The Tulane Green Wave beat the Houston Cougars 38-31 on Thursday night, and earned the victory with an incredible finish.
With the game tied 31-31 and 18 seconds remaining in regulation, Tulane lined up in their kneeldown formation from their own 29-yard line. The odds of getting into field goal range with such little time left and so many yards to go were small, so playing it safe and just getting to overtime was an understandable move.
Houston bought that thinking, only to learn that Tulane wasn’t actually kneeling. In an Annexation of Puerto Rico-esque play, Amare Jones took a (very sneaky) handoff 18 yards. This is beautifully executed:
Still, Tulane was left with an unfavorable situation at their own 47-yard line with only 12 seconds remaining. But Tulane quarterback Justin McMillan connected with Jalen McCleskey at the 25-yard line, and McCleskey somehow got away from a trio of Houston defenders to take it to the house for a go-ahead touchdown with three seconds remaining.
As great as the plays for Tulane were, those are pretty rough defensive breakdowns for Houston. The win moves Tulane to 3-1 on the season, while Houston drops to a disappointing 1-3.
Tulane also got some help in the game from their large punter.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.