No. 17 Tulane Falls to Memphis, 34-24

Thursday, November 28

NEW ORLEANS

6:30 PM

Tulane University

9-3 , 7-1

Memphis

10-2 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Memphis

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Nov 28, 2024 | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS
ESPN HIGHLIGHTS
POSTGAME SUMRALL PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME HURST PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME HOWARD PRESS CONFERENCE
PHOTO GALLERY (BY PARKER WATERS)

NEW ORLEANS - The No. 17 CFP Tulane football team (9-3,7-1 AAC) saw the team's eight-game winning streak snapped in a 34-24 loss to No. 23 (USA Today Coaches) Memphis (10-2, 6-2 AAC) on Thursday night at Yulman Stadium. The loss also stopped the team's conference record-tying streak of 17 straight (regular season) league wins.

Darian Mensah went 21-for-33 for 317 yards and two touchdowns. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson led the team in rushing with 29 yards on the ground. He also had three catches for 21 yards. Mario Williams led the receivers with seven catches for 130 and a touchdown. Yulkeith Brown totaled four catches for 93 yards.

Tyler Grubbs led the defense with eight tackles. Sam Howard picked up six tackles and a sack. Jack Tchienchou also recorded six tackles. Bailey Despanie, Matthew Fobbs-White, Adonis Friloux and Kameron Hamilton all had a tackle for loss. Patrick Jenkins, Chris Rodgers, Terrell Allen and Parker Petersen all totaled half a tackle for loss.

Memphis outgained Tulane 454 to 374. The Tigers also held the advantage 236-57 on the ground and controlled the ball for 39:40 compared to 20:20 for the Green Wave. The Tigers also forced three Tulane turnovers and picked up 26 first downs.

Memphis scored first as Seth Henigan connected with Greg Desrosiers on a 17-yard reception to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 11:04 remaining in the opening quarter.

Tulane answered on the team's first possession with a 44-yard field goal from Patrick Durkin to finish off a 10 play, 49-yard drive and cut the deficit to 7-3 with 6:58 remaining in first quarter.

The Green Wave took the team's first lead of the game as Mario Williams hauled in a seven-yard pass to complete an eight play, 68-yard drive to put Tulane up 10-7 with 00:34 left in the opening quarter.

The back-and-forth continued in the second period as Memphis scored on a Desrosiers 25-yard catch from Henigan to put the Tigers up 14-10 at the 10:40 mark.

Memphis, after a defensive stop, went up a touchdown as Tristan Vandenberg knocked in a 28-yard field goal at the 1:45 remaining in the second quarter.

Following a Tulane turnover to start the second half, Memphis scored again as Greg Desrosiers rushed it in from the 29 to put the Tigers up 24-10 with 11:02 remaining in third quarter.

Memphis, after another defensive stop, marched down the field and scored a 23-yard field goal to finish off on a 16 play, 65-yard drive to go up 27-10 with 14:57 remaining in the game.

The Green Wave answered quickly as the team made it a two-score game, 27-17, on an Arnold Barnes III two-yard rush with 13:39 remaining in the contest to complete the four-play drive.

Memphis scored its last touchdown of the game as Mario Anderson Jr. ran for a 47-yard score to finish off a 98-yard drive to put the margin at 34-17 with 2:34 remaining.

The Green Wave made it a 10-point game, 34-24, on the Shazz Preston three-yard touchdown reception to complete the eight play, 48-yard drive with 1:08 left in the contest in what would be the final score.

Next, the football team plays in the AAC Championship game against Army at 7 p.m. on Dec. 6 at a site to be determined following the Black Knights' game on Saturday.

NOTES:

- The loss snapped Tulane's 17-game conference winning streak that dating back to the 2022 season against SMU (11/17/22)…The 17 straight conference wins had tied the record set by UCF (9/30/2017 – 9/28/19) and Cincinnati (10/2/20 – 10/29/22) and was the longest streak in the country.

- The loss was the first time that Jon Sumrall fell to an AAC opponent as he had been 10-0 in his career between his time leading Troy and Tulane before the defeat tonight.

- The loss was only the third time that Coach Sumrall has lost a home game in his career.

- The loss dropped Coach Sumrall to 10-2 in night games (after 6 p.m.) in his career.

- The game was the first time this season that Tulane has committed more turnovers than the opponent.

- The loss dropped Tulane to 2-2 this year when the program had more than seven days to prepare for a game.

- The loss made Tulane 0-3 this year when getting outrushed.

- The loss dropped Tulane to 15-26-1 all-time against Memphis…The loss also snapped a two-game winning streak over the Tigers.

- The loss made Tulane to 17-14-4 all-time on Thanksgiving Day…The program still has outscored the opposition by a 443-325 score in games played on Thanksgiving…The game was Tulane's first on Thanksgiving since 1998 (vs. Louisiana Tech), the third since 1983 (LSU) and fourth since 1930 (LSU)…The program played on Thanksgiving Day annually from 1899-1904 and then from 1908 – 1930…The most frequent Thanksgiving opponent has been LSU (14x) followed by Ole Miss (8x), Washington of Missouri (2x), Washington & Lee (2x), Arkansas (1x), Centenary (1x), Centre (1x), Louisiana (1x), Louisiana Tech (1x), Memphis (1x), Richmond (1x), Texas A&M (1x), Texas State (1x)..The most points scored in a Thanksgiving game was 74 against Louisiana in 1918…The team has registered 11 shutouts on Thanksgiving.

- Makhi Hughes was held to a season low of 15 yards rushing…It was only the fourth time in 16 career conference games where he failed to reach 100+ yards rushing.

- Darian Mensah's 317 yards passing was his first time throwing for 300+ since throwing for 326 against South Florida (9/28)..It was his third 300+ passing game of the season (342 vs. Kansas State – 9/7 and 326 vs. South Florida – 9/28)…Mensah's two touchdown passes was his seventh game this season was multiple passing scores.

- Mensah with two passing touchdown today became just the 10th different Tulane quarterback to throw 20 or more touchdowns in a single season along with Shaun King (2x), J.P. Losman (1x), Michael Pratt (4x), Patrick Ramsey (3x), Lester Ricard (1x), Nickie Hall (1x), Roch Hontas (1x), Terrence Jones (1x) and Ryan Griffin (1x)…It is the 16th time that a Tulane quarterback has thrown 20 touchdowns passes in a season

Single Season Touchdown Passes
1. Shaun King – 1998 – 36
2. J.P. Losman – 2003 – 33
3. Michael Pratt – 2022 – 27
4. Patrick Ramsey – 1999 – 25
t-5. Shaun King – 1997 – 24
t.5. Patrick Ramsey – 2000 – 24
t-7. Michael Pratt – 2022 – 22
t-7. Patrick Ramsey – 2001 – 22
t-9. Lester Ricard – 2004 – 21
t-9. Nickie Hall – 1980 – 21
t-9. Roch Hontas – 1979 – 21
t-9. Michael Pratt – 2021 – 21
t-13. Darian Mensah – 2024 -20
t-13. Michael Pratt – 2020 – 20
t-13. Terrence Jones – 1987 – 20
t-13. Ryan Griffin – 2012 – 20

- The 236 yards rushing for Memphis tonight were a season-high for an opponent against Tulane and the most yards the program has surrendered on the ground since giving up 362 to Virgina Tech in the Military Bowl (12/27/23)…The Tigers' 236 yards on the ground was only the second time that Tulane has surrendered 200+ yards on the ground this season (Kansas State – 215 – 9/7).

- Tulane's three turnovers against Memphis were a season-high and the most for the program since losing the ball three times against Virginia Tech last season in the Military Bowl (12/27/23).

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 32-8 (.800).

FBS Wins Since 2022
▪️ Georgia: 37
▪️ Michigan 34
▪️ Oregon 33
▪️ Tulane 32
▪️ Ohio State 32
▪️ Washington 32
▪️ Alabama 31
▪️ Penn State 31
▪️ Texas 29

- Today was just the eighth time in Tulane football history where both teams came in with 9+ wins, just the second time during the regular season and first time at home during the regular season.

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