AAC Championship Game Headed to Uptown!

Friday, November 25

Cincinnati, OH

11:00 a.m.

Tulane University

10-2 , 7-1

University of Cincinnati

9-3 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

Cincinnati

Nov 25, 2022 | Football

Box Score

Green Wave snaps Cincinnati's 32-game home win streak

FINAL STATS | POSTGAME FRITZ PRESS CONFERENCE | GALLERY BY PARKER WATERS

CINCINNATI – The 19th-ranked Tulane football team (10-2, 7-1 AAC) continued to be arguably the best story in college football this season in earning the 27-24 road win over No. 24 CFP Cincinnati (9-3, 6-2 AAC) on Friday at Nippert Stadium. The win propelled the Green Wave to the school's first-ever American Athletic Conference regular season football championship and means that Tulane will host the conference title game next Saturday at Yulman Stadium (3 p.m. CT).

The win also snapped the Bearcats' 32-game home winning streak. The win was also the first time that Tulane has beaten a ranked team since 1984 and the first time that the Green Wave have won a ranked-against-ranked match up since 1956 against Ole Miss.

Tyjae Spears led the charge with his 181 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 35 carries. Michael Pratt totaled 162 yards passing and a touchdown. He also ran for 30 yards. Lawrence Keys led the team with his five catches for 55 yards. Shae Wyatt had three catches for 62 yards. Duece Watts made his one catch of the game count as it was the go-ahead score for the program with just over five minutes remaining in the contest.

Dorian Williams tied for the team lead with his 12 tackles. He also had an interception. Nick Anderson tallied 12 tackles as well. Larry Brooks recorded six tackles and Jarius Monroe totaled five. Keith Cooper had five tackles and a sack on the Bearcats' final drive.

Tulane's offense ended the contest with 383 yards (221 rushing and 162 passing). The program's defense limited the Bearcats to a total of 337 yards.

Tulane continued the trend of scoring first as Valentino Ambrosio knocked in the 34-yard attempted to finish off the eight play, 37-yard drive and give the Green Wave a 3-0 advantage with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter.

Cincinnati tied the game to start the second quarter on the 28-yard field goal from Ryan Coe. Tulane took the lead back on an epic 15 play, 77-yard drive that covered 8:25 in clock time that finished off on the 11-yard touchdown run from Spears. It was the longest time-consuming drive for Tulane this season.

Cincinnati tied the game on its next drive on a 35-yard touchdown run.

Ambrosio gave Tulane the 13-10 lead right before the break with his Tulane career-long 47-yard field goal to complete the seven play, 45-yard drive. Tulane added on a touchdown midway through as Spears rushed it in from two yards out to put the Green Wave up 20-10 with 6:59 remaining in the third quarter.

Cincinnati rallied for a touchdown on its next possession as Ryan Montgomery ran it in from eight yards out to put the score at 20-17 late in the third quarter.

Cincinnati took its first lead of the game as Montgomery ran it in from the 15 to put the Bearcats up 24-20 with 6:27 remaining in the contest.

Tulane calmly took the lead back at Pratt connected with Duece Watts from 30 yards out to complete the 75-yard drive and give the Green Wave the lead back at the 5:10 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Green Wave will face either UCF, Cincinnati or Houston in that Saturday matchup.

Notes: The win makes Tulane 10-2 and 7-1 in the American Athletic Conference…The seven wins in the AAC are the most-ever for the program and bettered the previous five won by the 2018 team…The 10 wins this year are the most since 1998…It is the eighth time that the program has won nine or more games in a season (2022 {9-2}, 1998 {12-0}, 1973 {9-3}, 1948 {9-1}, 1934 {10-1}, 1931{10-1}, 1929 {9-0}, 1925 {9-0-1})….The seven conference wins are the most for the program since the 1934 team's eight wins when the school was still a member of the Southeastern Conference being more….The win over Cincinnati was the first time that the program has defeated the Bearcats since joining the American Athletic Conference ….The win over Cincinnati was the first for the program since 2002 in New Orleans…The road win over Cincinnati was the first for the program since 1998…The series now stands at 12-7 in favor of the Tulane…Spears ran for 181 yards in the game and became just the sixth Tulane player to run for 1,000 yards in a single season…The game was the seventh time this season and the sixth straight game that Spears has gone over 100 yards rushing as he ran for 181 yards…It was the 13th time he has topped the century mark on the ground in his career (2x in 2020, 4x in 2021 and 7x in 2022)…Pratt now has at least one touchdown pass in 32 of his 33 career games…Tulane has now run for 100 yards as a team in 84 of the last 88 games…Tulane, with a turnover today, has now won its last nine games when forcing a turnover (eight this year and USF last year)…Tulane's last win in a ranked-vs.-ranked matchup came against Ole Miss in 1956 (24,142 days ago)….The win ends the 32-game home winning streak that Cincinnati had at Nippert Stadium ... The win snapped the Green Wave's 61-game losing streak against AP-ranked teams.

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