The 2010 Conference USA title
Todd Graham's 10-3 team wins the league and a bowl
Program prestige
Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IIIProgram outlook
Program outlook
Tulsa once built one of the most points-per-game offenses in the country out of a private university with 4,000 students. The scoreboard hasn't spun like that in over a decade — and a first-year coach trying to restart the motor went 4-8 in his debut.
Since Jun 14: L 44-45 vs North Texas; L 26-34 at Navy; W 38-17 at Rice; L 35-38 vs Army. 4-4 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
The Golden Hurricane's identity was never about enrollment or budget. Todd Graham turned Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium into a track meet in the late 2000s — a tempo offense that outscored power programs, a 10-3 Conference USA title in 2010, and then Bill Blankenship's 11-3 Liberty Bowl team in 2012. That was Tulsa at its best: the smallest school in the league, putting up the most points.
Tre Lamb arrived from East Tennessee State with a reputation as a program-builder, and ran directly into the gap between what the roster was and what the identity requires. A 4-8 (1-7 American) first season in 2025 wasn't a surprise to anyone watching the depth chart, but it stretched the distance from the Graham years into something harder to wave away. The internal fracture in Tulsa is patient and pointed: one side says Lamb needs time to reload a thin roster, the other side wants the offense to feel like a track meet again and doesn't want to wait.
The 2026 question isn't whether Lamb can eventually rebuild Tulsa — the FCS record says he can build — but whether the offense can find any trace of the tempo identity this season. A bowl trip would end the longest bowl drought in program history. A winning record would be a statement that the smallest school in the American can still out-gun the room. Those are modest goals for a program that used to make them look easy.
On the field
When it's working, Tulsa football is a scoreboard problem — tempo, the deep ball, a pass-happy attack that wears out secondaries before they solve it. The Graham-era wide-open offense was the blueprint the sport was catching up to; the post-Graham years have been a search for who runs it next. Lamb runs a spread-based system, and the 2026 question is whether the pieces in place can get the scoreboard moving again at Chapman Stadium.
Tulsa has won 50% of its games since 1914 — 64% at home, 35% on the road.
542-516-22 all-time · 111 seasons · 1914–2026
Home
349-190-7
Away
179-314-15
Neutral
14-12
27%
1910s
60%
1920s
51%
1930s
65%
1940s
52%
1950s
50%
1960s
55%
1970s
58%
1980s
36%
1990s
49%
2000s
47%
2010s
42%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Tulsa’s 2014–2026 record is 60-92.
Tre Lamb
Tre Lamb is in year 2. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Tre Lamb · 2025–presentPrev: Ryan Switzer (interim) (2024)OC: Kevin Barbay / Ty Darlington (co)Prev OC: Ty Darlington (co) / Brad Robbins (2025)DC: Josh Reardon / Mike Gray (co)Prev DC: Chris Polizzi (2023–2024)
2
years · era
Moments in Tulsa history
- Tulsa 34, UCF 26Oct 3, 2020
- Wyoming 40, Tulsa 37Sep 3, 2022
- Tulsa 30, Tulane 24Nov 19, 2020
On this date, Nov 4, 2023: Charlotte 33, Tulsa 26
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2012
The Liberty Bowl season
11-3 and a Liberty Bowl win under Bill Blankenship — the high-water mark
The 2020 AAC title-game run
A surprise pandemic-year climb to the American championship game
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 24-10 vs Oklahoma State
Week 1 of 2026. Won as a 13.5-point underdog — the result the market didn't see coming.
2022–2022
Tulsa has sent 2 players to the NFL Draft since 2022 — one of them in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
2
picks · 1 in round 1
#24
Tyler Smith
Offensive Tackle · 2022 · 
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
#230
Chris Paul
Offensive Guard · 2022 · 
Washington Commanders
Washington Commanders
#82 all-time · 4 first-round picksthe talent factory →
More in this tab
Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 4-4
Season standing · 2026 · 4-4Tulsa is 4-4 — competitive, unranked, not yet bowl-eligible.
Competitive in FBS but not bowl-eligible — the close-loss tier.
FBS competitive
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
American Athletic standing · 2026
12th in the American Athletic
Tulsa is 12th of 14 in the American Athletic at 1-3. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Texas | 4-0 |
| 2 | UTSA | 4-0 |
| 3 | Memphis | 4-1 |
| 4 | Army | 4-2 |
| 5 | East Carolina | 2-2 |
| 6 | Florida Atlantic | 2-2 |
| 7 | South Florida | 2-2 |
| 8 | Tulane | 2-2 |
| 9 | UAB | 2-2 |
| 10 | Charlotte | 1-3 |
| 11 | Temple | 1-3 |
| 12 | Tulsa | 1-3 |
| 13 | Navy | 1-4 |
| 14 | Rice | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Tre Lamb
- Hired Ryan Switzer (interim)
- Kevin Wilson departs
- Ryan Switzer departs (interim)
- Hired Kevin Wilson
- Philip Montgomery departs
- Hired Philip Montgomery
- Bill Blankenship departs
Coordinator lineage
Tulsa’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014 · Denver Johnson2015 · Matt Mattox (co) / Sterlin Gilbert (co)2016 · Philip Montgomery2023–2024 · Steve Spurrier Jr.2025 · Ty Darlington (co) / Brad Robbins2026 · Kevin Barbay / Ty Darlington (co)
Defense2014–2026
2014 · Brent Guy2015–2017 · Bill Young (co) / Brian Norwood (co)2018 · Bill Young2019–2021 · Joe Gillespie2022 · Luke Olson2023–2024 · Chris Polizzi2025–2026 · Josh Reardon / Mike Gray (co)
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Todd Graham Era (2007-2010)
since 2007
more
Todd Graham's 2007-2010 tenure produced the program's modern peak — 2010 10-3 + Conference USA championship + Hawaii Bowl championship. The Air Raid offense identity + recruiting reach + bowl wins reset what Hurricane fans believed possible. Graham's 2011 departure to Pittsburgh opened Bill Blankenship's tenure.
Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium
since 1930
more
Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium (built 1930, renovated 2008) — Tulsa's on-campus venue with 30,000 capacity — anchors the program. The historic stadium + the bowl design + the Oklahoma plains setting create a venue distinct from the larger Oklahoma flagship-state programs (OU + OSU).
Reign Cane Identity
since 2010s
more
'Reign Cane' (a pun on 'Reign' + 'Hurricane') — the program's modern marketing identity since the Todd Graham era — captures the Golden Hurricane brand. Used in tweets + recruiting materials + postgame celebrations. The phrase compactly encapsulates ascent + storm imagery.
Cultural identity
2021 W
2020 L
2016 W
2015 L
2012 WReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
1.4k
[Postgame Thread] Tulsa Defeats UCF 34-26
738
[Postgame Thread] UC Davis Defeats Tulsa 19-17
723
[Postgame Thread] Navy Defeats Tulsa 20-17
332
[Postgame Thread] Tulsa Defeats SMU 28-24
228
[Postgame Thread] Tulsa Defeats USF 42-13
All-time top community posts
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