The Tulane Green Wave (3-4, 1-2) suffered its worst loss of season on Saturday night, dropping a 42-19 loss to the UTSA Roadrunners (7-1, 4-0).
Tulane couldn't do much of anything against a tough visiting squad, and despite taking an early lead, it wouldn't take much for the program to let things slip away.
Things got off to a big start in Uptown, as Anthony Rogers returned a 22-yard pick six just five seconds into the matchup to give the home team a 7-0 lead. Things quickly unraveled from there, with the Green Wave fumbling on three of its first four offensive possessions to drive momentum straight into the ground. Meanwhile, UTSA would get on the scoreboard twice in the opening frame thanks to a pair of A'Marion Peterson rushing touchdowns, taking a 14-7 lead.
UTSA would add its third rushing touchdown of the night early in the second quarter. Tulane would finally tack up a few more points in the frame on Cooper Helmke field goals from 38-yards out and 31-yards out, respectively. The halftime buzzer sounded and the Olive Green and Sky Blue exited the field trailing 21-13, but it felt like much more in the moment.
The Roadrunners picked up a fourth and fifth rushing touchdown in the third quarter to put the game away for good, taking a massive 35-13 lead. Tulane's lone offensive touchdown came on a seven-yard rush by Johnnie Daniels with seven minutes left in the contest, but UTSA would answer back one final time with its sixth touchdown on the ground.
All in all, it was an ugly contest for nearly every Green Wave player. In his second career start, freshman quarterback Trace Johnson went 24-of-44 passing for 265 yards and two interceptions. Though he put up a few bigger numbers, it was a step down from last week's solid performance in a win over the Memphis Tigers. His favorite target was Destyn Hill, who hauled in five catches for 54 yards. Oliver Mitchell Jr. had 46 yards on four catches, while Garrett Mmahat had a team-high 62 yards on two receptions.
Daniels was the only player to make much noise on the ground all night for the Green Wave. The running back added 104 yards and one score, but 81 of those yards came on a massive run late in the game on fourth down. Jaylin Lucas and Jamauri McClure combined for nine yards on six carries, and massive takedowns behind the line of scrimmage put a dent in the team's total rushing yardage; Tulane ended the night with just 67 cumulative rushing yards.
Believe it or not, the Uptown boys were able to convert seven of their 14 third down attempts. However, three sacks and five tackles-for-loss would derail the team far beyond repair.
As poor as Tulane's offense looked at times, its defense was even worse. The Green Wave allowed the Roadrunners to go 12-for-16 on third-down attempts and gave up 223 rushing yards and 173 passing yards. The group just couldn't get many stops, and though part of that might've been because the unit grew tired from being on the field so much, it was far from the performance that it had just one week ago.
Dickson Agu and Kevin Adams III had eight tackles apiece, while Ed Smith IV picked up six tackles, two tackles-for-loss and one sack. Rogers added two interceptions, and Jack Tchienchou had a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry to go along with his two tackles. Overall, the defensive showing was unremarkable.
Tulane will look to get things back on track as it hits the road to take on the Charlotte 49ers. That game will kick off on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT.