HUNTINGTON - Cody Green threw his only touchdown pass, a 4-yarder to Jordan James for the go-ahead score midway through the fourth quarter, and Tulsa stopped Marshall on downs twice in the fourth quarter to seal a 45-38 win Saturday.
The Golden Hurricane's quarterback connected with Thomas Roberson on the two-point conversion to follow up his touchdown, putting Tulsa (5-1, 3-0 Conference USA) up by seven with 8:25 remaining.
Then the Tulsa defense took over. Lowell Rose broke up a Rakeem Cato pass on Tulsa's 16-yard line on fourth-and-5 to stall a Thundering Herd (2-4, 1-1) drive with 3:32 left. Less than two minutes later, Tulsa's Marco Nelson broke up another pass by Cato on fourth-and-7 at the Golden Hurricane's 17 to stall Marshall's final possession and seal the win.
Alex Singleton rushed for three touchdowns on 94 yards for Tulsa.
Cato had three TDs and 391 yards passing for Marshall.
Marshall outgained Tulsa, 5782 yards to 340, but the Herd committed five turnovers to just two for the Golden Hurricane.
After receiving the opening kickoff, Marshall fumbled the ball away just 19 seconds into the game, leading to a a Tulsa field goal.
Marshall tied the game at 3-3 on a 20-yard Justin Haig field goal with 7:46 left in the fist quarter, but Tulsa scored the first touchdown of the game with 4:27 left in the quarter on a 48-yard run by Singleton.
Singleton added his second TD early in the second quarter on a 4-yard run for a 17-3 Tulsa lead. But Marshall rallied for a pair of TDs in a span of just 1:11 as Kevin Grooms scored from 6 yards out 2:36 before intermission and the Herd quickly recovered a Tulsa fumble and turned into an 11 yard TD pass from Cato to Antavious Wilson with 1:15 left in the half.
The 17-17 intermission score didn't last long. as Tulsa took a 30-19 lead on Singleton's third TD, a 2-yard run, and an 11-yard fumble return for a score by Dwight Dobbins. Tulsa botched the extra point and Marshall's DJ Hunter returned the conversion for 2 points.
Marshall got back in the game with 5:20 left in the third quarter when Remi Watson scored from 1 yard out to make it 30-25. The Herd went for two but was unsuccessful.
It was then time to trade big plays as Tulsa scored on a 95-yard Trey Watts kickoff return and Marshall on Cato's 72-yard TD pass to Gator Hoskins. It was 37-32 Tulsa heading to the first quarter.
Marshall took a 38-37 lead with 10:59 to play when Cato hit Wilson with a 32-yard score to complete a 99-yard drive.
But the Herd could hold the lead as Green hit Jordan with a 4-yard pass with 8:25 left to seal the victory for Tulsa.
Marshall is off next week before traveling to Southern Mississippi on Oct. 20.
