Georgia Tech: 0
Tulane: 18

After a 12-7 victory over Vanderbilt in the 1949 season opener, Georgia Tech upped its competition when it traveled to New Orleans to face the Tulane Green Wave. Tulane destroyed Alabama in its opener by a score of 28-14 and entered the contest a favorite over Dodd’s Yellow Jackets, who had won the previous six meetings between the schools by a combined score of 176-28. The Green Wave’s last victory came in 1934 in a 20-12 contest in New Orleans.

Tech came out to play on the opening drive, gaining three first downs en route to the Tulane 9 yard line. Runs of 12 and 15 yards by Buster Humphreys and Jimmy Jordan respectively aided the march. But the Jackets could not capitalize on the drive, as James Patton’s fourth down pass was broken up in the end zone and Tulane took over for the first time at its own 9 yard line.

The Green Wave quickly asserted their dominance, marching 91 yards for their first score of the contest. Runs by Edward Price, William Svoboda, and George Kinek moved the Wave out to its own 40 yard line. Joe Ernst then hit Richard Sheffield on a 7 yard pass to the 47 and Price ran again for 7 more to the Ramblin’ Wreck 46. Kinek then caught an Ernst pass at the 30 yard line and raced down the sidelines for the touchdown. Euel Davis missed the extra point to hold the Tulane lead at 6-0.

While the Yellow Jacket offense was nowhere to be found, Tulane’s threatened twice more before halftime. But on both occasions, the Green Wave was stopped short of the end zone on interceptions. John O’Neill intercepted the first ball at the end of the first quarter and Jimmy Jordan picked off the second just before intermission to hold the Tulane lead to 6-0.

The third quarter passed with little action until Tulane took over at the Yellow Jacket 28 late in the period. The Green Wave found itself at the Tech 14 as the fourth quarter began and Price raced to within the one yard line on the first play of the final stanza. Two plays later Svoboda bucked in for the touchdown to make it 12-0 after Davis had his extra point attempt blocked by Butch Bethea.

With 2:30 left in the contest, the Green Wave put the finishing touches on its performance when John Sikora scored on a 4 yard run on 3rd and goal, capping off a 44 yard touchdown drive. Davis missed on his final try of the day and Tulane would go on to win 18-0.

The strong showing over the Jackets was enough to land Tulane at the 4th spot in the opening AP poll the following Monday. The Green Wave went on to finish the season at 7-2-1, tying Navy and falling to Notre Dame and LSU.

Statistics:

First Downs:
GT – 7
TUL – 17

Rushing Yards:
GT – 78
TUL – 219

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
GT – 6-19-38
TUL – 4-8-74

Fumbles lost:
GT – 0
TUL – 1

Interceptions thrown:
GT – 1
TUL – 3

Penalties (Total-Yards):
GT – 2-10
TUL – 0-0

References:
Bradberry, John. “Wave Counts Thrice as Power Pays.” The Atlanta Constitution. 1949 Oct. 2