Tulane Falls 35-14 to No. 24 Army in the AAC Championship Game

Friday, December 6

West Point, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Tulane University

9-4 , 7-1

Army

11-1 , 8-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

Army West Point

Photo by: Parker Waters

Tulane Falls 35-14 to No. 24 Army in the AAC Championship Game

Dec 6, 2024 | Football

Box Score

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

WEST POINT, NY- The Tulane football team (9-4) fell in the AAC Championship Game to No. 24 Army (11-1) by a 35-14 score on Friday night at Michie Stadium.

Darian Mensah went 17-for-25 for 209 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also ran 10 times for 41 yards. Mario Williams hauled in six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Alex Bauman recorded three receptions for 24 yards and a touchdown. Makhi Hughes picked up 66 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Sam Howard led the Tulane defense with 14 tackles. Jack Tchienchou picked up eight tackles. Patrick Jenkins, Micah Robinson and Bailey Despanie all had seven tackles.

Army outgained Tulane 352-324. Tulane held a 209-17 edge through the air, but Army totaled 335 yards on the ground. The Black Knights also held onto the ball for 34:20 compared to 25:40 for the Green Wave.

Army scored first as the Black Knights drove down the field and scored on a 11 play, 72-yard drive that was finished on the five-yard rush from Bryon Dailey with 3:48 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Black Knights made it 14-0 early in the second on Daily's second rushing touchdown of the game on a three-yard rush with 10:18 remaining in the half to complete three play, 80-yard drive.

Following Tulane's second turnover of the game, Army scored for a third time in the half on a five play drive that ended with Dailey rushing it in from four with 1:40 remaining in the half.

The Tulane offense put together a quick scoring drive to end the first half as Mensah connected with Mario Williams on a 42-yard touchdown to put the Green Wave down 21-7 with 00:44 remaining in the half.

Army didn't let halftime slow them down as they marched down the field and saw Dailey score his fourth rushing touchdown of the game to put the score at 28-7 with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter to complete the 11 play, 75-yard drive.

Army, after getting a fourth down stop, put up the team's fifth touchdown of the game as Kanye Udo rushed it from one to put the Black Knights up 35-7 with 6:29 left in the game to complete a 16 play, 84-yard drive that chewed up over 10 minutes of game time.

Tulane scored their second touchdown of the game as Mensah connected with Alex Bauman on a two-yard touchdown to finish off a 16-play, 80-yard drive to make the final score 35-14

Next, the football team participates in a yet to be announced bowl game for the third consecutive season. The official bowl announcements will be known on Sunday.

NOTES:

- Tulane ended regular season with nine or more wins for only the 10th time in school history (2024 – 9, 2023 – 11, 2022 – 12, 1998 – 12, 1979 – 9, 1973 – 9, 1948 – 9, 1934 – 10, 1931 – 11 and 1925 – 9).

- Tulane's three straight appearances in the AAC Championship Game is tied for the 10th longest in the history of FBS Conference Championship contests.

- The loss was the second straight for the Green Wave…It ties the longest losing streak of the season for the program as the program also lost games to Kansas State (9/7) and Oklahoma (9/14) earlier in the campaign.

- The loss dropped Tulane to 0-4 when losing the turnover battle this season as the program turned the ball over twice to Black Knights.

- The loss was the first time that Jon Sumrall has lost a conference championship game as a head coach he had been 2-0 during his time leading Troy.

- The loss dropped Coach Sumrall to 23-2 in games in the months of October – December in his coaching career.

- The loss made Tulane to 13-10-1 all-time against Army…The loss snapped a four-game winning streak over Army for the Green Wave…The game was the first time that Tulane has squared off with the Black Knights since 2020 and the first contest in West Point since 2019.

- The loss made Tulane to 2-2 this season in games that start after 6 p.m.

- The only team to beat both Navy and Army in their home stadiums since World War II in one season remains Boston College who did both in 1976 and in 1982.

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 32-9 (.780).

Wins Since 2023
▪️ Georgia: 38
▪️ Michigan 35
▪️ Oregon 34
▪️ Tulane 32
▪️ Ohio State 32
▪️ Washington 32
▪️ Alabama 32
▪️ Penn State 32
▪️ Texas 30

- The upcoming bowl appearance for Tulane will be the third consecutive, the sixth time in the last seven years and the 17th bowl appearance (1932 – Rose, 1935 – Sugar, 1970 – Liberty, 1973 – Astro Blue Bonnet, 1979 – Liberty, 1980 – Hall of Fame, 1987 – Independence, 1998 – Liberty, 2002 – Hawaii, 2013 – New Orleans, 2018 – Cure, 2019 – Armed Forces, 2020 – Famous Idaho, 2023 – Cotton Bowl, 2023 – Military Bowl) in school history…Prior to the last seven season, Tulane had never even made consecutive bowl appearances

- Darian Mensah with two touchdown passes today became just the fifth different Tulane quarterback to throw 22 or more touchdowns in a single season along with Shaun King (2x), J.P. Losman (1x), Michael Pratt (2x), Patrick Ramsey (2x), and Darian Mensah (1x)…It is the ninth time that a Tulane quarterback has thrown 22 or more 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. Darian Mensah – 2024 - 22
t-7. Michael Pratt – 2022 – 22
t-7. Patrick Ramsey – 2001 – 22

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