How Does Tulane Stack up Against Memphis in the Red Zone?

The Tulane Green Wave have a tough opponent next on the slate in the Memphis Tigers who haven’t been tested in the same way that the Green Wave have.

Now, Tulane is 2-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Tigers are 5-1 and 2-0 in conference play, with their loss on the year coming against the Boise State Broncos.

A lot of metrics can be looked at, but the Green Wave have simply faced harder opponents when comparing their out-of-conference schedule to Memphis.

Surprisingly, Tulane has a higher red zone offense ranking than the Tigers at 46 in the nation compared to Memphis at 52.

The Green Wave have 10 red zone attempts. Four of those went for rush touchdowns, two were passing touchdowns, and three were field goals. Those nine scores in the red zone are good for a 90 percent conversion rate.

There’s a lot to digest in that group of numbers. One that sticks out is the fact that Tulane has had 10 total red zone attempts in five games.

The Green Wave were successful on 50 of 56 attempts last year, ultimately coming out to 89.3 percent.

That was an average of four trips per game in the 14-game season. This year, the Wave are averaging two trips per contest.

Simply put, that won’t do if they want to beat the Tigers.

Tulane has run 295 plays this year. They’ve made it to the red zone 10 times.

Now, what drags Memphis down in comparison is the fact that they’ve gotten there much more than the Green Wave but haven’t totally gotten in done once there.

In their 26 attempts this season, they’ve rushed for seven touchdowns, had nine passing touchdowns, and seven field goals. Those 23 scores are good for an 88.5 percent conversion rate.

Frankly, it’s pretty negligible of a different in conversion rates. And they’re both converting about 60% of their red zone attempts into touchdowns.

Going by the numbers, and really by what they’ve shown us this season, Memphis should be expected to get to the red zone more frequently than Tulane in this contest.

There’s a lot on the line for the Green Wave in this game; it certainly feels like a win means much more to their side than the Tigers.

But an ugly win won’t do too much to change perceptions. Tulane needs to get to the red zone much more often than they’ve shown this year.

And when they do, they need to show that there’s a real threat to score by this team to see end goals still feasible in conference play.