Three Huge Offensive Stars to Watch as Tulane Green Wave Face USF Bulls
Offense will be a key piece of the puzzle when the Tulane Green Wave (2-2) host the USF Bulls (2-2) on Saturday at Yulman Stadium.
For the Green Wave, getting off to a big start offensively has historically been a good thing. Since 2016, Tulane is 44-7 when it leads at the half and 46-9 when leading after three quarters. Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is 20-3 when scoring first.
The Bulls know how to put points on the board under second-year head coach Alex Golesh. USF has scored at least 45 points in four of its last seven games since last year and posted at least 500 yards of total offense five times under Tennessee’s former offensive coordinator.
Both the Green Wave and the Bulls are looking to get off to a great start as American Athletic Conference play begins.
Here are the offensive players to watch for both teams entering Saturday’s game.
Tulane
RB Makhi Hughes
He’s one of the most powerful backs in the conference and he enters the league slate with some of the best numbers in the country. He’s rushed for 424 yards and three touchdowns in four games, and he’s carried the rock 77 times.
There is no one player the Green Wave trusts more with the football in his hands than Hughes, who is on his way to another set of league awards the way this season is going. Against USF, he’ll be the primary focus of the Bulls’ defense.
QB Darian Mensah
All in all, Mensah’s first four games as a starter have gone well. He’s completed 60% of his passes, with 796 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions. The fumble against Kansas State at home was costly. But he’s learned.
The conference slate will be a different challenge. Eight teams now have a month’s worth of film on the redshirt freshman and they’ll look to exploit every possible weakness as the Green Wave tries to reach the league title game again.
WR Mario Williams
Safe to say the USC transfer has made the impact the Green Wave were hoping for when he joined the program. He’s turned into Mensah’s top target and has 18 catches for 312 yards. He has twice as many catches as any other Tulane player.
Tulane needs more from receivers like Dontae Fleming and Yulkeith Brown, both of whom were with the program last year. The pair will make their impact, but Williams runs the show now.
USF
QB Byrum Brown
Brown is building on his impressive 2023, as he has 702 passing yards and 281 rushing yards, along with four combined touchdowns. He set the table for this last year as he tied a USF record with four 300-yard passing games and added three 100-yard rushing games. He also set a USF season passing record with 3,292 yards and let the team rushing for 809 while accounting for 37 touchdowns (26 passing, 11 rushing).
Brown ranked No. 2 in the conference and No. 8 nationally in total offense (315.5) in 2023 as he led the conference and was eighth in FBS in points responsible for (17.4).
WR Sean Atkins
The former walk-on hasn’t scored a touchdown this season but he’s already producing at a high level with 24 receptions and 289 yards. He’s coming off a 2023 in which he set USF season records of 92 catches and the first 1,000-yard receiving season in program history.
He enters this game on pace to own USF’s career marks for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. He needs nine receptions to break the career catches record, 442 yards to break the career yardage mark and eight touchdowns to break the career receiving touchdowns record. Tulane can’t afford to lose track of him.
RB Nay’quan Wright
Brown may be leading the team in rushing and Kelley Joiner may be leading the team’s running backs, but don’t rule out Wright being the team’s leading rusher by season’s end. He has 199 rushing yards and two touchdowns this season.
Last year he rushed for 797 yards, which was second on the team, along with eight touchdowns while averaging 4.4 yards per carry. He only had 11 rushing yards against Miami last weekend, but he’ll play a bigger role on Saturday.
MATTHEW POSTINS