Tulane Football Must Focus on Eliminating Self-Inflicted Mistakes

Tulane football has to clean up the number of penalties that have stalled offensive drives in critical moments in their final game of non-conference play.

Credit: Parker Waters - Tulane Athletics

Tulane football is aiming to bounce back from two losses in a row to Kansas State and Oklahoma, but the first opponent they need to stop is themselves.

Procedural and pre-snap penalties have been the Green Wave’s worst enemy through three games. They’ve had 25 penalties, nine of which came last Saturday.

The self-inflicted errors killed multiple drives for Tulane against the Sooners. After Oklahoma went up 7-0 in the first quarter, the Green Wave stifled their own attempt to respond. Makhi Hughes ran for two yards, followed by an incompletion by Darian Mensah. A false start added five yards to a manageable 3rd and 8, and his pass went 12 yards.

The score remained the same when what would have been two yards to gain on third down became 2nd and 10 due to an illegal formation penalty. Mensah was hurried on the following incomplete pass, and the drive ended with a punt.

The next series saw the ejection of Bailey Despanie due to a targeting call. He had led the team with nine tackles. In Tulane’s subsequent drive, another false start turned a 45-yard field goal attempt into a 50-yard miss by Jacob Barnes, who was injured on the kick. The same result could have easily occurred without the penalty, but mistakes told the story as the game progressed.

There were a few defensive penalties that extended the series and resulted in downs for Oklahoma. After Tyler Grubbs returned an interception for a touchdown, the defense held the Sooners when they got the ball immediately back.

Tulane’s offense stalled, and the defense made a three-and-out stand. An illegal block in the back nullified Dontae Fleming's 18-yard return to the 45-yard line. Playcalling changes considerably from that field position back to their own 16.

The team still gained 34 yards on three plays until another holding penalty set them back to 1st and 20. They couldn't recover at that point, with 1:52 left in the game.

It's frustrating to have a two-week stretch of critical and costly errors that might have made the difference in at least one matchup. Tulane mounted a credible comeback to make it a 5-point deficit in Oklahoma. Then, on offense, they stalled with the illegal block on special teams.

Tulane has a lot of goals this season, but they won’t get anywhere before they stop beating themselves. It takes a lot of discipline to make the stands the team has made against consecutive Power 4 opponents with their backs against the wall. That has to translate into a detailed focus on each rep. A victory against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will feel as meaningful as the improvement on self-inflicted mistakes.