Tulsa @ UL-Monroe Preview

Golden Hurricane travel to Monroe, Louisiana

The Todd Graham era at Tulsa will commence Thursday evening in front of a national television audience when his Golden Hurricane tees it up against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

Graham, who returns to Tulsa to replace former boss Steve Kragthorpe who bolted to Louisville, led Rice to its first bowl game in over four decades last season. He now guides a program that he is very familiar with.

Tulsa will face UL-Monroe on Thursday night at Malone Stadium in the first game of the Todd Graham era. Photo: sooners2727 @ Webshots

Tulsa returns only 11 starters—including four on offense—from last year’s 8-5 team that went 5-3 in CUSA.

The Golden Hurricane does, however, welcome back star quarterback Paul Smith. Smith, who can hurt opponents with his arm and legs, is one of the nation’s top dual threats at the position. He threw for 2,717 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 288 yards and eight scores.

Tulsa’s no-huddle spread attack will also feature a pair of Doak Walker Award candidates in Courtney Tennial and Tarrion Adams. Tennial amassed 845 yards and 14 touchdowns last year while Adams finished with 329 yards.

The Golden Hurricane’s biggest question marks are at wide receiver and offensive line. If it can replace the production lost with Idris Moss and Ryan Bugg while also giving Smith and company time to operate, the offense could muster another season of nearly 28 points and 390 yards per contest.

Defensively, Graham’s squad will operate out of a 3-3-5 scheme. Before moving on to coach Rice, he was Tulsa’s defensive coordinator for four seasons—thus, he knows the personnel well. Junior defensive end Moton Hopkins, who was a 2005 All-CUSA Freshman selection, could provide the pass rushing presence that his team seeks. Nelson Coleman and Chris Chamberlain should ease some of the pain that would have likely been felt due to the loss of linebacker Nick Bunting.

ULM, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, concluded the 2006 season with a 4-8 overall mark and 3-4 league record. However, the Warhawks did win three of their final four contests. The loss during that stretch came when it dropped a 42-40 shootout at SEC foe Kentucky.

The Warhawks have ten starters coming back on the offensive side of the football. Five of those ten returnees are preseason All-Sun Belt picks.

Junior Kinsmon Lancaster started the 2006 season under center and the 2007 campaign should be even better for the versatile signal-caller.

In order for ULM to stand a chance at collecting a quality out of conference win for the Sun Belt, the Warhawks’ defense must play with more consistency in the opener while applying pressure on quarterback Paul Smith.

The best defense for ULM may be a ball-control ground game to keep Smith and company off the field. Running back Calvin Dawson rushed for a league-high 1,210 yards last year and reached “pay dirt” 11 times.

ULM may battle Tulsa for awhile, but the Golden Hurricane will pull away to garner a “W” for Graham in his first game as head coach.

Don’t be surprised if Smith passes for 200 yards while Tennial, Adams and Smith combine for 200 on the ground.

Tulsa 37 - Louisiana-Monroe 17