Notes Following Football's 38-7 Homecoming Loss To Memphis
Nov 15, 2014 | Football
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Tulane Game 10
Yulman Stadium
New Orleans, La.
TULANE NOTES
• Saturday's game between Tulane and Memphis marked the 31st meeting between the two teams on the gridiron. The loss was the Green Wave's eighth in a row to the Tigers, as Memphis improved to 19-11-1 in the all-time series. Tulane is now 9-8-1 against the Tigers in New Orleans.
• With the loss, the Green Wave fall to 3-7 on the year and 2-4 in American Athletic Conference play. Tulane returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 22, when they travel to Greenville, N.C., to play at East Carolina. Kickoff and television coverage for that game has yet to be determined.
• With fumble recoveries by sophomore LB Nico Marley and redshirt-freshman CB Parry Nickerson, Tulane has forced at least one turnover in all 10 games so far in 2014 to bring the season total to 27. The Green Wave have now recorded at least one turnover in their last 19 games. The last time Tulane did not force a turnover came on Sept. 21, 2013 at Syracuse.
• The Green Wave defense tallied a season-high 12 tackles for loss and the 54 yards lost. The tackle-for-loss total is the most since Tulane had 13 in last year's season finale at Rice on Nov. 30, 2013.
• Tulane's 91-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter was the second longest of the season, two yards shy of a 93-yard scoring drive at Duke on Sept. 20, and was the fourth 90-plus yard drive of the 2014 campaign. The Green Wave now have 11 drives of 80 yards or longer this season.
• Redshirt-freshman QB Tanner Lee, who entered the game already holding the Tulane freshman record with 12 touchdown passes, was held without a scoring strike but did manage to become the Green Wave's most prolific rookie passer after completing 26-of-48 passes for 196 yards. He now holds the Tulane freshman records in pass attempts (260), completions (114) and passing yards (1,552), leapfrogging current New Orleans Saints practice squad member Ryan Griffin in each of the respective categories set in 2009.
• Junior P Peter Picerelli tied a career high with 10 punts and tallied a season-best 376 punting yards (37.6 avg) on Saturday against Memphis. He previously had 10 punts for a career-high 403 yards as a true freshman at Tulsa on Sept. 8, 2012. His previous season high in punting yards was 314 on eight punts at Rutgers back on Sept. 27.
• Freshman RB Dontrell Hilliard and rookie WR Terren Encalade both posted career highs on Saturday vs Memphis with six catches for 12 yards. Hilliard was one of six freshmen to pull down at least one pass against the Tigers as WR Teddy Veal had six for 48 yards, WR Terren Encalade had four for 49 yards, TE Trey Scott had one for 19 yards, WR Leondre James had one for eight yards and TE Charles Jones had one for four yards.
• Sophomore NT Tanzel Smart posted the first multiple-sack outing of his career, finishing the day with 2.0 sacks among a career-best 3.0 tackles for loss. Sophomore LB Edward Williams and junior DE Royce LaFrance added 2.0 tackles for loss apiece with one of LaFrance's stops behind the line of scrimmage going down as a sack.
• LaFrance also added a pair of forced fumbles on the day, making him the second Green Wave player during the 2014 season to post a multiple-forced-fumble performance. Junior SS Darion Monroe had a pair of forced fumbles against UConn back on Oct. 11.
• Redshirt-freshman CB Parry Nickerson tied his season high with seven tackles (6 solo, 1 assist) and added a career-best two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery along the way. It was the second consecutive week that Nickerson had seven stops as the native of Terrytown, La., had three solo and four assisted tackles to go with a pair of interceptions and half a tackle for loss last week at Houston en route to being named American Athletic Conference and Louisiana Sports Writers Association Defensive Player of the Week.
• Ten Tulane players extended their double-digit starting streaks on Saturday against Memphis: junior SS Darion Monroe (35), junior CB Lorenzo Doss (32), senior FS Sam Scofield (23), junior LT Arturo Uzdavinis (23) and senior RT Sean Donnelly (21), sophomore LB Nico Marley (12), redshirt-sophomore OC Nathan Sheinle (12) and sophomore RG Chris Taylor (12). In addition, senior DE Tyler Gilbert, redshirt-sophomore LG Colton Hanson and sophomore NT Tranzel Smart all hit the 10-game mark against the Tigers.
• Junior PK Steven Broccoli and redshirt-freshman OL Brandon Godfrey made their collegiate debuts on Saturday vs the Tigers, seeing action late in the fourth quarter. In addition, senior WR JoJo Dobbs and junior RB Alex Macias both made their season debuts as well.
• Tulane's game captains for Saturday's contest against Memphis were redshirt-freshman QB Tanner Lee representing the offense, redshirt-freshman CB Parry Nickerson representing the defense and senior CB Tauren Nixon representing the special teams.
• Redshirt-junior Corey Redwine had the honor of carrying the No. 18 flag onto the field before Saturday's game. The flag has been a mainstay at Tulane football games in honor of Devon Walker, who suffered a career-ending spinal injury during the 2012 season which left him paralyzed.
Memphis Notes
• Memphis' captains for the game were LB Charles Harris, RB Brandon Hayes and DL Terry Redden. Tulane won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Tigers received the opening kickoff and defended the south end zone.
• Memphis lost the coin toss for the fourth straight time, which coincides with the Tigers' current win streak. Memphis is now 6-1 when it loses the coin toss this season.
• Memphis had three players from the state of Louisiana see significant playing time against Tulane including two who played their last collegiate game in their home state. Senior cornerback Bakari Hollier (Acadiana HS, Lafayette) and senior linebacker Derek Howard (Hahnville HS, Kilona), along with sophomore defensive tackle Donald Pennington (Amite HS, Amite) all played against the Green Wave.
• Memphis' four-game winning streak equals the longest since 2003 when the Tigers won five straight the second half of the season en route to a 9-4 final record. The five-game streak in 2003 included a 41-9 road win at Tulane (second win of five straight). The 2003 team became the first Memphis squad to receive a bowl invitation since 1971 (Pasadena Bowl), winning the 2003 New Orleans Bowl 27-17 over North Texas.
• The Tigers' four-game win streak also equals the team's number of wins from the 2012 season, Memphis head coach Justin Fuente's first year at Memphis. Prior to Fuente's arrival, Memphis won a combined five games from 2008-11.
• Memphis improved to 5-1 in league play and heads into the final two weeks of the season with a half-game lead in the conference standings. The Tigers have the outright lead in the conference standings for the first time since the 1969 Tigers went 5-0 and won the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Memphis has gone 4-0 on the road in the American Athletic Conference. It is the most conference road wins and the best conference, road winning percentage. Memphis registered its sixth, 20-point game of the season in the third quarter (21).
• Memphis' 38 points scored against Tulane gives the Tigers 344 for the season. The 344 points ranks seventh all-time at Memphis.
• Memphis entered the weekend ranked sixth in Red Zone Offense, scoring on 37-of-40 trips into the red zone (26 TDs, 11 FGs) for a 92.5 success rate. The Tigers were 3-for-3 against the Green Wave.
• QB Paxton Lynch moved to third on the Memphis career passing yardage list. Completing 14-of-25 passes for 175 yards, Lynch has now passed for 4,355 yards. He passed Lloyd Patterson (1975-78) who had 4,201 career passing yards and Danny Sparkman (1983-85) who had 4,311 career passing yards.
• Lynch, who at Temple last week, became just the third quarterback in school history to pass for over 2,000 yards in multiple seasons has now passed for 2,299 yards in 2014.
• Lynch's 12 touchdown passes this season ties for 14th in school history. Lynch has now been responsible for 31 career touchdowns (10 rushing & 21passing), tying Billy Fletcher (1963-65) for eighth all-time. Steve Matthews (1992-93) was responsible for 32 and ranks seventh all-time.
• This year, Lynch has rushed for eight touchdowns and thrown for 12. His 20 touchdowns responsible for this season currently ranks for seventh with Bernard Oden (1997).
• RB Robert Davis had a career-long rush of 39 yards and also scored his first career touchdown.
• Memphis went into the weekend ranked fourth in Red Zone Defense, allowing opponents to convert on just of 16-of-23 trips into the red zone (13 TDs, 3 FGs). Opponents had converted on just 70 percent of their red zone series.
• Tulane was 1-2 in the red zone against Memphis, missing a 22-yard, second-quarter field goal before scoring a 19-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
• Memphis has now held eight of 10 opponents scoreless this season on opening drives. The Tigers picked off Tulane QB Tanner Lee on the Wave's first two offensive series. The Tulane game marked the third time this season the Tigers intercepted an opponent (Austin Peay, Houston, Tulane) on the opening drive.
• CB Bobby McCain's 15-yard interception return for a touchdown marked the fourth career pick for a score for the senior. The interception was the 12th of his career, which ranks tied for fifth.
• McCain had a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown at Tulane his rookie year.
• McCain has now scored 30 career points. He has 248 career interception return yards which ranks second to Keith Spann's 267 (1993-96).
• CB Andrew Gaines picked off Lee to end Tulane's second offensive series, the second straight game the senior has picked off a pass. Gaines now has four career interceptions.
• LB Leonard Pegues registered his second career forced fumble and DE Latarius Brady had his second career recovery in the first quarter of the game.
• CB Bakari Hollier registered his 20th career pass breakup on Tulane's last offensive series of the first half. He was also credited with his first tackle for loss of the season on the half's final play after an errant hold on a field goal attempt.
• CB Dontrell Nelson recorded his first career interception, returning it 58 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and giving the Tigers a 24-0 lead with 2:56 to play in the quarter.
• DE Ricky Hunter recorded tackle for loss No. 6.5 and 25.5 for his career to force a third-quarter Tulane punt.
• DT Donald Pennington recorded his first career tackle for loss in his home state of Louisiana.
• SAF Fritz Etienee established a new career high for tackles in the game with seven.
• Memphis place kicker Jake Elliott, who entered weekend as The American's leading scorer with 81 points, added to his scoring total with eight points against Tulane.
• Elliott's 89 points this season ranks seventh on the Memphis individual season chart.
• With eight points against Tulane, Elliott now has scored 161 career points and ranks 10th on the Memphis career chart.
• Elliott ranks fourth in season PATs with 41..
• Elliott ranks tied for fifth with 16 fields goals on the season. For his career, Elliott ranks seventh with 32 makes.
• Punter Nick Jacobs has currently placed all 10 of his punts inside opponents' 20-yard line.
• Punter Spencer Smith entered the game with three punts of 50+ yards. He had four against Tulane, including a career-long, 58-yard punt in the game.
• Keiwone Malone had four punt returns and moved to second all-time at Memphis behind Ryan Johnson's all-time total of 76 (1999-2001). Malone now has 71 returns.
