Army’s fourth-quarter meltdown against Tulane started with a failed trick play on fourth and 11. Their punter, after going through an elaborate routine, set up for a fake that completely backfired. The direct snap went to a teammate who immediately ran into an unblocked defender and got leveled. Blocking assignments were blown all over the field, and the only guy who seemed fired up before the play, number 40, didn’t contribute much beyond taunting the opponent after the stop.
Tulane made Army pay right away. On the next play, their running back, number 4, embarrassed the defense with a nasty touchdown run. He threw on the brakes to drop a defender, spun out of a gang tackle, and forced two defenders to crash into each other, then powered through a strip attempt to score. Army’s defense looked completely lost.
It got worse. On the ensuing kickoff, Army botched a trick return. They tried to lateral the ball, but Tulane’s number 23 read it and picked it clean. He walked into the end zone while mocking the play with a fake guitar celebration. Army couldn’t recover. They threw an interception on the very next drive, completing a brutal stretch of self-inflicted damage.