December 22, 2006

Tulsa, OK (CSTV U-WIRE) -- The University of Tulsa has accepted a bid to play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday, December 23. The game, which will take place at the Amon G. Carter Stadium on the TCU campus, will start at 7 p.m. CST and be televised nationally on ESPN as the Golden Hurricane take on the Utah Utes.

"This is especially exciting for our senior class who will get to participate in their third bowl in four years, and our team for going to back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the 1964 and '65 Tulsa teams," said Tulsa head coach Steve Kragthorpe. "It's always exciting to play in the month of December because it's an indicator that you've had a good season." This will be the 14th bowl game in school history for The University of Tulsa.

The Hurricane football team finished with a regular season record of 8-4 and a 5-3 conference record, while the Utes finished at 7-5 and 5-3 in the Mountain West conference. Tulsa has met Utah three times before when both teams were in the Western Athletic Conference. Utah leads the series 2-1.

"We're excited to play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and in the state of Texas. Fort Worth is a great city and it's a great opportunity for a number of our players who played high school football in Texas to return to the state and play in front of their families and friends," added Kragthorpe. "The proximity, ease of travel and being a Saturday night game should enable the people of Tulsa to easily support this team in Fort Worth."

Utah will be making its fourth straight bowl appearance, and has won its last five bowl games. One has only to look at the list of recent bowl victories to understand the prominence of the Ute program: a win over Fresno State in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl, a victory over USC in 2001, a shutout over Southern Miss in the 2003 Liberty Bowl, a Fiesta Bowl blowout in 2005 and last year's 38-10 win over Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl.

"We are excited about the Tulsa-Utah match up," said Tom Starr, the Executive Director of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, "since both teams won bowl games last season against quality competition. Tulsa captured the Conference USA championship last season in their first year in the league before winning the Liberty Bowl. Utah was the 2004 Mountain West champion and won a BCS bowl game."

Tickets in the Tulsa fan section are available by calling the TU athletic ticket office at 918-631-GoTU (4688). Fans can also order tickets online at www.tulsahurricane.com. Game tickets are priced at $40.00. Trip packages (hotel, travel and pre-game parties) are available through Anthony Travel by calling 1-800-736-6377 or online at www.anthonytravel.com/Tulsa_bowltour.cfm.

For more information visit www.tulsahurricane.com or www.armedforcesbowl.com

(C) 2006 The Collegian via CSTV U-WIRE