Football Earns Thrilling 38-32 Road Victory Over No. 22 Memphis

Friday, November 7

Memphis, TN

8 p.m.

Tulane University

7-2 , 4-1

University of Memphis

8-2 , 4-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

Memphis

Photo by: Parker Waters

Football Earns Thrilling 38-32 Road Victory Over No. 22 Memphis

Nov 7, 2025 | Football

Box Score

Photo Gallery

Memphis, TN– The Tulane football team (7-2, 4-1 American) scored 35 points in the first half and withstood a fourth quarter Memphis comeback to earn a thrilling 38-32 victory over the No. 22 ranked Tigers (8-2, 4-2 American) on Friday night at the Liberty Bowl.

The game was decided in the fourth quarter and with Tulane nursing a six-point advantage and facing a third down with just under two minutes to p-lay, Jake Retzlaff tucked it and ran for the game deciding first down to cement the team's victory.

Tulane scored first as Retzlaff connected with Shazz Preston for a 65-yard touchdown on the team's first offensive play of the game to put the Green Wave up 7-0 with 12:33 remaining in the opening quarter.

Memphis quickly tied the score up on a Brendon Lewis' 55-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Hawkins at the 10:38 mark of the first quarter.

The Green Wave it two for two on scoring drives and marched down the field to take the 14-7 lead on Javin Gordon's five yard touchdown rush with 4:58 remaining in a back-and-forth opening quarter.

Memphis tied the score up at 14 on the first play of the second quarter as Arrington Maiden ran it in from the 21 with 14:55 remaining in the second quarter.

The Green Wave again took the lead on the ensuing drive, 21-14, as Retzlaff ran it for a 33-yard touchdown with 12:02 left in the second.

The Tulane offense kept things in high gear as Retzlaff connected with Anthony Brown-Stephens on a 54-yard score to put the team up two scores, 28-14, with 9:26 remaining in the second quarter.

Memphis drew a field goal closer, 28-17, as Gianni Spetic knocked in a 49-yard field goal with 4:27 left before the break.

The Green Wave offense kept attacking and score the team's fifth touchdown of the half as Retzlaff connected with Preston on a five-yard pitch-and-catch to give Tulane a 35-17 lead going into the half.

Tulane started the second half with a 30-yard Patrick Durkin field goal to extended the advantage to 38-17 at the 11:51 mark of the third quarter.

Memphis scored a touchdown on a Frank Peasant one-yard carry to open the fourth to draw to within two scores after the successful two-point conversion, 38-25.

The Tigers kept storming back and scored the team's second touchdown of the quarter as Lewis connected with Brady Kluse to put the score at 38-32 with 7:49 remaining in the game in what would be the final score.

Next, the football team, returns home to host Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m.

Offense: Jake Retzlaff went 16-for-23 for 332 passing yards and three passing scores. He also ran for 43 yards and a touchdown. Javin Gordon ran for 66 yards and a touchdown. Bryce Bohanon caught four passes for 101 yards. Shazz Preston had three catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Anthony Brown-Stephens had three catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Defense: Makai Williams led the team with 10 tackles. He also had 1.5 stops for loss. Chris Rodgers had seven tackles, a sack and a pass breakup. Sam Howard totaled five tackles, a sack and two stops for loss. Kameron Hamilton, Harvey Dyson III, Mo Westmoreland and Jordan Norman all had a sack for Tulane.

Special Teams: Alec Clark led the special teams with his five punts for 241 yards and a 48.2 yards a kick average. Patrick Durkin made his only field goal attempt/

Team: Tulane outgained Memphis 457-435 including 125 to 87 on the ground. The Tulane defense totaled six sacks and also forced a turnover.
NOTES

- Patrick Durkin's made field to start the third quarter was his 15th of the season…The total is the seventh-most in a single season in school history.

- Jake Retzlaff, with four touchdowns accounted for in the first half, became the first Tulane quarterback to accomplish the feat in a half since Ryan Griffin in 2012 against UaB

- The win improved Tulane to 7-2 or better for the fourth time the last four years and the 15th time in school history (2025, 2024, 2023, 1998,1979, 1973, 1948, 1939, 1934, 1931, 1930, 1929, 1925, and 1924)

- The victory makes Tulane 4-1 in conference play for the fourth time in school history (2025, 2013. 1997, and 1948)…This is only the fifth time the school has won four or more American games since joining the conference in 2014 although it is the fourth straight year for the program.

- The win improves the Green Wave to 16-25-1 all-time against Memphis and was the third win over the Tigers in the last four outings and fourth in the last six of the series.

- The win over the Tigers, who entered the game ranked at No. 22 in the Associated Press (AP) Poll, raised Tulane's all-time record 23-127-2 all-time against AP ranked opponents since 1936…The victory improved the Green Wave to 5-75 all-time on the road against ranked foes….The ranked win was the first for the program since the program defeated then No. 10 USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2, 2023 and ended a five-game skid against ranked foes (9/9/23 to No. 22 Ole Miss, 9/7/24 to No. 17 Kansas State, 9/14/24 to No. 15 Oklahoma, 12/6/24 to No. 25 Army and 9/20/25 to No. 13 Ole Miss)…The win was the first time that Tulane has ever defeated an opponent ranked at No. 23 in the weekly AP Poll.

With the win Tulane has won 21 of the team's last 23 regular season conference games (4-1 in 2025, 7-1 in 2024, 8-0 in 2023 and last two conference games in 2022).

- Tulane improves to 26-3 in conference regular season play since 2022. The .892 percentage is the second best in the country in that period of time.

1. Georgia 27-3 (90.0%)
2. Tulane 26-3 (89.2%)
3. Boise State 25-3 (89.3%)
4. Oregon 28-4 (87.5%)
5. SMU 25-4 (86.2%)

- The program has now won 18 of its last 22 road games… It's only defeats since the beginning of the 2022 season was the 34-19 loss at the hands of No. 13 Oklahoma, the 35-14 loss at No. 25 Army in the 2024 American Conference Championships, the 41-10 loss at No. 11 Ole Miss in the 2025 and the 48-26 loss to UTSA in 2025…The program's 18 road victories since the beginning of the 2022 season leads the nation.

1. Tulane – 18
2. Oregon – 16
t-3. SMU – 15
t-3. Ohio State – 15
t-3. JMU – 15
t-6. UNLV – 14
t-6. Miami (OH) – 14
t-6. Boise State - 14
t-9. Penn State – 13
t-9. Liberty – 13
t-9. TCU – 13
t-9. Memphis -13
13. Utah – 11

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 39-12 (.764).

- Head Coach Jon Sumrall is now 26-4 over the course of his four-year head coaching career in games played in the months of October, November or December.

- Coach Sumrall saw his all-time record rise to 39-11 (.780) with the win over the Tigers…His .780 career winning percentage ranks him fifth among current FBS coaches only behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (78-10, .886), Oregon's Dan Lanning (42-7, .857) and Georgia's Kirby Smart (112-20, .848) and Indiana's Curt Cignetti (139-37, .780).

- The win improved Coach Sumrall to 14-3 all-time against American Conference programs…He has defeated 11 of the 13 other current teams in the American in his career…Additionally, he now defeated 28 different schools in his head coaching career between his time at Troy and Tulane.

- Coach Jon Sumrall is 30-1 in his coaching career when his team (Troy and now Tulane) outrushes the opposition as Tulane held a 125-87 lead in rushing yards over the Tigers.

- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Green Wave are now 33-4 (.891) when scoring first.

- The Green Wave have won seven consecutive games decided by eight points or less. Its last loss was a 34-27 defeat on Sept. 7, 2024.

- 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).

- With a rushing touchdown, Jake Retzlaff has now run for 10 scores this season…His is third quarterback in school history to reach double digits in rushing touchdowns following Justin McMillan (12 – 2019) and Michael Pratt (10 – 2022)…Overall, Retzlaff is the 13thh player to rush for 10 or more touchdowns in a season along with Matt Forte (2007 – 23), Tyjae Spears (2022 – 19), Makhi Hughes (2024 – 15, Orleans Darkwa (2011 – 13, 2013 – 12 & 2010 - 11 ) Cameron Carroll (2020 – 11), Justin McMillan (2019 – 12), Dontrell Hillard (2017 – 12), Darius Blackwell (2018 – 11), Eddie Price (1949 – 11 & 1948 – 10)), Michael Pratt (2022 – 10), Jamaican Dartez (1995 – 10), and Ronny Quillian – 1955 – 10),

- With a turnover forced against the Tigers, Tulane has now won 32 of its last 38 games when forcing a turnover…Coach Sumrall is 29-2 in his head coaching career when winning or the turnover battle is tied (22-1 when winning and 7-1 when tied).

- The Green Wave have outrushed the opposition in 34 of its last 49 games (including 29 of its last 39). In those games, Tulane holds a 32-3 record (losses in 2022 to Southern Miss and 2023 to Ole Miss and 2025 to UTSA).

- The program also has won 32 consecutive games when leading at the end of the third quarter with the last defeat coming to Memphis in 2021.

- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Tulane is 57-7 (.890) when leading at the half and 57-9 (.863) when leading at the end of the third quarter.

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