Football Falls to Navy as Time Expires

Saturday, September 19

11 AM

Tulane University

1-1 , 0-1

Navy

1-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

NAVY

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Sep 19, 2020 | Football

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane football team suffered its first loss of the 2020 season, as Navy kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired to complete a 27-24 comeback win in an American Athletic Conference matchup Saturday afternoon at Yulman Stadium.

Tulane (1-1, 0-1 AAC) freshman running back Tyjae Spears rushed 18 times for 119 yards, eclipsing the century mark for the second straight game. Redshirt sophomore running back Cameron Carroll ran for 62 yards and two touchdowns and now has multiple scores in back-to-back games after scoring twice in the win at South Alabama.

Navy (1-1, 1-0 AAC) did all the scoring in the second half of the game with 27 unanswered points despite being held scoreless in the first half.

The Green Wave jumped in front early with a five-play, 66-yard drive on its first possession of the day. Spears broke a 42-yard run down the sideline which set up a three-yard touchdown run by Carroll for his third score of the year.

Tulane's defense was stout for the entire first half, holding Navy to just 59 total yards and two first downs while forcing the Midshipmen into punts on each of their first five possessions.

Following a 14-play drive on the Wave's second possession of the game that resulted in a 22-yard field goal by Merek Glover, Tulane pieced together an 11-play drive that covered 63 yards and ended with a 3-yard rushing touchdown by Phat Watts to extend the lead to 17-0 with 8:12 remaining in the first half.

After Navy's defense got its first stop of the game by way of a three-and-out, Tulane got the ball back again for an effective seven-play drive that ended with three huge gains including a touchdown run. Howard scrambled for 19 yards before connecting with Tyrick James on a 29-yard completion on back-to-back plays. On the very next snap, Carroll broke free for a 24-yard touchdown run to give the Wave a 24-0 advantage that they took into the locker room at halftime.

The Green Wave outgained the Midshipmen, 291-59, in total yardage in the first half and owned a 189-45 margin on the ground.

Tulane's offense struggled to move in the second half and was forced to punt after three-and-outs on each of its first four possessions.

Navy got on the scoreboard just over halfway through the third quarter by completing two long passes that set up a one-yard touchdown run. The Midshipmen went back to the ground on its next possession, and a 48-yard run up the middle of the field set up another touchdown from one yard out to cut their deficit to 10.

A 63-yard punt by Navy pinned the Green Wave at their own one, before a rushing attempt went backwards for a safety to make it a one possession game, 24-16, just before the end of the quarter.

The Midshipmen used the next possession to return to the passing attack, scoring a 32-yard touchdown to tie the game at 24 with 13:22 to go in the fourth quarter.

Momentum swung both ways for the remainder of the fourth, as Tulane's defense made multiple stops. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't get back into scoring range and Navy used 10 plays during the final 4:41 of game clock to set up the game-winning field goal.

Up next, Tulane makes the short trip across the state border for a road game at Southern Miss on Saturday, Sept. 26. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be aired live on Stadium.