Green Wave offense disappears after monster week

Lethargic. Unfocused. Inconsistent

Those were some of the many ways to describe how the Green Wave offense played during the 24-3 road loss Saturday against the Houston Cougars.

The Cougars reeled off 24 unanswered points in the first half, including a fumble recovery for a touchdown. But unlike last week, when the offense exploded for 59 points against a statistically better UAB defense, Tulane simply could not respond, even against a Cougar defense which had given up an average of 37 points in the last four games. The Green Wave tallied a meager three points while failing to score a single touchdown for the first time this season.

The Green Wave offense reached the red zone twice, but only came away with a field goal and an interception to show for it. Quarterback Lester Ricard, who was named National Player of the Week last week after his record performance against UAB, threw two interceptions and fumbled once, which led to Houston’s second touchdown. For the game, the Green Wave converted four-of-14 third downs, with all of the conversions coming on the same first-quarter drive that resulted in an interception in the end zone.

“It was hard to overcome the mistakes we made early,” Head Coach Chris Scelfo said. “We’ve got to give Houston all the credit. They made the plays early when they were in situations, and we didn’t respond offensively today.”

The lone score came on a 43-yard field goal by Nick Beucher with 10:55 left in the game. Beucher’s only other attempt was 46-yard field goal that soared wide left to end the first half. Last week, the Green Wave scored more points in the first quarter alone.

“In seems that in order for us to get a drive going, we have to make the big plays,” wide receiver Roydell Williams said. “But we really couldn’t get the deep ball [against Houston], and I thought that was the difference. They did a good job blitzing, and they were just better than us today. We couldn’t put a drive together.”

Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb came out firing during the Cougars’ first drive, hitting Donnie Avery for a 60-yard pass and Vincent Marshall for another 18-yarder before Ryan Gilbert ran it in to put the Cougars up 7-0. Kolb threw for 195 of his 267 yards in the first half against the scuffling Green Wave defense.

“We just didn’t execute well in the first half,” defensive back Israel Route, who made his first career start, said. “We gave up the big play, something we were taught not to do.”

On third-and-seven the next drive, Ricard dropped back to pass from the Green Wave 23 yard line, but was sacked by Houston defensive end Travis Griffith. The ball squirted out of Ricard’s hand and bounced into the end zone, where Wade Koehl jumped on it for a touchdown.

“He just came from the backside while I had the ball, and just knocked it right out of my hand right as my arm was back ready to throw it,” Ricard said. “It was important since we knew we had to start fast because we have an explosive offense.”

The Green Wave offense marched 72 yards all the way down to the Houston 8-yard line, but a holding penalty pushed the ball back ten yards. On third-and-goal from the 18, Ricard lobbed a pass to the end zone intended for receiver Damarcus Davis, but Houston cornerback Willie Gaston covered Davis perfectly and grabbed the ball in front of a leaping Davis.

“We had some unfortunate things happen, and we really couldn’t finish our drives,” Ricard said. “I though we had a pretty good game plan coming in, but we just didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”

The Cougars then turned around and compiled an impressive 8-play, 82-yard drive capped by a three-yard keeper by Kolb. After that, the Green Wave was forced to punt yet again, and the Houston offense struck again, this time scoring on a 42-yard field goal.

“[The defense] came out too hesitant in the first half,” senior linebacker Wesley Heath said. “We were so busy getting lined up and figuring out our assignments that by the time the ball was snapped, we weren’t ready, and we were hesitant reacting.”

The Cougars decided to play conservative in the second half, running junior running back Anthony Evans 14 times as Evans finished with 87 rushing yards for the game. However, the Green Wave defense kept the team within striking distance by shutting down the Houston passing game and shutting out UH for the entire second half.

“We just made some adjustments in the second half, substituting defensive backs in and out, forcing them to match up with us,” Heath said. “I think we definitely have the ability to play like this, we just need to be able to put two halves together.”

The loss snapped Houston’s four-game losing streak and dropped the Green Wave back to the bottom of the C-USA standings. Up next for Tulane is Navy (tomorrow, 6 p.m., Superdome), which comes into this weekend at 7-1.