Highest Graded Tulane Green Wave Players in Near Comeback Against Oklahoma
The Tulane Green Wave battled hard in the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners, but were unable to complete the comeback and ended up dropping the game.
As Pro Football Focus released their weekly grades for the games, the strength of the team became clear. All three of the highest-graded Green Wave players came from the defensive side of the ball.
It was the first road test for Darian Mensah and this new look offense. Things did not go well.
One thing that did go well was the bounce back performance of linebacker Tyler Grubbs, who ended up with the highest grade at 85.1.
Grubbs' grade was obviously brought up by one of the biggest plays of the game, when he took a Jackson Arnold pass back for a defensive touchdown. He also had a pass broken up, a nice day in coverage for someone that is more known for his pass rush and run defense capabilities.
The redshirt senior is a big part of this defense so it was nice to see him have a nice game after being fairly unseen in the first two games. He also picked up his first sack of the season.
The next highest grade went to cornerback Johnathan Edwards, who received a 77.5. He didn't start, but received a solid snap share and looked good when out on the field.
Edwards was a three-star grad transfer from the Indiana State Sycamores. He has never been someone to force a lot of turnovers, but is a solid tackle and provides solid coveraged.
He came up with one tackle, a stop, and allowed two catches for 18 yards in this one.
Rounding out the top three performers was starting safety Bailey Despanie awith a 71.3.
Despanie really shined as a tackler in this one, coming up with nine tackles and two stops. He missed no tackles on the day, which was something that plagued much of the defense. Six players missed at least two tackles.
In 11 coverage snaps, he allowed one catch for five yards on one target.
The redshirt junior has been around the program for a while and is looking to build off of a solid year last season.
Tulane's toughest games on the season have now come and gone. Though they lost both of them, there are still some positives to take away.
Maybe their offense can have a bounce back performance against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns next week before American Athletic Conference play starts at the end of the month.
