Where Tulane's Offensive and Special Teams Standouts Rank Against League Foes Heading into American Conference Play

Though the Tulane Green Wave's offense has been underwhelming as a whole, there is still some hope. 

Tulane is 2-2 on the season heading into American Conference play, and the eight-game stretch of league games that looms for the program is looking more challenging by the week. At this point, the team lacks consistency, with even its top players either going above and beyond or falling far short of expectations. 

Still, there's a small selection of players that are at least making their mark as best they can, and a few even rank among the best at their position within the league.

For starters, the Green Wave has two running backs that place within the top 20 rushers in the American Conference. Maurice Turner ranks 13th overall with 277 total yards, and his average of 10.7 yards per carry is actually second in the league. Considering the fact that he's had only 26 rush attempts on the season, it's easy to imagine that he could be a top-five RB if he got nearly as many touches as most of the runners in front of him. Additionally, Jaylin Lucas represents Tulane at 18th on the list, with 238 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries. 

Quarterback Kadin Semonza ranks sixth with 161.5 passing yards per game, and he's up to 646 yards and three touchdowns total. The signal-caller played his first snap in the second half of the team's opener against the Duke Blue Devils, and he's started each of the three games since then. Of note, his completion percentage is much lower than desired, coming in at just 53.8 percent, and it appears that his position could be up for grabs moving forward.

The Olive Green and Sky Blue has two receivers ranked in the top 25 at their position. LSU Tigers transfer Destyn Hill sits at 18th with an average of 42.3 receiving yards per game; he's totaled 169 yards and one touchdown on 12 catches this year. Anthony Brown-Stephens comes in at 25th with 144 yards and one touchdown on 11 receptions for an average of 36 yards per game. 

On special teams, Jackson Courville and Cooper Helmke are pretty similarly ranked, though they've each fulfilled different roles. Helmke ranks 14th in total points with 12: he's added nine points while going 3-for-3 on field goals, and three additional points on extra-point attempts. Courville has nine points, with six coming from extra points and one coming from a field goal. 

As for the rest of the Green Wave, things have been pretty quiet. The team needs to find some sort of breakthrough ahead of American Conference play, which begins on Saturday, October 10th, as Tulane travels to take on the Army Black Knights at 11 a.m. CT.