The Golden Hurricane, led by third-year head coach Todd Graham, played their home games at Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium.

Tulane managed cut the deficit to 13 points late in the third quarter, but Damaris Johnson's 66-yard punt return for a score with twelve minutes to play ended their hopes of a comeback.

The Lobos fared little better at home than they had in Tulsa the previous season, when they suffered a 56–14 defeat and lost starting quarterback Donovan Porterie to a season-ending knee injury.

The Lobos responded with a field goal to make it 7–3 at the end of the first, but Tulsa scored 23 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to put the game out of reach.

Tulsa appeared to be off to a good start, intercepting Landry Jones on the first play of the game and taking 25 of their first 27 snaps in Oklahoma territory, but two costly red-zone turnovers and a missed 50-yard field goal kept them scoreless in the first half while the Sooners built an insurmountable 31–0 lead.

In the second half, Kinne ran for one touchdown and threw for another as the Golden Hurricane scored 17 unanswered points to clinch the game.

The Broncos responded with a touchdown and successful two-point conversion on their next drive, but Tulsa took the lead again when Kinne hit Trae Johnson from 15 yards at the end of the first quarter.

Boise State scored 20 straight in the second and third quarters, but Tulsa threatened again in the fourth when Kinne completed two consecutive passes to Slick Shelley for 91 yards and a touchdown.

After stopping Boise State twice, the Golden Hurricane got the ball back with just under two minutes to play for a final chance to tie the game.

[4] Tulsa played their second straight Wednesday game on October 21, traveling to the Sun Bowl to take on a team they had defeated in a 77–35 shootout the previous season.

Tulsa appeared set to cruise to another easy win, but the tide of the game turned again in the middle of the fourth quarter when UTEP finally got their offense back in gear and cut the deficit to 3 with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

[12] On November 7, Houston's fourth field goal of the game came as time expired giving the 13th-ranked Cougars a 46–45 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in front of 20,243 fans at H.A.

Tulsa's Charles Clay capped a 73-yard, 10-play touchdown drive with a one-yard run with 3:28 remaining in the game to put the Hurricane ahead 45–37.

Damaris Johnson, the nation's leader in all-purpose yardage, got the Golden Hurricane back in the game after the Pirates had built a 20-point lead in the first half.

Tulsa got the ball to the 7 on its ensuing possession, but Kinne's pass on fourth-and-6 bounced off of nose guard Linval Joseph's helmet and fell incomplete.

Tulsa managed another touchdown drive near the end of the fourth quarter but the two-point conversion attempt failed, giving the Golden Eagles a 10-point margin of victory.

The game was close throughout and the teams were tied at 30 at the end of regulation after Kinne completed a 2-yard TD pass to Trae Johnson with 32 seconds remaining.

In overtime, James Lockett intercepted a pass from Tigers quarterback Arkelon Hall to set up Kevin Fitzpatrick's game-winning field goal.