Tulane Upends 22nd Ranked Memphis, 38-32
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With their backs against the wall after last week's loss to Texas-San Antonio, the Tulane Green Wave was faced with going back on the road and taking on the cream of the crop in the American Conference, the 22nd ranked Memphis Tigers. The Wave opened with a statement: a Tulane defense that was on its heels most of last week's game against the Road Runners, forced a talented Memphis offense into a three-and-out on the first possession of the game. Then, on Tulane's first time handling the ball, Jake Retzlaff uncoiled a 65-yard bomb to a streaking Shazz Preston on a post to give the Wave the lead from which they never looked back on their way to a 38-32 win over the Tigers in a loud and rowdy Liberty Bowl stadium.
"Awesome win for our guys," head coach Jon Sumrall said after the game. "Not always pretty, but they found a way."
Even though the Green Wave were able to open up a substantial 35-17 halftime lead over Memphis, Tulane had to hold on for dear life to escape with the six-point victory, as the Tigers surged in the fourth quarter with 15-unanswered points.
"A really good first half," Sumrall said. "A lot of clean football, to be quite honest. In the second half, some self-inflicted things, And Memphis is a good football team. They've been in that position before (being down 31-17 after three quarters to South Florida). They've got a lot of talent on that team."
And after what occurred a week ago, it would be understandable for there to be doubt in this Tulane team. Instead, this edition of the Green Wave showed the qualities their coach appreciates most.
"I'm so proud of these guys," Sumrall told the media after the game. "For their resiliency, for their response (to the loss last week). We talked a lot about that this week. Bad things are going to happen sometimes. It's not always going to pretty; you're not always going to be perfect. Sometimes you're going to stumble, in the game of football and in life. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you, and people are going to be negative about you. You just have to just keep showing up, have a good attitude, and go back to work. I'm proud of them doing that."
A Tale of Two Halves for the Greenies
The Green Wave offense was absolutely clicking in the first half, scoring touchdowns on five of their six drives in the first thirty minutes of play. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff, looking to put his three-interception night against Texas-San Antonio behind him, was in a zone in the first half, topping 200-yards through the air, finding six different receivers, twice for touchdowns, and rushing for another TD.
The defense had its best game in a month, forcing a talented Memphis team to punt three times in the first half alone, while garnering three sacks in the first thirty minutes.
In half number two, the Green Wave offense faltered, only getting a 30-yard field goal from Patrick Durkin in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile the Memphis offense started to find a rhythm, scoring on back-to-back drives at the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the fourth. A Jack Tchienchou interception, while Memphis quarterback Brendon Lewis was under duress from the Tulane defensive front, stopped a Tiger drive later in the fourth quarter. It was the only turnover of the game by either team. That is big turnaround for TU, as last week the Green Wave gave the ball away to UTSA four times.
On the offensive side of things, Jake Retzlaff recovered nicely from last week's loss, going 16-23 passing for 332-yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for another TD. Freshman running back Javin Gordon led the Wave on the ground with 66-yards on 12-carries and a touchdown.
The Green Wave defense came through strong with pressure, getting six sacks of Memphis quarterbacks for a total of 55-yards lost.
A tense moment occurred in the second half, when linebacker Sam Howard, who had just come back from a fractured fibula, was rolling around on the ground and holding his leg. After a few moments, he hopped back up on his own accord and was greeted on the sidelines by relieved and celebrating offensive and defensive player alike.
"They (the team doctors) came in and imaged it, and it's good," Sumrall said referring to Howard's injury. "Nothing substantial."
And Sumrall was quick to point out, it was good to have the man who's considered the heart and soul of this Tulane team back on the field.
"He (Howard) made some plays, but he elevates everybody around him," Sumrall bragged about his senior linebacker. "He's such a motivating factor, because his energy is real....When he walks in the room the temperature changes for everybody, for the better. He makes me better."
Howard ended up his first game back on the field since the East Carolina game with five tackles, four of those solos, one sack, and two tackles for losses.
Linebacker Makai Williams led all Tulane defenders with 10-tackles, eight of them solo, and 1.5-tackles for loss.
With the victory, Tulane improves their season record to 7-2, holding a 4-1 record in the American Conference. Memphis drops to 8-2 on the year, 4-2 in league play.
The Green Wave come back home to Yulman Stadium on Saturday, November 15th for their homecoming matchup against American Conference foe, Florida Atlantic. Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m. It will be debut of the new Tulane City Edition uniforms. This is the one time the Wave will wear them.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.