Tulane pulls out 24-17 road win at Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. – Tulane quarterback Justin McMillan’s 39-yard touchdown run to give Green Wave football team its first lead of the night would be the difference in a 24-17 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Saturday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

Trailing by as many as 10 points on two separate occasions on the night, Tulane (3-5, 2-2 American Athletic Conference) stormed back and put 17 unanswered points on the board in the final two quarters of the game to earn the victory over Tulsa (1-7, 0-3 American Athletic Conference) and snap a two-game losing skid.

In his first start for the Olive and Blue, McMillan was 10-for-19 through the air for 92 yards, while rushing for two touchdowns. McMillan, along with the Green Wave rushing attack, blistered the Tulsa defense to the tune of 312 yards on the ground, paced by Corey Dauphine’s 18 carries for 107 yards.

The Wave averaged 5.7 yards per rush in the game, with Darius Bradwell tagging on 76 yards on 12 carries. On the night, Tulane got big rushing plays of 51, 40, 39, 21 and 12 yards to keep offensive drives alive and eat up clock.

Roderic Teamer Jr. led the Tulane defense with 10 total tackles against the Hurricane, with eight coming on the solo end. Lawrence Graham and Cameron Sample each had six, while Patrick Johnson and Robert Kennedy each produced a sack.

Terren Encalade paced the receivers with four catches for 44 yards, with Darnell Mooney and Amare Jones had two each.

After a combined three failed attempts by both sides to try and put the game away with the clock ticking away in the fourth quarter, Tulane got the ball back at their 42-yard line and used Dauphine to keep the clock moving and get into Tulsa’s half of the field. With third-and-1 at the Tulsa 39, McMillan tucked the ball and ran in for the score untouched to steal the momentum and give the Green Wave the lead.

Tulane was 9-of-18 on third downs, while Tulsa was 2-for-11.

Tulsa was left with just 3:45 on the clock to try and push the game into overtime, and after getting just past midfield, the Hurricane couldn’t muster much else before turning the ball over on downs.

The Tulane offense was finally able to break through in the second quarter, as Bradwell rumbled into the end zone on a one-yard score to cap a 16-play, 75-yard drive to pull the Green Wave within three of the Hurricane. Bradwell touched the ball on six plays of the drive, earning 13 yards on the ground during the offensive series.

In that same drive, the Wave were aided by a tipped, 18-yard reception by Encalade on third down to keep the drive alive and get Tulane deep into Tulsa territory. The series looked like it was going to stall and end with a field goal, but a roughing the kicker penalty gave Tulane another change to punch it in, doing so two plays later by McMillan.

After a field goal by Tulsa pushed the Hurricane lead back to 10 in the third quarter, Tulane proceeded to go on an 8-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock to pull back within three. The drive was highlighted by a 51-yard rush for Dauphine that got the Green Wave to the Tulsa one. McMillan scored on the quarterback keeper and Tulane was back to within single digits.

The Hurricane gave the ball right back to Tulane, and over the course of 10 plays between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter the Green Wave ate up 52 yards, powered by a 19-yard catch for Encalade and 21-yard scamper by Jones, to get back into the Tulsa red zone. The drive ended with a 20-yard Merek Glover field goal to tie the game at 17.

The Tulane defense held firm on the first Tulsa drive of the fourth quarter, as a few big runs for the Hurricane got the home side into the Green Wave’s side of the field. However, a tackle in the backfield for Juan Monjarres and consecutive pass breakups by Taris Shenall and Willie Langham forced Tulsa to punt.

The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday, November 3 where it will travel to USF. The game will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network and will begin at 2:30 p.m.

TULANE 24, TULSA 17 – POSTGAME NOTES (16,133 – Attendance)

TEAM NOTES
-Tulane’s matchup with Tulsa marked the 15th meeting between the two schools. With the win, the Green Wave improved to 4-11 all-time against Tulsa.
-Tulane’s win at Tulsa marked its first road win of the year. The win also handed Tulane its first-ever win at Tulsa.
-Team captains for today’s game were OL Dominique Briggs, TE Charles Jones, DL Robert Kennedy and S Roderic Teamer Jr.
-Freshman RB Amare Jones carried the No. 18 flag in honor of Devon Walker.
-Following the win, Fritz improved to 205-94-1 all-time. He also improved to 73-47-1 all-time in October.

OFFENSIVE NOTES
-The Green Wave offensive starters were QB Justin McMillan, RB Stephon Huderson, WR Darnell Mooney, WR Terren Encalade, WR Jabril Clewis, TE Tyrick James, OL Noah Fisher, OL Dominique Briggs, OL Corey Dublin, OL John Leglue and OL Keyshawn McLeod.
-Encalade and Leglue each made their 32nd consecutive start. Encalade’s start was the 40th of his career.
-McMillan and James made their first career starts.
-In his first career start, McMillan passed for 92 yards, rushed for 75 yards and had a pair of rushing touchdowns.
-Bradwell rushed in from a yard out to record his team-best seventh rushing touchdown this year.
-Bradwell has now scored a touchdown in six straight games.
-RB Corey Dauphine rushed for a game-high 107 yards. He also had a 51-yard run. In 2018, Dauphine has seven plays of 30 yards or more.
-Tulane was 3-of-4 in the redzone against Tulsa, which marked the first time all year that the Green Wave failed to score in the redzone. Tulane is 16 of 17 in the redzone this year.
-Tulane’s 16 play, 75-yard drive, which spanned 9:11 was its longest drive of the year in terms of time and plays. The drive marked the fourth time this year that Tulane has put together a scoring drive of six minutes or longer.
-Tulane’s ground attack finished with 312 yards rushing. The Green Wave has now surpassed 100 yards rushing in 35 straight games.
-Tulane has now rushed for 250 yards or more in three games season.
-Tulane’s offensive line did not allow a sack for the first time all year.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
-The Green Wave defensive starters were CB Donnie Lewis Jr., S Roderic Teamer Jr., Nickel Will Harper, CB Thakarius Keyes, CB Jaylon Monroe, DL Patrick Johnson, DL De’Andre Williams, LB Lawrence Graham, LB Zachery Harris, DL Cameron Sample and DL Jeffery Johnson.
-Lewis made his 39th career start. His 39 career starts are the most of any current player on the defense.
-Teamer tied a career high with 10 tackles. His 10 tackles were a team best.
-Sophomore LB Marvin Moody recovered his first career fumble.
-The Green Wave held Tulsa to 315 of total offense, which is the second lowest output by a Tulane opponent this season.
-Johnson totaled a sack for the fifth straight game. He has now tallied a tackle for loss in seven straight games.
-Tulane finished with a pair of sacks. Through eight games this season, Tulane has registered 20 sacks. The Green Wave finished 2017 with 14 sacks.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
-P Ryan Wright averaged 42.8 yards per punt on four punts.
-Wright also dropped one punt inside the 20-yard line and had a punt of 53 yards.
-K Merek Glover connected on a 20-yard field goal to tie the score at 17 in the fourth quarter.