The College Football Blog: 2012 Conference USA Game of the Year

Conference USA Game of the Year

Conference USA Championship Game: Tulsa vs. Central Florida (33-27, OT)

Highlights: This was a rematch of a week 12 matchup won by Tulsa at home, 23-21. Once again Tulsa would have the home field advantage. Both teams entered the game 9-3. 

CF fumbled the opening kickoff and Tulsa recovered. However, the Golden Hurricane couldn’t take advantage. Running on 4^th and 1 from the 8, Alex Singleton had picked up enough for the 1^st down but he fumbled and CF recovered at the 5. Tulsa would score on their second possession to take a 7-0 lead. 

On the second play of the 2^nd quarter CF scored to tie it up at 7-7. Central Florida scored again to take their first lead of the day, 14-7, with less than 5 minutes to go in the half. Tulsa then went on a 7-play, 75-yard drive to tie the game at 14 with 2:35 on the clock. 

After forcing a punt, the Golden Hurricane got the ball back again with 1:02 on the clock and went 80 yards in 8 plays. With just 2 seconds left in the half, Tulsa ran a play from the 2 and Ja’Terian Douglas ran into the end zone for a huge score to give the Hurricane a 21-14 halftime lead. 

Tulsa took the 2^nd half kickoff and continued to stay aggressive, going for it on 4^th and 1 from the CF 44. Cody Green was stuffed and the Knights took over. 

Later in the 3^rd quarter, a botched Tulsa punt netted just 5 yards and gave the Knights the ball at the Tulsa 27. CF scored a TD but the potential tying extra point was blocked, leaving Tulsa in the lead, 21-20 with 4:23 to play in the 3^rd. Later in the quarter, Blake Bortles ran for a 28-yard score to give Central Florida a 27-21 advantage heading to the 4^th. 

Early in the 4^th quarter, Tulsa went for it on 4^th and 1 from the CF 27 but Singleton was stuffed for no gain. On their next possession, Tulsa drove even deeper into CF territory, but on 4^th and 4 from the 11 Cody Green fired incomplete to turn it over on downs with only 7:28 to play. 

Central Florida went 3-and-out and punted. It was at this moment that Trey Watts made the play of the game. Watts was back to return the punt but had stayed away from it as it landed in the middle of the field. However, a CF player batted the ball forward in trying to down it and that meant that Watts could attempt to field it on the run without the risk of it being a turnover if he muffed it. Everyone on the field stopped except for Watts, who fielded the ball and ran 54 yards down the sideline for a touchdown that tied the game. 

Clearly the CF players thought the play was dead. It looked like Watts might have won the game but then Tulsa’s PAT was blocked, leaving the score tied at 27-27. The game remained tied into OT. 

CF got the ball first in overtime and Shawn Moffitt missed from 38 yards out. On Tulsa’s possession, Singleton scored from 4 yards out, but the play was overturned on review and the ball was spotted just short of the goal line. On the next play Singleton got in for real and Tulsa won it 33-27.