In his first career start at UAB he carried 34 times for 134 yards and threw for 104.
Navy is 1-3, and the loss at Air Force cost the Midshipmen the first of the two service-academy games they needed for a third straight Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Air Force now needs only to beat Army on Nov. 7 to take it back outright, before Navy and Army even meet in December. That is a separate wound from the conference season, and it isn't one Tulsa can heal. Navy lost to Air Force 14-9 in Week 5.
The defense was not the problem. Navy intercepted Liam Szarka twice, Philip Hamilton early, Matthew Seliga in the second half, and shut Air Force out after halftime. Seliga finished with 12 tackles; Coleman Cauley had 11. That was the unit's best afternoon of the season, which matters because it is the side of the ball that changed hands over the winter. Eric Lewis was promoted to defensive coordinator and Ricky Brown to co-defensive coordinator after P.J. Volker left, with Brian Newberry saying before the season that he, not Lewis, would call the defense while Lewis kept the safeties and Brown the outside linebackers. Drew Cronic, by contrast, is in his third season as offensive coordinator. Navy's offensive trouble is not a new playbook. It is who is holding it.
Tulsa, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET on CBSSN
Tulsa (3-2) comes to Annapolis for Navy's first home game in three weeks, and the simulations give Navy an 87% chance of winning it. This is not a game Navy fans should spend the week worrying about; it is a game where the useful viewing is in the details of how Navy wins. Watch the first offensive series and see who takes the huddle, and then watch whether that changes at all in the second half. A clean, uninterrupted Gutierrez start would be the clearest statement Navy has made on the position all year. A genuine Woodson workload would be the other kind of statement. Three more token snaps would say the ankle still isn't right, whatever the staff says about him reclaiming the job.
The last time these teams played, Navy trailed Tulsa 14-0 after three early turnovers last September before outscoring the Golden Hurricane 42-9 to win 42-23. Tulsa can land an early punch.
Winning does not fix much in the standings. Navy's path to the American championship game sits near 4% if it beats Tulsa and near 0.2% if it doesn't, which is less a branch than a formality. You cannot get there without this one, and getting it barely puts you in the room. The full picture is in the interactive guide, and the methodology explains how those numbers are built. The real return on Saturday is simpler. Navy finds out which quarterback it has, in front of its own crowd, against the kind of opponent it should be able to beat either way.