Football Wins Road Thriller Over South Alabama, 33-31

Saturday, September 6

Mobile, AL

6 p.m.

Tulane University

2-0 , 0-0

University of South Alabama

1-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

South Alabama

Photo by: McDuffie Images,LLC 2025

Football Wins Road Thriller Over South Alabama, 33-31

Sep 6, 2025 | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS
ESPN HIGHLIGHTS
POSTGAME SUMRALL/WHITE/MOBLEY PRESS CONFERENCE
PHOTO GALLERY

MOBILE, AL - The Tulane football team (2-0) survived a late rally from South Alabama (1-1) to earn a thrilling 33-31 road victory on Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

Zuberi Mobley ran for 82 yards and a pair of scores to lead the offense. Javin Gordon totaled 80 yards on the ground. Jake Retzlaff was steady as he completed 13 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown to go with 64 yards on the ground and another score. Brendan Sullivan was 3-for-3 for 40 yards through the air. Johnny Pascuzzi had a pair of receptions for 15 yards and a touchdown. Bryce Bohanon had a team-high five catches for 62 yards.

Dickson Agu led the Green Wave defense with 11 stops. Jack Tchiechou totaled eight tackles and a pass breakup. Sam Howard had five stops and forced a fumble. Bailey Despanie also picked up five tackles. E'zaiah Shine and Santana Hopper both had a fumble recovery.

The special teams unit was led by Patrick Durkin. He hit both his field goals including one from a career-long 50 yards out.

South Alabama was led by Devin Voisin's eight catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Bishop Davenport connected on 17 passes for 231 yards and two scores. Kentrel Bullock carried the ball 24 times for 107 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

The Jaguars slightly outgained Tulane 421-406 in the game. The Green Wave held a 241-190 advantage on the ground, while South Alabama threw for 251 yards compared to 165 for the Green Wave.

South Alabama scored first as the team marched down the field on a nine play, 75-yard drive that was finished on Davenport's nine-yard touchdown run to put the Jaguars up 7-0 with 10:48 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Jaguars made it a two touchdown game midway through the opening quarter on Davenport's 65-yard pass to Voisin to increase the margin to 14-0 with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.

The Green Wave cut the deficit in half on Pascuzzi's five-yard touchdown reception from Retzlaff to make the score 14-7 with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter.

Tulane tied the game (14-all) just before the end of the first quarter on Mobley's 16-yard rush with 24 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

The Green Wave took the lead on Retzlaff's one-yard plunge in the second quarter to put Tulane up 21-14 with 6:52 remaining in the second to complete the 11 play, 57-yard drive.

Durkin made it a two-score game with his 50-yard field goal just before the half to increase the lead to 24-14 just before the break.

Durkin started the third quarter scoring with a 34-yard field goal to increase the Tulane lead to 27-14 with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter.

South Alabama started the fourth with a 28-yard Hamilton DiBoyan field goal to again cut the deficit to 10, 27-17, with 14:57 remaining in the game.

The Tulane offense answered on the ensuing drive as Mobley rumbled for his second touchdown of the game, this one from 28 yards out, to put the lead at 33-17 with 10:01 remaining. Tulane missed the extra point, however, and that would loom large down the stretch.

South Alabama quickly answered and again made it a one-score game on Bullock's one yard rush and a made two-point conversion on the Davenport run, 33-25, with 5:27 left.

The Jaguars, after a defensive stop and a pair of penalties on fourth down that extended the drive, scored a 26-yard touchdown from Davenport to Voisin to get to within two. The Green Wave's Javion White, however, picked off the two-point conversion and hung on for the victory.

Next, the football team returns home to Yulman Stadium to host Duke on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN2.

NOTES:

- Patrick Durkin's 50-yard field goal was the longest for the program since the 2013 season (Cairo Santos 56-yard against ULM on 9/28/2013).

- With the win, Tulane improved to 3-1 all-time against South Alabama.

- The Green Wave is unblemished after the first two games of the season for only the fourth time since 2002 (2025, 2022, 1998 and 2002) and only the fifth time since 1975 (2025, 2022, 1998, 2002 and 1975).

- The team is 2-0 overall for the 34th time in school history (2025, 2022, 2002, 1998, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1966, 1949, 1941, 1939, 1934, 1932, 1931, 1929, 1928, 1924, 1923, 1922, 1920, 1919, 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1912, 1911, 1909, 1908, 1907, 1904 and 1900).

- With the win, Tulane is 39-36 all-time against current schools in the Sun Belt Conference.

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 34-10 (.772).

- Coach Sumrall saw his all-time record rise to 34-9 (.790) with the victory over the Jaguars…His .790 career winning percentage ranks him fourth among current FBS coaches only behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (72-10, .878), Oregon's Dan Lanning (37-6, .860) and Georgia's Kirby Smart (107-19, .849).

- With the win, Coach Sumrall is 2-0 for the first time in his four-year head coaching career.

- With the victory, Coach Sumrall improved his all-time record to 18-2 against Sun Belt Conference opponents.

- Coach Sumrall is 3-0 all-time in head-to-head matchups against South Alabama

- With two turnovers forced against the Jaguars, Tulane has now won 29 of its last 34 games when forcing a turnover.

- The Green Wave have outrushed the opposition in 31 of its last 42 games (including 25 of its last 32). In those games, Tulane holds a 29-2 record (losses in 2022 to Southern Miss and in 2023 to Ole Miss).

- Coach Jon Sumrall is 27-0 in his coaching career when his team (Troy and now Tulane) outrushes the opposition.

- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Tulane is 53-7 (.883) when leading at the half and 54-9 (.857) when leading at the end of the third quarter.

- The program also has won 29 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).

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