Football Spooked By Cincinnati On Halloween Night, 38-14

Friday, October 31

Yulman Stadium

7:00 PM

Tulane University

2-6 , 1-3

Cincinnati

5-3 , 2-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Cincinnati

Tulane Green Wave

Freshman running back Dontrell Hilliard ran for a season-high 123 yards on 11 carries and hauled in two passes for eight yards on Friday night against Cincinnati.

Football Spooked By Cincinnati On Halloween Night, 38-14

Nov 1, 2014 | Football

Box Score

Oct. 31, 2014

Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

Tulane/Cincinnati Game Book In PDF Format

NEW ORLEANS - As children traversed neighborhoods around the nation in search of candy and favors from friendly members of their community, Tulane football fans experience a trick-or-treat of their own during a Halloween night American Athletic Conference showdown between the Green Wave and Cincinnati on Friday evening at Yulman Stadium.

On the positive side, the Wave faithful saw true freshman running back Dontrell Hilliard run for a season-best 123 yards and redshirt-freshman quarterback Tanner Lee tied the school's rookie record with his ninth touchdown pass of the year. Tulane (2-6, 1-3), however, could not hold off a vaunted Bearcat attack as Cincinnati (5-3, 2-2) withstood a third-quarter surge to defeat the Wave, 38-14.

"It was a tough night for us," Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson said. "Offensively it took Tanner a little bit to get back into it. I thought he played well for the most part. We played outstanding offensively. The offensive line did a really good job blocking. Defensively we started out pretty good, but when Tyler [Gilbert] got ejected [for targeting early in the first quarter], our defense kind of wandered around a little bit. We had too many missed tackles and too many missed plays that we really should have made."

Down 24-0 at halftime, Tulane made things interesting as the Green Wave opened the third-quarter with a four-play, 75-yard drive which sophomore running back Lazedrick Thompson capped with a 10-yard touchdown run. Following an interception by junior safety Darion Monroe on Cincinnati's ensuing drive, the offense marched 59 yards on nine plays when Lee found freshman tight end Charles Jones, II, wide open for a 10-yard scoring strike to cut the deficit to 10.

That would be as close as Tulane would get, though, as New Orleans native Munchie Legaux directed a pair of drives of over 75 yard drives over the final 19-plus minutes which resulted in touchdowns on the Bearcats next two possessions to account for the final score.

"A big problem we've had in the past is that we get down and then it's kind of like `here we go' and accepting it," Lee said. "You saw some fire in the guys, and they weren't going to take it anymore. We're at home. It's a big game. We wanted to come out and make it a game, make it interesting. We got those two scores and then a couple penalties happened and we lost our momentum."

Making his first appearance since suffering an injury at Rutgers on Sept. 27, Lee finished with 205 yards and a score on 24-of-35 passing. His scoring strike to Jones with 4:48 to play in the third quarter was Lee's ninth of the year, which ties the Tulane freshman mark set by Ryan Griffin in 2009. In addition, his 1,119 passing yards on the season to date is the second-most by a Tulane freshman and Lee needs just 263 to surpass Griffin's rookie record of 1,382.

Lee completed passes to 10 different players, the most by the Green Wave since 12 student-athletes hauled in a pass against Syracuse back on Oct. 8, 2011. His favorite target on the day was true freshman wide receiver, who had season-best marks of seven receptions for 73 yards. Fellow rookie wideout Terren Encalade added season-high totals of his own with five grabs for 41 yards.

Hilliard, meanwhile, became the third Green Wave back to rush for 100-plus yards in 2014, joining Thompson and redshirt-freshman Sherman Badie. The last time Tulane had three players with 100-yard rushing efforts in the same season was 1998 when Toney Converse, Jamaican Dartez and Shaun King accomplished the feat.

"For a true freshman to come into a situation like that, [against] a very good defense and very experienced team, you know my hat goes off to [Hilliard]. He really showed up."

Tulane got off to a good start as redshirt-freshman cornerback Parry Nickerson intercepted Cincinnati's Gunner Keil on the very first play from scrimmage. The offense drove down to the Bearcat 2-yard line, but could not convert on fourth down as Howard Wilder sacked Lee for a 10-yard loss to keep the Wave off the scoreboard.

Cincinnati responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive which Andrew Gantz capped with a 30-yard field goal and made it a 10-point affair one possession later when Legaux connected with Max Morrison for a five-yard touchdown with 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Legaux hooked up with Casey Gladney on the Bearcats' next drive for a 54-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 17-0 early in the second quarter, and Cincinnati added its final score of the half when Eric Wilson recovered a muffed punt in the endzone with 7:32 to play before the break to make it 24-0.

Following Tulane's two third-quarter touchdowns, Legaux tossed his third touchdown of the day with an 18-yard strike to Shaq Washington with 29 second to play in the third quarter, and the Bearcats closed out the scoring with a 24-yard touchdown run by Mike Boone with 3:22 remaining in regulation.

"Every time you lose, it's a setback," Johnson added. "You look at a player like Tanner Lee. He goes two weeks without playing. We got another touchdown for him, great touchdown, more encouragement for him. Defensively, we just need to play better. That team was too good offensively for us not to play really good. There was some hustle. I never felt they gave up.

"I think in some aspects, some kids are really playing well. Monroe showed up really good. [Sam] Scofield had a bunch of tackles, so did [Lorenzo] Doss. I was encouraged with some of that. We just need to get better with tackling. Our front line guys have got to play better."

Legaux completed 16-of-24 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns for Cincinnati and the duo of Rob Moore and Boone both surpassed the 100-yard rushing plateau with respective totals of 124 and 113 yards. Morison led the aerial assault with five catches for 57 yards and a score while Zach Edwards paced the Bearcat defense with 12 tackles (7 solo, 5 assists).

The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Oct. 8, when they travel to The Lone Star State to face Houston at 2:30 p.m. in a game slated to be televised on ESPNU. Tulane's next home game is scheduled for Nov. 15, when the Wave play host to Memphis in a Homecoming contest at Yulman Stadium. Kickoff for that contest is yet to be determine

For tickets to the Tulane/Memphis game, as well as future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283). The Tulane Ticket Office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at the official website of Tulane Athletics - www.TulaneGreenWave.com.