Memphis Tigers-34

@

Tulane Green Wave-24

By: Patrick Harkness

Spread: Tulane -13

Total: 56.5

Turnovers and bad tackling are a recipe for disaster and that's what happened Thursday night for the Green Wave. Unfortunately, the Wave just couldn't get anything going offensively on the ground which is their bread and butter and usually allows them to have a good passing game with the defense creeping up to stop the run, but the Tigers forced them to become one dimensional. Memphis already had a good run stopping defense to begin with, but you could tell their main goal was to stop the run and have the young freshman QB Mensah beat them and it worked. Defensively it was just a disaster from the start, they simply just got out coached and they did nothing to try and stop the running back for Memphis Greg Desrosiers who totaled 125 yards and 3 touchdowns (more on that later). But this is football, and Memphis is a good team, time to regroup and move onto the next. WIN the AAC CHAMPIONSHIP that's all that matters now.    

Offense

Quarterback- Mensah

On the night Mensah was 21/33 with 317 yards passing, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The first half was a struggle to get things going with key dropped passes, but he showed all game long how good he can be at escaping the pocket and creating plays with his legs and trying to buy time for his receivers. One thing Mensah must work on this offseason is his deep ball accuracy. Sometimes they are right on the money and others are either overthrown or underthrown which you saw late in the game when he forced it to Mario for an interception. If he can locate his deep ball better, he could’ve hit Mario on his outside shoulder towards the sideline where he has a better shot of catching that. I think he was trying to play hero ball, not a smart decision but he's young and will learn from this game. But not all the blame goes on Mensah; there were two very costly fumbles within 10 yards of scoring.     

Ty Thompson

Did not play

Running Back

It was not a good day for the running game. They only amassed 57 yards on 18 carries for an average of 3.2 and one score. Memphis had a very good defensive game plan to shut down the running game of Makhi and force Tulane to throw the ball and it worked. I felt Shadie Clayton could've been used more in the passing game. He had 3 catches for 21 yards while also getting 2 carries for 29 yards. Arnold Barnes was the lone back who got the score.     

Receiving Game

Mario Williams had a good game but that all got negated when he fumbled the ball on the 9-yard line when Tulane looked like they were going to make an impressive comeback. He finished with 7 catches for 130 yards and a score. Yulkeith was having a decent game as well, but he also had a very costly fumble at the five-yard line that allowed Memphis to take over and score later that drive. Yulkieth finished with 4 catches for 93 yards. Drops and fumbles killed/stalled the offense all game long.   

Offensive Line

The pass blocking of Tulane was holding up all game besides the 2 sacks but in the run game it was more of a struggle with the running backs not being able to find any lanes. Memphis' game plan was actually really smart by blitzing the first half to shut down the run game. Then in the second half they disguised their coverage by looking like they would blitz then dropping back into coverage. 

Defense

Defensive Line 

It wasn't the greatest night for the defensive line allowing the running backs of Memphis to get 242 yards rushing on 46 carries and 2 touchdowns. They were able to get some key 3rd down stops during the game and allow the offense to get the ball back. On the night they totaled 2.5 sacks on the defensive line. Kam Hamilton had another sack putting his total up to 5 while Terrel Allen, Patrick Jenkins, and Parker Peterson both received half a sack. 

Linebackers

Poor tackling and allowing soft coverage in the middle of the field to be open allowed Memphis to create plays all game long. The Tigers running back Greg Desrosiers was killing Tulane all game long. I was hoping the coaches of Tulane would make the adjustment by putting Chris Rodgers on him after the half. He is the better coverage and faster linebacker out of the bunch. On the night Tyler Grubbs led the team in tackles with 8 with Sam Howard assisting with 6 and 1 sack. 

Secondary

Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan was able to pick apart the secondary of Tulane in the first half and finished the game going 22 for 29 with 218 yards and 2 touchdowns. The secondary has struggled this season when they play a good Quarterback. You saw this against Louisiana and North Texas. Jack Tchienchou led the secondary with 6 tackles followed by Caleb Ransaw with 5 tackles. Ransaw had a costly pass interference on a 3rd down that later led to a Memphis touchdown. 

In the grand scheme of things this was a bad loss, but this is a very good football team with a very bright future. They still have a chance to bring home the AAC championship trophy and very good coaching staff with an up-and-coming freshman Quarterback. Tulane football is here to stay! Move on to the next game and get the conference championship at all costs. ROLL WAVE!

Special Teams

Kicker/Punter/Return Game

K- Patrick Durkin went 3 for 3 on extra points and hit a 44 yarder 

P-Will Karrol had 3 punts for 100 yards averaging 33.3 with a long of 37

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Roll Wave!!

This is Patrick Harkness and you can follow me on X @RollDatWave and @BeInTheKneaux everywhere.