by John Zenor , Record Searchlight

Tarrion Adams rushed for 207 yards and three touchdowns, David Johnson passed for three scores and Damaris Johnson did a little bit of everything in the Golden Hurricane's 45-13 GMAC Bowl victory over No. 23 Ball State on a soggy Tuesday night.

Tulsa (11-3) just kept racking up numbers and wins for a school record in victories.

The Golden Hurricane had 439 yards rushing and 632 overall - hardly slowed down a bit by rain that first formed puddles and then covered nearly the entire field during a second-half deluge.

"We expected to win. We weren't going to have it any other way," Golden Hurricane coach Todd Graham said. "I felt like where we had an advantage on them was how physical we are.

"We got into a rhythm early and we had them off-balance on some things."

On both sides of the ball. Ball State (12-2) didn't have a first down or completion in the second half, managing a feeble 22 yards after halftime.

The nation's No. 1 offense after the other bowls - No. 2 in the regular season - was unstoppable. Adams passed Micheal Gunter to become Tulsa's career rushing leader and broke Gunter's single-season mark, too.

David Johnson passed for 193 yards, most of that to freshman Damaris Johnson. Tulsa kicker Jarod Tracy became the school's career scoring leader.

Adams needed just 19 carries, though one was a season-long 56-yard touchdown scamper.

"My teammates wanted me to break the record more than I wanted to break the record," he said. "They told me where I was after every series."

Tulsa's 63-7 win over Bowling Green in last year's GMAC was the most lopsided bowl game in NCAA history. This was another runaway thanks to the no-huddle offense and a capitalistic defense.

"I thought it was stellar," Graham said of the defense. "We've won back-to-back bowl championships and we've given up two touchdowns. To have somebody get zero first downs in a half, that's pretty good."

Ball State fell to 0-5 in bowl games after recording a school-record 12 wins.

Damaris Johnson supplied many of the big plays for Tulsa's no-huddle offense and had 274 all-purpose yards. He had 135 yards receiving, 76 yards rushing - including a tackle-breaking 62-yarder in the fourth quarter - and returned three kicks for 63 yards.

Four Tulsa players ran for at least 58 yards.

The Cardinals had been giving up just 142 yards a game on the ground and 348 total.

It was a rough debut for Ball State coach Stan Parrish, a 62-year-old promoted from offensive coordinator on Dec. 18 after Brady Hoke left to take over the San Diego State program.

Copyright 2009 Record Searchlight All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.