Tulane laid an egg tonight, and even though it lost the battle on both sides of the line of scrimmage, it would have had an excellent chance to win if Yulkeith Brown and Mario Williams had not fumbled after making catches for huge gains that would have put the Wave inside the Tigers' 10-yard line in the second half. The Wave tackled poorly, was awful on third downs defensively, could not block Memphis in the running game and dropped several passes while Darian Mensah was off target on others. It was a team-wide failure and the type of game that strangely has happened a lot more at home than on the road during the three-year renaissance of the football program. Tulane's only loss in an opponent's home stadiums since the start of 2022 was to Oklahoma this year. Tulane's home losses in the same span were to Southern Miss and UCF in 2022, Ole Miss and SMU last year and Kansas State and Memphis this year.
If weather were not a factor, maybe it would be better for Tulane to play at Army than host Army in the AAC title game, but the reality is the forecast calls for a temperature in the low-to-high 20s next Friday night at West Point. No bueno, but hope is not lost for a home game. If Army loses at home to UTSA on Saturday, the computers that would serve as the tiebreaker almost certainly would favor Tulane.
It's hard to win a game when the opponent almost doubles you in time of possession, outrushes you 236-57, wins the turnover battle 3-0 and converts 10 of 16 first downs after your previous three opponents converted 3 of 33. Memphis is a very talented team that was pretty much oh-fer in big games in five years under Ryan Silverfield, but with no conference title hopes on the line, the Tigers played without any pressure tonight and were sharper than Tulane in virtually every facet.
The Wave will have to bounce back next Friday, with college football playoff hopes all but extinguished. It would take a combination of Boise State losing to Oregon State and UNLV losing to Nevada and then beating Boise State for Tulane to have a ghost of a chance, and the first two of those three are very unlikely to happen.
Sumrall, Sam Howard and Shadre Hurst spoke after the game. Darian Mensah was supposed to talk, but he was not feeling well after the game and was subbed out for Hurst.
SUMRALL
"Very, very grateful to our fan base. Unbelievable turnout. The fans did their part. We didn't do ours. It starts with me. Disappointed for our guys. We didn't play our best. I hurt for the guys in the locker room. They've given so much, and today we just didn't play the way we needed to play to beat a team like that. You can't have the critical mistakes we had. Hats off to them. They played really good football, and we didn't play our best today. A lot of things go into that. I'm not going to point the finger at any one area. There's a lot of stuff that we did not execute to our standard that we had for several games in a row now. Very frustrating. I still love our team, love our guys. That hasn't changed. We're all hurting, and it should hurt when you play like that. They put too much into it to have that kind of performance. We'll bounce back. We gotta do it quick. We'll let this bother us for 24 hours, then we have to move on to get ready for a really good Army team. I'm really frustrated with how we played tonight and disappointed for our guys, and it starts with me."
On Yulkeith Brown fumble at start of second half:
"We had three turnovers, and two of them were on explosive pass plays that were about to get us inside the 10. Those are critical and tough. The one with YB, he took a hit and didn't see the hit coming. The other one was an unbelievable play by Mario catching the ball, and (he lost it) just as he was fighting through at the end there. We were minus-3 in the turnover margin. You don't beat very many teams doing that. If those three turnovers don't happen, we're probably talking about a final play to figure out who the winner is. We were inside the 10 twice, and you might get 10 points there. Turnover margin was critical. We knew it going into the game. That was one our keys to victory and it usually is. That cost us tonight for sure."
On running game getting stopped:
"They had been good stopping the run. That had been one of the strengths defensively they had. They got after us a little bit. They presented some good looks, some we knew were coming. We just didn not execute at the level we've been accustomed to seeing this year up front, the backs, the whole deal, and they are good up front. They are talented. They have good players in the box, really good players. You heard me say earlier this week I thought they looked like an SEC team. Att linebacker and at D-line, they look like an SEC team. They are physical and they dominated us up front."
On Memphis offense:
"They are talented in their own right. There are some things where we beat ourselves, too. We didn't tackle very well. We didn't leverage the football at times properly, but the tackling was probably the worst I felt like we'd had in a long time. That back's a good player. He's a load. They put 2 in (Mario Anderson) to run the ball and he broke a bunch of our tackles, and 13 (Greg Desrosiers) they put in to throw the ball to, and he gae us some issues. Their other receiver, 3 (Roc Taylor), he's a big guy. You look at their roster, and they have a lot of seniors who've played a lot of football. Their quarterback has been there forever, and they found the soft spots we maybe had in some coverages. There were a couple of situations where we didn't play tight on third down. We were really poor on third down tonight. That was uncharacteristic to how w we've been playing, but hats off to them. They won the game and we didn't play good enough to win. It's frustrating, but they did a good job of executing and theyve got a a really good offensive outfit. They've been good all year, and it showed tonight against us."
On rallying team after loss like this:
"First you tell them it's going to hurt and it should hurt and tell them to lock arms together, have each other's back, don't point fingers. Everybody has to look in the mirror first, and that includes me. What can I do better to serve our team and help them take the next step. There's a lot that we didn't do well, and we have to own that first. This group, the thing I'm most proud of with this team and the year is with so many new pieces, so many new players, so much roster turnover that happened the last calendar year, they care about each other. The attitude in the locker room just now was guys care about each other, they are going to fight for each other. They are going to be down, but we are going to bounce back, and we've got no choice. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us, so we might not feel sorry for ourselves either. They'll respond. We've got a good culture. I know people maybe say that word too much, but the culture of our team is really good. Those guys care and they care about each other. They'll respond."
On if expected Mario Williams catch would be reversed into a fumble when it went under review and if that was the turning point:
"There were several turning points. That wasn't the only one. The first drive they had in the game, it was third-and-10, and we gave up a double move for probably 40 yards. That's a turning point because if you go three-and-out to start the game and don't give up a touchdown, the game starts a lot different. There were probably like 50 of those type things. And yeah, it's unfortunate we put the ball on the ground there. I was hoping that maybe his elbow hit before the ball came out, but I think they got it right on that one. It was a critical one. If we get a score there, we were down 3. The momentum was definitely like we had started to get something going and started to play a little bit more complementary. The defense had gotten a couple of quick stops, and that would have helped our chances for sure."
If weather were not a factor, maybe it would be better for Tulane to play at Army than host Army in the AAC title game, but the reality is the forecast calls for a temperature in the low-to-high 20s next Friday night at West Point. No bueno, but hope is not lost for a home game. If Army loses at home to UTSA on Saturday, the computers that would serve as the tiebreaker almost certainly would favor Tulane.
It's hard to win a game when the opponent almost doubles you in time of possession, outrushes you 236-57, wins the turnover battle 3-0 and converts 10 of 16 first downs after your previous three opponents converted 3 of 33. Memphis is a very talented team that was pretty much oh-fer in big games in five years under Ryan Silverfield, but with no conference title hopes on the line, the Tigers played without any pressure tonight and were sharper than Tulane in virtually every facet.
The Wave will have to bounce back next Friday, with college football playoff hopes all but extinguished. It would take a combination of Boise State losing to Oregon State and UNLV losing to Nevada and then beating Boise State for Tulane to have a ghost of a chance, and the first two of those three are very unlikely to happen.
Sumrall, Sam Howard and Shadre Hurst spoke after the game. Darian Mensah was supposed to talk, but he was not feeling well after the game and was subbed out for Hurst.
SUMRALL
"Very, very grateful to our fan base. Unbelievable turnout. The fans did their part. We didn't do ours. It starts with me. Disappointed for our guys. We didn't play our best. I hurt for the guys in the locker room. They've given so much, and today we just didn't play the way we needed to play to beat a team like that. You can't have the critical mistakes we had. Hats off to them. They played really good football, and we didn't play our best today. A lot of things go into that. I'm not going to point the finger at any one area. There's a lot of stuff that we did not execute to our standard that we had for several games in a row now. Very frustrating. I still love our team, love our guys. That hasn't changed. We're all hurting, and it should hurt when you play like that. They put too much into it to have that kind of performance. We'll bounce back. We gotta do it quick. We'll let this bother us for 24 hours, then we have to move on to get ready for a really good Army team. I'm really frustrated with how we played tonight and disappointed for our guys, and it starts with me."
On Yulkeith Brown fumble at start of second half:
"We had three turnovers, and two of them were on explosive pass plays that were about to get us inside the 10. Those are critical and tough. The one with YB, he took a hit and didn't see the hit coming. The other one was an unbelievable play by Mario catching the ball, and (he lost it) just as he was fighting through at the end there. We were minus-3 in the turnover margin. You don't beat very many teams doing that. If those three turnovers don't happen, we're probably talking about a final play to figure out who the winner is. We were inside the 10 twice, and you might get 10 points there. Turnover margin was critical. We knew it going into the game. That was one our keys to victory and it usually is. That cost us tonight for sure."
On running game getting stopped:
"They had been good stopping the run. That had been one of the strengths defensively they had. They got after us a little bit. They presented some good looks, some we knew were coming. We just didn not execute at the level we've been accustomed to seeing this year up front, the backs, the whole deal, and they are good up front. They are talented. They have good players in the box, really good players. You heard me say earlier this week I thought they looked like an SEC team. Att linebacker and at D-line, they look like an SEC team. They are physical and they dominated us up front."
On Memphis offense:
"They are talented in their own right. There are some things where we beat ourselves, too. We didn't tackle very well. We didn't leverage the football at times properly, but the tackling was probably the worst I felt like we'd had in a long time. That back's a good player. He's a load. They put 2 in (Mario Anderson) to run the ball and he broke a bunch of our tackles, and 13 (Greg Desrosiers) they put in to throw the ball to, and he gae us some issues. Their other receiver, 3 (Roc Taylor), he's a big guy. You look at their roster, and they have a lot of seniors who've played a lot of football. Their quarterback has been there forever, and they found the soft spots we maybe had in some coverages. There were a couple of situations where we didn't play tight on third down. We were really poor on third down tonight. That was uncharacteristic to how w we've been playing, but hats off to them. They won the game and we didn't play good enough to win. It's frustrating, but they did a good job of executing and theyve got a a really good offensive outfit. They've been good all year, and it showed tonight against us."
On rallying team after loss like this:
"First you tell them it's going to hurt and it should hurt and tell them to lock arms together, have each other's back, don't point fingers. Everybody has to look in the mirror first, and that includes me. What can I do better to serve our team and help them take the next step. There's a lot that we didn't do well, and we have to own that first. This group, the thing I'm most proud of with this team and the year is with so many new pieces, so many new players, so much roster turnover that happened the last calendar year, they care about each other. The attitude in the locker room just now was guys care about each other, they are going to fight for each other. They are going to be down, but we are going to bounce back, and we've got no choice. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us, so we might not feel sorry for ourselves either. They'll respond. We've got a good culture. I know people maybe say that word too much, but the culture of our team is really good. Those guys care and they care about each other. They'll respond."
On if expected Mario Williams catch would be reversed into a fumble when it went under review and if that was the turning point:
"There were several turning points. That wasn't the only one. The first drive they had in the game, it was third-and-10, and we gave up a double move for probably 40 yards. That's a turning point because if you go three-and-out to start the game and don't give up a touchdown, the game starts a lot different. There were probably like 50 of those type things. And yeah, it's unfortunate we put the ball on the ground there. I was hoping that maybe his elbow hit before the ball came out, but I think they got it right on that one. It was a critical one. If we get a score there, we were down 3. The momentum was definitely like we had started to get something going and started to play a little bit more complementary. The defense had gotten a couple of quick stops, and that would have helped our chances for sure."
