Tristan Lawyer took a fake punt 56 yards for a touchdown, and Trequan Jones scored on an 81-yard run as Tulsa beat Sam Houston 23-17 on the road. Tulsa reached its first 2-0 start since 2015. After three straight losing seasons and a combined 4-20 conference record, fans have earned a little room to imagine a different fall.
East Texas A&M visits Saturday, September 19, at 7 p.m. Central on ESPN+. Tulsa has a 95.4% chance to win in the Fan Watch model, so a comfortable evening is a reasonable expectation. There is no outside result worth adding to Tulsa's rooting list this week; the interactive guide has the forecast, with the model explained in the methodology.
The satisfying version of Saturday would include Tulsa repeatedly moving the chains and finishing possessions with touchdowns. At Sam Houston, Baylor Hayes passed for 126 yards and Tulsa converted four of 17 third downs. Those numbers leave dependable scoring drives as unfinished work, even with two wins in hand.
Hayes completed 17 of 24 throws for 227 yards against Oklahoma State in Kevin Barbay's first game as Tulsa's offensive coordinator. Tulsa still converted only one of 11 third downs that day. The second game extended the third-down problem rather than resolving it. That matters because Tulsa averaged nearly 398 yards but only 23.2 points in 2025. Moving the ball and getting enough points from it have been different propositions here.
Watch for manageable third downs, completions that extend possessions and touchdowns when Tulsa gets close. Arkansas awaits on the road September 26, followed by North Texas at home Thursday, October 1. That leaves little time between those games to repair stalled possessions. Saturday gives Barbay an opportunity to get more scoring from the ordinary work of the offense.
Tulsa's newcomers have already supplied substantial help. Jones, the former Old Dominion back, finished with 125 rushing yards and two touchdowns at Sam Houston; former Oklahoma State defender Kyran Duhon contributed two sacks. Those are meaningful returns from transfers in important roles. Duhon and Thomas Davis each ended a fourth-quarter threat with a fourth-down sack, with Duhon's strip sack ending Sam Houston's final possession. The front gave Tulsa a way to finish a close game.
Tulsa's secondary needs to keep East Texas A&M's Micah Simpson from turning touches into long scores Saturday. He scored on a 50-yard run and a 42-yard reception against Northwestern State. Tulsa allowed Sam Houston's Landyn Locke to throw for 316 yards and two touchdowns, so the late stops should not obscure how much passing production came before them. Limiting Simpson would let Tulsa's defense spend less of the evening rescuing possessions near its own goal line.
At quarterback, watch who handles the normal passing and running duties. Dexter Williams II took fourth-quarter snaps at Sam Houston before Hayes returned only for three kneels. That sequence does not explain the substitution or establish Hayes' workload for Saturday. Sustaining drives matters whichever quarterback takes those snaps.
The kicking duties deserve attention, too. Owen Carey handled every Tulsa place kick at Sam Houston, making a 41-yard field goal but missing one of three extra points; Marlon Hauck handled all five kickoffs. Watch whether that division continues, and whether Carey can pair another made field goal with a clean night on extra points.