Oct. 21, 2009
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Donald Buckram rushed for 165 yards and a two fourth-quarter touchdowns -- including the game-winner with 29 seconds remaining -- as UTEP stormed back from an 11-point deficit in the final period to beat Tulsa, 28-24, on Wednesday in the Sun Bowl.
The Miners (3-4, 2-1 C-USA) trailed 24-13 with 12:37 to play before their defense forced three and outs on three straight possessions by the Golden Hurricane (4-3, 2-1 C-USA). UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe capitalized by engineering scoring drives of 61 and 54 yards, and UTEP secured its biggest fourth quarter comeback win since 2007 at SMU.
No play was bigger than a fourth-and-three at the Tulsa 12-yard line midway through the final period, which Vittatoe converted by throwing a four-yard pass to Buckram - setting up the touchdown that sliced the Golden Hurricane's lead to three points.
"Buckram made a great catch because he wasn't wide open," UTEP coach Mike Price said. "For him to come back with confidence, for Trevor to throw the ball to him and for us to choose that play ... he did a lot of excellent things after he had the ball."
The victory stamps UTEP as a contender for the Conference USA West Division championship after posting wins over the teams picked first and second in the preseason poll, Houston and Tulsa.
UTEP got off to a great start, scoring the game's first 13 points, then allowed 24 unanswered to the Golden Hurricane before finishing with a dramatic flourish.
Despite the 24-point run by Tulsa, it was an outstanding performance by the UTEP defense. While the Miners surrendered 428 yards on the night, 313 came on four drives. The Golden Hurricane's other nine possessions produced a total of 115 yards on 38 plays.
"The three straight three-and-outs was really, really awesome," Price said. "It was our defensive line I think ... it seemed to really put pressure on their quarterback, made him move in the pocket."
Three UTEP defenders registered double-digit tackles. Royzell Smith had a career-high 14 stops, while Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith and DeShawn Grayson tallied 10 apiece. Cromartie-Smith made his return after missing back-to-back games with a knee injury. UTEP totaled five sacks for 38 yards.
"I think getting the sacks like that was something they weren't expecting from us," Price said. "Osia (Lewis) put in a four-man front instead of a three-man front this week. We had four pass rushing defensive ends in the game and only two linebackers, (we) tried to push everything to the outside and it worked. We got to him (G.J. Kinne) and our kids played well in the secondary too."
Vittatoe shrugged off a rough first half in which he threw two interceptions in Hurricane territory to complete 17-of-38 attempts for 271 yards. His Tulsa counterpart, Kinne, finished 11-of-23 for 192 yards.
Tulsa hadn't allowed a rushing touchdown all season before yielding two to Buckram in the final frame.
"It was a great game," Price said. "Our kids never gave up. We showed our best character."
UTEP returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 31 against UAB in the Sun Bowl. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. MST.
