Having done almost everything possible to beat itself into the fourth quarter on Thursday night, Tulane cut the crap when it mattered most.

Jake Retzlaff’s 4-yard scoring toss to running back Javin Gordon with 35 seconds left broke a tie and capped a clean finish as the Green Wave overcame a slew of earlier breakdowns near the goal line to beat East Carolina 26-19 at Yulman Stadium in front of an ESPN audience.

Coach Jon Sumrall celebrated the result, which kept Tulane (5-1, 2-0) on course for a fourth consecutive appearance in the American Conference championship game, if not the route the Wave took to beating the Pirates (3-3, 1-1).

“There are no bad wins, but this team is going to give me health issues because we don’t play with enough discipline and detail yet,” he said. “We’re goin

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