MOBILE, Ala. - With Ball State University trailing 14 points at halftime of Tuesday's GMAC Bowl, a torrential down pour accompanied by almost 40 mph winds hit Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
It was a prophetic sign of things to come.
The Golden Hurricane of the University of Tulsa blew the Cardinals away with a dominating defensive shutout in the second half, helping them to a 45-13 in the GMAC Bowl. The loss prevented Ball State from winning its first bowl game in the program's 84-year history and kept it from tying for the most wins in the country this season.
After winning its first 12 games of the season and climbing as high as No. 12 in the BCS standings, coach Stan Parrish said finishing the season with two blowout losses left a bitter feeling.
"There's no question it tainted the season a little bit," Parrish said after his first game as the Cardinals head coach. "When you come that close to perfection, you want to grab it all."
Ball State trailed 24-13 at halftime despite three turnovers in the first half, each coming from quarterback Nate Davis on two fumbles and an interception. On the opening drive of the second half, however, Tulsa went 87 yards and scored on a 15-yard pass from quarterback David Johnson to receiver Slick Shelley with 11:40 left in the third quarter.
From that point, the Golden Hurricane defense took over.
Even though Tulsa's offense piled on two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, its defense held Ball State to zero first downs and Davis to zero completions in the final 30 minutes. It also held Cardinals running back MiQuale Lewis to a season-low 35 rushing yards on 16 carries, an average of 2.2 yards per rush.
It was Tulsa's offense that has received accolades throughout the season. Even though the Golden Hurricane finished with 45 points, coach Todd Graham said his defense more than earned its keep Tuesday.
"Defense wins championships. I love what we do on offense, but you've got to play some defense," Graham said. "I said [Monday at a pre-game press conference] that one defense had to step up, and ours did."
While Ball State finished with 223 yards of total offense, Tulsa had 632 yards of offense and six touchdowns.
Ball State held Tulsa to 102 yards in the first quarter, but the Hurricane had 226 yards in the fourth quarter.
Graham said he could sense the Cardinals defense wearing down as the game progressed.
"The thing you underestimate about what we do offensively is the tempo," Graham said. "They were stuffing the run early, then they started breaking. The difference is, they're not used to operating at that tempo, and our guys operate like that every day."
Tulsa freshman receiver Damaris Johnson, who finished with 274 yards and scored the game's first touchdown, said his team received a lot of motivation from being considered the underdogs Tuesday night.
"When 71 percent [of fans on an ESPN.com poll] said they were going to win, I kind of thought that was a little weird," Johnson said. "When we were in the hotel, we talked about how we were the underdog. In a lot of the games we've played in this year, we haven't been the underdog."
Even though it wasn't the way Ball State intended on finishing its season, Parrish said the players should still take pride in a season that provided many benchmarks for the program.
"I think our kids are very disappointed, but they still should hold their heads very, very high," Parrish said. "To win 12 games in Division I football in this day and age, as one of my favorite sayings, is not chop liver.
"My job really starts tomorrow morning. I said I took over Brady's team down the stretch, sorry Brady. Tomorrow morning we really start a new phase to our program."
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