The second quarter decided it. Tulsa scored 25 points in those 15 minutes and went into the locker room up 32-0. Tulane came in ranked 132nd nationally against the run, and Tulsa ran right at that, finishing with 224 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns from 3 different players: Damari Alston, Seth Davis and Javon Ross. With Jamauri McClure out for a second straight week, Tulane had no way to answer on the ground and match that pace.
Tulsa's defense was the bigger surprise. It had given up 33.6 points a game over its previous 5, and the Rice game was the only one in that stretch where it held someone under 34. Tulane didn't score for 3 quarters. The Green Wave finished with 201 total yards to Tulsa's 562 and 15 first downs to Tulsa's 31. Both of Tulane's scores came in the fourth quarter with the game already decided.
The line score matches the box score. Tulsa won every quarter it had any reason to try in, scoring 7, 25, 14 and 14, and Tulane's only touchdown came with 2 seconds left, when backup quarterback Dagan Bruno hit Bredell Richardson from 4 yards out. Trace Johnson, who threw for 284 in the overtime win at Charlotte, wasn't the one finishing the game. The box score doesn't give his line, and the 0 points through 3 quarters show the offense he ran went nowhere. The same goes for Johnnie Daniels: the preview made him the whole Tulane backfield after his 99 yards and 2 touchdowns at Charlotte, and the box score doesn't single him out. A team held to 201 yards didn't get a big day from anybody.
For Tulsa, this is what the season was supposed to look like. The same offense that scored 44 against North Texas and 35 against Army and lost both times finally had a defense behind it. The Golden Hurricane used the 2-week break after the Army loss well and moved to 5-4. Tulane drops to 4-5 and goes into the last stretch below .500, which is exactly the outcome the preview said this game would hand to one of them.
The weather was a non-factor: 68 and clear at kickoff, 74 and cloudy by the end, with a 7 mph wind. Easy throwing conditions, and only 1 team took advantage of them.
