Tulane Refused To Be Haunted, but Had Ghosts in Gritty Win at Charlotte

No one wants to hear it, but that was largely a young and inexperienced Tulane Green Wave team that beat the Charlotte 49ers by the final snap of overtime.

With the number of injuries suffered in the contest, they were running out of bodies on the sideline to put in depth at several roles.

The defensive line especially. Defensive end went down like flies with injuries to Jordyn Crites and Josh Lewis, basically leaving Reshad Stirling and Cayden Dees, the latter of whom also got hurt at one point. PaLanding Drammeh kept getting tended to by trainers at a position already down Kam Hamilton.

It was really overwhelming.

None of that is an excuse. Nothing excuses needing to take Charlotte to overtime.

But the stretch in which they scored 17 unanswered points might finally be that season-defining moment they’ve been searching for.

The win over the Memphis Tigers was a smokescreen in terms of being that pivotal moment.

Nope, it was those final minutes against the 49ers. And while that’s plenty disheartening, the individual performances of guys who stepped up were really something.

Starting with receiver Garrett Mmahat, who saved the game when he stopped the 4th down fake punt and made an incredible solo tackle to keep them short. That led to a game-tying touchdown that took them to an overtime they never should have been in, but the way they executed once they got there was the Tulane football standard.

And four defensive stuffs in a row from inside the 5-yard line sealed the victory, a defense led by star linebacker Makai Williams who was the best player on that side of the ball all evening. The offense Tulane finally was searching for debuted on a short week in Charlotte on Thursday. That opening script was the best we’ve seen the Green Wave move the ball all year.

Trace Johnson is the real deal. He’s a leader, has command, presence and poise on and off the field, will put his body on the line running for crucial downs, and connected with a redshirt freshman tight end for his first touchdown ever to tie the game late behind an offensive line in its sixth combination that debuted a true freshman at right guard.

Jaylin Lucas finally caught a pass in the slot. Maurice Turner looked very much back to form with solid burst. Johnnie Daniels is the pleasant surprise of that room. His ability to break tackles is simply hard to come by.

And the running game is now capped off by Dagan Bruno, who played a large role in this victory – including the game-winning touchdown in overtime.

They will get another team coming off a bye next weekend in Tulsa while this team has serious needs to get healthy ahead of homecoming.

But there was a point where things all looked lost last weekend in their loss. One win against the worst FBS team with one win won’t move the needle with the fanbase, though they unquestionably are a solid team with their starting quarterback.

But it moved the needle internally quite a bit. That was palpable on the sideline and in huddles. And that perception is paramount.