Football Drops Heartbreaker 34-27 to No. 16 Kansas State

Game Recap: Football | Sep 7, 2024

FINAL STATS | PHOTO GALLERY (by Parker Waters) | POSTGAME SUMRALL PRESS CONFERENCE | POSTGAME JENKINS AND BAUMAN INTERVIEW | POSTGAME MENSAH PRESS CONFERENCE | 

NEW ORLEANS  – The Tulane football team (1-1) lost a back-and-forth game to visiting Kansas State (2-0) by a 34-27 score at Yulman Stadium on Saturday, September 7.

The game featured two lead changes in the fourth quarter. Tulane had an opportunity to tie the game on the last drive and made it all the way to the Kansas State one-yard line before an offensive pass interference penalty pushed the squad back and took much of the momentum away. Green Wave redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah was picked off in the end zone by the Wildcats’ VJ Payne to salt away the comeback victory for the visitors.

Mensah went 19-for-28 for 342 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Makhi Hughes ran for 128 yards and a touchdown plus hauled in five passes for 37 yards. Backfield mate Arnold Barnes ran five times for 18 yards. Receiver Mario Williams was the game’s leader with six catches for 128 yard, while wideout Dontae Fleming totaled four catches for 97 yards. Tight end Alex Bauman recorded a pair of touchdown receptions for 49 yards.

Defensive back Rayshawn Pleasant led the Green Wave defense with seven tackles. Linebacker Tyler Grubbs recorded six tackles including half tackle for loss. Safety Kevin Adams III had two tackles including 1.5 for loss. Defensive end Michael Lunz also had a tackle for loss.

The Tulane offense outgained Kansas State 491 to 396. The team also had more first downs (21-19) and went 5-for-13 on third downs while limiting the Wildcats to 2-for-10 there. Kansas State won the turnover battle 2-0 including a scoop-and-score touchdown off Mensah that turned out to be the game-winner and an interception in its end zone on Tulane’s last drive of the game.

 

Kansas State scored first on the made 48-yard field goal from Chris Tennett to finish off a 12 play, 58-yard drive and put the Wildcats up 3-0 with 3:05 remaining in the first quarter.

Tulane answered with a touchdown drive to take the 7-3 lead with 49 seconds remaining in the first quarter that finished on a three-yard rush from Hughes and capped off a five play, 73-yard drive.

After a defensive stop and a short punt, Tulane took advantage of the good field position and scored in two plays on a 36-yard Bauman reception from Mensah with 13:20 remaining in the second quarter to put Tulane up 14-3.

The Wildcats cut the deficit to four (14-10) on the ensuing drive as Johnson connected with Will Swanson to complete a six play, 75-yard drive at the 10:16 mark of the second quarter.

Tulane again made it a touchdown advantage as Jacob Barnes knocked in a 40-yard field goal to complete the 11 play, 57-yard drive with 5:06 remaining in the second quarter.

The Green Wave extended the lead to 10 (20-10) on the 41-yard field goal from Barnes just before the end of the half.

Kansas State kept fighting and cut the deficit to a touchdown (20-13) on a 28-yard field goal by Tennett with 7:49 left in the third quarter to finish a seven play, 65-yard drive.

The Wildcats, after a defensive stop, tied the game up at 20 with a 45-yard touchdown reception by Giddens with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter.

Tulane took the lead back, 27-20, to start the fourth quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Mensah to Bauman with 14:01 remaining in the game.

Kansas State wasted no time in again tying the game at 27 on a 13-yard rush from Dylan Edwards to finish off a six play, 75-yard drive.

A scoop and score 59-yard touchdown by Jack Fabris gave Kansas State the 34-27 lead with 8:13 remaining in the game in what would be the final score.

Next, the football team travels to take on No. 13 Oklahoma on Saturday, September 14 at 2:30 p.m. in Norman.

NOTES:

-The 342 passing yards thrown for Mensah were a career high, a first for him and the 74th 300-yard passing game ever for a Tulane quarterback.

–Makhi Hughes’ 128-yard rushing day was the first of the season for him and the eighth of his career. Hughes has now run for 100 or more yards in eight of his last 12 games played.

–Alex Bauman tied his career-high with his two touchdown catches (North Texas – 10/21/23).

–Mario Williams has now gone over 100 yards receiving in each of the first two games of his Tulane career. His 128 yards receiving was a Tulane career-high.

-Tulane’s 491 yards on offense was the most for the program since 539 yards against USC at the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

-Tulane is 1-1 on the season for the eighth time since 2016 (except 2022).

-The loss dropped Tulane to 2-1 all-time against Kansas State with the previous matchups being in 1988 and 2022.

– After three makes today, Tulane has now connected on 203 consecutive extra-point attempts.

– Only 11 total Tulane players on the current roster that played today also saw action against Kansas State in 2022 (Rashad Green, Patrick Jenkins, Angelo Anderson, Eric Hicks, Jr, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Shi’Keem Laister, Bailey Despanie, Michael Lunz, Ethan Hudak, Reggie Brown and Elijah Champaigne).

– Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 24-6.

– The game was only the second home game that Head Coach Jon Sumrall has lost in his career (14-2).

– The game was also only the second time that Coach Sumrall has lost in his career when he has had more than seven days to prepare for an opponent (6-2).