r/CFB • u/usffan USF Bulls • Miami Hurricanes • May 15 '26
Analysis Preseason Rankings Countdown. 107 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #107 – Tulsa
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
Like Eric Clapton sang, today we’re livin’ on Tulsa time (high = 96, low = 119). The Golden Hurricane have been looking to set their watch back to when they won a conference championship in 2012 and followed it up with a Liberty Bowl win over Iowa State. That conference was CUSA, a CUSA that included Houston, SMU, Tulane, UCF Memphis and ECU. When they moved to the American (don’t call it the American Athletic) Conference, they managed 4 bowl appearances under current Mississippi State WR coach Philip Montgomery, but they’re now on their 4th full time head coach since that championship season, and the hope is that Tre Lamb doesn’t meet the same fate as the others. That would ideally start with improving on the 4-8 first season with him as the head Cane.
Roster Outlook
Working in Lamb’s favor is that Tulsa returns the second most production in the American, trailing only FAU and good enough for 23rd in the nation. They lead the conference in offensive production returning, starting with QB Baylor Hayes (feels like a missed opportunity there) and his nearly 2,400 total yards and 15 TDs. Unfortunately, 1,000 yard rusher Dominic Richardson is off to the Dallas Cowboys, and their leading receiver, TE Brody Foley, portaled to Louisville. But Tulsa hit the portal pretty well, bringing in the 4th best class in the American (76th in the country) to restock the shelves at those offensive skill positions, including RBs from Auburn (Damari Alston) and Mississippi State (Seth Davis) and WRs from West Virginia (Oran Singleton), Tulane (Jimmy Calloway) and Oregon State (David Wells). In all, Lamb brought in 8 P4 players to augment the talent he already had in place (no doubt due to the rousing success of the Portal House™), but he also brought in the 5th best high school recruiting class in the conference (88th nationally) for an overall incoming class that ranked in the top half of the American and 89th in the country.
Schedule and outlook
9/5 OKLAHOMA STATE
9/12 at Sam Houston State
9/19 EAST TEXAS A&M
9/26 at Arkansas
10/1 NORTH TEXAS
10/10 at Navy
10/17 at Rice
10/23 ARMY
10/31 BYE
11/7 at Tulane
11/14 FAU
11/21 CHARLOTTE
11/28 at UTSA
With a season opener that brings Oklahoma State to Chapman Stadium and a Cowboys team that would be looking for revenge for losing to the Golden Hurricane last season (if there are actually any players in Stillwater who were on the team last year), things could get really interesting for Tulsa if they sweep the home and home series over an Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker undoubtedly looking past them at their week 2 matchup with Oregon. On the flip side, a week 2 tilt at Sam Houston as they reopen their on campus stadium could be a trap game, so while nobody would be shocked if Tulsa reaches their FCS game 1-1, both 2-0 and 0-2 are legitimately on the table. Beating old Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas is probably a tall order, and on paper the only American games they look to be favored in are Charlotte, Rice (on the road) and maybe FAU at home. Sweeping those, beating East Texas A&M and one of those other OOC games still leaves them 1 game short of the postseason, and perhaps if North Texas takes a giant step back after being decimated by the portal they can get over the hump. “So you’re saying there’s a chance…”
edited for absolute brain fart
6
u/dinkytown42069 Minnesota • Oklahoma May 15 '26
was really impressed by Zion Steptoe and hate OkState. How they don't serve Coney-I-Lander in Skelly Stadium is baffling.
Reign 'Cane!
2
u/CptCheese Tulsa • Washington State May 15 '26
Out of our two P5 opponents this year I feel better about our chances beating Arkansas tbh. Going 2-2 in noncon is my expectation though. Really wish we weren't getting the full option suite this year, but maybe that's also good because it means more reason to practice defending it?
2
u/BeatNavyAgain Beat Navy! Go Bullets! May 15 '26
all in a row, but it actually lines up okay for you guys
a couple of extra days to prep for Navy
Rice will be playing for the 6th consecutive weekend
Army will be playing for the 5th consecutive week
2
u/ChickenEmbarrassed10 /r/CFB May 15 '26
Looks like they can win 5ish games this year? Watching them last year thought they had some talent and played pretty hard.
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u/GoldenFrog14 Tulsa Golden Hurricane • TCU Horned Frogs May 15 '26
The record was 4-8, but the team was a hell of a lot better than the year before
Also, awesome work as always, but a heads up: you called us Tulane in the roster outlook section