Football Forces Six Turnovers in 31-17 Conference Victory Over Memphis

Friday, October 16

NEW ORLEANS

6:30 PM

Tulane University

3-3 , 1-1

Memphis

5-2 , 2-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Memphis	3	7	0	7	17
Tulane	0	23	0	8	31

Photo by: Parker Waters

Football Forces Six Turnovers in 31-17 Conference Victory Over Memphis

Oct 16, 2026 | Football

Box Score

Photo Gallery

NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane football team (3-3, 1-1 American), behind six takeways from the defense, secured a thrilling 31-17 home conference victory over Memphis (5-2, 2-1 American) on Friday, Oct. 16, at Yulman Stadium.

With Tulane clinging to a 23-17 lead and facing fourth and one from near midfield, Johnnie Daniels was able to break containment and rumble for a 48-yard touchdown to secure the victory. The two-point conversion throw to Destyn Hill was good to make the final margin 31-17 Green Wave.

Memphis scored first on a 44-yard field goal from Philippe Laforge at the 10:20 mark of the first quarter to complete the five play, 44-yard drive to give the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.

The Green Wave tied the game at three at the 14:48 mark of the second quarter on the 56-yard field goal from Cooper Helmke.

Memphis wrestled the lead back, 10-3, on the 76-yard pitch-and-catch from Marcus Stokes to Stonka Burnside with 14:08 remaining before the break.

Helmke knocked in his second field goal of the game at the 6:42 mark of the second quarter to draw Tulane to 10-6 and complete the five play, 22-yard drive.

After the second forced fumble of the game by Ed Smith IV, the offense scored quickly as Hill evaded the defense for a 38-yard touchdown reception from Trace Johnson at the 4:18 mark of the second quarter for 13-10 advantage. It was the first touchdown pass of Johnson's career and a lead that Tulane would not relinquish the rest of the evening.

The Green Wave extended the lead to six, 16-10, on the made 29-yard field goal from Helmke to finish off the six play, 34-yard drive with just over a minute before the half.

Tulane forced the team's fourth turnover of the half as TJ Smith intercepted a Stokes pass and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown to give the Green Wave a 23-10 lead at the break.

Memphis made it a one-score game, 23-17, on the Stokes to Jermyi Davis six-yard touchdown pass with 3:34 remaining. The drive covered 13 plays and 78-yard drive and helped set up the late game heroics from Daniels

Offense: Trace Johnson went 11-for-21 for 165 with a touchdown pass and an interception. Dagan Bruno came off the bench to go 1-for-1 for 10 yards and pick up 14 yards crucial yards on three carries. Johnnie Daniels led the team with 61 rushing yards and a touchdown. Destyn Hill had four catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Brown-Stephens totaled three catches for 41 yards. Garrett Mmahat totaled a pair of catches for 28 yards.

Defense: Dickson Agu led the team with his 10 tackles. Kevin Adams III picked up nine tackles, two interceptions, and recovered a fumble. Anthony Rogers had eight tackles. Makai Williams recorded seven tackles including a pair of stops for loss. Dalton Hughes had seven tackles. Jah'rie Garner totaled a pair of sacks and a pass breakup. Warren Roberts Jr., Ed Smith IV, Geordan Guidry, and Jordyn Crites all had a sack. Smith IV forced a pair of fumbles. Roberts and Guidry also forced a fumble each. Guidry and Josh Lewis each recovered a fumble. TJ Smith returned an interception for a 76-yard touchdown.

Special Teams: Cooper Helmke was successful on three of his four field goal attempts with a long of 56. William Hudlow had six punts and averaged 48 yards a kick with a long of 72 plus placed two of his kicks inside the 20.

Team: Memphis outgained Tulane 488 to 325 including a 306-175 edge in passing yards. The Green Wave defense registered nine tackles for loss, seven sacks, and forced six turnovers to help the team overcome the yardage and first down discrepancy, 27-13. Tulane scored 14 of the team's 31 points directly off the Memphis turnovers.

Next, Tulane continues the homestand and welcomes UTSA (5-1, 2-0 American) in for a game on Saturday, Oct. 24, starting at 7 p.m. at Yulman Stadium.

NOTES
- Tulane is the first FBS team to record at least six takeaways and seven sacks since Louisville in Oct. 2022 vs. Wake Forest.

- Tulane's six turnovers forced is the most for the program since forcing eight against Army during the 2003 season (9/20/03).

- Cooper Helmke's 56-yard field goal was his third make of 50+ yard this season…The kick ranks him third in school history behind his 58-yarder against Kansas State earlier this season (9/19) and the 57-yarder from Cairo Santos against Rice during the 2012 campaign (11/3/12).

- TJ Smith's 76-yard interception return touchdown was Tulane's first defensive touchdown of the season and the first since Chris Rodgers did the same against North Texas in the 2025 American Championship Game (12/5/2025).

- William Hudlow's 72-yard punt in the first half was tied for the 11th longest in school history and tied for the sixth longest for the program since 1960.

- With the win, Tulane improves to 16-25-1 all-time against Memphis in a series that started in 1954. Tulane has now won four of the last five and five of the last seven.

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is 46-16 (.741).

- Tulane is one of nine schools to win 46+ games from 2022-26.

- The win makes Tulane exactly 1-1 in conference play for the first time since 2018 and the 26th time in school history.

- The win makes Tulane .500 after six games for the first time since 2017 and the school history 25th time in school history

- Head Coach Will Hall is now 73-53 (.579) over the course of his 11-year head coaching career. The win makes Coach Hall 4-0 all-time at Yulman Stadium (3-0 at Tulane and 1-0 at Southern Miss). Coach Hall improves his record to 9-2 in his head coaching career when he has less than seven days to prepare for an opponent. Coach Hall is now 46-23 as a head coach in home games in his career. He is 66-9 in his career when his team leads at the half.

- Tulane improves to 30-4 in conference regular season play since 2022. The .882 percentage is the third-best in the country in that period of time.

1. Georgia 33-3 (91.7%)
2. Ohio State 35-4 (89.7%)
3. Tulane 30-4 (88.2%)
4. Boise State 28-4 (87.5%)
5. Oregon 33-5 (86.8%)
6. Jacksonville State 22-4 (84.6%)
7. SMU 29-6 (82.9%)
8. Ohio 28-6 (82.4%)
9. Alabama 29-7 (80.6%)
10. Michigan 30-8 (78.9%)

- The win was Tulane's 10th consecutive win streak at home dating back to the start of the 2025 season (7-0 in 2025 and 3-0 in 2026), The 10 straight wins at home is now tied for fourth-longest home winning streak in the home city of New Orleans since the beginning of the program in 1893. The team's last loss at home came against Memphis during the 2024 campaign (11/28/24)

Tulane All-Time Home Winning Streaks
1. 23 – 1929-1932 (Sept. 28, 1929 – Oct. 8, 1932)
t-2. 11 – 1948-49 (Sept. 25, 1948 – Nov. 5, 1949)
t-2. 11 – 1923-24 (Sept. 29, 1923 – Oct. 25, 1924)
t-4. 10 – 2025-Present (Aug. 30, 2025 – Present)
t-4. 10 – 1973-74 (Sept. 22, 1973 – Oct. 19, 1974)
t-6. 9 – 1998-99 (Sept. 26, 1998 – Oct. 16, 1999)
t-6. 9 – 1938-39 (Oct. 15, 1938 – Oct. 14, 1939)
t-8. 8 – 1978-79 (Oct. 28, 1978 – Nov. 17, 1979)
t-8. 8 – 1934-35 (Sept. 29, 1934 – Sept. 28, 1935)
t-8. 8 – 1908-1909 (Oct. 19, 1908 – Oct. 16, 1909)
11. 7 – 1940-41 (Oct. 19, 1940 – Oct. 18, 1941)

- The Green Wave has now outrushed the opposition in 41 of the last 60 games (including 35 of the last 50). In such contests, Tulane holds 38-3 (losses: 2022 vs. Southern Miss, 2023 vs. Ole Miss, and 2025 vs. UTSA).

- Tulane has won 26 of its last 28 games when allowing 20 or fewer points to the opposition (Last two losses: Duke won 17-13, 9/5/26 and Army won 20-17, 10/10/26).

- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Tulane has only had five games where it has been forced to punt more than six times.

- Jah'rie Garner is the first Tulane player with a pass defended and a pair of sacks in the same game since Keith Cooper, Jr. did it on September 11, 2021 against Morgan State.

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