Tulane Wins Cure Bowl 41-24 Over Louisiana
Seven games into the 2018 season the Tulane Green Wave sported a 2-5 record. Saturday, they capped a remarkable turnaround with a decisive bowl victory. Willie Fritz’s club won their first bowl game since 2002 as Tulane beat Louisiana in the Cure Bowl 41-24.
Players Of The Game
Darius Bradwell ran for a career high 150 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Justin McMillan threw for a score while adding another on the ground. Bradwell scored on runs of 4 and 15 yards while setting a bowl record for rushing attempts with 35. In addition, the 150 yards rushing are a Tulane bowl record.
After a career-high 150 yards rushing and a pair of touchdown runs in this afternoon's win, @GreenWaveFB running back Darius Bradwell was named the @CureBowl MVP! #AmericanFB | #BowlWave pic.twitter.com/7BNmefmSxy
— American Football (@American_FB) December 15, 2018
Amare Jones added another score as the Green Wave out rushed the Ragin’ Cajuns 337-84. For the game Tulane rolled up 482 total yards and held the ball for over 40 minutes.
A Game Of Runs
A 38 yard run by Raymond Calais put Louisiana up 7-0 early. The Green Wave countered by scoring 24 unanswered points and led 24-10 at the half. The Ragin’ Cajuns cut the lead to 27-24 on a 15 yard touchdown pass from Andre Nunez to Jarrod Jackson with ten minutes to go. Unfortunately for Louisiana, they would get no closer. A four yard scoring run by Bradwell followed by a 16 yard scamper by McMillan put the game away.
While Tulane was rolling up the yardage the same couldn’t be said for Louisiana. The normally explosive trio of backs didn’t break 100 yards. Trey Ragas was held to 40 yards and Nunez only completed eight of 17 passes for 136 yards. Tulane’s defense recorded six sacks and nine tackles for loss on the game.
With the win the Green Wave finish the season 7-6 while Louisiana ends up at 7-7. This was the 29th time the two schools from the Bayou State have played with Tulane leading the all-time series 23-6. As mentioned earlier, it is the school’s first bowl win since the 2002 Hawaii Bowl and fifth win overall.
Cure Bowl Champs!! 🏆🎉🌊#BOWLWAVE pic.twitter.com/bNCjvqzuhF
— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) December 15, 2018
Looking Ahead To 2019
McMillan, an LSU transfer, has one year of eligibility remaining. Bradwell and another running back, Corey Dauphine, return next season as well. The Green Wave have never made bowl games in two consecutive seasons. With the strong nucleus returning, they will have a great chance to do that and possibly make some noise in the AAC’s Western Division.
While Nunez graduates this year, all three of the Ragin’ Cajun running backs return in 2019. Calais, Elijah Mitchell and Ragas are all underclassmen. The trio ran for nearly 3,000 yards in 2018 and they will spearhead the offense in 2019. Head Coach Billy Napier’s club went from 5-7 in 2017 to 7-7 in his first season in charge. They will try to improve on that in the Sun Belt next year.
Stay with us here at Last Word On College Football as we have previews of every bowl game leading up to the National Championship.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
