Breaking Down Tulane's 49-10 Loss To Temple

Here's what you need to know about Tulane's 49-10 loss to Temple on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. It wasn't pretty like most games the Green Wave has played against FBS competition this year, but we'll break it down into manageable pieces for you to digest.

Shall we?

What happened

Tulane (2-3, 1-1) took another 'L' when pit against a similar opponent.

And surprise, surprise: It was another lopsided score.

At least the Green Wave is consistent.

Tulane's three losses this year have come by an average score of 50-9. That's not good.

Unlike those other games, the Green Wave actually led in this one — twice. The Owls (5-0, 2-0) also owned two leads and never relinquished the second one.

Why it happened

Temple is Temple. Tulane is Tulane.

From a football standpoint, though, it's tough to win a game when you amass just 110 yards of total offense like the Green Wave did Saturday afternoon. That's not in one quarter. That's in the entire game.

Tulane was absolutely smothered by the Owls. Temple held the Green Wave to eight rushing yards on 27 carries. Tulane only recorded eight first downs and punted eight times.

This was a beating.

Green Wave quarterback Tanner Lee also had nowhere to go with the ball. Lee did complete 16 of his 29 passes for 95 yards, but that's less than six yards per connection. The Owls also picked off Lee twice, which contributed to Lee's incredible Quarterback Rating of 6.8.

Turning point

The game started.

OK. OK. I'll play along.

Down 14-10, Tulane turned the ball over on downs and Temple broke the game wide-open with a touchdown two plays later.

How did it happen? Let's see.

The Green Wave were forced to punt and Zachary Block fielded a low snap. Block had a chance to get the ball away, but the ball slipped from his grasp. Before Block could boom it away, the Owls converged and crushed him for a 12-yard loss.

Temple quarterback P.J. Walker found running back Jahad Thomas on the second play of the ensuing drive and just like that, the Owls were up 21-10. From there, Temple scored 28 consecutive points and the rout was on.

Up next

Tulane welcomes Houston to Yulman Stadium on Friday night. Don't look now, but the Cougars are 5-0.