Tulane's Bye Week Goes to Waste as Team Drops 20-17 Game to Army

The Tulane Green Wave (2-3, 0-1) dropped its American Conference opener to the Army Black Knights (3-2, 2-1) in majorly disappointing fashion, losing 20-17 on a last-second field goal. 

From the jump, things moved quite slowly for the visiting squad. Tulane gave up a rushing touchdown near the end of the first quarter, and though its defense and special teams managed to fare well from there, the offense only mustered a 21-yard field goal by Cooper Helmke before the half. The team struggled to establish a true rushing attack, but even that wasn't near as bad as the sheer number of drops by wideouts and off-target passes by quarterback Kadin Semonza. 

The Green Wave finally found the end zone with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter on a one-yard rushing touchdown by Semonza. Not only did that give the team its first lead of the day, but it also set up a wild fourth quarter. 

With 9:21 remaining in the game, the Black Knights tied things up at 10 apiece on a 31-yard field goal. It would take less than two minutes for the Olive Green and Sky Blue to reclaim the lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Semonza to Jaylin Lucas. Not to be outdone, Black Knights' quarterback Cale Hellums busted loose for a 58-yard rushing score just 50 seconds later, tying things right back up at 17. 

Tulane's next drive would stall... and then came one of the most questionable decisions of the night. Head coach Will Hall elected to go for it on a long fourth down near midfield with roughly three minutes remaining, and the play ended with an incomplete Hail Mary-style pass to the end zone. Though there was some argument that referees missed a massive pass interference call, the decision to go for it was questionable in the first place. Army would go on to kick a game-winning 25-yard field goal as time expired.

Semonza finished the day with 158 passing yards, one passing touchdown, one rushing touchdown and one interception on 14-of-26 passing. Johnnie Daniels led all rushers with eight carries for 67 yards, and Jamauri McClure put up 25 yards on five touchdowns in his return. Lucas scored the team's lone receiving touchdown, but Destyn Hill led all wideouts with five receptions for 54 yards. Offensive line play as a whole was better, with just one sack given up, but there is still much to improve upon.

Defensively, the Green Wave allowed just 19 passing yards, but that was heavily offset by 329 rushing yards by the Black Knights. Dickson Agu led the team with 12 tackles, and Dalton Hughes, Jack Tchienchou and Kevin Adams III had eight apiece. The secondary was strong, but no players recorded a sack.

Up next, Tulane will welcome the Memphis Tigers to Yulman Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 16th.