Tulane Overcomes Demons, Claims OT Win over Charlotte, 38-31
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For the first time in four years, Tulane had to go extra innings to claim a football game. In 2022, the Green Wave pushed Houston into overtime to claim a 27-24 victory over the Cougars in Texas. This time in North Carolina, the Wave overcame two turnovers and another runner clearing 100-yards to win in overtime, 38-31.
A gutsy fourth and one call in OT made the difference, as New Orleans native Dagan Bruno muscled his way across the goal line for the go-ahead score in Tulane's only overtime possession. The Tulane defense held the 49ers out of the end zone in their OT drive to preserve the win.
"Obviously a huge win for our program," Tulane coach Will Hall told the media after the game. "We didn't play great all the time. We had a chance to really take control of the game early. It felt like forever where we didn't have the ball offensively.
"(Quarterback) Trace (Johnson) made a boneheaded interception. And then we fumbled a kickoff. And we battled through that. I thought the young quarterback played unbelievable in the second half. You know, what was it, 28 of 36 on the road versus a team that had two weeks to get ready for us."
Individual Numbers
- Trace Johnson, 28-of 36 passing, 284-yards, one touchdown, one interception
- Johnnie Daniels, 13-rushes, 99-yards, two touchdowns
- Dickson Agu, 14-tackles, 7-solo, 0.5 tackles for loss
- Makai Williams, 6-tackles, 3-solo, 1-sack, 2-tackles for loss
That Trace Johnson interception and a TJ Smith fumble on a kickoff return led to two touchdowns for Charlotte in the first half, a hill the Green Wave had a hard time climbing.
After the slow start, the Tulane offense scored the last 17-points of the game, including the game winning touchdown in overtime to claim victory.
It All Started with a Fake Punt
The Wave was down a touchdown with 1:58 to go in the game, when Charlotte, faced with a fourth and four at the Tulane 42, attempted a fake punt. A sweep to the left was stopped short of the line to gain by senior wide receiver Garrett Mmahat, who made what would be a game-saving tackle, giving the ball back to Tulane.
And Tulane ends up scoring a TD with 10 seconds left to *likely* force OT lol https://t.co/8AN8dwvFV3 pic.twitter.com/AqNgMlSeuR
— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) October 31, 2026
"When they motioned that guy across, Mmahat saw it coming," Hall shared. "He started screaming fake. And we checked out into our fake defense. I thought we did a good job on that side corralling it. And Mmahat ran it down and got it to the ground, man. That's why we teach tackling to everybody in our program."
The Wave would drive from their own 39-yard line with 1:52 on the clock, mixing the arm of Johnson and the legs of Johnnie Daniels and Mo Turner to get to the Charlotte eleven. A pass to fellow freshman Cam Roberts knotted up the game at 31-apiece. Charlotte's last gasp effort in the final 10-seconds came up short pushing the game into overtime.
The Tulane defense gave up another century mark rusher in a game, as Charlotte's Henry Rutledge carried the ball 19-times for 107-yards. It's the fifth time this season the Wave D has given up over a hundred yards to an opposing rusher.
The Green Wave defense, though, came up big when it needed to. Charlotte had it 1st and goal at the Tulane four in overtime. Two rushing plays netted one yard, and two incomplete passes with Wave defenders playing receivers tightly wrapped up the win.
With the victory, Tulane evens its record to 4-4 on the year and 2-2 in American Conference play. Charlotte, who had lost six straight to start the year, 1-7, and 1-3 in league games.
First Half
The Tulane football team got off to a great start in Charlotte Friday night. Before a national television audience, the Green Wave defense forced the 49ers into punting on its first two possession. In between those two kicks, the Wave offense opening drive was a thing of beauty, a 15-play, 92-yards touchdown drive, mixing passes and runs throughout, giving the Greenies a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Johnson was a stellar 6-of-7 on the possession. For the rest of the 1st half, however, it was all Charlotte, and little Tulane, except for one play on special teams.
After having the ball stripped from him on an earlier kickoff return, specialist TJ Smith more than made up for it on his next attempt, taking the ball at his own 5-yard line and running the distance for the score allowing the Green Wave to retake the lead.
TJ Smith starts the Halloweekend with a 95-yard kick return TD for @GreenWaveFB!
— CFP (@CFBPlayoff) October 31, 2026
📺 ESPN2 x @American_Conf pic.twitter.com/grSjjj1zyW
It is the fourth longest kickoff return in Tulane history.
The Tulane offense couldn't get anything going on a steady basis for the rest of the half. The Wave's second drive ended in an interception as Johnson threw it up for grabs up the left sideline while under pressure. The other three Green Wave first half possessions ended in punts and a missed 42-yard field goal by Cooper Helmke.
Meanwhile, the 49ers went on a scoring rampage. On their next four drives, Charlotte goes touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, scoring their final TD with :49 to go in the half.
The Green Wave went into the halftime locker room trailing 24-14.
Second Half
After going three and out to begin the second half, the Tulane defense held Charlotte, the Tulane offense put together another solid possession, starting at their own 20 and driving 80-yards on seven plays for a second Johnnie Daniels touchdown, shortening the Charlotte lead to 24-21.
The 49ers pieced together a nice drive down to the Tulane 29 yard line, but a 47-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Macho Stephenson. A flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct penalty backed the Wave up and ended up with cornerback Shaun Nicholas ejected from the game, leading to a Tulane punt.
An impressive punt runback puts the ball at the Charlotte 47 and the Niners put together a methodical drive with more chunk plays, adding to their advantage now at 31-21 a little over four minutes into the fourth quarter.
The Tulane offense continued to mix and match passing and running plays the rest of the fourth quarter to tie things up.
Tulane is back in Yulman Stadium on Saturday for a morning Homecoming matchup against Temple. Kickoff set for 11:00 a.m. CT.
Tulane | Charlotte | |
|---|---|---|
Total Yards | 467 | 455 |
Passing Yards | 284 | 239 |
Rushing Yards | 183 | 216 |
Ave. Yards Per Completion | 10.1 | 10.4 |
Ave. Yards Per Rush | 5.4 | 5 |
Penalties | 8-60 yds | 5-26 yds |
3rd Down % | 8-13 | 8-16 |
Time of Possession | 25:49 | 34:11 |
Turnovers | 2 | 0 |
Sacks by | 3-16 yds | 0 |
Tackles for Loss by | 7-26 yds | 0 |
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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.