Tulane’s Furious Second-Half Rally Falls Short at No. 2 Oklahoma

Saturday, September 4

Norman, Okla.

11 a.m.

Tulane University

0-1 , 0-0

Oklahoma

1-0 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

Oklahoma

Photo by: Katie Meyers

Tulane’s Furious Second-Half Rally Falls Short at No. 2 Oklahoma

Sep 4, 2021 | Football

Box Score

NORMAN, Oklahoma – Freshman quarterback Michael Pratt threw for a career-high 296 yards, but it was not enough, as the Tulane University football dropped a hard-fought 40-35 decision against the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.

The Green Wave's 35-point effort were the most points Tulane has posted against a Top 5 team in program history. Tulane's matchup with Oklahoma marked the 39th Top 5 opponent the Green Wave have faced in program history.

"I am really proud of the effort, obviously we didn't come down here to play close," head coach Willie Fritz said. "I thought we could have won the game. If we would have played better in the first half, we would have had a better opportunity to do it."

Pratt finished the game with a career-high three touchdown passes and added one rushing touchdown. The freshman signal caller has now thrown for multiple touchdown passes in nine career games.

"There is a lot of things to learn," Pratt said. "We have got to get back in the film room because there are a lot of little things to pick up. One of the positives is that we were fully capable of winning that game and we did a lot of things good. It's really motivating for us going forward."

Freshman defensive back Jadon Canady got it rolling for the Green Wave, as he hauled in his first career interception by picking off Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy favorite Spencer Rattler on the second play of the game.

The Tulane offense came out firing, as it scored on its first drive of the game. Pratt found Cameron Carroll for a six-yard touchdown. Pratt kept the offense moving on the Green Wav's second offensive possession with a 43-yard bomb to junior tight end Tyrick James which set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Jaetavian Toles.

Tulane went into the second quarter tied 14-14 with the Sooners.

Oklahoma drove 84 yards for a touchdown on their first drive of the second quarter. With a pair of field goals and another touchdown pass by Rattler the Sooners added 23 unanswered points and went up 37-14 going into the locker room at half.

The only touchdown of the third quarter came on a 11-play, 42-yard drive by the Green Wave.

The fourth quarter was dominated by the Olive and Blue on both sides of the ball. On Oklahoma's opening drive Macon Clark picked off Rattler, which helped the Green Wave shut out the Sooner offense.

The Green Wave showed grit as a beat-up Pratt added two more touchdown passes to his stat line bringing the score within five with two minutes left in the fourth.

The special teams gave Tulane a chance with less than two and a half minutes to go in the game, as it executed a successful onside kick, but Tulane was unable to convert on downs leaving Norman after a hard fought 40-35 loss.

As a team, Tulane held Oklahoma to just 118 yards of total offense and forced the Sooners into
one turnover in the second half.

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