Tulane drops Homecoming game to Cincinnati, 17-16

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NEW ORLEANS – Sophomore wide receiver Darnell Mooney had a career-high 115 receiving yards, but Tulane football fell to Cincinnati, 17-16, Saturday afternoon in front of a Yulman Stadium Homecoming crowd of 20,798.

The Green Wave (3-6, 1-4 American Athletic Conference | West) finished with 328 total yards, including 196 through the air, while the Bearcats (3-6, 1-4 American Athletic Conference | East) totaled 456 yards of offense, including 248 passing and 208 rushing.

Junior quarterback Jonathan Banks passed for 196 yards on 17 completions, eight of which went to Mooney, who averaged 18.1 yards per catch. Banks also led the Wave on the ground with 75 yards on 10 carries. Junior safety Roderic Teamer Jr. led Tulane with a career-high 10 tackles, and added a tackle for loss.

“It was a disappointing loss,” head coach Willie Fritz said. “They converted a bunch of third downs, particularly early in the ballgame. We had opportunities to get some touchdowns instead of field goals, and we didn’t do that. At the end of the game, we were trying to cold call it and see what they were in up front, and unfortunately, we jumped. That put us at 4th-and-6, and we had to kick the field goal. I thought that was our only chance. He was 3-for-3, and I was proud of that, but unfortunately, he didn’t make it.”

Trailing 17-16 with 5:15 to play, Tulane took over after a Cincinnati punt with a chance to take the lead. The Green Wave drove 67 yards with a field goal attempt to take the lead, but the 36-yard try was missed wide left with 1:21 left, and the Bearcats ran out the clock.

Banks completed six consecutive passes to start the game – a Tulane career-best – totaling 65 yards. It was his legs, however, that scored the first touchdown of the game and gave the Green Wave the early lead. On 2nd-and-2, he evaded pressure in the pocket and dashed 53 yards through the defense to the end zone to put the Wave on top, 7-3, with 3:12 left in the first quarter.

Cincinnati had scored on its opening possession, driving to the Tulane seven-yard line, but the Green Wave defense held, forcing a 25-yard field goal by Ryan Jones. The Bearcats took a 10-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter when Hayden Moore hit Devin Gray for a 39-yard touchdown completion down the sideline.

Sophomore Merek Glover pulled the Green Wave into a 10-10 tie with 7:38 to play in the half when he knocked a career-long, 37-yard field goal through the uprights. Glover connected on his first three field goal attempts in the game, eclipsing the team’s season total – two – entering Saturday.

Glover put the Wave on top going into the locker room with a 19-yard field goal that made the score 13-10. Tulane drove 42 yards in 14 plays, using up the final 5:33 of the half to take the lead.

The Bearcats took the lead back in the third quarter on a five-yard touchdown run by Mike Boone. Cincinnati took over on its 28 after a Tulane punt to start the half, and drove 72 yards in 10 plays and 5:55 to move ahead, 17-13 at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter.

Following a missed 41-yard field goal attempt by Cincinnati, sophomore running back Darius Bradwell gave Tulane its initial first down of the second half on a five-yard run early in the fourth quarter. That run, on the second play of the possession, sparked a 67-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard field goal by Glover to cut the deficit to 17-16 with 7:59 remaining in the game.

The Green Wave are on the road next week at ECU for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff Saturday in Greenville, N.C. The game will be carried live on CBS Sports Network.

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TULANE FOOTBALL POSTGAME NOTES VS. CINCINNATI

Nov. 4, 2017

GAME

• Game captains were senior running back Dontrell Hilliard and senior linebacker Rae Juan Marbley.
• Tulane won the coin toss and deferred. Tulane defended the south goal in the first quarter.
• Attendance was 20,798.

TEAM

• Tulane wore white throwback helmets with an interlocking TU – similar to the style worn from 1977-80 and 1983-84 – blue jerseys and white pants.
• Redshirt senior cornerback Perry Nickerson carried the No. 18 flag, honoring former Tulane football student-athlete Devon Walker, who was injured and paralyzed during a game in 2012. Redshirt senior running back Sherman Badie carried the American Athletic Conference P6 (#AmericanPow6r) flag leading the Green Wave out of the tunnel.
• Tulane moved to 3-1 this season and 5-1 under head coach Willie Fritz when leading at halftime.
• Tulane’s last Homecoming win came in its 24-21 victory against North Texas on Oct. 5, 2013 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
• Of Tulane’s 33 touchdowns scored so far this season, 16 have been with plays that went 20 yards or longer.
• The Green Wave have rushed for 100 or more yards in 24 straight games, dating back to the final three games of the 2015 season.
• Tulane passed for more than 100 yards for the sixth time this season. The other five games were Grambling State (185 yards) on Sept. 2, Army West Point (103 yards) on Sept. 23, Tulsa (165 yards) on Oct. 7, USF (221 yards) on Oct. 21 and at Memphis (203 yards) on Oct. 27.
• The Green Wave are 5-of-6 on field goal attempts this season.
• Tulane failed to force a turnover for the first time in 10 games, dating back to the final game of last season at UConn on Nov. 26, 2016.

PLAYERS

• Redshirt senior cornerback Parry Nickerson made his 42nd career start, redshirt senior Jarrod Franklin made his 33rd consecutive start (35th in his career), senior running back Dontrell Hilliard made his 22nd straight start (30th in his career) and redshirt junior offensive lineman John Leglue (22nd in his career) and junior receiver Terren Encalade (28th in his career) made their 21st consecutive starts.
• With 40 rushing yards, senior running back Dontrell Hilliard moved to 2,665 career rushing yards, which ranks fifth in school history.
• Junior quarterback Jonathan Banks’ 53-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was his longest run and longest touchdown run of his Tulane career, eclipsing his previous high of 50 yards vs. Tulsa. He now has five rushing touchdowns this season.
• Banks completed his first six passes of the game.
• Banks kicked the third punt of his Tulane career at the 11:08 mark in the second quarter. His 34-yard punt was downed at the Cincinnati one-yard line. All three of his punts have been downed inside of the opponents’ five-yard line.
• Sophomore wide receiver Darnell Mooney recorded a career-high seven receptions for a career-high 115 yards, matching his previous high of seven receptions at Houston on Nov. 12, 2016 and eclipsing his 70 yards at Memphis last week.
• Junior wide receiver Jabril Clewis caught a pass for his seventh consecutive game, dating back to the Oklahoma game on Sept. 16. He caught a career-high five receptions for a career-high 49 yards.
• Junior wide receiver Devin Glenn caught his first pass of season and the sixth of his career with an eight-yard reception in the second quarter.
• Redshirt junior defensive end Robert Kennedy recorded the first pass breakup of his career in the second quarter.
• Junior safety Roderic Teamer Jr. recorded a career-high 10 tackles, eclipsing his previous best of nine tackles at FIU earlier this season.
• With 23 kickoff return yards, redshirt senior running back Sherman Badie moved to 1,144 kick return yards for his career, which ranks eighth in school history.
• Sophomore placekicker Merek Glover connected on a career-long field goal in the second quarter, splitting the uprights from 37 yards out. His previous long was his first career field goal (35 yards) at FIU.
• Glover hit three field goals (37, 19, 26), marking the most field goals in a game since Andrew DiRocco made four vs. UL Lafayette on Sept. 24, 2016.