I am old enough to remember the brutal C-USA days. If you woke up early on Saturday morning to catch a bus to the Dome and sat through a 37 point drubbing at the hands of UTEP, you know what I am talking about. Shout out Coach Toledo. It can always get worse.
This is an ode to our conference. The American Conference is as much a part of the Tulane football revival as Fritz, Dannen and Pratt. While we may not be on ESPN all the time, the ESPN contract changed the consumption of football for all of us. ESPN2, ESPNU and of course my favorite ESPN+ has made it possible for Wave fans to watch from anywhere. Additionally, it has given us some of the best games in school history. I will remember these 3 AAC victories forever.
#3 Willie goes for 2
Fritz had been knocking on the door of a bowl game in his first few seasons but a complete hatchet job by the refs kept the Wave out in 2017. Thanksgiving weekend the Naval academy and their cockamamie triple option roll into town. This was a must win game for bowl eligibility sitting at 5-6 and Justin McMillan came in ready to go. It started with a bomb to Darnell Mooney and the wave kept rolling through halftime to a 21-3 lead.
https://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe/_/id/25364900/endcard/false
The second half was a different story with the Wave resting on their laurels or finding fatigue from a big thanksgiving week. Next thing you know Navy was passing for touchdowns (who knew they were allowed to pass) and driving for a season destroying score. Navy punched in a tuddy with under 4 minutes on the clock looking to seal the wave’s fate.
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/25365451
McMillan led the best drive of his career that day going a methodical 71 yards in 2 minutes to set up the game tying score. Willie wasn’t there to lose that day. We were going bowling.
#2 The Fake Knee + McCleskey
Thursday night. Primetime. ESPN. The only college game on TV that night was at Yulman Stadium. Houston was thought to be the class of the conference that year and had beaten the wave by 30 in 2018. Houston sprinted out to a 28-7 lead with D.C. Defenders legend D’Eriq king at the controls. They had 3 TD drives in the first half, each less than 30 seconds long. Tulane did everything they could to go into the half only down two TDs. A lot of heart from Darius Bradwell and Huderson.
M&M (Mooney and McCleskey) came out firing in the second half to lift a struggling McMillan. I knew that night what all Chicago bears fans know now, Darnell is a DOG. 17 scoreless points put Tulane up with 6 to go. Houston ties it up with a late field goal, ho-hum we head to OT. As my old friend Lee Corso would say, NOT SO FAST.
The fake knee was awesome but still there was 50 yards to go with 12 seconds left. Jalen left no doubt. Some may say it was later, but most fans know that was the night that put Tulane on the American Conference map.
#1 Tyjae Tyme
The best game in the American has to be the championship game. UCF had done their best to spoil Tulane’s magical 2022 with a John Rhys Plumlee track meet. Tulane would need to beat defending conference champion Cincy to even make it to Orlando for a title game. We all remember that game better than the USA England world cup snooze fest the same day. The unthinkable happened the very next day, UCF lost at home to a hapless Navy team. This brought them back to the last place they wanted to be, Yulman. It was Tyjae Tyme.
I could write a lot about this game but I think it’s the tweets and the highlights that you want. This is #1 so I am going to show and not tell. 45 Points later we were American champions for the very first time.
Let’s stay right where we are #AmericanRising.
Tulane Football Blog 
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