Tulane rush end Patrick Johnson collapsed to the turf when the final second ticked off the clock Saturday at Army.

If you had just walked into Michie Stadium, you would have thought Tulane (4-1) had lost.

Johnson was not tired. He, and several of his teammates, were frustrated at the way the Green Wave frittered away a 42-21 lead with sloppy play in the last few minutes, allowing Army to close the gap to 42-33. It could have been a one-score differential if the Black Knights had not gone for two and failed after their last two touchdowns.

“I know I'm not the only one out there (who felt upset) because a lot of guys were talking that we had to finish the game,” Johnson said. “We were up 21 with about three minutes left and it shouldn't get that close at the end. We had mental errors. We're not trying to point fingers at anybody. We just have to finish as a team.”

The bad body language prompted an immediate pep talk from coach Willie Fritz.

Tulane-Army notebook: Wave wins despite absence of nose tackle Jeffery Johnson Johnson, a force in the middle of the defense, sat out with an ankle sprain, but Tulane still held Army to a season low for rushing.

“I told our guys a lot of them were disappointed, and we just won a game on the road against a very good team,” Fritz said. “We are going to clean this stuff up, but it’s a whole lot better to learn lessons with a 'W' than an 'L.' ”

Fritz said he was not angry at the negative reaction. He said he liked that offensive coordinator Will Hall, whose unit had hung twice as many points on Army than any of the Black Knights’ previous 16 opponents had managed, shared the initial downbeat sentiment.

It is a product of having very high standards, but in this case, Fritz injected some realism.

“We've got some tough (players), and the coaches really do a good job of motivating these guys,” he said. “They demand we practice at a high level every single week, but it doesn't mean anything if the players don't have that mindset.”

They will need to keep that focus the rest of the way. Tulane, which rose to No. 30 in the Associated Press and coaches’ polls, faces five teams that currently are receiving votes from the coaches, including No. 20 Memphis and No. 22 SMU on the road. Next Saturday's home opponent, Connecticut (1-4), is not one of them.

The Wave has been hard to stop at home and on the road.

“All the guys on the offensive side are doing a sensational job,” Fritz said. “They are believing in what we’re doing. We’ve got a lot of weapons, both throwing and running, and it all starts up front with our offensive line. They created a lot of big holes today.”

Quarterback Justin McMillan, who was sharp (15 of 21 for 201 yards) in between two costly bookend fumbles that handed Army its first and last touchdowns, agreed with Fritz.

“I remember seeing Army last year when they scored 70 points against Houston (in a bowl game),” he said. “Coming from an option team, that’s pretty scary, so all respect to Army. We came in here, handled business and had a good game.”

They also benefited from a critical penalty when Army faked a punt on fourth-and-5 from its 30 while trailing 28-21 in the third quarter. Up back Cole Christiansen caught the snap and ran 31 yards, but the play was negated by a holding call.

“We had punt safe out there at first and then they pulled us off, and as I'm running off I'm actually saying watch the fake to the guys,” Johnson said. “Everybody was yelling it. It was just executed well. Thank goodness they got holding on it.”

The next time the Black Knights picked up a first down, they trailed 42-21.

Tulane relaxed a little too much from there, giving up a big pass, a fourth-and-10 conversion and a defensive touchdown on McMillan’s second fumble to make it mildly interesting down the stretch.

If the Wave eliminates those lapses, it appears to be on the verge of a tremendous accomplishments.

“It's a culture change around here,” linebacker Lawrence Graham said. “We have high expectations for a conference championship, and we don't go into a game thinking we're going to lose anything. We plan to dominate the rest of the season."