#10
27 -- 4-1 (2-1) #14
31 -- 2-1 (1-0) 
TOP ROW: Back-up QB Chris Moore's second quarter pass was intercepted by LSU CB Jake Crenshaw and returned 64 yards for a touchdown which gave the Tigers a 10-7 lead and completely turned the tide of the game. | BOTTOM ROW: LSU QB Michael Robertson's 4-yard touchdown pass to WR Dominic Holmes capped off an 8-play opening second half possession and increased the Tigers' lead to 24-10.
MANNING-LESS TULANE FALLS TO LSU 31-27 AT TIGER STADIUM
Freshman star quarterback injured on his team's second possession, back-ups' costly interceptions doom Green Wave in crushing defeat | Third string QB George Ford, seeing his first action in five seasons with the Wave, unable to complete potential legendary comeback attempt | Geezy: Manning expected to be okay for next week's crucial game at #18 Georgia
Baton Rouge, LA -- The Tulane Green Wave lost its leader in true freshman starting QB Jamie Manning (80) less than five minutes into the game and mistakes by the team's two backups ultimately were too much to overcome as the Wave fell to the rival LSU Tigers 31-27 Saturday afternoon at Baton Rouge. Manning, who has thrown 10 touchdowns this season, left the game in the first quarter after suffering an abdominal strain when he was hit as he attempted a pass. The injury came on the first play of the Wave's second series of the game.
Manning had directed an 8-play 80-yard drive on the game's first possession which took up 2:28. The drive concluded with a 50-yard touchdown run by RB Brett Curtis on a 4th and 1, giving the Green Wave an early 7-0 lead. It would be Manning's only full series though.
Redshirt senior backup QB Chris Moore (75), seeing his first extended action since week 10 last season when he subbed in for former Wave QB Anthony High, struggled versus the Tigers' ferocious defense. Moore came in with his team nursing an early 7-3 lead, however an ill-advised second quarter pass was intercepted by LSU CB Jake Crenshaw and returned 64 yards for a touchdown which gave the Tigers a 10-7 lead.
The Tigers, who took a 17-10 lead into the halftime locker room, would score on their first possession of the second half to extend the lead to 24-10. Moore would throw another interception on Tulane's next series and LSU quickly cashed it in for a 2-yard touchdown pass from QB Michael Robertson to RB Brad Frank, giving the Tigers a commanding 31-10 lead. Moore was 8 of 15 for 129 yards with two interceptions.
It was at that point Tulane head coach D. Geezy opted to go with third string QB George Ford (71), a redshirt senior who had not taken a single snap during his entire career with the Wave. The inexperience did not phase Ford however as on the first series of his career, he directed an 11-play 82-yard drive which took up 3:03 and culminated with a 12-yard touchdown pass to RB Reggie Moore on a screen play that made the score 31-17. Moore finished with a game-high 10 receptions for 84 yards, his second straight 10-catch performance. He sufferred a rib injury with four minutes remaining however and was unable to finish the game.
"We decided that due to the turnovers, we wanted to go with George despite the fact he had never played," said Geezy.
"He has been excellent in practice all season and we thought he deserved the shot. We think the world of Chris, but the interceptions directly cost us 14 points and put us far behind.
"Ford stepped in, and I thought his play brought a lot of momentum to us."
That momentum would make its way to the Tulane defense. The Green Wave made it a one possession game when freshman OLB Larry Branch intercepted Robertson in the fourth quarter and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown which made the score 31-24 with 8:04 remaining. A field goal by Tulane PK Cody Bennett with 3:53 remaining cut the Tigers' lead to 31-27.
LSU (2-1, 1-0) would get the ball back with an opportunity to run out the clock with their ""four minute offense."" However Robertson threw his second interception of the quarter, this one to Wave sophomore CB Cedric Burnette, setting up Tulane at their own 49-yard line with a chance to drive for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:27 left.
Ford, playing without his favorite target (RB) Moore, who was injured on the team's previous possession, had an opporunity to etch his name forever in the Tulane history books with an improbable last second drive to cap off the Green Wave's epic comeback. However, on 3rd and 5 with 1:29 left, he threw an interception to Tigers OLB Jose Wells, turning the ball back over to LSU and allowing them to run out the clock and hold onto their narrow victory.
"We're not going to make excuses today; This was a game we felt we had a chance to win despite the injuries to Manning and the one to Reggie late in the game," said Geezy.
"I thought Ford did an excellent job given the circumstances but at the end of the day, we made the big mistake that cost us.
"We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. All we can do is use this as a learning experience and move on to our next opponent."
Tulane (4-1, 2-1) will travel to Athens next week to take on #18 Georgia (3-1, 1-1). The Green Wave defeated the Bulldogs 24-14 last season at the Louisiana Superdome.
RIVALRY GAME: "THE BATTLE FOR THE TIGER RAG"
Box Score1st
TU: 50 yd TD run by Curtis (Bennett kick) 6:31 -- 7-0
2nd
LS: 24 yd FG by Higgins 8:56 -- 7-3
LS: 64 yd interception return for TD by Crenshaw (Higgins kick) 6:06 -- 7-10
TU: 39 yd FG by Bennett 2:54 -- 10-10
LS: 5 yd TD pass from Robertson to Dunn (Higgins kick) 1:48 -- 10-17
3rd
LS: 4 yd TD pass from Robertson to Holmes (Higgins kick) 7:10 -- 10-24
LS: 2 yd TD pass from Robertson to Frank (Higgins kick) 6:41 -- 10-31
TU: 12 yd TD pass from Ford to R. Moore (Bennett kick) 3:38 -- 17-31
4th
TU: 44 yd interception return for TD by Branch (Bennett kick) 8:04 -- 24-31
TU: 45 yd FG by Bennett 3:53 -- 27-31
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Game Statistics
#10 Tulane Code:
[size=1] * - IMPACT Player [U] Passing RATING COMP ATT YDS TD INT [/U] 9-QB Jamie Manning(fr)~ 94.0 5 8 30 0 0 13-QB Chris Moore(rs-sr)^ 98.9 8 15 129 0 2 8-QB George Ford(rs-sr) 142.6 8 14 127 1 1 ~ - injured in first quarter (strained abdominal) | did not return ^ - benched in third quarter (coaches' decision) | did not return [U] Rushing ATT YDS TD [/U] 36-RB *Brett Curtis(rs-so) 13 101 1 25-RB *Reggie Moore(jr)~ 7 44 0 13-QB Chris Moore(rs-sr) 2 -21 0 8-QB George Ford(rs-sr) 1 -10 0 89-WR Derrick Adams(rs-jr) 1 0 0 ~ - injured with 4:00 remaining (ribs) | did not return [U] Receiving REC YDS TD [/U] 25-RB *Reggie Moore(jr) 10 84 1 87-WR Herbie Smith(so) 3 37 0 88-TE Joel Bowers(sr) 2 63 0 2-WR Brandon McNeil(fr) 2 48 0 5-RB Anthony Barnett(sr) 1 9 0 17-WR Bobby McCall(fr) 1 18 0 23-WR Gerald Alexander(jr) 1 18 0 85-TE Justin Thomas(sr) 1 9 0 [U] Defensive TAK SOLO AST TFL SCK INT [/U] 26-FS Dre Harris(so) 14 14 6 6 1 0 11-OLB Larry Branch(fr) 9 7 2 0 0 1 (1 td) 90-DE A.J. Haynes(so) 3 2 1 1 1 0 21-CB Cedric Burnette(so) 3 3 0 0 0 1 [u] Kicking FG MADE FG ATT LONG MISSED XP MADE XP ATT [/U] 47-PK Cody Bennett(jr) 2 2 46 n/a 3 3 [B][U]Tulane Key Team Stats:[/U][/B] Total Offensive Yards: 400 Rushing Totals: 24 att 114 yds 1 td Sacks Allowed: 3 3rd down conversions: 4-13 (30%) 4th down conversions: 2-2 (100%) Offensive Turnovers: 3 Penalties: 3 for 28 yards Time of Possession: 19:50 [/size]
#14 LSUCode:
[size=1] * - IMPACT Player [U] Passing RATING COMP ATT YDS TD INT [/U] 6-QB *Michael Robertson(sr) 165.2 21 30 270 3 2 [U] Rushing ATT YDS TD [/U] 23-RB Brad Frank(so) 23 138 0 28-RB Corey Freeman(fr) 3 56 0 6-QB *Michael Robertson(sr) 2 -13 0 87-WR Dominic Holmes(rs-jr) 1 1 0 [U] Receiving REC YDS TD [/U] 87-WR Dominic Holmes(rs-jr) 7 93 1 80-WR *A.J. Carpenter(rs-sr) 4 88 0 1-WR Jamie Rogers(sr) 3 42 0 23-RB Brad Frank(so) 3 18 1 41-FB Corey Lewis(rs-so) 2 20 0 85-TE Kevin Dunn(jr) 1 5 0 10-TE Matt Castillo(so) 1 4 0 [U] Defensive TAK SOLO AST TFL SCK INT [/U] 58-MLB *Kyle Smith(rs-jr) 10 7 3 2 0 0 2-SS Chad Thompson(so) 6 3 3 0 0 1 96-DE Ike Douglas(rs-sr) 4 2 2 1 1 0 91-DT James Cooper(rs-sr) 4 2 2 2 1 0 7-CB Carlos Hollis(jr) 4 1 3 1 1 0 51-OLB Jose Wells(sr) 3 2 1 0 0 1 20-CB Jake Crenshaw(jr) 2 1 1 0 0 1 [u] Kicking FG MADE FG ATT LONG MISSED XP MADE XP ATT [/U] 18-PK Wesley Higgins(rs-sr) 1 1 24 n/a 4 4 [B][U]Opponent Key Team Stats:[/U][/B] Total Offensive Yards: 452 Rushing Totals: 29 att 182 yds 0 tds Sacks Allowed: 2 3rd down conversions: 5-11 (45%) 4th down conversions: 0-0 (0%) Offensive Turnovers: 2 Penalties: 5 for 38 yards Time of Possession: 16:10 [/size]
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2016 Tulane Green Wave Schedule/Results Code:
[SIZE=1]
Opponent (record) Result Tulane Player of the Game -Record-
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at Hawai'i (0-1) W 41-18 QB Manning 25 of 37 383 yds 3 tds 1-0 (0-0)
at Miami (0-1) W 27-13 SS Bryant 4 tk 2 tfl 2 sk 2 ff 2-0 (0-0)
vs Auburn (0-2) W 40-14 QB Manning 23 of 28 360 yds 3 tds 3-0 (1-0)
vs South Carolina (2-1) W 24-21 RB Moore 10 rec 101 yds 2 total tds 4-0 (2-0)
at LSU (2-1) L 27-31 LB Branch 9 tk 1 int 1 td 4-1 (2-1)
at Georgia
vs Kentucky
vs Louisiana Tech
at Alabama
vs Arkansas
at Ole Miss
vs Southern Miss
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Next Game:
#12
(4-1, 2-1) at #18 
(3-1, 1-1).
Key Players: 
Injuries: WR Gerald Alexander (rs-sr) 79 overall - questionable (shoulder)
#18 Georgia
at #12 
I love reading your dynasties, glad to be able to kill time at work with something more interesting than actual work.
Key Players: 
Kentucky
at #11 
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