Halftime Studs and Duds: Tulane 14 Southern Miss 14, Wave Offensive Rhythm Lacking
Sign up for the weekly On Si Tulane Newsletter here.
In the Battle for the Bell, Tulane is tied with Southern Miss, 14 - 14, in a game in which neither team could find a rhythm. This is what we think of how the Green Wave has performed.
During the game, Tulane honored the 2026 inductees into the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame. Six were feted on Friday night at the Audubon Tea Room. We'll have more on that later.
The Studs
Punt Team
Junior punter William Hudlow was booming his punts all half. Three of his six kicks were over 50-yards. The Jesuit graduate averaged 54-yards per punt, his longest going 65-yards.
The coverage was spot on for the Wave: no room to run for the Golden Eagles, either having to fair catch Hudlow's punts or going backwards each time.
Tulane Running Game (in the Second Quarter)
The first quarter was a wasteland for the Tulane running game. Jaylin Lucas had the longest run of the period: nine yards. The whole Wave rushing game had 16-yards in the first 15-minutes.
Then, Mo Turner happened. On a counter to the right, the senior ran into his pulling guard, pinballed his way toward the middle of the field, then sprinted 43-yards for a Tulane touchdown.
USM tied the score with just under five minutes to go in the half, Turner hit the 43-jackpot again, streaking through a hole on the left side of the line, getting another 43-yards.
Power runner Johnnie Daniels found room to run, accumulating 35-yards on 8-carries.
The Duds
Tulane Defense (also in the Second Quarter)
Southern Miss didn't pick up a first down three minutes to go in the 1st quarter. Tulane limited the Golden Eagles to 34-yards total offense in the first period They picked up seven in the 2nd quarter alone, and three sacks in the first two quarters.
Once USM figured things out, though, things turned South. The Golden Eagles more than quadrupled their 1st quarter output with 144-yards, mostly via the air. In the second start of his career for Southern Miss' Landry Lyddy, he lit up the Wave defense, going 10-for-16, 114-yards, and two touchdowns.
Offensive Rhythm
There is none. There were three big plays, two of them belonging to the aforementioned Turner, along with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Kadin Semonza to Anthony Brown Stephens. Otherwise the Tulane offense just can't seem to find consistency in either the running or passing game. Semonza is 8-for 16 for 72-yards and that touchdown to AB. Take away that TD toss, and Semonza is 7-for 15 for 25-yards.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
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.