Tulane Green Wave vs Southeastern Louisiana Lions Football Recap

Tulane 27, Southeastern Louisiana 21

Holy Toledo that one almost got away from Tulane.

One of the lower-tier teams in Conference USA did indeed get the win it expected on opening night, but Tulane head coach Bob Toledo cannot feel very confident about his team’s future prospects after squeaking by a lower-division foe.

It wasn’t easy for the Green Wave (1-0), but then again few things are when it comes to the gridiron for the team from the Big Easy.  It wasn’t until the final play of the game that Tulane could chalk up the “dubbya” over its intrastate rival from the Football Championship Subdivision, the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. 

Trailing 27-21, Lions’ senior quarterback Tyler Beatty drove his team all the way to the Tulane 45-yard line, setting the stage for a final Hail Mary into the end zone.  Green Wave senior defensive tackle Justin Adams burst through the Lions’ offensive line, chased down Beatty, and sacked him for a 16-yard loss, sealing the victory for the home team inside a sparsely-populated Louisiana Superdome. 

Tulane opened the game with a sustained turf-chewing 75-yard drive that culminated in frosh running back Orleans Darkwa’s first college touchdown, a 3-yard burst into the end zone.  Darkwa added an 8-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to put Tulane up 14-7, and a 6-yarder in the critical fourth-quarter push to the finish line.  Darkwa finished the game with 3 touchdowns and 75 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Tulane simply doesn’t yet have the heft up front that will allow it to do as it pleases on both sides of the ball. It has to be very disconcerting for Toledo and the rest of his coaching staff that the Green Wave – despite a 10-minute and 40-second advantage in time of possession (35:50 to 24:10 for SE Louisiana) – were actually outgained, 266 yards to just 252. Tulane was 6-of-16 on third downs and did only a modest amount of damage in response to four turnovers by the slippery and sloppy Lions. When an FBS team is given gifts by an FCS opponent, the scoreboard should be a bloodbath, especially on home soil. This was not the case for Tulane, and that should force Toledo to inject a fresh sense of urgency into his roster.

Things will get tougher for the Green Wave the next time out, as they host Mississippi (0-0) Saturday, September 11.  Kick-off is at 9:00 p.m. (CDT).  Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) gets back to FCS ball, welcoming Tennessee-Martin (0-0) to Hammond, Louisiana, for a Saturday go-round next weekend.