TULANE at HOUSTON
Thursday, Oct. 8 • 7:30 p.m. ET • ESPN
TDECU Stadium (40,000/Synthetic Turf)
Houston, Texas
Television
ESPN
Bob Wischusen, Mike Golic Jr. and Kris Budden
Radio
KVDU-FM 104.1 (Tulane) | KPRC-AM 950 (Houston)
THE GAME
Thursday's game will be the 25th meeting between Tulane and Houston in a series that dates to 1968 … Houston holds a 17-7 series lead, though Tulane was a 38-31 winner last year as the Green Wave erased a 28-7 halftime deficit and got the game-winning touchdown on a 53-yard catch and run by WR Jalen McCleskey with three seconds left.
TULANE
2-1, 0-1 American
Head Coach
Willie Fritz (Pittsburg State '83)
25-28, fifth season at Tulane
179-97, 24th season as collegiate head coach
Notes
Tulane improved to 2-1 after the Green Wave scored a 66-24 win at Southern Miss Sept. 26 … Tulane opened with a 27-24 victory at South Alabama and suffered a 27-24 setback to Navy … The Green Wave has overcome deficits of at least 14 points in each of its two wins, while Tulane lost a 24-0 halftime lead in the game against Navy … RB Cameron Carroll has rushed for 251 yards and seven touchdowns through three games … The Green Wave's leading rusher, redshirt freshman RB Tyjae Spears, went for 274 yards before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Southern Miss … QB Michael Pratt is expected to make his first career start after he threw for 142 yards and two touchdowns off the bench against Southern Miss … DE Patrick Johnson has a team-high 3.5 sacks.
HOUSTON
0-0, 0-0 American
Head Coach
Dana Holgorsen (Iowa Wesleyan '93)
4-8, second season at Houston
65-49, 10th season as collegiate head coach
Notes
After seeing its projected season-opener delayed or postponed several times, Houston finally gets its 2020 season underway against Houston … The Cougars have won four of their last five season-openers … Houston returns 15 players who started at least seven games last season … QB Clayton Tune will make his 10th career start, but will be the Cougars' Opening Day starter for the first time … Tune completed 106 of 179 passes for 1,533 yards and 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions in 2019 … WR Marquez Stevenson is a two-time all-conference first team selection who had nine touchdown catches and 907 receiving yards last season … S Grant Stuard had a team-high 97 tackles with 9.5 tackles for loss … DE David Anehih led the team with 5.0 sacks.