Norman in 2009 by a score of 45-0 . the Sooners have Stoops (129-31, 13th year) • RADIO: KRMG 740 AM/FM 102.3 (Bruce outscored the Hurricane by a margin of 233 to 36 in the last five meetings . Howard, Rick Couri, Chris Kaiser) Tulsa's last victory in the series came in the 1996 season, as the Hurricane cap- • TV: FX Channel 35 (Gus Johnson, tured a 31-24 win in Norman . OU has won 10 of the last 11 games, while in nine Charles Davis, Tim Brewster) of those wins the Sooners were ranked among the nation's top-20 . Oklahoma leads the series in Norman, 10-3-1 . the most points scored by Tulsa in the TULSA series was those 31 points in the 1996 game. GOLDEN HURRICANE (0-0, 0-0 C-USA) TULSA OPENS ON THE ROAD FOR THE FIFTH Sept. 3 @ Oklahoma (FX) 7 pm STRAIGHT YEAR . This year's season opener at No.1-ranked Okla- Sept. 10 @ Tulane* (CSS) 2:30 pm homa marks the fifth consecutive season that Tulsa has opened up the football Sept. 17 OKLAHOMA ST. (FSN) 9 pm season on the road . three of those five road openers have come against Sept. 24 @ Boise State (CBS S) 7 pm Oct. 1 NORTH TEXAS 6 pm Conferenece USA foes . Tulsa has posted a 3-1 record in the previous four road Oct. 15 UAB* (CBS S) 7 pm openers, losing only last year at East Carolina, 51-49, on a "Hail Mary" pass with Oct. 22 @ Rice* (FSN) TBA no time remaining. Oct. 29 SMU* (FSN) 2:30 pm Nov. 3 @ UCF* (CBS S) 7 pm TOUGHEST MONTH IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL FOR THE Nov. 12 MARSHALL* (FSN) TBA HURRICANE . In three of the first four weeks of the football season, Nov. 19 @ UTEP* 2 pm Tulsa plays three of the Associated Press' top-10 teams -- #1 Oklahoma, # 5 Boise Nov. 25 HOUSTON* (FSN) 11 am State and #9 Oklahoma State . only Arizona also plays three top-10 teams in *Conference USA Games the first four games, including #3 Oregon, #7 Stanford and #9 Oklahoma State . by contrast, the entire Big East, Big 10 and Mountain West Conferences play one #1 OKLAHOMA top-10 team opponent among their league members in the first four games. SOONERS (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) TULSA IN SEASON OPENERS . In it's 111-year history, Tulsa has Sept. 3 TULSA 7 pm Sept. 17 @ Florida State posted a 65-45-1 record in its' season openers . the most consecutive seasons Sept. 24 MISSOURI* in which Tulsa won the season opener was seven, winning the opener from 1925- Oct. 1 BALL STATE 1931 . the Hurricane has won four of its' last five season openers, includng three Oct. 8 @ Texas* (Dallas) of those victories on the road. Oct. 15 @ Kansas* Oct. 22 TEXAS TECH* A LOOK AT 2010 . Tulsa finished the 2010 season with an overall 10-3 Oct. 29 @ Kansas State* record . the Golden Hurricane was Conference USA West Division Co-Champi- Nov. 5 TEXAS A&M* ons with a 6-2 league mark, tying SMU . it was a season that presented some Nov. 12 IOWA STATE* early season adversity, but one that ended with a seven-game winning streak . Nov. 19 @ Baylor* . included among those final seven wins was a dramatic 28-27 win over Notre Dec. 3 @ Oklahoma State* Dame for one of the most prestigious victories in school history . a huge C-USA *Big 12 Games road win over rival Houston and a Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl victory over 24th-ranked Hawai’i, 62-35, closed out the 2010 season. www.tulsahurricane.com Tulsa Golden Hurricane Football • page 2 THE HEAD COACHES . Tulsa's BILL BLANKENSHIP (Tulsa '79) is in his first season as the Golden Hurricane head coach . Blankenship was promoted 2011 C-USA Standings as the 28th Head Football Coach in school history on January 14, 2011 . he spent Team C-USA ALL the previous four years as a Tulsa assistant coach . Blankenship returned to his EAST DIVISION alma mater in January 2007 to coach the wide receivers . in 2008, Blankenship was #UCF 0-0 0-0 named special teams coordinator and in 2009 added the responsibilities of running East Carolina 0-0 0-0 backs coach as well . in 2010, Blankenship served as senior associate head coach, Southern Miss 0-0 0-0 running backs coach and special teams coordinator. Marshall 0-0 0-0 Before entering the collegiate coaching ranks, Blankenship spent 23 years as UAB 0-0 0-0 an Oklahoma High School coach . Blankenship resigned as the head football coach Memphis 0-0 0-0 at Tulsa’s Union High School in December 2005 after leading his team to a second WEST DIVISION consecutive state championship at the Oklahoma Class 6A school. SMU 0-0 0-0 As a head coach on the prep level, Blankenship compiled a 205-68 record, Tulsa 0-0 0-0 including an average of 10 wins per season for his last 20 years, appeared in the state Houston 0-0 0-0 championship game eight times and won three state titles. UTEP 0-0 0-0 He spent 14 years as the head football coach and athletic director at Union High Rice 0-0 0-0 School, where he registered a record of 154-26 . his teams qualified for the state Tulane 0-0 0-0 playoffs 14 times, reached the quarterfinals 10 times and made the semifinals in nine THIS WEEK (Sept. 3) seasons . Blankenship’s teams made the state championship game seven times . Mississippi State @ Memphis (Sept. 1) . he guided his Union team to Oklahoma Class 6A state titles in 2002, 2004 and 2005. South Carolina @ East Carolina UCLA @ Houston Oklahoma's BOB STOOPS (Iowa '83) is in his 13th season as the Sooners' Rice @ Texas head coach . he has posted an overall 129-31 record in his only collegiate head Louisiana Tech @ Southern Miss coaching position . Stoops has led his OU teams to nine 10-win seasons in his 12 SE Louisiana @ Tulane Tulsa @ Oklahoma years as the Sooner head coach . in just his second season in Norman, his 2000 Charleston Southern @ UCF team won the national title . his teams have won seven Big 12 crowns, has had Stony Brook @ UTEP two Heisman Trophy winners and has played in 12 straight Bowl games . Stoops Marshall @ West Virginia (Sept. 4) reached 100 victories faster than any coach in college football history. before be- SMU @ Texas A&M (Sept. 4) coming the OU head coach, he had assistant coaching stops at Iowa (1983-87), Kent State (1988), Kansas State (1989-1995) and Florida (1996-98). NEXT WEEK (Sept. 10) Southern Miss @ Marshall* UTEP @ SMU* TULSA COMING OFF THIRD 10-WIN SEASON IN LAST Tulsa @ Tulane* FOUR YEARS . The Tulsa Golden Hurricane ended the 2010 season with a Virginia Tech @ East Carolina 62-35 victory over 24th-ranked Hawaii to clinch a 10-3 record . it marked the eighth Houston @ North Texas time in school history that the Hurricane has won 10 games and the third time in the Memphis @ Arkansas State last four seasons . Tulsa finished the 2007 campaign with a 10-4 record and the Purdue @ Rice 2008 season with an 11-3 mark . other 10-win seasons came in 1916, 1920, 1942, UAB @ Florida 1982 and 1991. Boston College @ UCF *Conference USA Games TULSA ENTERS 2011 SEASON WITH SEVEN-GAME WIN- NING STREAK . After a three-point loss against Co-Conference USA West THE SIZE COMPARISON . Division Champion SMU on October 9th, Tulsa rattled off a seven-game winning Tulsa, a private institution, is the smallest FBS streak to close out the 2010 season with a 10-3 record . in those seven games, school in the nation. In terms of enrollment, Tulsa outscored the opposition 45.9 to 30.9 points . Tulsa's wins in that seven- Tulsa has an enrollment of 3,090 undergradu- game winning streak came against Tulane, at Notre Dame, Rice, at Houston, UTEP, ate students and a little more than 4,100 stu- dents overall. Let's compare Tulsa's enrollment Southern Miss and at Hawaii. to the 2011 opponents . Oklahoma 29,721 TULSA IS SMALLEST FBS SCHOOL . Tulane (private) 12,622 (Ranking based on Undergaduate Enrollment; Numbers based on 2010 Oklahoma State 35,000 Department of Education Totals) Boise State 19,993 Rk.