Can Tulane Finally Find Real Rhyhtm Against Tulsa?

The Tulane Green Wave have had a few games this season where they’ve played a tale of two halves. That was no different against the Charlotte 49ers, and it’s something that they’re hopefully looking to change in their upcoming Homecoming matchup against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

And, much like the 49ers, the Golden Hurricane will be coming off their bye while the Green Wave had theirs all the way back in Week 5. It is now Week 10.

Some teams have rust coming out of bye weeks. That did not appear to be the case for Charlotte, who scored the most points they’ve recorded all year in the first half alone.

In the second quarter, they scored 24 of their 31 points. That led to a really tense situation where the Wave were decidedly down before half and had to pull it together and make a comeback.

Turnovers played into that as well. There was a drive where they were moving the ball and it ultimately ended in an interception that led to a long drive by the 49ers where the defense just struggled to get off the field.

Then the kickoff return fumble factored into things. However, and credit to TJ Smith for his mental toughness there, he managed to take his next kickoff return all the way for a touchdown, earning him the American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week award for those efforts.

Which, again, gave the ball back to Charlotte and required a lot of asks from the Tulane defense in the second quarter alone.

There was certainly promise when Trace Johnson led a commanding two-minute drill. It ultimately didn’t result in points, but it put a bit of confidence in the offensive side of the ball as a bit of a reminder of what they can do.

It stuck out how much they were able to do more things offensively than one would expect with yet again another offensive line combination debuting a true freshman at right guard in Tylan George.

They were able to run the ball with will, Trace Johnson was fully protected, and they didn’t give up one sack on the evening.

This will be the first game that Johnson goes into at this point with some stability at offensive line from the week prior, and that should make a difference early in being able to establish the run, get some use out of Johnson’s legs on critical downs, and grow this offense into what we know it can be.