Tulane vs Rutgers Final Score: Injuries and Points Leave Green Wave Hurting

Sherman Badie cracked off an 86-yard touchdown run that was a thing of beauty, and likely will wind up as one of the top highlights of Tulane's season no matter what else happens this season.

Unfortunately, that one play represented a full 30% of Tulane's offensive yardage for the day, and came minutes after Rutgers scored a 93-yard touchdown of their own. The Wave struggled to cause much trouble for interception-prone Gary Nova, who completed two-thirds of his passes and launched four touchdowns in cleanly handling Tulane by a 34-6 final.

Even that final line is a bit deceptive, though, as Nova needed only six total pass attempts in the first 19 minutes of action to reach six completions for a total of 195 yards and three touchdowns. Despite Badie's touchdown (and impressive open-field burst), the Wave did little to challenge that lead at any point. The pass rush was able to get Nova moving on several occasions, but that appeared to make him more accurate, not less.

Despite his uneven performance to date, the shoulder injury to Tanner Lee is not particularly helpful for Tulane. We will have to wait and see how severe the injury is, and whether it will result in him sitting and Devin Powell starting next weekend against UConn, but either way the defense has work to do before heading home to Yulman.