Too bad Tulsa University’s football team couldn’t play Indiana State every week.

The Golden Hurricane opened the 2001 season with a 51-0 thrashing of the Sycamores, then proceeded to drop their next 10 games and finish in the Western Athletic Conference basement.

With 62 members of the 88-player roster either freshmen or sophomores, the Hurricanes’ troubles were inevitable. But now coach Keith Burns has 44 lettermen returning, including eight starters on both offense and defense.

“Obviously, we have to improve in a lot of offensive areas,” Burns said. “Defensively, our emphasis will be on eliminating the big play, improving our run defense and creating turnovers.”

Offense was the most troublesome.

The Hurricane ranked last in the WAC and 109th nationally in scoring offense by averaging just 17.4 points a game.

Late in the season, Tulsa went through a three-week stretch in which it was outscored 63-27 by San Jose State, 58-0 by Oklahoma and 59-32 by Rice.

On offense, sophomore quarterbacks Tyler Gooch and James Kilian return, and Gooch seemed to have won the starting job in the spring. Gooch, a 5-foot-11, 188-pound native of Tulsa, completed 12 of 18 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns in the spring game. Kilian, who directed the other team, completed 5 of 14 tosses for just 37 yards.

In high school at Tulsa Union, Gooch was ranked among the Top 30 prospects in Oklahoma after completing 63 percent of his passes and leading his team to a 25-3 record as a junior and senior.

As a true freshman during the Hurricane’s 1-10 season, Gooch was the team’s second leading rusher and passer.

Gooch rushed for 361 yards, trailing only tailback Eric Richardson’s 469-yard output. Meanwhile, he completed 55 percent of his passes for 825 yards, but threw a team-high seven interceptions.

In the spring game, Gooch tossed a 42-yard scoring pass to Richardson, a 5-9, 170-pound junior from Duncanville, Texas.

Tulsa’s top defensive player is tackle Sam Rayburn who tied the single season school record for stops behind the line of scrimmage with 16. Rayburn is a 6-3, 300-pound senior.