Tulane University
Southeastern Louisiana
Football Downs Southeastern Louisiana In Season Opener, 47-33
Sep 3, 2011 | Football
Sept. 3, 2011
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NEW ORLEANS - Junior quarterback Ryan Griffin tied a career high with three touchdown passes and six Green Wave players found the endzone as the Tulane University football team opened the 2011 season with a 47-33 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday afternoon in the Louisiana Superdome.
In victory, the Green Wave have won their season opener in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1997 and 1998. Tulane's 47 points against the Lions are the most scored by a Tulane team in a season opener since a 52-34 win at Cincinnati on Sept. 5, 1998.
Senior Albert Williams, sophomore Orleans Darkwa and freshman Robert Kelley each scored a rushing touchdown while Griffin connected with sophomore Wilson Van Hooser, junior Ryan Grant and junior Trent Mackey for scoring strikes of 55, 27 and three yards, respectively. Kelley set a Tulane single-game record with 213 kickoff return yards to surpass the former mark of 171 established by Jeff Liggon on Oct. 26, 1996, against Southern Miss.
"I am extremely happy for our football team," Tulane head coach Bob Toledo said. "It was a great way to start the season, with a big win. I want to give Southeastern Louisiana credit, too. They played hard and gave us a good battle. I was really pleased with our kickoff return...I thought (Kelley) was pretty good.
"Offensively, I think Griffin did nice job managing the game. Our running backs, I think, ran well. It was truly a running back by committee because they all got in. We had six tailbacks and two fullbacks plus all the tight ends and a whole bunch of receivers in. A whole lot of guys caught the ball. It's what I wanted. I wanted to let everybody have an opportunity to get their hands on the ball and they all did a nice job."
Griffin completed 14-of-24 passes for 267 yards and his favorite receiver for the day was senior wideout Joe Kemp, who posted four receptions for a career-best 83 yards. Kemp was one of nine Tulane student-athletes to catch a pass on Saturday and five players - Mackey, junior Stephen Suchy, redshirt-freshmen Carlos Wilson and Matt Marfisi, and true freshman Justyn Shackelford - recorded their first career collegiate receptions against the Lions.
While the offense rolled up 393 yards (126 rushing, 267 passing), the Green Wave defense posted seven sacks among eight tackles for loss, broke up eight passes and picked off another thanks to a Derrick Strozier interception late in the first half. On special teams, Tulane added a pair of blocked punts by freshman linebacker Matthew Bailey, including one that resulted in a safety.
Mackey, who started his 13th consecutive game at middle linebacker, led all players with 16 tackles (13 solo, 3 assists) and his first career sack. Sophomore defensive tackle Julius Warmsley had a career-best 3.0 sacks for 15 yards in losses, becoming the first Tulane player to tally three sacks in a game since Antonio Harris against Southeastern Louisiana on Sept. 22, 2007.
Kelley got the game started on a high note as he returned the opening kickoff 66 yards to help set up sophomore Cairo Santos' 36-yard field goal four plays later. Southeastern Louisiana answered with a one-yard touchdown plunge by Zeke Jones on its first possession of the game, but the Green Wave came right back with a three-play, 67-yard drive which ended on Griffin-to-Van Hooser's 55-yard touchdown pass to give Tulane a 10-7 lead it would not relinquish.
On their next drive, the Green Wave got a touchdown from a somewhat unusual personnel package which saw Mackey lineup at fullback and catch a three-yard Griffin pass with 2:15 left in the opening quarter to put the home team on top, 17-7.
The Lions roared back with a nine-play, 80-yard drive which Jones capped with a five-yard touchdown run 14 seconds into the second quarter, but Tulane followed with another scoring drive as Griffin found Grant deep for a 27-yard scoring strike. Southeastern cut the deficit to three on the Lions' next drive courtesy of a one-yard Sam Fairley touchdown run. Williams, however, scored on a 30-yard run five scrimmage plays later to send the Green Wave into the locker room at halftime with a 31-21 advantage.
The two teams traded punts to open the second half but Bailey's second stuff off the toe of Beau Mothe saw the ball roll out of bounds in the Tulane endzone for a safety to make it a 33-21 affair.
Darkwa, who had three touchdown runs against the Lions in last year's season opener, added a two-yard scoring jaunt six plays later and the route was on. Southeastern sandwiched 30- and 38-yard field goals by Seth Sebastian around a Kelley 11-yard touchdown run to make it 47-27, and the Lions closed out the scoring when quarterback Brian Young snuck in from one yard out with 6:34 left in regulation.
"Unlike last year's game, it was a lot different," Toledo said of the Green Wave's position late in the game. "I felt that, offensively, we had pretty good control of the game. Defensively, we couldn't get off the field. They had a lot of snaps - 89 snaps. That's way too many. We had 62. We like to stay between 66 and 73 snaps. We didn't get all of our snaps in there. We didn't turn the ball over, and I think that was a real plus."
Young completed 20-of-35 passes for 249 yards and an interception for Southeastern Louisiana, while Jones led the Lions with 65 rushing yards and two scores on 17 carries. Brandon Collins led all players with nine catches for 94 yards, and the duo of Tay Alford and Marice Sutton tied for SLU team-high tackle honors with seven stops each.
The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Sept. 10, when Tulane opens the Conference USA portion of its schedule against Tulsa in the Louisiana Superdome. Kickoff for that game is slated for 2:30 p.m. and Cox Sports Television will broadcast the game live.
Season ticket sales are still available through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office, with packages starting as low as $90. Single-game sideline tickets are $35, adult endzone seats selling for $20 and youth endzone seats cost $10.
The Ticket Office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr., Center on Ben Weiner Drive, and tickets can be purchased in person, over the phone at 504-861-WAVE (9283) or via the Internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
