Tulane Wrapped up the Regular Season with a 27-0 Smacking of Charlotte

In a game that was never in doubt, the Tulane football team dominated from start to finish to claim a 27-0 victory over Charlotte Saturday night in Yulman Stadium. The Green Wave finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, 7-1 in American Conference play. The 49ers wrapped up their regular season with one win in 12-games, going 0-8 in league contests.

In addition to this game wrap up, we cover Jon Sumrall's comments about his future with Tulane in a separate article, which you can read here.

With the victory, Tulane locked up both the right to be in the American trophy game and to host it, Friday, December 5 at 7:00 p.m. in Yulman.

Sumrall Impressed by His Team's Showing...Sort of

"Good performance by our guys in a lot of ways," Sumrall shared with the media after the contest. "I didn't like the turnovers. We were very careless with the football. That was a major issue. We're going to have to improve that if we want to have any chance of winning next week's (American Conference title) game."

The Green Wave turned over the ball three times against Charlotte. The Wave also fumbled the ball four times, losing one.

"That's ridiculous," Sumrall said, shaking his head. "I'm really pissed off about that. The offense has got to play better. We've got to protect the football better, capitalize and score."

Green Wave Defense Came to Play

Tulane threw its first shutout of the season. Its first since the Navy game in November, 2024.

"I thought our defense played really sound," Sumrall told us. "They found ways to get stops, even in situations that weren't ideal."

Greenie Kicker Gets Praise from His Coach

Tulane place kicker, Patrick Durkin, faced his biggest challenge of the year when he lined up for the longest attempt as a Greenie, from 55-yards out in the third quarter. Though the field goal was dead on, it just missed crossing the bar. He bounced back and nailed a 52-yarder in the 4th, tying the redshirt freshman for his longest at Tulane.

"I was really proud of Patrick Durkin's response," said Sumrall. "(He) miss hit the one (55-yarder), but came back out and hit the 52-yarder. That was really cool, to see his response (to the missed kick)."

Sumrall Liked the Turnout in Yulman

For the most part, Tulane students were absent from campus, away on their Thanksgiving break. So getting 22,245 seats in the Yulman stadium seats impressed him.

"Though it's Thanksgiving break, it was an awesome turn out," Sumrall beamed. "Knowing a lot of our students wouldn't be here, I thought (it was ) a really good crowd.

"I'll say this," Sumrall referring to the American Conference championship game on Friday. "Next week, it needs to feel like the Duke game." In that contest, Tulane's student section was packed to the rafters, as was all of Yulman which was sold out. "I'll never forget getting into the stadium for that Duke game. It was big time college football. It was as good of an environment as you'll find anywhere in America. It needs to feel like that on Friday night."

It was pointed out the students will be back in school by then, and Sumrall continued to challenge the Tulane students.

"They better be there at 8 (AM, Friday)," Sumrall said, pointing to Tulane President Michael Fitz who was in attendance at the post-game media soiree. "I was going to talk to President Fitz and see if we can cancel classes Friday," Sumrall joked, but in a semi-serious way. "Let 'em get absolutely hammered, and show up. (It would) bring a lot of chaos to the game."

The Green Wave meet North Texas in the American Conference title game Friday, December 5th at 7:00 in Yulman Stadium.