FB: Game Notes for Minnesota-Tulsa Contest

Junior Laurence Maroney rushed for a career-high 203 yards, including a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, as the Golden Gopher football team defeated Tulsa, 41-10, on Thursday night in Tulsa, Okla. Minnesota amassed 529 yards of total offense as it won its 17th-straight non- conference game.

GAME NOTES

Fourth Quarter - Minnesota 41, Tulsa 10

Tulsa scores from four yards out on Ryan Bugg's touchdown reception. Scoring drive: 17 plays, 85 yards, 6:03
Payne makes a 33 yard, leaping reception to the two yard line. Payne has three catches for 66 yards.
Gary Russell makes it 34-10 with a two-yard touchdown run with 8:14 to play. Scoring drive: 7 plays, 64 yards, 3:25
Russell scored his first career touchdown.
John Shevlin forced his second fumble of the night; Tulsa recovers it.
Tony Mortenson comes in at quarterback with five minutes to play.
Gary Russell broke a 35 yard run.
On the next play, Russell runs it in from 25 yards out for his second touchdown. Scoring drive: 6 plays, 85 yards, 2:18. Russell has six carries for 67 yards. Amir Pinnix has 10 carries for 39 yards.
Joel Monroe converts his first career extra point.
Minnesota has 529 yards in total offense.
Alex Daniels forced his first career fumble in the final minute. It was recovered by Maurice Buchanon.

Third Quarter - Minnesota 27, Tulsa 3

Tulsa will receive to start the second half
Tulsa drove into Golden Gopher territory on its first drive, but Brad DeVault missed a 27-yard field goal
John Shevlin forces fumble; recovered by Keith Lipka at the Tulsa 45. Tonight was the second straight game that Lipka has started and recovered a fumble.
Turnovers: Minnesota 2, Tulsa 3
Following 45 yard reception, Wheelwright now has five catches for 96 yards
Maroney now has 204 yards on 20 carries.
Giannini connects on second career attempt from 23 yards out. Scoring drive: 8 plays, 62 yards, 3:02
Maroney's 204 yards are the most by a Golden Gopher since Terry Jackson had 238 against Michigan State in 2002. Marion Barber was the last to top 200 yards with 201 last year at Colorado State.

Third quarter Stats
Cupito: 11-for-22, 172 yards, 1 TD
Maroney: 20 carries, 204 yards, 2 TD
Wheelwright: 5 catches, 96 yards, 1 TD
Total offense: Minnesota 385, Tulsa 247
Rushing offense: Minnesota 213, Tulsa 99

Second Quarter - Minnesota 24, Tulsa 3

True freshmen Alex Daniels, Steve Davis and Dominic Jones all saw action in the first quarter.
Tulsa cuts the lead to 17-3 on 46 yard field goal with 12:29 to play in half. Scoring drive: 7 plays, 17 yards, 2:59.
First career punt for Justin Kucek goes 55 yards....downed at the five yard line. Minnesota had just three punts in 2004 longer than Kucek's tonight.
New quarterback for Tulsa: David Johnson. Paul Smith was 7-for-11 for 46 yards.
Total offense after Tulsa's fourth punt: Minnesota 233, Tulsa 70
Gary Russell gets his first carry of the season for two yards with seven minutes to play.
Eight different Tulsa players have caught a pass tonight.
John Pawielski recovers the fumble with five minutes to play. It's the third recovery of his career. Trumaine Banks forced his first career fumble on the play.
Maroney has a new career-high for rushing. He has 16 carries for 188 yards. He had 179 at Illinois as a freshman.
Turnovers: Minnesota 2, Tulsa 2
Tonight's attendance: 33,410
Brandon Owens collects his second career interception with less than a minute to play.
Cupito complete to Ernie Wheelwright for a one-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left. Scoring drive: 7 plays, 28 yards, 46 seconds
Minnesota has 306 yards of total offense, the 28th straight game that Minnesota has eclipsed 300 yards. Halftime Stats

Maroney: 16 carries, 188 yards, 2 TDs
Cupito: 9-for-17, 107 yards, 1 TD
Rushing Yards: Minnesota 199, Tulsa 47
Total Offense: Minnesota 306, Tulsa 106
Turnovers: Minnesota 2, Tulsa 2
Penalties: Minnesota 4-40, Tulsa 4-40

First Quarter - Minnesota 17, Tulsa 0

Minnesota will receive the kickoff after Tulsa defers.
Maroney and Jakari Wallace will open up the season as kickoff returners.
Maroney up the left side with a 67 yard touchdown run on the first play of the game! Scoring drive: 1 play, 67 yards, 16 seconds.
Maroney had his fifth career touchdown run of 50 yards or more.
True freshman Steve Davis starts at left defensive end.
Jamal Harris and Trumaine Banks started at cornerback.
After one first down, Tulsa is forced to punt on their first possession. True freshman Dominic Jones opens the season at punt returner. No return following 51-yard punt.
Bryan Cupito completes first pass of the season, 12 yards to Jared Ellerson.
Amir Pinnix gets first carry of the season with 7: 50 to play in the first quarter. He gains three and Tulsa is penalized 15 yards for a facemask. Minnesota now on Tulsa's 29 yard line.
Logan Payne makes second career catch for 11 yards. His first came against Tulsa in 2003.
Jason Giannini makes it 10-0 with his first career field goal from 28 yards out. Scoring drive: 13 plays, 70 yards, 5:32. Total offense: Minnesota 127, Tulsa 9
Redshirt freshman William VanDeSteeg makes first career appearance at defensive end as Tulsa begins second possession.
Mike Sherels picks up first career sack as Tulsa is forced to punt for a second time.
Maroney races up the right side and cuts back to his left for a 73-yard touchdown run. Scoring drive: 1 play, 73 yards, 13 seconds.
Maroney has eight carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Total yards: Minnesota 200, Tulsa 32.
Maroney ties Marion Barber for third all-time with 14 100-yard rushing games.

End of the first quarter stats

Bryan Cupito - 3-for-4, 35 yards
Laurence Maroney - 8 carries, 159 yards, 2 TDs
Total Offense: Minnesota 200, Tulsa 39 Rushing Yards: Minnesota 165, Tulsa 5

Pre-Game

Minnesota arrived at Skelly Stadium for tonight's game at 7:15 p.m. The Golden Gophers arrived in Tulsa on Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. In between, Minnesota held two practices at the stadium with the first coming at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night. The Golden Gophers also had a walk-through early this afternoon.
Since arriving at 5 p.m. on Wednesday night in Tulsa, the team has waited 29 hours for tonight's season opener.
This is the 75th anniversary of Skelly Stadium and in a reversal of national trends, Tulsa reduced attendance at the stadium from 40,385 to 35,542 this past summer. The school demolished stands in the north endzone to make way for a new athletic complex.
The temperature when Minnesota arrived at the stadium tonight was 92 degrees at 7: 15 p.m. It's expected to be 80 degrees at kickoff. Weather forecasts during tonight's news warned Tulsa fans that it could get chilly in the second half with temperatures "falling" into the lower 70s.
This is the second meeting between Minnesota and Tulsa with the Golden Gophers claiming a 49-10 win at the Metrodome in 2003. It was the first game for Golden Hurricane head coach Steve Kragthorpe. Tulsa rebounded from the loss and won its last five games to qualify for the Humanitarian Bowl.
As if facing Laurence Maroney wasn't enough, Tulsa travels next week to Norman, Okla., to face Adrian Peterson and the Sooners. The following week Tulsa faces North Texas which features the 2003 NCAA rushing champion Patrick Cobbs and 2004 champion Jamario Thomas. September closes with the Golden Hurricane trying to stop Memphis' DeAngelo Williams.
As of three hours before the game, Tulsa had sold 28,000 tickets and is expecting a crowd in the lower 30s. The largest crowd to see a game at Skelly Stadium was 47,350 in 1987. Top-ranked Oklahoma handed the Golden Hurricane a 65-0 defeat.
The last time Tulsa was on ESPN was on Friday, Aug. 30, 2002, against second- ranked Oklahoma at Skelly Stadium. The Golden Hurricane trailed just 3-0 at halftime against the powerful Sooner offense. Oklahoma pulled away in the second half for a 37-0 victory.
The Golden Gophers are looking to extend their non-conference winning streak to 17 games tonight. The last time Minnesota was defeated by a non-conference foe was on Aug. 30, 2002, when Toledo defeated Minnesota.
Laurence Maroney needs 13 yards rushing to move past Tellis Redmon (1999-2001) into sixth places all-time. Maroney currently has 2,469 career yards.
Mark Setterstrom and Greg Eslinger will start their 39th straight game together on the offensive line.
One of the top running backs in the nation, Laurence Maroney will make only his fifth career start tonight.
Minnesota has amassed 300 or more yards of total offense in 27 straight games, the longest streak in the Big Ten.
In the last matchup between these two teams at the Metrodome, Tulsa missed a 31- yard field goal on its first possession. Minnesota responded with an 80 yard drive to take a 7-0 lead. The Golden Gophers scored four more touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 35-0 lead into halftime. Minnesota had 333 yards of total offense in the first half alone.
Tulsa wide receiver Garrett Mills has caught a pass in 27 straight games. Former Golden Gopher Ron Johnson holds the NCAA record with 46 straight games.
The Tulsa student section, all loaded with thundersticks, are located within feet of the Golden Gopher bench.
In other action tonight, Toledo is having a little better start to its season than last year. The Rockets lead Western Illinois 62-0 in the fourth quarter tonight.

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Players Mentioned

Trumaine Banks

Marion Barber

Bryan Cupito

Alex Daniels

Steve Davis

Jared Ellerson

Greg Eslinger

Jason Giannini

Jamal Harris

Dominic Jones

Justin Kucek

Keith Lipka

Laurence Maroney

Joel Monroe

Brandon Owens

John Pawielski

Logan Payne

Amir Pinnix

Mark Setterstrom

Mike Sherels

John Shevlin

William VanDeSteeg

Jakari Wallace

Ernie Wheelwright

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University of Minnesota Athletics