The Green Wave have had trouble stopping opponents but have improved themselves on key conversions, and that trend will need to sharpen this weekend.
There are several keys for the Tulane Green Wave to get an upset victory over the Kansas State Wildcats this Saturday as they look for a major road win over a Power Four opponent.
In fact, the last moniker P4 road win for this program was that win over the Wildcats back in 2022.
The Green Wave got a major advantage last season being able to host two out of their three Power Four non-conference matchups.
For one, looking back to the game at Oklahoma in 2024, they were notably rattled by the crowd noise among other things as a young quarterback in Darian Mensah settled in.
Importantly, this won’t be a bandaid to rip off quarterback Kadin Semonza.
When he won MAC Freshman of the Year back at Ball State in 2024, Semonza played the Vanderbilt Commodores on the road and completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 190 yards and a touchdown in the 24-14 loss.
He also went in cold off the bench against Duke, obviously, but he certainly has more of an edge there in being prepared for this type of environment.
Something that majorly improved with Semonza at quarterback was the third down conversions, as well as the conversions by passing.
Tulane converted two first downs by pass against the Blue Devils compared to 13 against the South Alabama Jaguars.
But it was the play on third down that made a stark difference from the week prior.
The Green Wave have a 34.6 percent third down conversion rate on nine of 26 attempts.
Semonza led them to a 50 percent conversion rate that saw them make six on 12 attempts – and really should be seven with a drop by Anthony Brown-Stephens on a near-perfect pass.
Now, those weren’t all by pass in the game against the Jags. But it’s clear that it was a major area of improvement, and one that will need to withstand a tough opponent in K State this weekend.
On defense, that stat needs a bit of work, with opponents converting 18 of 34 attempts for a 52.9 success rate.
But where the defense has shown is on fourth down, where they’ve allowed no conversions on three total attempts this season that have been game-changing.
Meanwhile, the offense has that same stat line going 0-of-3. Hopefully, if needed, they’re able to get it done this weekend.
Stats don’t always tell the story, but the conversion rate on third down tells a lot about both sides of the ball.
