Tulane Green Wave Have Chance To Break Oklahoma Sooners Near-50 Game Streak
The Tulane Green Wave have a chance to break an Oklahoma Sooners streak that has lasted almost 20 years.
After failing to take down the Kansas State Wildcats during week two of the season, the Green Wave remained outside of the AP Poll Top 25. The Sooners have not lost to an unranked non-conference opponent since September of 2005, making for 47 wins in a row per the team's communications department.
Tulane almost got the job done against Oklahoma back in 2021 but fell just short of the comeback win.
Entering the game, this time, the Sooners are favored by two touchdowns. While they are undefeated, their overall performance hasn't been much more dominant than the Green Wave. It should be a close matchup between two solid teams.
Oklahoma won their first game, against the Temple Owls, fairly convincingly. The Sooners offense put up just two points in the second half against the Houston Cougars the week after.
Much like last week's game, Oklahoma's quarterback is one that is a young, high-profile passer that is in his first full season of play.
Jackson Arnold has has an interesting start to the season. He's 36-of-57 with 315 yards with six touchdowns to one interception so far. He hasn't been bad, but they haven't relied on him.
Forcing the Sooners to involve Arnold more in the passing game could be an intriguing strategy in trying pull off the upset as he's still unproven as a player.
No matter how involved, the sophomore is, recent trends also show that the Tulane run game will be ever important in this one.
Oklahoma has held its last three opponents under 70 rushing yards, dating back to last season. They are allowing just 1.8 yards per carry so far, making them one of the most efficient run defenses in the country.
The Green Wave have out-rushed their opponents 21 of their last 28 games. In this 21 games, they have a 19-2 record. The losses were in 2022 to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and in 2023 to the Ole Miss Rebels.
Tulane's running attack has been a little bit above average so far this year averaging 195 yards per game.
Sophomore running back Makhi Hughes found great success against the Wildcats last week. Hughes will hope to build off that as he tries to break the trend of the Sooners run defense.
A big performance from him will give the Green Wave the best chance to end that 47-game streak against unranked non-conference opponents.
DYLAN SANDERS