Tulane Gets Dominated by Florida in Gasparilla Bowl As Offense Struggles
Whenever a Group of 5 school plays a Power 4 opponent, it's always going to be a tall task for the smaller-conference team to win, and that's exactly what Tulane was facing coming into their matchup against Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl.
But when their star quarterback Darian Mensah entered his name into the transfer portal and subsequently committed to Duke, that made the prospect of winning this game that much more challenging.
The Green Wave were still preparing to pull off the upset with zero draft eligible players opting to sit out with them wanting to send the seniors out the right way.
Unfortunately, not having Mensah under center proved to be too much to overcome as Tulane was dominated by Florida, 33-8, as the offense struggled mightily.
Ty Thompson, despite putting his name into the portal, was the starting quarterback for this one, using this game as showcase for other teams around the country interested in the former five-star recruit who hasn't found his footing in college football yet.
It's hard to say he did himself any favors.
After forcing Florida to punt on the opening possession of the game, Thompson threw an interception on Tulane's first play from scrimmage.
That was an omen to come for the rest of the contest.
While Tulane's defense did a great job of keeping Florida out of the end zone, their offense did them no favors by recording only ----- (7 before 7 minutes) first downs throughout the entirety of the game.
For all the struggles the Green Wave had on offense, the Gators weren't lighting it up, either.
They had a hard time moving the ball and punching it into the end zone when they were given favorable field position, starting with the aforementioned punt before having to kick two field goals despite getting inside Tulane's 20. They then threw two interceptions and punted on their next three possessions before half.
But, with the Green Wave unable to do anything positive on offense, the dam eventually broke and Florida won this one in dominant fashion after scoring 27 points in the second half.
Tulane needed to dominate the running game if they were going to compete, and that was something they could not do with only 64 yards rushing on 26 carries for 2.5 yards per pop before their last possession with a minute left.
Makhi Hughes, one of their best players on offense, was held to just 29 yards on eight rushes.
Thompson had a disastrous game.
He was 9-of-25 for 90 yards and three interceptions before the final drive of the game where he was able to throw a touchdown to Mario Williams, who finished with six catches for 91 yards and that score.
This was a tough way to end the season for Tulane.
After they were making a case to be the Group of 5 representative in the College Football Playoff had they won out, their loss against Memphis on Thanksgiving ended that dream.
The Green Wave then were defeated by Army in the AAC championship game, and after this loss against Florida, they dropped the final three contests on their schedule to finish with a 9-5 record.
