The Green Wave (3-7, 0-6 American Athletic Conference) offense continued to improve on Saturday, but it was not enough to outpace the University of Houston (8-2, 5-2 AAC), resulting in a 30-18 loss for Tulane.

The Green Wave defense had difficulty holding off the Cougars in the first half, allowing 14 points each quarter. It tightened, however, and held Houston’s offense scoreless after halftime. Even though the Wave outscored the Cougars in the second half 8-2, it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback. After the game, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz recognized their efforts.

“Give credit to Houston,” Fritz said. “They did what they needed to do to win the game but I thought we played great on defense. A great job by the defense. We’ve just got to find a way to manufacture points offensively. 

Falling behind early caused Tulane’s passing attack, led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Glenn Cuiellette, to be more of a focus than the usual run-heavy offense. Cuillette went 21-of-42 with 241 yards and two passing touchdowns. 

Despite having the No. 15 ranked rush attack in the nation, averaging over 250 yards per game prior to Saturday, the Green Wave ground game only managed 100 total yards and no touchdowns against Houston. The offense saw six different rushers, led by a redshirt senior Josh Rounds, who ran for 72 yards on 8 carries.

Throughout the game, the Tulane offense saw a number of missed opportunities. On 16 total drives throughout the game, the Green Wave only scored on three. Of its 13 scoreless drives; nine were punts, three were turnovers on downs and one was a safety. Tulane went 5-19 on third down and 1-4 on fourth down.

Tulane is now 3-7 overall, and at 0-6 within the AAC, it is the only team without an in-conference win. The Green Wave’s last win came against the University of Massachusetts on Oct. 1, and are now on a five-game losing streak. Fritz addressed this after the game.

“We have got to get over ourselves first, then we can focus on our opponent,” Fritz said. “Right now we are beating ourselves.”