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Tulsa hosts in UCF in rematch of Conference USA title game.

Oct 21, 2008 - 8:22 PM Central Florida (2-4) at (19) Tulsa (7-0), 8:00 pm EDT

TULSA, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- Off to its best start since 1942 and ranked for the first time since 1991, 19th-ranked Tulsa will have revenge on its mind this week.

The Golden Hurricane look to avenge a pair of defeats from last year when they host Central Florida on Sunday in a Conference USA clash.

Tulsa lost to Central Florida, 44-23, in the regular season a year ago and again in the Conference USA title game, 44-25. In the championship clash, Kevin Smith, the nation's leading rusher, ran for 284 yards and four touchdowns.

However, Smith left for the NFL after running for 2,448 yards last season, leaving the Golden Knights with a huge void to fill in the backfield.

Central Florida (2-4, 1-1 C-USA East) has struggled to find a capable replacement as Ronnie Weaver is the team's leading rusher with just 348 yards.

The Golden Knights have dropped four of their last five games, including last week's 20-14 loss to Miami.

Tulsa lost Paul Smith, the school's all-time passing leader, but the Golden Hurricane's offense remains as potent as ever as they lead the Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring at 56.7 points per game.

Tulsa (7-0, 4-0 C-USA West) is on a record scoring pace as its per-game average is slightly better than the all-time mark of 56.0 set by the 1944 Army team that won the national championship.

David Johnson passed for 434 yards and five touchdowns in last week's 77-35 victory over Texas-El Paso. The Golden Hurricane gained 791 total yards - the most for any team this year in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season.

"We expect to score as many as we need to score to win the ballgame," Johnson said. "Our expectation on offense is to score every time we have the ball. As long as we do not stop ourselves, that is a possibility."

Tulsa has climbed into the rankings for the first time since the end of the 1991 campaign when it was 22nd.