The Tulane Green Wave and SMU Mustangs do battle Thursday in a week 12 AAC matchup from Yulman Stadium.

The SMU Mustangs will look to build on their 41-23 win over USF last time out. Tanner Mordecai has thrown for 2,780 yards, 27 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on 63.3% passing while Tyler Lavine has a team-high 405 rushing yards with 7 touchdowns while Velton Gardner has 364 rushing yards and Camar Wheaton and Tre Siggers each have 200+ rushing yards and a combined 6 touchdowns this season. Rashee Rice leads SMU in receiving with 77 grabs for 1,167 yards and 9 touchdowns while Jordan Kerley has 22 grabs for 448 yards and 4 scores. Four more Mustangs have at least 200 receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Jimmy Phillips Jr. has a team-high 58 total tackles while Nelson Paul has a team-high 5 sacks and Nick Roberts has a team-high 3 interceptions this season.

The Tulane Green Wave will be out to rebound from a 38-31 loss to UCF in their last game. Michael Pratt has thrown for 2,079 yards, 15 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 65.5% passing while Tyjae Spears has 875 rushing yards and a team-high 10 rushing TDs. Jha’Quan Jackson has a team-high 421 receiving yards while Shae Wyatt has 416 receiving yards with 3 TDs and Duece Watts has a team-high 27 catches for 410 yards and 5 touchdowns. On defense, Dorian Williams has a team-high 84 total tackles while Tulane’s defense as a whole has 14 sacks and 8 interceptions this season.

SMU is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 6-14 ATS in their last 20 games in November while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games following a win. Tulane is 26-10 ATS in their last 36 home games and 10-2 ATS in their last 12 games overall while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games following a loss.

I get the case to be made either way here, as this is a lookahead spot for Tulane with their title hopes likely hanging in the balance in next week’s game against Cincinnati. However, Tulane can’t afford to let this be a look-ahead spot as they need to win here to make next week mean anything and while SMU’s been solid offensively in recent weeks, this is going to be the stiffest defense they’ll have faced in a while, especially pass defense. All in all, I think Tulane wakes up and gets the job done here, winning by 4-7 points, so I’ll lay it and play it with Tulane here.