Can Tulane Win Turnover Battle Against Dominant Tulsa Team?

For the first few weeks of the season, the Tulane Green Wave didn’t have to worry much about turnovers.

They also didn’t have many impact the game either. They’ll now host a Tulsa Golden Hurricane team this Saturday that has forced 15 turnovers through eight games, with seven interceptions and eight fumble recoveries.

That’s good for a tie for seventh in the nation.

Against the Duke Blue Devils, the Green Wave only forced one apiece and turned it over once themselves.

No team had turnovers in their games against the South Alabama Jaguars and Kansas State Wildcats, before Tulane turned it over once a game against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Amry West Point Black Knights, while forcing none.

Things broke open against the Memphis Tigers, when they had six takeaways and turned it over twice.

That flipped in their loss to the UTSA Roadrunners, who turned it over three times. The Green Wave had six turnovers themselves that time.

Then against the Charlotte 49ers, they turned it over twice and didn’t force any.

That comes out to 13 turnovers by the Green Wave total and 10 by opponents through eight games played.

In games where they were even in turnovers, Tulane is 1-2. In games where they won the turnover battle, they’re 1-0. In games where they lost it, they’re 2-2.

So, quite honestly, there’s not a ton of impact of the turnover battle when they’re even or losing it, with that overall record coming out to 3-4. What sticks out more is the fact that they’ve only won the turnover battle in one game this season, and it was their most decisive win against the Tigers.

What appears to be a scarcity for this team is going to be really critical against a defense that is averaging 1.88 turnovers per game. And without the major turnover palooza in the Memphis game, the turnovers have not been aplenty on the defensive side this season.

Meanwhile, they’ve certainly been a pattern on offense. Some of those have simply been letting a true freshman quarterback fly out there, and to give credit, not bottling him up and paring down the game plan after he’s turned it over.

The Roadrunners game is also as much of an outlier as the Tigers game was on the year.

If you remove both those games from the score, the Green Wave turned it over five times in six games, while forcing one turnover in those six contests.

The defense needs to prove that the Memphis game wasn’t an exception, while the offense needs to show that their UTSA turnover fest was one as they gear up to protect the football against Tulsa.