Moral victories are a thing of the past for Tulane football, but that doesn't mean that Saturday's loss was without bright spots.
The Tulane Green Wave played a tale of two halves against the Kansas State Wildcats, but unfortunately, there aren’t any wins awarded at halftime.
Oftentimes in these Power Four matchups, the size discrepancy can be dealt with for a while, and eventually, attrition occurs towards the end of contests once the undersized team is just worn out.
Walking onto the field for pregame warmups required a double take at the size and stature of the Wildcats.
So, this felt like a bit of an uphill battle from the get-go, but there were more things to take away from this 31-20 loss than the stinker the Green Wave laid in Week 1.
Frankly, they might beat the Blue Devils if they faced them now. Kansas State was simply a much better P4 opponent that was caught on their heels a bit to start off – of which Tulane capitalized on.
But not enough.
There was a stretch of the game where Tulane dictated the tempo a bit, going up 7-0 to start the contest.
Then the problem that has plagued the defense through the first few weeks reared its ugly head. They simply can’t get off the field on third down.
While the offense actually improved its season conversion rate, the defense backslid.
Yes, there was one third down call that appeared to be quite short that Tulane failed to challenge.
But that doesn’t excuse the 62.5 percent rate they allowed with Kansas State successfully converting 10 of their 16 attempts. The Green Wave also allowed an opponent their first fourth down conversion of the year.
And while the Wildcats didn’t have a Nate Sheppard, they had a bigger challenge than Bishop Davenport in quarterback Avery Johnson, and Tulane struggled with Davenport the week prior.
It’s hard to win a football game when the opposing quarterback runs for a career-high 152 yards and two touchdowns.
It’s even harder when the defense is unable to get to the quarterback one time. This team only has one sack through three games.
In contrast, quarterback Kadin Semonza was sacked six times on Saturday.
The exquisite playmaking by running back Jaylin Lucas and wide receiver Fat Hill completely disappeared from the game plan.
Once it was clear that the Wildcats had zeroed in on Lucas following his performance last weekend, he became invisible more than utilized in a different way.
Issues that have plagued the team from the start have now turned into trends that are up to the team to dispel and break.
The offense is finding themselves in too many three-and-outs. The defense keeps letting one guy slip past when he should have been down on first contact.
Those are things that they can surmount against lower competition, but it simply wasn’t happening on Saturday.
However, a previously quiet and borderline concerning third phase was born out of that game with the best leg Tulane has arguably ever had.
6-foot-3 redshirt freshman Cooper Helmke looked like he was ready to kick on Sundays in his first collegiate performance.
His debut kick shattered a school record with a 58-yarder that looked good from 10 more yards out. Then he followed it up with a stellar 53-yarder.
That type of leg is game changing for this team.
There was an NFL Mic’d Up that went viral a few years ago for the Cowboys, who started celebrating the moment the ball crossed the 50-yard line knowing that kicker Brandon Aubrey would drill in an automatic three points.
The psychology of a kicker like Helmke is game changing for an offense. The discovery of that in this loss is not insignificant.
Nor was the call by Will Hall and his staff to send him out there.
This program is way past quality losses and moral victories. But that doesn’t mean that every loss is a disaster and lesson-less.
There were moments that felt like the season could be in for a rocky ride. There were others that felt like this team can really gear up in conference play if they can parse out the right formula of playmakers and force their opponents to shut them down rather than abandoning them.
