Following up on what one defensive assistant said was the best defensive practice of the year on Tuesday and what Jon Sumrall said was high quality all the way around, Tulane put in another strong effort Wednesday. It is clear the coaches and players are taking North Texas very seriously, and a team with championship aspirations wants to prove it can play a complete game on both sides of the ball. Other than blowouts of distracted South Florida and overmatched UAB, Tulane has not done it this year, playing well on offense but not on defense against UL, turning in an excellent first half but mediocre second half against Kansas State, no-showing for the first half against Oklahoma and struggling offensively against Rice until Makhi Hughes took over in the fourth quarter.

The Wave needs to show it can win comfortably without relying on turnovers. Tulane's plus-12 in the turnover margin the past four games is insanely good, but I've always believed turnover margin was the most reflective stat of what has happened and the least predictive. A team with a really good run defense is very unlikely to suddenly get gouged for 300 yards on the ground, but a team with a fantastic turnover differential can lose that battle 3-0 in an individual game if the ball bounces a funny way. If Tulane can really slow down North Texas's prolific offense, which only Texas Tech has done this year, it will go a long way toward proving it can win the AAC, assuming the offense does not have the uncharacteristic bad drops and poor throws in the passing game that plagued it against Rice. North Texas is bad defensively but not quite as bad as its 120th ranking in yards allowed indicated. Because of the Mean Green's fast pace on offense, there are a lot of plays in its games. The defense is 101st in yards per play allowed.

Look for Adin Huntington to play a huge role Saturday. He is more comfortable at bandit than he was at end and also is healthier than he was earlier in the year. He had by far his best game against Rice, and Tulane will need to take time away from North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris. The Mean Green throws a lot of bubble screens, but they also take a lot of shots with vertical routes that require the quarterback having plenty of time to throw. With Huntington and Matthew Fobbs-White rotating in and out, they can disrupt those plays.

Will Hall was at Tulane's practice yesterday, but I did not see him today. I could see him in a consultant's role for the rest of the year and will check to see if it is a realistic possibility. He will be someone's offensive coordinator next season but needs to do something the rest of the year because football is in his blood.

The two-minute drill at the end of today's practice was sloppy, but Sumrall says it is more about just going over potential situations in games than executing crisply. Starting at the second-team defense's 45 and 55 seconds left on the clock, the first-team offense began with a 4-yard pass from Darian Mensah to Yulkeith Brown on the sideline. Next was an incomplete pass to Brown in traffic after Mensah held the ball a long time. Then came a scramble for a first down and a 5-yard pass to Arnold Barnes in the middle of the field, requiring a spike to stop the clock with 24 seconds left. A bad snap messed up third down, but Sumrall blew the play dead and had them try it again. This time, Mensah threw wide of Barnes. When a fourth down play did not work, Sumrall moved the ball to the 17-yard line and had Mensah take a snap under center, run to the center of the field and fall down for a 1-yard loss, setting up a winning field goal. Bobby Noel's 36-yard kick glanced off the right upright and went through, making him 3 for his last 3 at the end of Wednesday practices.

Tulane's practices are intense, but Sumrall also is more relaxed than Willie Fritz was at times. Today, he had a conversation with Fear The Wave collective co-head Mike Arata for several minutes as they walked down the field.

Sumrall, linebackers coach Tayler Polk and Mensah talked after practice. I had no idea Polk was as young as he is when he sat down for his interview. If anyone else requested players, I would have been sure he was a player I did not recognize. HIs last year at Ole Miss was 2017, and he looks even younger than he actually is (late 20s).

SUMRALL

On Tuesday's practice again:

"Really both sides was back to what a Tuesday should look like, opposite of the bye week Tuesday. But defensively the energy was good. The guys were focused. They understand the challenge. It's a tremendous challenge. These guys are top 10 in the country in scoring offense and total offense. It's not going to be an easy game. It's going to be tough sledding, so they've got to be prepared for what's coming. I thought they put their work in yesterday and today. They had two good days."

On today's practice overall:

"It was good. The two-minute drill we looked kind of sloppy on offense. We looked better all day. We do that as much as anything to work the in-the-game operation. It's less of a competitive drill than I want to work on situations."

On key to slowing down North Texas:

"They're tough because they make you defend every blade of grass. They will throw the screen game and run some fly sweep stuff and screen to the back and the tight end and No.10 (DT Sheffield) and then also throw four verticals a lot. They challenge you because they'll throw the ball 50 yards down the field or minus-5 yards, and you have to be ready for both. It definitely stretches you out a little bit, and you have to be prepared to defend the entire field."

On QB play from top teams in league:

"At every level, the better your quarterback is, the better your opportunity to be successful. I don't care if you're playing Pop Warner, middle school, high school, college or NFL football, the quarterback playing at a high level is critical. I bring this up a lot. Everybody around the quarterback playing well makes the quarterback's job easier, but the quarterback has to be able to execute and be efficient in everything you ask him to do. Their guy is playing at a high level. He's really playing quality football right now."

On Will Karoll:

"He was critical in the game. He flipped the field a lot. The thing that goes unnoticed is once he gets the ball in his hands, he's operating quickly. They rushed on three or four of them and brought more numbers than we had to protect, and he's been doing a great job of getting the ball off but then also punting it with great distance. This week's going to be a challenge because their returner is No. 10 (Sheffield), and he's created some huge returns this year (a long of 27 but an impressive average of 12.8) and we've got to make sure we at least make it harder on him to have clean access, but Will's been really good. He's a weapon for sure."

On getting North Texas offense out of rhythm:

"Their challenge is you can't give them the same thing the whole time, but they really want you to do is give them free access because then they have the ability to second release you down the field and hit the access throws. You have to take something away, and we're probably going to, particularly on No. 10, challenge him more than play off (of him). We've got to get down on him and we'e got to have somebody with the ability to play over the top of him some, but we're not going to play scared. The guys have to go challenge and get down. We don't press a lot to the field corner because that's a far throw. If they want to take that throw all day, that's usually something you'll give them, but we have to be aware of when we're pressing and when we're not and be really detailed with what's going on. We've got calls to mix it up and do both, but I don't think you can just sit back and play 8 yards deep against these guys because they will hit the screen game enough that they'll hit explosives in that area if you don't get down and challenge some."

On Huntington at bandit:

"Oh yeah, he creates some havoc. Him being healthy helps and us putting them helps him with being out there in a little more space, so he's able to create some real opportunities for himself there."

On Micah Robinson:

"He's got great feel in zone coverage, good vision, good ball skills, tracks it well. It was fun to see his on-the-ball production. He's been a pretty solid tackler for the most part. We've challenged him to come down and press a little bit more than he's used to. He's gotten better at that, but to see him have those critical plays was really cool."

For the first time this year, there were more than eight interesting games to choose from. I had a hard time getting it down to eight.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first, neutral games are designated as such and the spreads come from VegasInsider.com

North Texas (+7.5) Tulane
UNLV (+3) Boise State
Notre Dame (-13) Navy (East Rutherford, N.J.)
Alabama (-13.5) Missouri
Vanderbilt (+18.5) Texas
Texas A&M (-2.5) LSU
Colorado (-5.5) Cincinnati
Wisconsin (+6.5) Penn State

Alex Bauman and Caleb Ransaw practiced fully today, and Tulane will need both of them against North Texas. The offense clearly missed Bauman as much for his blocking as his receiving, and he might have stabilized the receiving corps when dropped passes became contagious against Rice. Ransaw is Tulane' best cover guy and should play a huge role in trying to slow down the Mean Green's explosive offense, which scored 75 yard touchdowns on its first and second snaps against Memphis (one on an end around by DT Sheffield, the other on a pass to Sheffield). Javion White has played well in his absence, but there's no way to know how a true freshman will react against a pass offense that is light years better than any other Tulane has faced. North Texas is third in total offense and passing. Tulane's other FBS opponents are 30th (ULL), 43rd (Kansas State), 83rd (UAB), 99th (Rice), 101st (South Florida) and 128th (Oklahoma) in total offense, and only the Cajuns are in the top 50 in passing offense (33rd).

I'm not sure what to make of Tulane's defense, which has gotten better as the year went along, but it is notable that it held six of its seven opponents to under their season average for yards. The exception was Oklahoma, and Hurricane Francine had a lot to do with that in my opinion.

Here are the numbers:

Kansas State 346 yards (averages 428.1)
Oklahoma 349 yards (averages 288.1)
ULL 413 yards (averages 443.4)
USF 201 yards (averages 349.4)
UAB 305 yards (averages 372.9)
Rice 344 yards (averages 349.6).

Shazz Preston was in uniform but I did not see him taking reps at the end of practice.

Sumrall, Vincent Murphy and Tyler Grubbs talked after practice. I will transcribe the two players later.

SUMRALL

"A better Tuesday practice than last Tuesday. A lot better. The intent was a lot better, and I think you could see by the way we played last Saturday was maybe impacted by how average our Tuesday practice was in some areas, but I saw some good things today. I'm excited about the matchup. They are a really good team. Top 10 in the country in scoring, top 10 in total yardage. They are opportunistic on defense, make a lot of big plays. They are good in the kicking game. That No. 10, the receiver, and he returns some kicks, too, he's off the charts good. We've got a really big-time challenge this week with these guys. We've got to go on the road and do it."

On North Texas's explosiveness:

"The first play of last week and the second play of last week were 75-yard touchdowns. First two plays of the game were 150 yards of offense. Pretty potent. The tempo they run affects you, but the players and the plays they run are good. They've got great schemes, and they have a fantastic athletes to get the ball to in space. The quarterback's playing at a really high level, and then this No. 10, the slot receiver, is probably as explosive as anybody in the country right now. It is a really good challenge for our defense. We've got to make sure we stay on top of things. We'll have to tackle well in space and leverage the football, play clean with our eyes. They kind of get some guys lost with some motion or some vertical stuff they do, so we have to be on top of things and be assignment detailed, sound. They are a challenge, though. They've scored more than 40 points in five of their seven games, and in one of the games they didn't, they scored 35, and they scored 21 against Texas Tech. So far playing great defense against them has been a 21-point outcome and a 35-point outcome. That wins a lot of games for most people, so real challenge."

On Kevin Adams chasing down Dean Connors on long run:

"When you look back through the year, a couple of plays Johnathan Edwards has strained to tackle a ball-carrier that's broken free, and them understanding like, get the ball down and let's play the next snap and see what happens and make them earn it. Don't concede. Don't give up. The way the guys practiced today, they did a good job of running to the ball and getting set, but you can't ever assume anything. You have to make the stop and make them earn the opportunity to score. Defense is about effort half of the time. The schemes are the schemes, but it's about playing hard. We've got to continue to play hard on defense. That covered up some mistakes last week. We didn't play real clean or flawless in any manner, but the guys played really hard on defense and that made up for some mistakes along with the turnovers."

On first offense like this Tulane has faced this year:

"It's very unique. The tempo is like South Florida, but South Florida was more of a quarterback-run oriented team. This team will run the ball for 160 yards a game, too, but they're so explosive in the passing game. They've got multiple receivers that can beat you, and the quarterback is playing at an elite level right now. He was the starter at TCU the year they went to the national title and got injured. He's a big-time player. He's not just some Johnny Come Lately. He's Chad Morriss's son and he's a phenomenal player, knows where to go with the ball, has a really good arm and is a better runner than people probably give him credit for. You don't see people just stop him, so it's a real problem. We have to play really well to have a chance to slow them down at all."

On Hughes big fourth quarter against the Rice:

"Obviously a lot ofhe story of the day was the drops we had on offense, but when the pass game's not going good, you have to be able to hang your hat on the running game. Our offensive line and Makhi really took the game over in the fourth quarter. That drive when we went 70 yards on seven runs, Makhi had five of them and they sort of imposed their will on how we were going to finish the game. That was a gritty way to finish the game. By no means was it a great performance by us, but our guys finding a way to win and really just on the ground methodically creating big play after big play after big play to take the lead. It's encouraging. If your O-line is playing at a high level and your running back is playing at a high level, it makes everybody's job easier, and it makes your defense's job easier. The run game needs to continue to do what it did at the end of the game. We need to throw and catch a lot better than we threw and caught last week."

On Tyler Grubbs pass defense:

"Grubbs is a phenomenal player. I think he would tell you the work coach Polk puts in with him, I think Tayler Polk's as good a linebackers coach as there is. He's like a son to me, and him and Grubbs have a great relationship. The detail whch Grubbs has really addressed in his drops, in the coverage game, in a lot of areas, he's taken some huge strides forward in a lot of areas in his game. The pass coverage area has been fun to watch. He got the pick last week. He had an opportunity to get the other one. He's making plays and doing some things at a high level. He's elevating his game each and every week."

On if having short week next week changes this week's preparation:

"It changes really more into the next week. This week is somewhat a normal schedule for us. We might pull back on a thing or two, but not a lot. It affects me and our ops people as much as anybody to plan how we're using next week. Very fortunate to have been in situations the last couple of years when you play on a Saturday and then a Thursday, and it's worked most of the times so we have a formula. But my mind's so focused on this week. We do have a plan, really going back to May and June is really when I already sat down and worked through what does that plan look like (for a Saturday/Thursday stretch). If you wait until this week and figure out what are we going to do next week, you're not doing your job very well. We've planned what this week and next week looks like going back to the summer. It is a challenge, going on the road back to back and at the end of it a short week is not easy, but we can only control what's right in front of us. The them this week is going to be where you feet are. Saturday will control itself, but I want to make sure we have a great week of preparation."

On Javion White:

"You're always a little nervous when you're playing a true freshman for his first extended snaps. It's one thing if he's playing spot duty within the flow of the game, playing three or four snaps here and there and maybe spelling a guy. For him to take the lion's share of the snaps and start the game and play at the level he played is very impressive. It will pay dividends for him the rest of the year and fast track his development this week. We're excited to have Caleb (Ransaw) back this week, but Javion's really stepped up. Caleb only played like three snaps in the UAB game. It wasn't many. and then Javion and Jayden Lewis played the majority for the rest of the game and last week, so those guys really for the last couple weeks have held that position down. Ransaw's an elite-level player. It's good to have him back but I'm excited about those young players getting some opportunities to go play. I's fun to watch their development."