Tulane University
East Carolina University
Football Wins Last Minute Thriller Over ECU, 26-19
Oct 9, 2025 | Football
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NEW ORLEANS - Tulane's football team (5-1, 2-0 American) won a thriller over East Carolina (2-4, 1-1 American) in the final minute on Jake Retzlaff's four-yard touchdown pass to Javin Gordon to catapult the team to a 26-19 victory on Thursday, Oct. 9, at Yulman Stadium.
The touchdown pass finished off a 12 play, 75-yard drive that gave Tulane the lead with just 35 seconds remaining in what would be the final score after the Green Wave's defense thwarted the last Pirates' drive.
Retzlaff went 26-for-36 passing for 347 yards and two passing scores. His 347 yards passing was one yard off tying his career-high of 348 set against Southern Illinois while he played at BYU during the 2024 campaign. He also ran for 20 yards on four attempts. Gordon led the squad with his five catches. He also totaled 35 receiving yards and led the squad with 34 yards on the ground. Arnold Barnes III rushed seven times for 31 yards. Tre Shackelford hauled in four passes for 45 yards. Anthony Brown-Stephens totaled three catches for 36 yards. Zycarl Lewis Jr. had a pair of huge catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Garrett Mmahat, a former walk-on quarterback, had the first two receptions of his career for 27 yards.
The Green Wave's special teams unit was led by Patrick Durkin's four field goals. He supplied all the team's offense in the first 30 minutes of the game. Alec Clark punted twice for 106 yards for a healthy 53 yards a kick average.
The Tulane defense saw Bailey Despanie total a team-leading nine tackles plus a pass breakup. Chris Rodgers picked up seven tackles including a stop for loss. Jah'rie Garner also had seven tackles. Harvey Dyson III, Tre'Von McAlpine and Jordan Norman all registered sacks. E'zaiah Shine had a tackle for loss plus four pass breakups.
Tulane outgained the Pirates 458-340 in the game including a 362-180 advantage in the passing game. The Green Wave defense had three sacks and eight tackles for loss. The team also committed the only turnover in the game and were penalized 11 times for 96 yards.
Tulane took the early 3-0 lead on a 30-yard field goal from Durkin with 10:40 remaining in the first quarter.
The Green Wave doubled the advantage to start the second on the 29-yard field goal from Durkin with 13:37 left until the half.
Durkin continued to carry the offense with his third field goal of the half as he knocked in a 21-yard attempt to put Tulane up 9-0 with 5:05 remaining in the half.
Durkin made it four field goals in the half with a 40-yarder to increase the lead to 12-0 with 36 seconds left in the second quarter.
After getting a stop to start the second half, ECU scored quickly as Katin Houser connected with Brock Spaulding on a seven-yard touchdown to draw the Pirates to within one score, 12-7, at the 11:54 mark of the third quarter.
ECU took the lead on a 10-yard touchdown run from Houser with 2:43 left in the third to finish off a 15-play, 57-yard drive.
The Pirates quickly got the ball back after recovering an onside kick and added three more to the advantage (16-12) on a Nick Mazzie 46-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Tulane wrestled the lead back as Lewis hauled in 63-yard pass from Retzlaff to put the Green Wave up 19-16 with 10:51 left in the game.
ECU tied the game on the ensuing drive (19-all) on a Mazzie 26-yard field at the 5:48 mark of the fourth, setting up Gordon game-winner catch in the final minute of play.
Next, the football team wraps up the homestand by hosting American rival Army on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 11 a.m. at Yulman Stadium in a game that will also be shown on ESPNU
NOTES:
- Patrick Durkin's four field goals in the first half were the most in any half in school history…His four made field goals were one off tying the school record of five, most recently by Cairo Santos also against ECU during the 2013 campaign (12/12/13)…His four field goals were one off the high for any FBS player this season and two shy of the most of any FBS player since 1995.
- Tulane saw 12 different receivers catch a pass in the game…The only other time in the last 30 years that the Green Wave has completed passes to that many receivers was against Syracuse during the 2011 season (10/8/11)…The 12 different receivers with a reception from Retzlaff was the most by an FBS quarterback this season (bettering the 11 with a reception from ECU's Katin Houser against Campbell).
- The win was the seventh in the last nine games of the series for Tulane and fourth straight home win (in the series)…ECU has still never defeated Tulane at Yulman Stadium since the facility opened 2014…The win was Tulane's third straight over ECU and improved to the team to 9-12 all-time against the Pirates.
- The victory is the first time since 2019 that the program has won the first three home games of any season.
-Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 37-11 (.770)…The win total is the sixth-most in the country in that period of time (Georgia – 43, Ohio State – 41, Oregon – 40, Michigan – 39, Penn State – 38, Tulane – 37, Texas – 36, Notre Dame 36,).
- The Green Wave is 2-0 in conference play for the fourth straight year, sixth time since 2017 and the 12th time overall (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2017, 2013, 1998, 1997, 1949, 1939, and 1934).
- With the win, Tulane has now won 19 of the team's last 20 regular season conference games (2-0 in 2025, 7-1 in 2024, 8-0 in 2023 and last two conference games in 2022).
- The win makes the Green Wave 5-1 to start the season…It is the fourth time that Tulane has been 5-1 or better to start the year since 2019, fifth time since 1998 and the 22nd time overall (2025, 2023, 2022, 2019, 1998, 1974, 1973, 1949, 1948, 1939, 1936, 1934, 1931, 1930, 1929, 1925, 1924, 1919, 1912, 1908, 1904, and 1901).
- Head Coach Jon Sumrall is now 24-3 over the course of his four-year head coaching career in games played in the months of October, November or December…He also has a 20-3 record in home games during his career.
- The win was the first for Coach Sumrall at Tulane in three situations 1) when the team trails after three quarters, 2) when the Green Wave program is outrushed in a game and 3) when the program had been held below 30:00 in time of possession.
- Coach Sumrall saw his all-time record raise to 37-10 (.787) with the win over the Pirates…His .787 career winning percentage ranks him fourth among current FBS coaches only behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (75-10, .882), Oregon's Dan Lanning (41-6, .872) and Georgia's Kirby Smart (109-20, .844) just ahead of Indiana's Curt Cignetti (135-37, .784).
- With the win, Coach Sumrall is 5-1 for the first time in his four-year head coaching career.
- The win improved Coach Sumrall to 12-2 all-time against American Conference programs…He has now defeated 11 of the 13 other current teams in the American in his career…Additionally, he has now defeated 27 different schools in his head coaching career between his time at Troy and Tulane.
- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Tulane has only had three games where it has been forced to punt more than six times (8 vs. Tulsa on Sept. 27, 2025, 9 on Dec. 2, 2023 vs. SMU and 7 on Sept. 17, 2022 vs. Kansas State)
- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Green Wave is 31-3 (.911) when scoring first.
- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Tulane is 56-7 (.888) when leading at the half.
Tickets for the football, volleyball and the upcoming men's and women's basketball seasons can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.
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