Tulane entered Tulsa Vs Tulane on Saturday with a 4-4 record, and the game at Yulman Stadium was the kind that leaves no room to drift. The Green Wave were 2-2 in league play and still had a slim chance to reach the American Conference championship game for a fifth straight year, but only if they won and got plenty of help elsewhere.
That is why kickoff at 11:00 a.m. CT mattered so much. Tulsa came in at 4-4 as well, but its 1-3 league mark made this a different kind of test for Tulane: not just another conference game, but a must-win step in a late-season chase that had already narrowed to the point where almost everything outside Tulane's control had to break the right way.
The Green Wave also had one recent reason to believe the defense could carry that burden. Against Charlotte, Tulane's second half was its best 30 minutes of football this year. It gave up 24 points in the first half, then allowed only a touchdown after halftime, when the defense shut down the run game and pressured the quarterback into hurries and sacks. If Tulane was going to keep the path alive, that kind of adjustment had to show up again.
That leaves the offense with one clear pressure point of its own. Tulane has a stable of running backs, and Johnnie Daniels, Mo Turner, Jaylin Lucas, DJ Dugar and Jamauri McClure are all options. McClure, in particular, is healthy and should get a healthy dose of carries, which matters because Tulane cannot afford empty possessions in a game that already depends on results beyond its own score.
The bigger picture is simple enough. Tulane's chance at another American Conference title-game run is not gone, but it is no longer in its own hands. Beat Tulsa, keep the season alive, and then wait for the rest of the league to fall the right way. Miss here, and the fifth straight trip is out of reach no matter what happens elsewhere.
