OPPONENT AT A GLANCE: Oklahoma City YardDawgz, 5^th season in af2, 1-1 Last Week- Lost @ Lubbock 43-63

RIDE THE MOMENTUM

We know all about the amazing comeback and true heart the Talons showed last week at Arkansas so I won’t spend much time stressing that. I will point out that 4^th quarter comebacks like that can spark a team‘s energy and cause confidence to go sky high. We witnessed a lot of similar games last season when our team was able to pull out victories and ultimately take the league title. Allgood and Tulsa can really take the surging momentum from the Arkansas win and apply it towards OKC. Allgood threw an amazing 8 TD passes last week and should be able to carve up the OKC defense who is ranked last in the league, giving up 291 yards passing per game. Tulsa has finally gotten the Arkansas monkey off their back and it is time to pound OKC and show the league why we are #1.

The Dawgz are led by QB Evan Gray who came over from the Stockton Lightning after the 2007 season. Gray had an incredible 2007 season with Stockton, throwing for 76 TD’s and finishing with a QB rating over 100 for the year.  He as a lot of weapons that Talons fans will be familiar with. WR “Ageless” Al Hunt is back for OKC and has amassed 7 TD’s this season (including 2 kickoff returns for TD). WR Danny Howard who appeared in a few games with Tulsa will be another OKC receiving threat that has caught 3 TD’s in OKC’s first 2 contests. Rounding out the big threat OKC receiving core is Chris Archie who spent 2007 with the Mahoning Valley Thunder where he caught 89 passes for over 1000 yards and 22 TD’s. The Dawgz offense has yet to come to life and have only averaged 50 points per game in 2008. However, this offense is experienced and once they get things going they will definitely begin to put points on the board.

PASS RUSH

Part of the problem against Arkansas was the fact that we could not get any pressure on QB Kyle Rowley. Tulsa’s only sack came on the last play of the game and Rowley was rarely hurried all night. We got the sack when the team needed it, but getting to Rowley earlier in the contest could have eliminated the need for a thrilling comeback. Arkansas killed us with the short passing game and Rowley ended up completing 27 passes on the night. The Talons gave the Twisters spots underneath and I am sure OKC will come with the same attack against us since Arkansas showed it can work. Our defense has to play the tricky game of balancing trying tostop the short pass while still capping the deep threat. On the other side, our offensive line did a good job protecting Allgood and Arkansas was not credited with a sack all night. OKC has not had a dominate defensive line this season so if the Talons O-Line can give Allgood plenty of room he is bound to have another solid night.

STAY HEALTHY & RED ZONE OFFENSE

Every season the owners and the coaches express the importance of Tulsa’s players staying healthy. We all had a scare when Kellen Allen went down for awhile against Arkansas. Kellen thankfully returned to the game and didn’t seem bothered by his earlier injury as he finished out the game. With three games in the books we have been fortunate to stay healthy and we will need this to continue against OKC and going forward. Injuries are some of the quickest momentum stoppers out there and we cannot afford to lose any of our weapons as the team heads into the middle portion of the schedule. Tulsa is ranked 6^th in the af2 in red zone offense and scores almost 87% of the time they make it deep in their opponents territory. Our turnpike rivals are dead last in the af2 in red zone offense (29^th) and only score 38% of the time in red zone situations. This can be a key stat that shows how well an offense finishes their drives. If the Talons can finish off more drives in the red zone than OKC it will lead to crucial point swings that could mean the difference in a close contest.

FORCE TURNOVERS

After starting off the season with a strong turnover margin (Takeaways – Giveaways) we have slumped after the Arkansas game. Tulsa currently sits at a dismal +1 margin. I have always stated the importance of this stat because at the end of the season all of your af2 playoff teams will be near the top of this stat category. In a game made for offense, turnovers can make or break a game and give opponents costly extra possessions. Our defense and DB’s will have to force turnovers and Delenell Reid and the DB’s will need to come up with INT’s if we want to jump out on top of OKC. We forced 0 turnovers against Arkansas and that is why they jumped out to a nice mid game lead. Fortunately, our offense came through and we were able to get the W, but that won’t happen every week and Tulsa cannot afford to give away the ball without taking it at some points.

OKC Players to watch: KR/DB Donta Bright 206 kickoff return yards- 2 TD’s- 1 INT DB Matt Heath- team leading 14.5 tackles

There you have it, Keys to the Game, Turnpike Rival style. Leave any comments or things you want to add in a reply on the message boards. Be sure to come out to the tailgate before the game!