The Tulane football team (2-2) rallied with 10 points in the fourth quarter and then blocked the potential game-tying field goal with just under two minutes remaining to seal the 24-21 victory over Southern Miss (1-3) at Yulman Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26.
Maurice Turner, who ran for 200 yards, had the game-winning 74-yard jaunt with 5:26 remaining to give the Green Wave a lead it would not relinquish. Josh Lewis’s blocked field goal at the 1:45 mark of the fourth quarter secured the team’s fourth-quarter comeback victory.
Tulane scored first for the second straight game as quarterback Kadin Semonza connected with Anthony Brown-Stephens on a 47-yard pitch-and-catch to put the Green Wave up 7-0 with 8:15 remaining in the first quarter to complete a six play, 70-yard drive.
Southern Miss tied the score at seven early in the second quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Davis Dalton with 12:43 to go until the half.
The Green Wave wrestled the lead back, 14-7, at the 9:47 mark of the second quarter on Turner’s 43-yard rush.
Southern Miss tied the game again on the ensuing possession as Mario Sanders hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 remaining in the second quarter.
Southern Miss took the team’s first lead of the game early in the third quarter on the 22-yard touchdown reception by Sanders at the 10:07 mark of the third quarter.
The Green Wave picked up a 26-yard field goal from Cooper Helmke to put the score 21-17 with 8:35 remaining in the contest setting up Turner and Lewis’s late game heroics.
Notes:
– Maurice Turner is the 3rd Tulane running back all-time to average 15+ yards per carry on at least 10 attempts (Jimmy Hodgins vs Sewanee on 11/21/31 & Jaylin Lucas vs. South Alabama (9/12/26)).
– He is the second player to ever run for 200 or more yards in Yulman history (Jaylin Lucas – 214 – 9/12/26).
– Turner’s 74-yard TD run in the fourth quarter was the second-longest rush for a Tulane player over the last 4 seasons, behind Lucas’ 80-yarder.
– Turner is the first Tulane player with three rushes of 40+ yards in same game in over 20 years. The last American player to do so was Navy’s Blake Horvath vs. Memphis in September of 2024.
