The Tulane Green Wave dropped it's homecoming game to Conference-USA rival Memphis Saturday at the Louisiana Superdome, falling in heartbreaking fashion 28-17.
It was the third heartbreaking loss of the season for Tulane, now (2-6 overall and 1-3 in
Conference-USA.
With 36 seconds left, Memphis quarterback Martin Hankins threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Duke Calhoun to cap a 9-play, 80-yard drive The extra-point was good putting the Tigers ahead by a point at 28-27.
Although Tulane had a last chance, the Tigers were set to escape with a win.
Hankins completed 25-of-38 pass attempts for 355 yards and two scores, as Memphis now 4-4 overall and 3-1 in C-USA won its second game in a row. Maurice Jones caught four passes for a team-high 117 yards in the triumph, while Earnest Williams pulled in three balls for 96 yards and a score.
Matt Forte led Tulane, rushing for 278 yards and two touchdowns on 44 carries. Forte has now rushed for more than 200 yards in each of his last four games and is the nation's leading rusher with 1,539 yards. Forte set a Tulane single season rushing record when he bested Mewelde Moore's mark of 1,421, which Moore set in 2001.
The Green Wave defense held the Tigers to only 59 rushing yards on 25 carries.
Tulane quarterback Anthony Scelfo completed 7-of-15 pass attempts for 84 yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 36 yards on seven attempts.
Backup quarterback Kevin Moore completed his only pass for 21 yards.
Middle linebacker Evan Lee led the Tulane defense with 9 tackles.
The Green Wave took the opening kickoff and marched to the Memphis 1-yard line where Forte was ruled to have fumbled on a third-down run just short of the goal line and Quinton McCrary recovered for the Tigers to end the threat.
Memphis drove to the Tulane 20 where the Green Wave defense stopped the Tigers Joseph Doss on a fourth down rush to take over on downs.
The Green Wave then drove to the Memphis 32 where the drive stalled and Ross Thevenot scored the first points of the day when he nailed a 48-yard field goal late in the first quarter giving the Green Wave the lead.
With 11:47 left in the second quarter Earnest Williams ran three yards on a reverse for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead for the Tigers.
The Green Wave countered with a 37-yard field goal by Thevenot and followed with a Matt Forte 51-yard touchdown run to take a 13-7 lead.
But with just 39 seconds left until halftime, Memphis regained the lead when Hankins hit Earnest Williams with a 47-yard touchdown pass to take back the lead at 14-13.
Tulane took the lead back in the third quarter at 20-14, when Scelfo hit Jeremy Williams with a 32-yard touchdown pass.
Memphis responded on their ensuing possession when Matt Malouf hit Carlos Singleton with a five-yard pass for a touchdown and Matt Reagan kicked the extra point to give the Tigers the lead at 21-20.
Forte then scored from the Memphis one-yard line early in the fourth quarter to gave Tulane the lead at 27-21.
Less than a minute later Tulane's Josh Lumar intercepted a Hankins pass and the Green Wave took over at their 27. From there the Wave drove to the Memphis 5 where the drive stalled. On fourth down from the 5, with 5:07 remaining, Ross Thevenot's 22 yard field goal attempt sailed wide right and the momentum turned.
The Tigers moved the ball downfield in turn, gaining yards and running the clock. The drive ended when Hankins hit Calhoun with the game-winning touchdown pass from the Tulane 5 with :36 seconds remaining. After the PAT Memphis led 28-27.
Tulane started from their own 38. From there the Green Wave ran two plays - a first down pass from Scelfo to Forte for nine yards and a four yard out to Gabriel Ratcliff for the first down.
Ratcliff appeared to go out of bounds, but the clock was restarted by the officials after the chains were moved. After asking for the clock to be stopped, Tulane quarterback Scelfo snapped the ball and then scrambled for five yards as the clock ran out.
After the final gun the referee explained that the ruling on the previous play was that Ratcliff had been ruled down on the field because his forward progress had been stopped. The officials, however, had failed to communicate this to either the Tulane players on the field or the Tulane bench and time expired as Scelfo scrambled.
Memphis was led by Hankins who threw 38 times and completied 25, for 355 yards and two touchdowns. The senior threw one interception.
Joseph Doss led the Tiger rushing game with 50 yards on 15 carries.
Calhoun had 5 catches for 389 yards and Maurice contributed 117 yards on 4 catches.
Quinton McCrary led the Tiger defense with 15 tackles and Jake Kasser added 12.
Tulane will host C-USA foe Tulsa at 6:30 p.m. in the Louisiana Superdome on Saturday, Nov. 3.