Understudy Jackson Kicks Up Heels, Leaving Aztecs in the Dust : Tulsa: Coach’s confidence in substitute running back is repaid with a record-setting performance.

On the day Tulsa learned its best running back would be ineligible to play in the Freedom Bowl, reserve Ron Jackson said the news stunned him.

“I had to sit down when Coach (Dave) Rader told me on the phone,” Jackson said. “I knew it was all on me. I’d have to carry the load.”

It worried him.

“The week before the game, I was nervous and didn’t eat much,” Jackson said.

Tulsa played Monday night without Chris Hughley, the nation’s fifth-leading rusher with a 132-yard average, but it hardly seemed to matter. Jackson ran, and Tulsa climbed aboard just as it had when Hughley had been the one with the ball. And who knows? Even Hughley might not have been able to rack up the numbers Jackson did.

Four touchdowns and 211 yards in 46 carries were enough to carry Tulsa to a 28-17 victory over San Diego State at Anaheim Stadium.

No one in the eight-game history of the Freedom Bowl had ever scored four touchdowns. Gaston Green had three in his memorable 266-yard, 33-carry performance in UCLA’s 31-10 victory over Brigham Young in 1986. And only Green gained more yards than Jackson did Monday.

To top it off, Jackson walked away with the game’s MVP trophy.

Not a bad night’s work for a sub, but it was hardly a surprising turn of events for the Tulsa coaching staff, or even San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill.

“I said earlier in the week that there wasn’t that much difference between Jackson and Hughley,” Luginbill said.

Rader designed it that way. Tulsa’s offensive system is built around a sturdy running back, hammering away behind a brutish offensive line.

“It’s not surprising,” Rader said of Jackson’s performance.

Tulsa’s defensive coordinator, Pete McGinnis, even threatened to kick Jackson’s tail if he didn’t top 200 yards. Never mind that Jackson had never gained 200 yards at Tulsa, or carried 46 times for that matter.

“I’ve never carried the ball this many times before,” he said. “I was expecting to carry it 30 times. This was definitely the best game of my career.

“I started to sense in the first half that I would get over 200 yards, and at that point I wasn’t going to stop.”

By halftime, he had scored on runs of 10 and six yards and Tulsa and San Diego State were tied, 14-14. He had gained 118 yards in 23 carries by then, and the Aztecs’ defense, notoriously weak against the pass, had a big problem.

San Diego State couldn’t adjust or stop Jackson, mainly because Tulsa went to the pass more often in the second half. And that seemed to give Jackson even more running room.

A three-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 50 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Golden Hurricane the lead for good at 21-14. Later, he added a four-yard scoring run to put the game out of reach.

In the end, Jackson even overshadowed San Diego State’s freshman phenom, Marshall Faulk. Something that didn’t seem possible coming into the game. Faulk had set the NCAA single-game rushing record with a 386-yard effort against the University of the Pacific on Sept. 14. He had averaged 158.8 yards, an NCAA record for a freshman, and gained a school-record 1,429 yards.

But that was old news Monday, as Jackson ran away from all-comers. Later, he wasn’t concerned with comparisons between he and Faulk, or he and Hughley for that matter.

“The way this season transpired for me really wasn’t frustrating,” Jackson said. “When Hughley started running the ball well, I became a fan and I tried to help him out by communicating what I thought the defense was going to do.

“Chris is probably laughing his head off right now.”