Tulane Green Wave "Played Like a Complete Team" In Commanding Win Against USF
The Tulane Green Wave is coming off a commanding victory over the South Florida Bulls 45-10 on Saturday to open AAC play.
For the first time this season, new head coach Jon Sumrall was satisfied with his team's overall performance in his first American Athletic Conference game.
After the game, Sumrall met with the ESPN broadcasters, and he said he “felt we played like a complete team for the majority of the game. It’s really fun to see us put this all together.”
The Green Wave truly did put it all together, as they were better than USF on both sides of the football. What many assumed would be a dogfight between these two conference teams was anything but, as Tulane dominated in all facets of the game on Saturday.
The Tulane offense picked up 540 total yards in the outing, compared to only 201 from USF. The dominant performance was led by Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Darian Mensah, who had a breakout game as he exposed South Flordia throughout the game. He ended the day with 326 yards passing and three touchdowns.
When asked about his quarterback's play immediately after the game, Sumrall said it was his “most complete game for sure. He stepped up in a big way. He's growing right in front of our eyes. I think my most exciting thing was watching him tuck the ball a couple of times and go get the first down on a scramble.”
Sumrall’s defense did exactly what was needed from them on Saturday as they shut down one of the toughest running teams in the country.
“Our plan was to load the box and see if they could beat us throwing it down the field.” Said the Green Wave head coach. That’s precisely what they did in the win, as Tulane stopped the South Florida running game to only 22 yards on the day. The Bulls entered the weekend 25th in the country with 217 rushing yards per game.
The tone was set early as the Green Wave defense stopped the Bulls from scoring on the first six drives of the game. Tulane forced USF to punt on the first four possessions. They won the turnover battle as they picked up two fumbles in the game in the next two following drives. They also did a great job letting South Florida extend drives as they stopped USF to only 6-13 on third down conversions during the game.
Tulane will look to continue its momentum and move to 4-2 on the year and 2-0 in conference play as it travels to Birmingham to take on the UAB Blazers.
