No. 22 Tusa looking to go 8-0

By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

Published October 20, 2008 at 2:58 p.m.
Updated October 20, 2008 at 4:23 p.m.

Text size

More College Football

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ After cracking the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1991, you'd think Tulsa's undefeated football team would be patting itself on the back.

Far from it. The way head coach Todd Graham sees it, it's back to work for the No. 22 Golden Hurricane and taking it one game at a time.

Up next is a nationally televised contest Sunday night at home against the University of Central Florida (2-4, 1-1 CUSA), a team responsible for two of Tulsa's four defeats last season.

"I walked in this morning, and my secretary smiled," Graham joked Monday. "And I told her, 'don't be smiling.' One of the things that I think is important is that our kids stay in a normal routine. If we keep winning, the rankings will take care of (themselves)."

After several weeks of being left out of the rankings, Tulsa (7-0, 4-0 CUSA) burst into the Top 25 after beating Texas-El Paso 77-35. Tulsa rolled up nearly 800 yards of offense against UTEP in the statement win, with quarterback David Johnson throwing for 434 yards and five touchdowns.

For the first time in 63 years, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are all ranked.

On the doorstep of starting 8-0, Tulsa is in new territory.

The win last weekend was the first time the program got off to a 7-0 start since 1942, when the Golden Hurricane went 10-0 and lost in the Sugar Bowl.

But Graham is not letting the sudden national attention go to his head, though.

"I've got about 100 times more e-mails and phone calls than I ever had. That breaks my routine from what I'm used to preparing every day and how I work every day," Graham said. "And everybody's patting me on the back, and you can't do that, you can't buy into that. You've got to stay focused, you've got to stay hungry, you've got to stay focused on one thing, and that's going 8-0."

"I like the fact that we spent so many weeks under the radar because we haven't had to deal with any of that. From this point forward, everything and every moment that you spend talking about it is a distraction," he said.

In the UCF Knights, Tulsa takes on a team that beat them twice last year: once in the regular season, the other in the Conference USA championship game. Graham said UCF has the best defense his team has faced so far.

"We definitely know how good a team they are," defensive end Moton Hopkins said. "Last year was a reminder we have to be ready for every game."

With a Top 25 ranking and Sunday's nationally televised home game, Tulsa could be again knocking on the door to greater things.

"I haven't spent much time celebrating (the ranking) because I want to finish in the top 12 in the country," Graham said.

Also on Monday, the school announced plans to honor former Tulsa head football coach John Cooper Sunday night. Cooper was selected for induction into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.

Tulsa also plans to retire the jersey of former Hurricane great and NFL pro Steve Largent. Largent, who wore No. 83 at Tulsa, will become just the eighth athlete in the football program's history to have his jersey retired.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News