After a bye week, the Southern Methodist University football team will be back in action on Thursday evening when they host the Tulane Green Wave. The SMU Mustangs, despite not playing, moved up to #21 in the Associated Press Top 25 and to #19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, their highest ranking this season.
SMU sits at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), placing them in a tie for second with Cincinnati.
The Mustangs have been off since Saturday, October 9th, when they defeated Navy 31-24. SMU leads the AAC in offensive yards per game (511), passing yards per game (315.8), passing touchdowns (26), and pass completion percentage (69.7%).
The passing efficiency is thanks to starting junior quarterback Tanner Mordecai, who leads the league in completion percentage (71%), passing touchdowns (26), passing yards per game (315.5), efficiency rating (175.5), and total offensive yards per game (340.7).
The Green Wave is 1-5 overall this season and 0-2 in conference play, sitting in a tie with South Florida for last place. After narrowly falling at #4 Oklahoma 40-35 on opening day, Tulane bounced back with a 69-20 win over Morgan State.
Since then, the Green Wave has lost every game, including a 40-22 home loss to first-place Houston this past Saturday. Their defense gives up the most points per game in the AAC (40.2), and their offense is seventh with 398.7 yards per game.
However, Tulane could be competitive on special teams. The Green Wave lead the league in two-point conversions with four, are tied at first for point-after attempt percentage (21-21), lead the AAC in yards per punt (47.4), and are second in touchbacks (four), forced fair catches (fifteen), and net yards per punt (43.6).
Senior punter Ryan Wright has done all of Tulane’s punting this season and punted a 68-yard touchback versus Morgan State that was his career-long, as well as the league’s longest all year.
Thursday’s game will be at 6:30 p.m. CST at Gerald J Ford Stadium and will be televised on ESPN.