Army can't hold late lead, fall to winless Tulsa, endangering bowl bid

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Thanksgiving dinner may be a little harder to swallow now for Army football.

The Black Knights squandered an 11-point lead in the final five minutes as American Conference winless squad Tulsa rallied for a 26-25 victory, stunning a Senior Day crowd at Michie Stadium on November 22.

"To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement,'' said Army head coach Jeff Monken. "I'm disappointed for our entire team, certainly for our seniors playing their last game here.''

Army lost to a Tulsa team that was a 10-point underdog, had lost 10 consecutive American Conference games and hadn't won two contests in a row in over two years.

"They outplayed us in the second half, they just outplayed us,'' Monken said.

"Everybody's disappointed,'' said senior co-captain Andon Thomas. "But it just really comes down to fundamentals and trust in the game plan, and I think Tulsa had better fundamentals that us. They got off their blocks better; they blocked better. That's really the bottom line.''

Army football: Knights face must-win in Texas

Army (5-5) faces a must-win game at Texas San Antonio on Nov. 29 in order to become bowl eligible. The Dec. 13 Navy game comes after the bowl bids go out on Dec. 7.

"We've just got to come back in here (Sunday) and try to learn from the things that we failed on today,'' Monken said. "We try to get better and we improve and work (Sunday) and work this week and try to get ourselves ready to go to UTSA and try to get a victory.''

The play that will be talked about was Army's decision to throw the ball from deep in its own territory with under four minutes to play and leading 25-17. From the Army 13, quarterback Cale Hellums threw deep to a double-covered Brady Anderson past the midfield stripe ― Solento Smith Jr. outleaped the receiver and made the interception. Monken said there were two other Army receivers open on the play. "Unfortunately, he threw it to the only guy that was covered. I know Cale feels bad, we all do. I wish we would have found the right guy.''

"It was a bad play by me,'' Hellums said. "I had bad eyes and made a misread. … I forced a dumb decision.''

Off Army's only turnover, Tulsa's bullish running back Dominic Richardson ― who surpassed 1,000 rushing yards ― went 12 yards on his first carry and 13 yards three snaps later, moving the ball to the Army 8. Freshman quarterback Baylor Hayes zipped a pass to Josh Smith on a crossing route across the back end of the end zone for the score. However, Hayes was hurried on the conversion throw that sailed high out of the end zone and Tulsa trailed 25-23 with 1:54 left.

Army's Noah Short fielded the onside kick try on one bounce. Again, Army was ineffective on offense once again in the second half and Hellums was stopped on a 4th-and-3 call as Elijah Green beat the block of Teddy Williams and halted the quarterback for no gain.

"I thought the defender was kind of taking away the perimeter based on his defensive structure,'' Hellums explained. "In that instance you've got to make a play and I didn't make a play so put that on me.''

With no timeouts remaining, Richardson almost single-handedly moved the Golden Hurricane 52 yards to the Army 9 with 15 seconds left. Seth Morgan booted the winning 27-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.

Tulsa decided to start Hayes, and his speed and quick decision making put Army on its heels right away. On the third snap, Hayes raced to his right and heaved a throw that found Donnell Gee Jr. for 50 yards. Four plays later, oft-traveled Richardson bulled his way up the middle for a bruising 3-yard score just 2:37 into the contest.

Army decided to match play calls as Hellums hit Noah Short in stride for a 49-yard gainer on its first play. Then Hellums found a hole on the left side and raced 31 yards for the score. The two-play, 75-yard series took just 49 seconds, Army's fastest TD of the season.

Army's C.J. Martin leaped a lineman and got a hand on Morgan's 47-yard field goal try. But Army was stopped on a fourth-down call at the Tulsa 25 as Short couldn't turn the corner.

Tulsa converted on a fourth-down as Hayes found Zion Steptoe on a wonderful 33-yard reception ― looking into the sun ― and getting his right foot down along the right sideline at the Army 7. On the next snap, Ajay Allen Jr. went off the left side for his fifth TD of the season.

Army went back to its effective run game with 13 rushing plays ― and Hellums converting a pair of fourth-down conversions ― to score. Hellums managed to fight off a facemask violation, spinning and completing the 5-yard score. With the penalty, Army chose to accept the 1 1/2 yards for the conversion instead, with Hellums finding Tex Brannan on the right side of the end zone for the two points and 15-14 lead.

Army forced a Tulsa punt, setting up a nine-play, 55-yard touchdown drive. Hellums went 24 yards on the first carry and 5 on the last, powering over the right side for his third TD of the game and 15th of the season, leading all FBS quarterbacks, as Army took a 22-14 lead.

Army opened the third quarter by moving the ball 60 yards, settling for a 33-yard field goal by Dawson Jones, his tenth of the season, for a 25-14 lead.

Up next

Army closes the American Conference portion of its schedule on Saturday, Nov. 29, when the Black Knights visit the Alamodome to take on Texas San Antonio. The game will be on subscription based ESPN Plus at 3:30 p.m.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army falls to Tulsa, putting bowl hopes in danger

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