Retzlaff Runs Football To A 34-27 Home Victory Over Duke

Saturday, September 13

New Orleans, LA

7 p.m.

Tulane University

3-0 , 0-0

Duke University

1-2 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Duke

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Retzlaff Runs Football To A 34-27 Home Victory Over Duke

Sep 13, 2025 | Football

Box Score

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NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane football team (3-0), behind a four-touchdown rushing performance from quarterback Jake Retzlaff, held on for a thrilling 34-27 win over visiting Duke (1-2) in front of sellout, boisterous crowd on Saturday at Yulman Stadium.

Retzlaff accounted for 356 total yards and four rushing touchdowns in the game, the latter representing a school record for a quarterback. He was 15-for-23 for 245 yards through the air and ran 17 times for 111 yards. Arnold Barnes III had five carries for 27 yards and also caught a pass for 12. Javin Gordon totaled seven carries for 18 yards plus had a 15-yard reception. Shazz Preston hauled in three passes for 95 yards. Omari Hayes had four receptions for 69 yards. Bryce Bohanon totaled 25 yards on his two catches.

Dickson Agu led the defense with 10 tackles, 1.5 stops for loss and a pass breakup. Chris Rodgers totaled seven tackles. Jack Tchienchou picked up six tackles. Bailey Despanie had five tackles including a stop for loss. Javion White was steady with four tackles, a stop for loss, an interception and a pass breakup.

The special teams' unit saw Alec Clark punt twice for 87 yards (43.3 yards per kick), Patrick Durkin go 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts and TJ Smith block a field goal attempt.

Tulane totaled 426 yards in the game with 156 on the ground and 270 through the air. The program also held a 33:17 to 26:43 advantage in time of possession plus picked up five tackles for loss, an interception and five pass breakups.

Darian Mensah, in his return to Yulman Stadium and the city of New Orleans after exiting in the off-season, was 30-for-51 for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Nearly half the yards he threw for in the game (145 yards) came in the final seven and half minutes of fourth quarter with Tulane up 18 points and willing to sacrifice yards in order to keep the game clock moving. He was intercepted once and was under constant pressure throughout.

Tulane, after a three-and-out for the defense, marched down the field and scored on the team's opening possession on a 19-yard rush from Retzlaff to put the Green Wave up 7-0 at the 10:50 mark of the opening quarter.

The Green Wave, after a missed Duke field goal attempt, scored the squad's second touchdown of the opening quarter as Retzlaff rushed it in from the six with 2:56 remaining in the opening quarter to increase the margin to 14-0.

Duke answered with a 26-yard field goal from Todd Pelino to put the score at 14-3 at the 14:56 mark of the second quarter.

Retzlaff completed another Tulane scoring drive with a 20-yard touchdown rush with 5:33 remaining in the half to increase the lead to 21-3.

Following a White interception, Tulane offense capitalized with a 26-yard field goal from Durkin to put the Green Wave lead at 24-3 with 1:52 remaining in the half.

Duke answered on the 29-yard touchdown pass from Mensah to Sahmir Hagans with 18 seconds remaining in the opening half to put the score at 24-9 after the failed two-point conversion.

The Blue Devils forced an early turnover to start the second half and promptly scored on the Mensah touchdown pass to Landen King to draw to within one score, 24-16, with 11:46 remaining in the third quarter.

Retzlaff answered on the next drive with his fourth rushing touchdown of the game as he took it in from 11-yards out to put the Green Wave up 31-16 with 6:35 left in the third quarter.

The Green Wave made it a 34-16 game on the 27-yard field goal from Patrick Durkin with 14:13 remaining in the game.

Duke drew to with to within two scores, 34-24, on a touchdown pass to Nate Sheppard followed by a two-point conversion by him as well at the 2:57 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Blue Devils kept fighting and made it a one-score game, 34-27, on the 47-yard field goal from Pelino with 1:06 remaining

Next, the football team gets on the road and takes on No. 17 Ole Miss at 2:30 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.

NOTES:

- Jake Retzlaff joined Michael Pratt, Justin McMillian and Shaun King as the only quarterbacks with 3+ rushing touchdowns in a game in the last 30 years for Tulane.

- Retzlaff is the first quarterback to ever have 100+ yards passing, 50 + yards rushing and a 1+ rushing touchdown in each of his team's first three games in a season in the American Conference.

- Retzlaff joins Will Levis as the only non-conference quarterback to rush for 100+, pass for 100+ and have 4+ rushing touchdowns vs. an ACC team in the regular season in the last 130 years.

- Retzlaff is the first Tulane player to get four rushing touchdowns in a game since Tyjae Spears against USC in the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl (1/2/23).

- 10 different Tulane players recorded receptions in the game, it was the first time since the 2020 season against Memphis (12/5/20) that the program had that many different players with a reception.

- TJ Smith's blocked field goal was the first for the program since Patrick Jenkins did the same against ECU in 2022 (10/8/22).

- The announced crowd of 30,000 is a sellout and the seventh time in school history at Yulman Stadium that Tulane has sold out a football game.

- With the win, Tulane improved to 3-3 all-time against Duke in the first game between the schools since 2015.

- With the victory, Tulane is 70-118-2 all-time against current schools in the ACC…It was the program's first win over an ACC opponent (at the time of the game) since winning over Wake Forest in 1995 (9/9/95)…That was also the last time that the Green Wave defeated an ACC team at home.

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 35-10 (.777) which is tied for the sixth-most victories nationally.

- The win was the second of the season for Tulane over a major conference opponent (Duke – 9/13/25 & Northwestern – 8/30/25), which is the most since the 2022 season when the team defeated both Kansas State – 9/17/22 & USC – 1/2/23….The last regular season that Tulane won multiple games against major conference opponents was in 1988 when the program defeated Kansas State – 9/27/88, Ole Miss – 11/5/88 & Mississippi State – 11/19/88)…1988 was also the last time that Tulane has defeated a pair of major conference opponents at home.

- The Green Wave are unblemished after the first three games of the season for the first time since 2022 and only the fifth time since 1973…The team is 3-0 overall for the 23rd time in school history (2025, 2022, 1998, 1974,1973, 1949, 1939, 1934, 1931, 1929, 1924, 1922, 1919,1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1912, 1911, 1908, 1907, 1904, 1900).

- Coach Sumrall saw his all-time record rise to 35-9 (.795) with the victory over the Blue Devils…His .795 career winning percentage ranks him fourth among current FBS coaches only behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (73-10, .879), Oregon's Dan Lanning (38-6, .863) and Georgia's Kirby Smart (108-19, .850).

- With the win, Coach Sumrall is 3-0 for the first time in his four-year head coaching career as he had started each of his first three seasons going 1-2.

- With the victory, Coach Sumrall improved his all-time record to 1-0 against Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools.

- Coach Jon Sumrall is 28-0 in his coaching career when his team (Troy and now Tulane) outrushes the opposition.

- The victory for Head Coach Jon Sumrall was his second over a Power 4 school in his career (vs. Northwestern – 8/30/25).

- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Tulane has only had two games where it has been forced to punt more than six times (9 on Dec. 2, 2023 vs. SMU and 7 on Sept. 17, 2022 vs. Kansas State)

- With a turnover forced against the Blue Devils, Tulane has now won 30 of its last 35 games when forcing a turnover…Coach Sumrall is 27-1 in his head coaching career when winning or the turnover battle is tied (21-1 when winning and 6-0 when tied).

- The Green Wave has outrushed the opposition in 32 of its last 43 games (including 26 of its last 33). In those games, Tulane holds a 30-2 record (losses in 2022 to Southern Miss and in 2023 to Ole Miss).

- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the Green Wave is 29-3 (.906) when scoring first.

- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Tulane is 54-7 (.885) when leading at the half and 55-9 (.859) when leading at the end of the third quarter.

- The program also has won 30 consecutive games when leading at the end of the third quarter with the last defeat coming to Memphis in 2021.

- Of the team's last 10 losses since the start of the 2022 season, seven have come to teams that are currently in the Power 4 (UCF in 2022 – Big 12, Ole Miss in 2023 – SEC), SMU in 2023 – ACC, Virginia Tech in 2023 – ACC, Kansas State in 2024 – Big 12, Oklahoma in 2024 – SEC and Florida in 2024 – SEC).

Major Conference Opponent (at time of game) Victories in last 35 years

- 2025: vs. Duke (ACC), 34-27
- 2025: vs. Northwestern (BIG), 23-3
- 2022: USC (Pac 12), 46-45 * Goodyear Cotton Bowl
- 2022: at Kansas State (Big 12), 17-10
- 2010: at Rutgers (Big East), 17-14
- 2006: at Miss St (SEC), 32-29
- 2003: vs. Miss St (SEC), 31-28
- 1998: at Rutgers (Big East), 52-24
- 1995: vs. Wake Forest (ACC), 35-9
- 1989: at Vanderbilt (SEC), 37-13
- 1988: vs. Kansas State (Big Eight), 20-16
- 1988: at Ole Miss (SEC), 14-9
- 1988: vs. Miss State (SEC), 27-22
- 1987: vs. Iowa St (Big Eight), 25-12
- 1987: at Ole Miss (SEC), 31-24
- 1987: vs. Vanderbilt (SEC), 27-17
- 1987: at Miss St (SEC), 30-19

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