Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2014-15 season.
Tulsa and Tulane played an opening game of the American Athletic Conference season that was inspirational on many levels
When the curtain went up on the new American Athletic Conference season Thursday night, we got a sneak peak at two of the league's new teams – Tulsa and Tulane – which are preparing for the future and taking a touching look back at the past.
Dane Evans, a sophomore from Sanger, Texas, kept Tulsa's quarterback heritage alive when he threw for a career-high 438 yards and four touchdowns as the Golden Hurricane slammed the door on the disappointment of last season's 3-9 finish with a dramatic 38-31 double-overtime victory against former Conference USA rival Tulane during a CBS Sports Network game that was televised from picturesque Chapman Stadium, overlooking the city of Tulsa.
The 6-1, 215-pound Evans, who got five starts as a redshirt freshman while being thrust into the role following Cody Green's midseason knee injury, completed just 43 percent of his passes last season, only throwing four TDs, with 10 interceptions.
He looked like a completely new player against the Green Wave, playing in a system more suited to his passing skills that was designed by new offensive coordinator Denver Johnson and quarterbacks coach Josh Blakenship to light up the scoreboard the way Tulsa did from 2007 through 2012 when it went to five bowl games, defeating Iowa State, 31-17, in the 2012 Liberty Bowl.
After a shaky start, Evans completed 31 of 53 passes against Tulane, making efficient, winning plays down the stretch. With Tulsa down 28-20 with 2:53 remaining in regulation, Evans threw a three-yard touchdown pass to talented sophomore wide receiver Keevan Lucas on a fourth-and-goal to finish off a 77-yard drive, and then hit Joshua Atkinson for the tying two-point conversion to force overtime. Then, after both teams exchanged field goals in the first overtime, Evans put Tulane away in the second OT with a game-winning 8-yard touchdown pass to Connor Flood.
As dramatic as this game was, it was overshadowed in part by an emotional halftime scene when a former Tulane player made his first appearance at Chapman Stadium two years after he suffered a paralyzing, career-ending injury during a game against the Golden Hurricane. Devon Walker made the journey with his mother and the family attended a reception at the team hotel in downtown Tulsa Wednesday night, where Walker reunited with doctors and emergency personnel who saved his life.
He returned to cheer on his former Tulane teammates and also to say thank you to the many Tulsa fans who supported him during this ongoing ordeal.
Walker suffered a fractured vertebrae in a helmet-to-helmet hit on the final play of the first half of what was Tulsa's 2012 home opener. After the hit, he stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. Walker now uses a motorized wheelchair. He is attached to a mechanical breather, needs constant medical care and is unlikely to walk again.
But that did not stop him from remembering the thousands of people in Tulsa who sent him letters of encouragement, telling him they are praying for him and he was an inspiration in their lives.
Walker received a warm applause from the crowd of 19,000 when he took the field, "Pain is temporary. Victory is forever," Walker announced in a prerecorded video message thanking the city of Tulsa for its support following the personal catastrophe.
"There's always a plan for everybody, and everything that happens in life makes you stronger. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Walker said during a 10-minute media session before the game. "I didn't die that day so I'm stronger for the next."
The return "wasn't as much as a healing factor as it was just something you have to get over in life," Walker said. "Coming back here feels like a hurdle in life that I just have to get over and move on. Sometimes the easiest road is not the road chosen for you. That the road that you choose initially to live in life might be different from what God has for you to go through. I believe that every part of your life, the good parts, the bad parts are all part of living and are part of a life lesson – to prepare you for the next life.”
When Walker was accepted as a student at Tulane he had no intention of playing football, just being a regular student and studying biology. He was approached two days before camp started and was asked if he would play. His career was just starting to take off after three years of hard work before the injury changed his life.
Walker refused to let it define him. He persevered with his studies after the injury and graduated with a degree in cellular and molecular biology last spring. He was named an honorary New Orleans Saint – the NFL team he always dreamed of playing with - and signed a one-day contract at the team's minicamp.
He hopes to get his master’s degree and pursue a doctorate in a field such as neuroscience and continue to provide inspiration.
His courage has put football in perspective as life goes on and both teams continue their seasons.
Tulsa showed it was prepared to make the leap to a more competitive confrence – one in which Temple picked up a 37-7 win over Vanderbilt and UCF battled to Penn State to the final gun in Dublin, Ireland, during the opening week. Evans is much more confident than the kid who looked so shaky in his debut last year, a 14-7 loss to Tulane in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Lucas, a talented sophomore who set a new AAC record with 233 receiving yards and three touchdowns, is a rising star. He should combine with Evans and wide receiver Keyarris Garrett, who suffered a season-ending leg injury in the second game of 2013 after making 67 catches for 845 yards and nine touchdowns the previous year, to give Tulsa a prolific passing attack. Safety Demarco Nelson, a first team preseason All C-USA pick in 2013 who sat out last year to work on his academics, had a game-ending interception against Tulane and should shore up an improved defense that returns nine starters.
Tulane, which opens the state-of-the-art Yulman Stadium this Saturday against Georgia Tech, has taken steps toward improving its offense against a more difficult schedule with the insertion of redshirt freshman Tanner Lee at quarterback. Lee threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns in his first college game while fellow freshman Sherman Badie dashed for 215 yards as the Green Wave showed signs of waking up an offense that was ranked 115th nationally last season.
If these two newcomers, projected to finish ninth and 11th in The American’s preseason media poll, represent second-division teams, the league should be just as competitive top to bottom as it was last year because there will be a multitude of quality quarterbacks capable of creating suspenseful finishes.
If Walker epitomizes the character of player involved, the league has a lot to be proud of heading forward.