Jon Sumrall did not have much time to talk as he rushed off to some event after Thursday morning's practice, but he confirmed Jacob Barnes would be available Saturday after missing the two previous games with a groin injury he aggravated against Oklahoma. Note he said "available," not that he definitely would take over from Ethan Head. I'm guessing it will come down to a Saturday decision on who would be more effective.

In other injury news, Adin Huntington still is not 100 percent and may not play against UAB. That's why Tulane experimented with Gerrod Henderson at end and Kam Hamilton at tackle during Wednesday's practice. As I wrote yesterday, they still are searching for their best combination on a deep defensive front that did not gotten consistent production until the South Florida game. Huntington played a few downs at bandit in his limited action against the Bulls because they have not found anyone who can get to the quarterback at that spot. My best bet is they will stick with the starting four they used against South Florida, with Hamilton at end, Parker Peterson at the nose, Patrick Jenkins at tackle and Matthew Fobbs-White at end, but they won't hesitate to shift Hamilton inside and go with Henderson at end.

Sumrall also gave a promising update on Shazz Preston, who has not played or practiced since aggravating a hamstring injury in a conditioning drill before preseason practice started. Preston does not like he is walking without a hitch to me, but Sumrall said he was on schedule to return after the open date and play against Rice on Oct. 19. I'm skeptical about that, but Sumrall has been a straight shooter about injuries all year, so that definitely is the plan.

"He had an appointment yesterday," Sumrall said. "He should be able to run some next week and I think he's going to be available after the bye."

Thursdays are light workouts with no helmets on--what Sumrall calls a walkthrough. The most notable thing to me today was the bucket hat Yulkeith Brown wore during practice. It clearly made him stand out.

I am doing a feature on Tyler Grubbs and Josh Remetich to run in Saturday's paper, so I asked Sumrall about their similarities.

"Man, they are both passionate, they are both true New Orleanians, guys that take pride in what they are doing, they care, they give great effort, they hold others accountable, they don't have a problem stepping up being vocal, they play to the echo of the whistle, they strain. I love being around them. I love having them on this team. They are what you want."

I talked to Remetich yesterday. Here's the interview:

REMETICH

On what he remembers about PAC ball:

"I remember me and him first met playing baseball, and then we actually went to middle school together in the fifth grade. Me and him didn't really get along. It was pretty funny. Me and him were always going back and forth, especially at recess. We started some fights, but it was fun."

On who won the fights:

"It went back and forth. I wasn't as big back then. Kind of like getting into high school I started getting a growth spurt."

On when got closer:

"Probably around seventh grade year. In fifth and sixth we'd go back and forth, and then in seventh grade when we started playing football together, we were in seventh grade playing eighth grade football, and then when we started eighth grade we started playing J.V., so it was fun getting closer with him instead of fighting."

On personalities:

"I'd say pretty similar. On the field we're aggressive, but off the field we're kind and nice. We have two different personalities on the field and off the field."

On dynamics when Tulane recruited Remetich but not Grubbs:

"I tried telling them this guy's a hell of a player, he can run sideline to sideline and he's big. He's not a light guy, but he always gives high effort. We always talked about him here at Tulane, and I always put in a good word for him."

On mosquitos at Pac ball:

"Oh my gosh. We were out in the woods. It was bad."

On how close they lived to each other growing up:

"Yeah, we actually used a carpool together going into high school, and then we probably lived five minutes, 10 minutes away from each other. We were always together, always hanging out."

On Grubbs transferring to Tulane from La Tech:

"I first heard he hit the portal, and then JJ (McCleskey) came up to me and said we need to get him here. I was like, all right, get him on an official and I'll hang out with him, so I was actually his host on the official visit. His uncle that he's really close with and I'm really close with came here with us and was up there taking pictures. It was really exciting times. I was like, dude, it doesn't get much better than this. You're playing big-time ball in front of your family and everything like that. He's close with his grandparents and his uncle, so it was a dumb decision if he didn't come here to be honest with you."

On entering fifth year:

It's just really exciting. Seeing everything from 2-10 to 12-2 Cotton Bowl. Seeing what it takes to be 12-2 and what happens when you're kind of messing around and you're 2-10. Seeing the team grow from spring to fall camp, the talent that coach Sumrall was able to bring in from spring to fall camp was really special. I said this a long time ago. I think we have more talent everywhere on the field than the Cotton Bowl team. Absolutely."

On needing time to jell:

"We're finally starting to come together and playing together. The first couple of games it's hard to get a feel for how someone plays--different coverages, different how the wide receiver breaks and everything like that, and once you all start playing together, you saw this past game we were lighting up the scoreboard and stopping them on defense."

On being banged up last week:

"I had to take a little time, but I"m good."

On pulling guard:

"That's one of my strengths is being able to get out there in space. One thing that coach Roushar always says is don't break down whenever you're out there in space, just run through them. They are far more athletic than you."

On O-line play:

"There are still a couple of things we need to improve. We've got to get rid of the TFLs and the negative plays, but it was a couple of little missed assignments that we're going to clean up for this week and then we'll be good."

On what team needs to do:

"We need to come out with the same mentality that we come out with every week. If you control the line of scrimmage and control the box, you can have fun playing the game."

On all O-line coaches he has had at Tulane:

"All right. I had Cody Kennedy, and then that year I had Ben Thomas for the bowl game. Then I had George Barnett for a little bit. Then I had Chris Watt, and then it was Geep Wade and then it was Eman Naghavi and now coach Roushar. It's good to see the same face in here for two years."

On what he will remember from Tulane career:

"We all get together, the little things we do outside of football. Obviously football brings us all together, but it's better to know the person outside of football and stay together with them. I'm making lifelong friends being here."

On blocking for Makhi Hughes:

"It's easy. He's a great running back. He communicates really well with us like what's he seeing and what he needs us to do, so just having that constant communication and that chemistry with him is really easy."

From Maddy Hudak for SI:

Hand-to-hand combat coach

Although Ethan Head has done a decent job as Tulane's placekicker since Jacob Barnes got injured at Oklahoma (aside from the extra point under the crossbar on his first attempt), hitting three of four field goals and 12 straight extra points, the Wave would be better off with a healthy Barnes, and that appears to be the case this week. Jon Sumrall said Barnes had performed 60 to 80 percent of his normal workload in practice this week and likely will be ready Saturday against UAB while stopping short of guaranteeing it. Barnes hit 54 of 68 field goals (79.4 percent) at Louisiana Tech and is 3 of 4 for Tulane, with his only miss the 50-yarder in which he got hurt. If he is close to 100 percent, he will be a more reliable option than Head, a true freshman out of Chicago who had no idea he would get a chance to kick field goals this year when he accepted a preferred walk-on offer.

I was dumbfounded Saturday when someone asked Darian Mensah after the USF game if he had become more comfortable throwing on the run as the year went along. It's been his best strength from the beginning, and he won the job by making a couple of incredible throws after scrambling to his left in a preseason scrimmage. He showed that ability again today on the first play of the 2-minute drill that ends Wednesday practices, drifting to his left to avoid pressure and throwing a strike to Bryce Bohanon near the sideline for a hefty gain. Bohanon barely got his feet in before running out of the bounds, and the big play led to a made field goal by Bobby Noel on the last play (the regular kickers do their work on Tuesday and Thursday). Mensah is really accurate on those throws, and it is a big part of his game.

Kam Hamilton moved back inside to defensive tackle for a portion of practice today, with Gerrod Henderson at end. Hamilton looked good in his first stint at end against South Florida, but if the coaches want to get their best combination on the field, a lineup while Adin Huntington is less than 100 percent, a lineup of Henderson, Hamilton, Patrick Jenkins and whoever wins the job at bandit (today it was Terrell Allen, who sat out against USF with a minor injury) makes sense at least some of the time. They have a lot of options up front, but not all of them have panned out through five games.

Sincere Haynesworth attended practice today. He still is hoping to catch on with an NFL team after being cut by the Saints and will do everything in his power to be ready if called by another team.

Sumrall, Head, Sam Howard and Josh Remetich spoke after practice today. I have transcribed the first three tonight.

SUMRALL

On Barnes status:

"I think he's going to be likely available. I'll know for sure tomorrow. He's kicked somewhere between 60 to 80 percent of his swing, but tomorrow was the day we're going to test."

On Head's performance:

"He has a real maturity about him, a confidence about him that's probably not normal. He's a very sure kid, and his kickoffs have gotten better as the year went. He and (Patrick) Durkin were going to split the kickoffs 50-50, but Durkin wasn't available, so Head's taken all of those (with 24 touchbacks in 25 kickoffs). The week that Jacob had the groin issue after the long field goal at Oklahoma, he got thrown into the fire and has done a nice job."

On Mike Storms, a former marine who is working as a coaching consultant for the team now, has a black belt and is a good friend of strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty Whitt (I knew nothing about him):

"Mike does a great job. Mike and Whitt both have military backgrounds. They've known each other forever. The day I got here on Dec. 10 or whatever day it was to meet the team for the first time, one of the first people I saw was Storms. I didn't know Storms at the time. He said, hey, your guy Whitt is one of my good friends. I'm like all right, cool, who the hell is this guy? He does a really good job with the D-line. He does a nice job with the O-line. He does some stuff with our runners, too, our quarterbacks, like how to take a fall. He's just a really thoughtful, detailed guy, has great energy. He's a train guy, he's a smart guy. The hand-to-hand combat stuff obviously correlates to our game. It helps that this game is about striking, it's about violence, it's about leverage, it's about angles, it's about where you're making contact. It's great to have him back. Nobody works for free. They had to go get a little bit of money for contract work to get him back available. I've been fighting to get it done since the summer, and it just took a little time to actually get it. You saw some of that positive effect of him being back around. He just brings great energy. He's just got a good vibe about him."

On his official role:

"He's just a consultant who really kind of works some in the weight room with Whitt, some out here with the guys doing hand-to-hand combat. He's been in the NFL training camps. He goes around. He's got miltiary background as a Marine, but he's got this hand-to-hand combat background that's really interesting. His specialization really brings a lot of value to our players. I enjoy watching him teach. It's fun to watch him just go through a progression of how he's teaching some things and really as much as anything, he's a great resource for our coaches on how to coach some leverage point things. He's awesome to have here. He's done different roles. He's not in a coaching role. He's more of a consultant. He's just able to kind of give another lens on maybe how to use your hands."

On teaching QBs how to fall:

"Yeah, the whiplash thing that quarterbacks get when they get hit a lot of times from their head getting hit from the back of the ground. I had him talk to our quarterbacks today about taking a hit and ducking your chin, so that when you hit you kind of fall to your shoulder or your side and your head's not hitting the ground. That's not a 100 percent. You can't always see the hit coming, but if you can get your chin tucked, usually you're going to absorb that contact better than if your head's up, gets knocked back and then you get thrown to the ground. He's been in combat. His whole career has been about that. There are some good lessons he can teach all of our position groups even though he works primarily with our O-line and D-line coaches on some hand-to-hand stuff."

On using nerf balls with scout-team offense (the center snaps a nerf ball, but the quarterback already has the football in his hand):

"Yeah, I do that on the scout-team offense. I might have started that when I was an assistant coach here or maybe when I was the defensive coordinator at the University of San Diego before I got here. I hate wasting a rep on a bad snap because of the scout-team center, and so we give him a nerf ball, let him throw the thing wherever he wants to, as far back as possible, and the quarterback already has the ball in his hand. That makes the drill go better. We do stuff like that on the kickoff return where the kicker kicks and the returner's already got the ball in hand, not for our kickoff return team but for our kickoff scout team. It's just another way to make practice more efficient. I hate wasting two minutes of a rep because we have a bad snap."

I have gotten behind. Look for another update Friday night on week 5.

WEEK 4 RESULTS

7

Gretna Green

6

roll wave
chigoyboy
winwave
WaveON
tacklethemanwiththefootball

5

diverdo
charlamange8
p8kpev
pallii
wavetime

4

MNAlum
DrBox

2

Guerry


OVERALL STANDINGS

27

winwave

25

wavetime

24

charlamange8

23

Gretna Green
tacklethemanwiththefootball

22

WaveON

21

Guerry

20

MNAlum

19

roll wave
diverdo

18

chigoyboy
LSU Law Greenie (missed 1 week)
money.max (missed 1 week)

17

paliii
DrBox

16

p8kpev


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane over ULL 14 of 14
Tennesse over Oklahoma 10
Miami over South Florida 6
Michigan over USC 4
Navy over Memphis 4
Utah over Oklahoma State 8
UCLA over LSU 7
Louisville over Georgia Tech 7

Tulane continued preparing for UAB today with what in Jon Sumrall's schedule is the most intense practice of the week. Urban Meyer had the same philosophy when I covered him at Florida. going really hard on Tuesday and then tapering off slightly on Wednesday.

After making three changes on the defensive line last week, Tulane appears set with Parker Peterson starting at nose guard next to Patrick Jenkins, which is a big surprise to me. If I had done a film review of the ULL game like I planned to before other things got in the way, I would have pointed out how Peterson got blocked easily on the Cajuns' 73-yard run to to start the second half (LB Sam Howard got out of position, too) and that he probably should be used less often, but that one play obscured the fact he has been productive. His eight tackles and two sacks are more than Eric Hicks and Adonis Friloux have combined (seven stops, zero sacks) at the same position. Peterson recoverd a fumble against USF, too, doing a much better job than the O-lineman who tried to fall on it first of controlling it, leading to Tulane's final touchdown of a dominant first half.

Kam Hamilton, who has been double-trained at end just like Patrick Jenkins was in the spring, was active starting for an injured Adin Huntington there Saturday despite being credited with only one tackle and half-a-sack (on a play he did not finish but was the creator). I know Huntington has not lived up to the preseason hype, but he had his best game against ULL before being limited to about seven downs against USF. Throw in Gerrod Henderson, who was named AAC defensive player of the week after making his first two sacks of his career against USF and forcing a fumble on one of them, and this is a deep position. That trio should be effective at end the rest of the way. Hamilton practiced with the first team today, with Henderson second and Huntington still getting limited time due to injury.

It appears they have found a starting bandit (I use terms like bandit and joker grudgingly) in Matthew Fobbs-White, who played easily his best game while starting for the first time on Saturday (two tackles, one breakup, frequent pressure). Terrell Allen did not play at all after starting three of the first four games at a spot that simply was not productive for most of September. Michael Lunz, Javon Carter and Shi'Keem Laister all have logged time there with modest results. No bandit has registered a sack through five games.

Tulane goes two deep at almost every defensive spot, with nickelback the notable exception. Caleb Ransaw has 15 tackles there while backup Jayden Lewis and Javio White have combined for four, but Ransaw is capable of playing better than he has thus far. He was solid on Saturday with four tackles, but he has had a bunch of almost plays this year where his man beats him by half a step.

Saturday will be big for Darian Mensah, who is 47 of 63 for 873 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception at home and 25 of 49 for 249 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in two road games. If he plays the same way in Birmingham as he has at Yulman Stadium, Tulane should win going away against a UAB team that is more talented--particularly on offense--than its 1-3 mark shows. Turnovers have killed this team--nine in four games--but turnover margin is the most volatile stat in football and can change dramatically from week to week. The Blazers gave Arkansas all it wanted but played like garbage against ULM and Navy. They gave up 200-plus rushing yards to all three, so Makhi Hughes should have a fun return to his hometown, and if Mensah is sharp, Tulane will score a lot.

Sumrall, Tyler Grubbs and Hughes talked at the Tuesday presser.

He's a 3 star CB:

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Hey Everyone!

Check my new article where I highlight the 5 best current commits in the AAC, where number 3 on my list is Tulane Commit Nikolas Alston!

https://n.rivals.com/news/group-of-five-spotlight-ranking-the-best-aac-commits

Except for playoff games in both the majors and minors, professional baseball has completed its regular season. Jack Rogers is the only one still playing. Here’s a review of those I’m aware of.

Jake Rogers. Jake is the only “Greenie” currently playing in the majors in this his fourth season with the Detroit Tigers. In 2023, he hit .221 with 21 home runs but regressed considerably this year. This season he hit .197 in 310 at bats with 10 HR’s. He has the playoffs to impress further.
Ian Gibaut. Ian entered this season as an integral part of the Cincinnati bullpen after appearing in 74 games last year (75.2 innings and a 3.33 ERA), but injuries limited him to only 6 innings of a rehab stint in the minors this year and he spent the remainder of the season on IR.
Grant Witherspoon. After being released by the Toledo Mud Hens (AAA) last August, Grant was picked up this spring by the AA Arkansas Travelers. Unfortunately, he hit only .143 in 41 games and was released on June 25th. At 27 years old, his professional baseball career is probably over.
Kody Hoese. After hitting .188, .232, and .244 the past three seasons in AA ball, Kody, a one-time first round draft choice for the Dodgers, fell out of their “top 50” prospect list. Nonetheless, he was invited to the Dodger’s Spring training camp where he performed well enough to be advanced to their AAA team. He improved all of his numbers this year hitting .287 with 17 HR’s in 464 at bats. He may have increased his chances of getting to the majors at some point. He’s 27 years old so there is not that much time left.
Hudson Haskins. Since being drafted four years ago by Baltimore, Haskins moved steadily through their system landing in in AAA in 2023. There, he hit .268 with three HR’s in 82 at bats before injuries ended his season in June. This year, he’s also spent time on IR and his batting average has suffered accordingly, hitting only .212 in 316 AAA at bats this season.
Chase Solesksy. After being released by the Chicago White Sox and spending some time in an independent league, Solesky seems to have found a home in the Washington Nationals organization. He pitched in AA ball this year, starting 15 of his 17 appearances, throwing 83 innings to a 3.02 ERA. He only walked 20 during that time and held opponents to a .233 average—all good. The only downside is that he doesn’t miss many bats and only struck out 51. Still, that’s an encouraging season for a guy who will turn 27 later this month. Time is running out.
Brendon Cellucci. Brandon is another guy who may be running out of time at 26 years old, but who had a really good season until right at the end. He pitched 58.2 innings in 30 games of relief in AA this year to a 3.07 ERA. His stats were virtually the reverse of Solesky’s, however. He walked a lot (39) but struck out 84 (over 13 per 9 Innings) and held opponents to a .199 batting average. He was promoted to AAA late in the year where his lack of control put up some terrible numbers. In six innings, he walked ten, hit 3, allowed five hits and 10 earned runs for a 15.00 ERA.
Collin Burns. After close to an injury free summer, his first since leaving Tulane, Colin spent the year in AA where he hit .218 with 5 HR’s in 330 at bats. True to his recent history unfortunately, he was back on IR for the last week or so of the season. In a move that does not bode well for his future, he was moved to second base from shortstop, where glovework is less important than hitting. Still, he’s only 24 years old and a move up to AAA next year and improved hitting, could still lead to a major league career.
Donovan Benoit. Benoit spent this season in AA ball where he pitched in 31 games in relief to an ERA of 4.97 in 58 innings. He walked 30 while striking out 48, which is not a very good ratio, Opponents hit .279 against him.
Keagan Gillies. After dominating in the low minors the past couple years despite extended time on IR, Keegan appeared in 42 games in AA this year, throwing 47.1 innings to a 4.91 ERA. He walked 25 and struck out 54. He needs to get to AAA next year and improve his control.
Conner Pelerin. Connor has only pitched 33 innings so far in his professional career due to multiple injuries. This, his fourth year, ended before it started as he missed the entire season on IR. He really needs to get healthy to have any chance of progressing.
Tyler Hoffman. Tyler had a 7.23 ERA through 37.1 innings in A ball this season before going on IR in late August.
Dylan Carmouche. Dylan bypassed the rookie league in this, his first professional season. He started in A ball where he went 8-2 with an ERA of 2.74 in 90 innings before being promoted to an advanced A league where he didn’t fare as well with an 0-2 record and a 5.34 ERA in 30.1 innings. Still, a pretty good first year out of college.
Chandler Welch. After the Tulane season, Chandler got his “feet wet” as a pro appearing in one game in Class A. He pitched 1.2 innings, allowed 2 hits, no walks, 3 strikeouts and, best of all, no runs. A good way to start.
Brady Marget. Brady got to start his professional career this year in A ball as well where he played in 12 games, batted 36 times with 9 hits (.250) and 1 HR.
Colin Taft. Like Welch and Marget, Coiln got to play some this summer in A ball, splitting time between catcher, 1st base, and the outfield. In his 20 games, he went 11 for 62 (.177) with 1 HR. He struck out 27 times (44%) so that has to improve.
Teo Banks. Teo was assigned to the Washington National’s Class A team in Fredericksburg, VA, 40 minutes from my house, but did not play this summer. Hope to see him next year on his way to the top.

Players who played for Tulane but finished elsewhere:
J. P. France. After an excellent major league campaign in 2023, J.P. started poorly this year and was returned to the minors where an injury caused him to be placed on IR for the remainder of the year.
Bennet Lee. Bennet started the season on IR, but after a brief stint in A ball, was promoted to Advance A in early May. He finished the year hitting .173 in 173 at bats with 3 HR’s.

Anyway, our guys posted somewhat mixed results on the season but for many of them there will be a next year.

Roll Wave!!!

I had a one-on-one with him this morning. I think chief operating officer Patrick Norton and Fitts had the primary call on the Pac-12 situation, but obviously Harris was intimately involved as well. Here's the transcript:

What were the overriding factors in Tulane deciding not to take the Pac-12 offer?

"For us, you look at several factors when you're considering an opportunity. Institutional alignment is certainly an important consideration. You look at the financial piece of it, whether that's distributions that are projected to come from the conference or exit fees that you have to pay to leave your current conference. You look at geography and what would it really take for all of your teams to be able to participate in the conference that you're looking at. Obviously in this case you're talking about the west coast. You're talking that there is fairly significant travel, especially for your sports that are not typically chartering the way that a football and a basketball would charter. Then you also look at overall stability of the league. Most of the time when you see these situations, it is an established league that is in existence right now and ultimately is looking to add members, so the overall stability is not really in question; they are just trying to figure out where they want to go with adding new members. But in this case, you've got to look at what are the future prospects of this league that's really just resurrecting and going forward whether or not you feel it is going to continue to be stable and grow and prosper over the next several years. And then you have to consider things like media contracts, which again when you're talking about a league that's just trying to get itself off the ground, the lack of having something like that is something you have to consider because you're dealing with information that often times is speculation. You don't have any guarantees about exactly what it's going to be."

It's been described as a catch-22 situation where the Pac-12 was promising revenue that could not be realized without the four AAC teams joining it with no media rights deal in place and the schools needing proof that the money would be there before joining the Pac-12. Do you agree with that?

"Right, it was all speculation from the very beginning, so you have to determine to what extent are you comfortable operating in that space, to what extent are you willing to make a move based on what they are projecting may happen, and as you said, based on certain institutions joining the conference. There was just a tremendous amount of uncertainty, so when you're in a situation where you feel like you're a member of a strong conference and you're heading in the right direction and you have great leadership and we've been able to be successful, you have to look in the mirror and say what it is about this situation that's based largely on speculation that you think is a better opportunity than the one that you're enjoying now."

There have been multiple reports the Pac-12 offered to cover only $2.5 million of the exit fees for the AAC teams. Can you verify that?

"I'm going to choose not to. As they were sharing information with us, they asked us to operate with some degree of confidentiality. I would just say we know there is a significant exit fee that would be involved for us if we were to decide to leave."

Would the exit fee have been close to the $25 million SMU paid?

"I don't know that we even had any conversations with the commissioner of OK, if we decide to do this, it's going to be $25 million like SMU's, is it going to be less, is it going to be more. If I'm sitting in Tim Pernetti's shoes, I'm certainly thinking about what do I need to do to protect the conference, so the degree to which you would be looking at something significantly less than that is certainly questionable. As I said, we never got to a point where we were having those conversations with the AAC, but I did keep $25 million in mind as being the fee that the last institution paid, so if we were looking to make a departure, figuring that it was going to be in that approximate range."

Multiple message board peeps of mine (OK, I didn't actually word it that way) have said ESPN has a look-in to its media rights package with the AAC in 2026 and can adjust the amount it is paying the league. Is that accurate?

"Yes, my understanding and the commissioner was talking to us and he'd be the best person to give you the details, but I believe that's coming up in 2026 where there is an opportunity to make those adjustments."

How comfortable do you feel with where the AAC is?

"Very comfortable. At a time when I had a chance to meet and talk with the commissioner, which has been quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. We were talking on a fairly regular basis, but then it really got accelerated about two weeks ago, so it feels like we've had conversations every day, and so even before now I've really been comfortable with his vision for the conference, with how aggressive he wants to be to try to pursue opportunities for revenue enhancement for the league. He wants to look under every rock. He wants to explore every situation. He's been really good and open and he has shared information and he has communicated on a regular basis. Many times an organization is going to rise and fall on its leadership, and I think with him we have a strong leader in that position. I felt very strong about the AAC coming into this (AD) position. It's one of the reasons that I felt comfortable making the move. Mike Aresco was still in the position, but as the transition has happened and Tim has gotten into the chair, it's just really strengthened my feelings about what our future can possibly be."

How important was it that nobody left the league?

"That was something we talked about as athletic directors and the presidents had a chance in our conversation as we all had an opportunity to be able to weigh what was being put on the table. We felt that because none of us were seriously looking to accept and pursue what was being put in front of us, it presented an opportunity for us to put forward a show of unity and strength that you don't typically see in college athletics anymore. It feels like most of the time, most institutions when they're in these situations, it's kind of every school for itself. I was really impressed that almost from the very beginning, my phone began to ring with calls from the other ADs in the league to talk about the opportunity and to get our feelings and to try to see if we were on different pages or the same page, and I was really tremendously impressed with the way we were all able to come together and talk and really come to the same conclusion after looking at the information, even to the point that as things really came to a head this past Monday, I know that many of us were all together physically in Washington D.C. at the time at the LEAD1, now FBS athletic diector association meetings, so we were able to literally be in front of each other and have conversations and meet in person and just make sure that we were all on the same page. I think for all of us it became important that if we were looking at considering anything, that doing something that would possibly involve the other schools was an important consideration from the very beginning of our conversations."

Tulane played its most complete game since destroying SMU on a Thursday night in November of 2022, The Green Wave did everything well for four quarters, with the brief exception of a late first-half touchdown drive out of nowhere for South Florida. This is the team we always thought it could be, with the addition of a quarterback in Darian Mensah who probably is better than anyone thought the Wave QB would be after the graduation of four-year starter Michael Pratt. Great running back in Makhi Hughes. Explosive trio of receivers in Dontae Fleming, Mario Williams and Yulkeith Brown. Experienced offensive line that pushed South Florida around. Deep defensive front that had as many sacks in one game (six) as in the first four combined. Playmaking linebacker in Tyler Grubbs.

Tulane will be favored in every game the rest of the way if it keeps winning, but it probably will need to win at Navy on the third Saturday of November to reach the AAC title game. Navy has a easy schedule, and Army has a preposterously easy schedule, so one loss to the wrong team could prove fatal.

Jon Sumrall, Darian Mensah, Fleming and Gerrod Henderson talked after the game.

SUMRALL

"Excited for our guys to open up conference play to get to 1-0 against a team that I think is really on the ascend. They've put together a good roster. They've got the second biggest NIL budget in our league, so we need to catch them. If we catch them, we might win bigger, but they are doing good things, and I'm really happy for our guys. We talked all week about we hadn't played a complete game in any phase, and we haven't really played great complementary football in the first four games. I challenged the guys this week and this morning at the hotel last night. We just brought up like, hey, now's the time to kick it in gear. The preseason's over, the non-conference is over, now it's time to go figure out how to make a statement and play big-time football. I think you felt us do that today in a lot of ways. We ran the ball efficiently. The quarterback, Mensah, played really clean. Ty (Thompson) did some good things with the ball in his hands as well. We controlled the clock, which against a team like that that wants to play with tempo is so vital. We had 528 yards of offense on 73 plays. They ran for 206 yards on Alabama and ran for 26 today, so I'm very proud of our guys' effort.

:All right, it's one game. We are going to celebrate tonight. We had a lot of fun, and then tomorrow we'll get back to work because it's going to be over, but I'm pleased for our guys, pleased for our program and grateful to the fan base for turning out and excited to get to 1-0 in conference."

On the complete performance being the best so far:

"Yeah, without question. Southeastern Louisiana game we won 52-0 but I didn't feel like we played great. We were just the better team. Kansas State we played really well at times. First half we played well, third quarter we played awful and the fourth quarter we fought but we didn't finish. Oklahoma, we spotted them 21 points right out of the gate, and then last week we sort of slogged it out. It was a tough mudder type game where it was like, all right, how did we find a way to win even though we didn't play pretty. Today we played really efficiently in all three phases. We rushed the quarterback better than we've rushed the quarterback, played good on special teams, the kicker performed well. There were a couple of things I was disappointed in. The drive right before the half, I was really frustrated with because we gave up a double move. They didn't complete it, but they should have scored a touchdown on us, and we didn't play the tempo well, but all in all it was the most complete game for sure."

On stopping the run:

"Going into the game we knew they ran the ball really well. Their plus-one runs were a big deal for them with the quarterback. The quarterback is a great runner, a big, athletic kid. We didn't even think we outright yard for yard had to win the run-game battle, but we felt like it had to be close. They outrushed Alabama. They are a really good rushing team, and so we challenged our DBs. We went 1 for 1 on the perimeter. We didn't play with any help over the top. If they went four wides, we went four guys, go match them, and everybody else play the box. Our post safety was mirroring the quarterback. He wasn't thinking about playing the post. He was thinking about if the quarterback runs it, I'm going to show in the run game. Our guys executed. It was really exciting to see our front come alive. That's been lacking a little at times to start the year, and to see those guys turn it on and start to dial in and create some negative plays was fun to watch, and it was a collection of guys. It wasn't just one guy. Parker Peterson, Kam Hamilton looked really good. Fobbs-White early in the game looked good. Gerrod Henderson flashed some. Patrick Jenkins is coming on. I'm starting to feel him more. Up front is starting to hit their stride."

On Mensah:

"I say this all the time, it's like shooting the basketball. It's nice to see the ball go in the net. Make a couple of throws early and have some success. They were really playing aggressive to the box. They play a lot of man coverage. We were able to hit Mario on a couple of climb routes or over routes across the formation. We create some leverage where they are in trail position, but the kid's got really good poise and really good anticipation on the throws we're asking him to make. He's growing right in front of our eyes. My most exciting thing was watching him tuck the ball a couple of times and watching him go get the first down on a scramble. He's still got to put the ball away on one. We brought him over and were like, can you please put the ball away and protect the football? But he's getting better and better. He played really efficiently. Those numbers are pretty special for a youngster to go 18 of 22 for 326 yards and three touchdowns. That's a pretty good stat line for a first conference game."

On three different starters on D-line:

"The depth in that room is probably better than it's presented. Adin (Huntington) was a little limited through the week. I think he played seven snaps today maybe. I don't have the officlal count in front of me, but it was about seven plays. He practiced the back end of the week but was available. To me it's hard if you don't practice to play a guy a whole lot. And to be honest, Kam Hamilton has earned it. Kam has really played at a high level, practiced at a high level, brought it every day. if we can play eight or nine guys up front, that bodes well for the opportunity to keep guys fresh and then play with great effort."

I am writing all my advance copy for The Advocate on the USF game right now, but later today i will post Engaging the Enemy on the front page with USF beat writer Joey Knight. I also had a one-on-one interview with Davis Harris this morning on the decision to reject the Pac-12 offer and the status of the bubble. I will transcribe those quotes here.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com.

Tulane (-6.5) South Florida
Alabama (+2) Georgia
Notre Dame (-6) Louisville
Penn State (-18.5) Illinois
Kansas State (-4.5) Oklahoma State
LSU (-22) South Alabama
Baylor (-3.5) BYU
Boise State (-7.5) Washington State

Tulane received a scare at the end of practice yesterday when Tyler Grubbs suffered a knee injury, but it looks like he will be OK. I held off on reporting it because Jon Sumrall said he did not know what had happened and would have real info today after they got the injury imaged. It turns out the image revealed no structural damage, and Sumrall said he would it be an issue of pain tolerance as to whether Grubbs would play against South Florida and he would leave it up to Grubbs, one of the toughest guys on the team, to decide. If Grubbs cannot go, Dickson Agu would start in his place.

It's just a little knee. We imaged it and there was nothing structural, substantial like you're out, but we wanted to be thorough. The news we got back was positive. Now does he play Saturday? A little bit of how does he feel in the next 48 hours. I'm not going to push him to play. I told him it's your body and you're a tough dude. The way he's wired, I'm comfortable with whatever decision he needs to make."

Obviously not having Grubbs, who is the definition of a the term "football player," would be a blow, but for the most part, the injury news is good. Sumrall expects Adin Huntington to play Saturday, and Josh Remetich will start after both missed significant practice this week. Jacob Barnes, though, will miss his second consecutive game, leaving all of the kicking duties to Ethan Head. Head held up pretty well against ULL, hitting his first two field goals and all of his extra points until missing what could have been a critical field goal in the fourth quarter in addition to getting touchbacks on all but one his kickoffs. He was supposed to share kickoff duties with Patrick Durkin, who was absolutely booming them during preseasons drills, but Durkin missed the first four games with an injury.

"Barnes should be back next week," Sumrall said. "Durkin I'm going to say after the bye."

Today was the walk-through, which under Sumrall is an extended version of what every other team I have covered does on Friday. They practice without helmets on, and at the end, they called out units for special teams while saying a couple of players were out to make sure the backups ran on the field in a timely manner.

I asked Sumrall about his decision to conduct walk-throughs on Thursday instead of Friday.

"The first time I experienced doing it, I was at Troy as an assistant coach," he said. "The first year doing it I was really uncomfortable with the flow, and then we did it my last years as an assistant there and went like 21 and something (5) and it worked pretty well and we did it at Kentucky and it worked pretty well and we did it at Troy when I was back as the head coach. A lot of it started from Chip Kelly at Oregon with track research. If you ask world-class sprinters, they don't just stay sedentary the day before the meet. They do a little bit of movement, so that's why we do a run-through on Friday. I'm not a scientist, but I study all of the GPS catapult data. I talk to (strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty) Whitt. We're very intentional. There's a reason why Sunday is our day off. The day after a game if you've played college football, your body is beat up. The model is Sunday to recover, hydrate, eat, treatment, do school. Monday runaround, about like we do on Fridays. Tuesday, Wednesday work. Tuesday's a real work day, Wednesday's a shorter work day. Thursday's a walk-through to get some more recovery in. Friday tune your body up fast. You want to rev the engine a little. The neuro, the science stuff will tell you you need to go run a little the day before the game. It's not perfect, but doing the research and talking to people who are far smarter than me, I think it's a pretty good method."

Tulane had its last heavy-duty practice in preparation for Saturday's AAC opener against South Florida. Josh Remetich was held out again today, with Caleb Thomas in his place at right guard, but Phat Watts returned at wide receiver. I sometimes forget he is still on the team because he has not played yet this season and was dismissed after the Southern Miss game early last season by Willie Fritz, but he made some plays in preseason camp and will be available Saturday. The pecking order at receiver in my view is 1) Mario Williams, despite his matching pair of drops the past two weeks, 2) Dontae Fleming, who was targeted only once, strangely, in his return to Lafayett, 3) Yulkeith Brown and 4) Bryce Bohanon. After that, there really is no No. 5 in terms of production. Shadre Hurst has as many catches (1) as the rest of the wideout corps combined (freshman Zycarl Lewis has one), so there is room for Watts to become a factor. He had 17 catches in 2020 and 18 catches in 2021 before an early-season knee injury in 2022 set him back, often making difficult catches look routine while dropping easy opportunities. Shaun Nicholas has barely played, and today his most noticeable moment was getting knocked down accidentally by an offensive teammate on one play.

Shaadie Clayton-Jonnson also returned to practice and has been cleared for the South Florida game after sitting out a week due to a concussion. He will be available Saturday, which is not the same as saying he definitely will play. Sumrall is cautious with head injuries. It does not look to me like Shazz Preston is anywhere close to returning even though he discarded his crutches a couple weeks ago.

This was mainly a scout-team day. The defense, which has major question marks after its performance against ULL, continued to dominate an offense scout team that does not have many playmakers. Sam Howard pushed running back Tate Jernigan to the ground out of bounds on one play but then went over to help him up apologetically. I'm not quite sure why the defense has been as suspect as it has been, but this would be a good week to step it up a notch. The personnel is not changing, but the guys on the field cannot afford to have the breakdowns that have plagued the Wave throughout September. Their biggest asset has been the three pick-sixes, the most for any team in the FBS, but that's not sustainable. Tulane ranks 67th among FBS teams in total defense--exactly in the middle--and allows more yards per carry (4.98) than all but 23 teams. I talked to Greg Gasparato after practice today.

GASPARATO

On having nation's best three pick-sixes:

"Any time you have a chance to score on defense, you've got a much better chance to win the game, and the same on special teams. The thing that we talk to our guys about is when you get the ball, I know this, the offense hasn't worked a lot of tackling drills this week, so you have a chance to make a play. Don't be dumb. The main goal is to keep possession of the ball, but if you have a chance to go score, score. The guys that have been able to do that and catch the ball have all been playmakers that have been able to do something afterward. Those guys have done a phenomenal job finishing the plays, but when you're where you are supposed to be, good things happen to you. You don't have to do anything special.

On Jalen Geiger wanting to make it four for four on INT returns for TDs:

"He absolutely did, but he looked at me and John and we were both doing this. He didn't want to, you could tell, but he took that knee. We were thrilled."

On athletic ability and instincts on defense:

"Hundred percent. When you're where you're supposed to be, good things happen, and it's not always a turnover. Sometimes its an interception. Sometimes when the ball's out because you're chasing the ball so hard and you have a lot of people there, you can get a scoop and score or get the ball back. Same thing when the gap you're supposed to be in when the ball comes to you, you'll get more tackles. It's about doing your job and making the plays you're supposed to make. Every one of those players are capable of making them. That's why they're here in the first place, and they were able to do it."

On defensive problems:

"It's not. The thing you identify, which maybe is good or bad, it's not one player, it's not one position, it's not one call. It's one mistake here and there. I know our guys are tired of hearing it. I'm tired of saying it. It's one or two plays a game you wish you could have back that you miss a fit, you go the wrong way, you don't understand the situation in the game. There's been times I haven't put us in the best situation call wise. We've all got to learn from it and grow, but at this point these guys need to start getting a little pissed off, and they are. We need to go as a defense and execute at the highest level like we know we can."

On how that issue can be fixed:

"The biggest issue is No. 1, you slow the game down and it's all about the details, so for me, if I need to minimize the call sheet a little more so we can get more reps at certain things and get a little bit better at those, then that's what we'll do. That's what it comes down to. Are we calling the same things in practice that we're calling in a game and making sure the call sheet isn't so long that you only get a few pops of this and a few pops of that, almost to the point where you can't get it wrong, so you are going to have to be simple, but you are going to be right with everything you do."

On having depth (five of the six guys in the front six to start the second possession against ULL were subs):

"It's a huge deal. We told our guys their guys played in the same heat we did, so sometimes you've got to suck it up and you gotta play, and when we get a chance to sub based off the situation, we're going to get fresh guys in, but you have to want it more than they do."

On other coaches not having the confidence to sub as much as he does:

"It's not ideal with a few mistakes here and there, but as the season continues to go, guys continue to get rips and get things fixed and get better, if you've proven in practice and in the games that you can get it done, then we're going to play you. Everybody makes mistakes. I've been guilty my career of saying you two starters are going to play the whole game, and it has come back to bite me every single year that I have done that, so we're going to continue force-feeding these guys reps and they're going to continue to get better, and every week we've got to get a little bit better. The emphasis this week is finish. If we finish a couple more plays, we feel really good about it. We did a great job on the outside playing those guys man-to-man. If we just now play the ball when we need to play the ball, half those penalties are gone and it's a different game."

On those five interference calls:

"It's like anything. Sometimes you agree, sometimes you don't. Because of the game plan against these guys, the amount of man coverage that we played, every once in a while that's going to happen. You know that as a coach. You don't really accept it, but you just understand if I'm going to play man this many snaps in the game, we may get called for PI or two. We gotta live with it, but the pros outweigh the cons from our standpoint. We just have to continue to clean up our eyes. Great feet, great hands, now we just have to know when to look back and when to finish, and we'll be in a much better spot this week."

On defending USF and QB Byrum Brown:

"Number one is to stop the run. This team is flashy and thy get wide splits and they throw the ball a little bit, but they want to run the ball and they average more than 200 rushing yards a game. I think they went for 369 against Southern Miss. They went for more than 200 (206) against Alabama. That's what they do, and then Miami did a good job of holding them to 65 yards (62) or whatever it was. Teams like this want to run the ball and then take advantage of one-on-ones, the third downs, red zone, get really good there, so the challenge for us this week is get your cleats set, do your job, stop the run and then we're gong to have to gang tackle. There are going to be plays in space because of how wide they are. The quarterback's going to pull the ball sometimes and you're going to be in a one-on-one. We have to have bodies and a lot of guys chasing the ball, but we're going to have to get him on the ground, and it may not just be one person. He has a really good arm, he understands the scheme and they do a really good job in the quarterback run game and their base run game, create some issues where you may have to get another guy in the box. Whatever your job is, you've got to know it, you've got to do it and keep your angles consistent so you can use your help, so they are going to challenge us this week."

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Tulane continued to get ready this morning for South Florida, practicing at Yulman Stadium. Bailey Despanie picked off Darian Mensah in 7 on 7. Chris Rodgers had a nice interception on a pass that deflected off a receiver deep in scout-team work. Josh Remetich did not practice, but as you'll see, Jon Sumrall is not concerned. Lu Tillery and Jahiem Johnson got work with the first-team defense, but that seems to be a thing in practice that does not mean anything when the game arrives. The top three corners remain Micah Robinson, Johnathan Edwards and Rayshawn Pleasant.

Sumrall, Shadre Hurst, who had the crazy reception off the deflection against ULL, and Jalen Geiger, who had the clinching interception, talked in the Tuesday press conference.

SUMRALL

"Wrapping up last week, good win. No bad ones. Good to get an in-state win. Hard-fought game. One of the hottest games I've been a part of. I was proud of our guys, the preparation with their hydration and just being ready to go play in those conditions. I think it was high 130s, maybe 140 on the field. That's what I've heard, and so, hot day. We didn't play our best but found a way. There were a lot of bright spots. You think about a pick-six, a kickoff return for a touchdown and the way we ran the ball were really positives. Defensively we had some flash plays that were positive. We had some major flash plays that were negative that we have to improve upon quickly. We played pretty good in the kicking game as a whole. Had the one kick we'd like to make to put the game on ice, but all in all, we played pretty clean in the kicking game and played well.

"Turning the page now, we have a really good South Florida team coming to town, a team that's very veteran. Out of their 11 on offense and 11 on defense, 16 of their 22 starters are seniors. Maybe five more are juniors, so that's 21 out of 22 that are juniors or seniors, so that usually bodes well for having an opportunity to be successful when you have that veteran of a team, that mature of a team. It starts with their quarterback. A really good player. He's the straw that stirs the drink. He makes it go. He's great throwing the ball, great running the ball, dual threat guy. Can launch the ball down the field, throw it intermediate, throws the screen game well, runs it, big guy, hard to tackle. Offensive line does a nice job executing what they run. They. play with a lot of tempo. The receivers are good. This little No. 38 (Sean Atkins, who has 24 catches for 289 yards), he's a dude. He plays the game the right way. He's involved in their return game as well. They've got three good backs. Big challenge for our defense. I think they play as fast as anybody in the country. And then defensively, that's where they probably are most improved. Last year there were some ups and downs. You watch them on defense this year, and while maybe the score doesn't indicate it last week (a 50-15 loss to Miami), they are playing pretty good defense. They are really aggressive. They're physical. They're big inside. They are fast on the perimeter, and they are really good at linebacker. The kicking game, they use two field goal kickers--an intermediate and short guy and a long guy. They run a lot of trick plays, gimmicks, things you have to be prepared for in the kicking game. They surprised one onside last week. They run a reverse or fake reverse on a kickoff return. They are going to fake punts. We've got to be prepared for all of that because those are things that they do a lot of. The challenge is on our games to play a good game here at home."

On staying in AAC:

"I like where we are. Those are decisions that are well above the head football coach's chair. That's more of an administration decision, but I'm on board with whatever we feel like we need to do there to position ourselves. I like the American Conference. I like their new commissioner, Tim Pernetti. He's awesome. He's going to be here Saturday. He's got great energy trying to figure out ways to push our league further. Geographically the league makes a lot of sense. There's tons of things that go into making that decision. We're where we are. I'm happy to to be in our league. I like our league. Nothing against the other league, but I'm been so focused on trying to get a win each week that conference realignment has not been my first thought when I wake up or when I go to bed. I can promise you that."

On advantages, disadvantages of playing in extreme heat:

"The turf at Louisiana-Lafayette isn't like our turf. It's got the black pebbles on it that gets even hotter. Our turf is a newer style. The pebbles are lighter in color. They deflect the heat a little bit better, so our turf doesn't get quite as hot. Yeah, when we're playing other people, there's a lot of heat and humidity. The Tuesday practice of Kansas State was the hottest we've had all training camp or all. It felt about like that the other day but maybe even a little bit hotter. Maybe not quite as humid, but hotter. We're prepared for heat and humidity. We get it a lot. Our opponent this week is prepared, too, so it doesn't really draw an advantage. Maybe if we were playing a team from the Northeast or Northwest it might help us, but it does train you mentally to be a tough-minded guy. We've been in enough of those practices that Saturday it wasn't like how do we deal with this? We've been there."

On Makhi Hughes:

"What a stud, man. Not at his best health-wise. He was a little under the weather Saturday. He's a lot better now. I think he might have given me what he had, but he just brings it every day. He's a model of consistency and ability, extremely reliable, very detailed, great teammate, hard-working guy. It's amazing. You've got 10 percent of your team you deal with about 90 percent of the time because they're high maintenance. Makhi is the exact opposite. He has never come to me to say can I get this or I can do this or can we do more of that. He just shows up and works. When your best players do that, it bodes well for your team. He's a great teammate. I'm proud his success. He deserves all of it and he's earned all of it. He works incredibly hard."

On what he has learned about his team through four games:

"We're resilient. We're mentally tough. We have some fighters. We're still not a very polished team in a lot of areas. I'm disappointed and frustrated with just how clean we're playing the game at times. I've referenced this. We've got seven guys starting most weeks on defense that weren't here when I got here. I think six of those seven got here post-spring (actually five). We're trying to get cohesion, but you've seen our team get battle-tested. We played a quality FCS team, and then you go play Kansas State, Oklahoma and Louisiana-Lafayette. Lousiana-Lafayette's been to a bunch of bowl games in a row. I'm pretty sure Kansas State and Oklahoma have, too. All three of those teams are going to test you. Physically it's taken a toll on our team a little bit. We're a little beat up, a little bruised, a little battered, but at the same time it prepares you for the long haul. All right, we've measured ourselves against good people, but we're still not a team I'm pleased with all the details. I like a lot of the things I've seen. We still have so much more improvement left out in front of us."

On Shadre Hurst's reception off a deflection:

"We might move him to tight end if you don't watch out. Shadre's a really good player. It was funny watching him get that reception the other day. He's a high-level player with a bright future in this game. He's a fantastic teammate as well, with a high ceiling. Y'all's favorite play was probably the catch off the deflection. My favorite play, I showed it to the team on Monday, was him knocking a defender about 15 yards down the field and just mauling the guy. That's what it looks like to play offensive line. I showed it to the whole team. I didn't show his deflection to the team, his catch."

On Josh Remetich status after sitting out Tuesday practice:

"He practiced yesterday. A little muscle soreness. Nothing structural it doesn't look like. Had an image (taken) and he was fine. The human body does funny things, but I think it's just muscle fatigue and maybe some soreness, tightness after yesterday's movement. He's played a lot of snaps. We'd like for all of our guys to practice as much as possible, but after evaluating him yesterday, we thought it was in his best interest to limit him today. We'll see as the week goes."

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The NFL legacy, younger brother of former first rounder Noah Igbinoghene, will come off the board on Thursday and Tulane is a primary contender for his services. Mike has been excelling on both sides of the ball as a senior after another strong track season. He's a 10.75 pr in the 100 and a top 10 long jumper in the state of Alabama, too.

Most colleges view him on defense at the next level.

We had a wonderful tailgate. We had flawless weather. We met some nice UW fans. The game was pretty rough- this cannot be sugar coated

I saw almost nothing positive in this game other than Tulane getting a much-needed victory. The good news is teams do not play the same way every week because that performance will not get it done in the AAC. Some of the problems, like the lack of a pass rush or the ability to finish sacks when there is pressure, have been there all year, but there is still time to correct some of them. Right now this is not a very good team. Maybe next Saturday I will feel differently. Makhi Hughes played well while under the weather, and they are using Ty Thompson effectively as a short-yardage wildcat QB (except for the time he lined up as a running back and looked like he had no idea how to find the hole).

I saw almost nothing positive in this game other than Tulane getting a much-needed victory. The good news is teams do not play the same way every week because that performance will not get it done in the AAC. Some of the problems, like the lack of a pass rush or the ability to finish sacks when there is pressure, have been there all year, but there is still time to correct some of them. Right now this is not a very good team. Maybe next Saturday I will feel differently. Makhi Hughes played well while under the weather, and they are using Ty Thompson effectively as a short-yardage wildcat QB (except for the time he lined up as a running back and looked like he had no idea how to find the hole).

Jon Sumrall, Jack Tchienchou, Rayshawn Pleasant and Makhi Hughes talked after the game.

SUMRALL

"We won. It didn't look pretty at times. I saw a lot of good things and saw a whole lot of bad things. We've got to get better in a lot of areas or we're going to get our ass beat next week. It was a good team today. I'm glad we won the state championship. Goal No. 1 for our team was win the state. We played Southeastern Louisiana and we played Louisiana-Lafayette, and goal No. 1 for the coaching staff when we went over it this summer was win the state. We got that done and we're going to celebrate that tonight. Goal No. 2 for us was win the conference, If we don't get better real fast, we've got no shot. Like no shot, so we have a lot of work to do. I'm very disappointed in our defense in a lot of ways. I'm a little sick over it. We've got a long way to go. I'm proud of some of the individual efforts. I'm proud of the team for fighting, but I'm just not pleased with maybe how clean we're playing on defense at times. I'm not accustomed to that and we're going to get it fixed. Kickoff return, interception return (for touchdowns), you do those two things, you should never lose, and we still made it interesting because of self-inflicting, too many DPIs. We had five on the day. That's atrocious. A couple of them were good calls. A couple of them were awful on our end. One or two I don't know, but some of them we were too handsy and we've got to clean that up, and it's gotta happen fast. We have to play better in the throw game on offense. We ran the ball really well. Some of the things they were doing dictated to us to run the ball. If you're going to play one safety in single high at 15 yards (deep) or both safeties at 12 or 14, you should run it. Makhi Hughes had a good day. Not surprised. He's a little under the weather. He would have probably gone for more, but he was a little under the weather today. He wasn't quite 100 percent health wise, wasn't feeling his best, but still, he's a grown man and he plays like it. We did a good job of getting Ty Thompson involved in the offense in different ways, and I think he's going to continue to grow."

On defensive collapse in third quarter:

"They did a really good job of scheming up some things and getting some holes in a certain coverage we were in a couple of times. Familiarity. Our staff has played these guys the last three years now, so they've seen our defense as much as anybody and we have to adapt a little on when we play teams that have seen us this much and maybe tweak some things. We also weren't quite as clean as we need to be on communication in the back end on whether we were matching some stuff with some over routes or waiving their deep crossers, dropping it off, so we have to clean some of that up. They did a good job of holding some stuff. I felt like they held some pass concepts they didn't run in the first half, more in the second. We're just not playing clean, man, back end wise, and at times we're in the quarterback's face and not getting him down, too. We had two or three where we were right there to get a sack and just didn't finish the play. The long run right after the kickoff return was just a misfit defensively, a first-level guy not getting as far as we would like him to get and a second-level guy not falling back off the action as fast as we like, so that long run was just us not fitting right. I'm going to watch the tape probably tonight on the ride back, and we've got like 500 things to fix on defense and we only played 62 plays. I can think of a lot of things we have to fix."

On heat being a factor:

"Conditions were most certainly a factor. It was hot today. Really hot. This was very similar to our Tuesday practice, except we were off the field by 10:30 so it wasn't quite this hot. It was probably about the same. It affects you a great deal. Our plan going in was run the ball, control the clock and try to tire them out. If you can control the line of scrimmage in a game like this, you want to have explosive plays, but being able to run the ball and grind out the run game and make them stay on the field really plays to your advantage on both sides of the ball. It helps your defense, so without question our game plan, we have three keys to win every week and it's not always the same, but key No. 1 this week was win the run game. Like we had to win the run game to win the game, and we did. I felt like it was going to fit the environment for sure with the heat."

On working the officials:

"A couple of the DPIs I thought were right. A couple of them, I had questions, and then there were a couple of no calls on the other side that I thought were pretty obvious, like the grounding they weren't going to call until they went to the review. I could see the ball mark. Little black pebbles flew up a half yard behind the line of scrimmage. I didn't want to use a timeout to review it, but I was telling them y'all need to look at that, that's pretty glaring, and they got the message. But there were just a number of things. Look, officiating is not perfect and never is going to be. There were some things i wanted clarity on, and I know those guys. Thats a Sun Belt crew, a very good crew. Those guys have had me a few times, so they know how to deal with me. If you work a game as an official that I'm coaching, they know I'm going to talk to them because I just want information."

On Pleasant's kickoff return for TD:

"It was huge. You go into the halftime and we're up 4, and it makes it a two-score game. It's momentum. You talk about wanting to get points on the first drive. Well, there you go, you get it on the opening kickoff, how about that? Rayshawn has worked so hard. He's such a tremendous worker. He gives great effort. He's a great teammate. He has a really bright future. This was really his first week being a full-time kickoff returner because of injury to Shaadie (Clayton-Jonnson). I think Shaadie will be back, but I'm not going to call Shaadie tonight and tell him that he lost his job by being out, but we'll see because that was a pretty impressive return. It was definitely a game-changing, momentum-changing play for sure. Now we go back and give them a long run right after it, which was just dumb by us on the fit, but we'll get better. Big-time play by Rayshawn. I say all the time the guys that work really hard, they play pretty good. Well he's been working really hard. He's had a great summer and he gets everything he deserves because he works really hard at it."

On Tchienchou interception return for TD making it three interceptions for the team on the year and all of them being touchdowns:

"How about that? That one and then the hit that he had, that was a grown-man hit. He laid the wood there. Jack's got to be a little cleaner in some areas. He got a little too nosey a couple of times. He's got a really bright future, too. Smart kid. Talented kid. Big-time upside. That was a huge play right there going into the half to get that pick-six for sure."

On tough game against rested team while coming off losses to two ranked opponents:

"To me, our team's been tested. I don't worry about getting a test. Right now, it's are we playing detailed enough, disciplined enough to win the next one. That's where my mind's at. We're a tough group. I like the culture in the locker room. We just have to start playing with better detail and better discipline or we're going to give a game away here that we shouldn't. I'm proud of the fight and I think we have.a culture that's gritty and tough and blue collar, but we just have to play better football at times and it's got to happen fast."

On Ethan Head:

"There No. 21, the running back, is a dude returner. He was one of the best in the country last year. Touchbacks are huge when you're playing that kind of return guy, and then field goals and extra points he's been handling well. If he makes that at the end, he probably puts the game on ice. He's a true freshman. We brought the two true freshmen in, him and (Patrick) Durkin to see which could go win the kickoff job. Well Durkin's been down a little with a slight injury, and then Barnes goes down. I think Jacob will be back next week. There's a chance Durkin could be back, too, but both of them were out today, and we knew that for sure on Thursday, and so he (Head) had to kick both roles. Last week his first extra point was less than desired. When he came off I told him the good news is it can't get any worse, and he responded pretty well. He made a big field goal. Missed that one at the end. It was definitely long enough. It was just a little left. He kicked it solid. He'll bounce back. He's resilient. He performed well today."

On any trouble with cramps:

"We had four IVs at halftime, which is not outrageous on a day like this. Fourth quarter several cramps. Second quarter one or two. We had two or three guys lock up at different times. Rishi (Rattan) on a kickoff. He doesn't play a lot of snaps, but that kickoff, he wasn't sure if he'd pulled a muscle or cramped right there."

Tulane: The Tulane Green Wave lost to Kansas State and Oklahoma, and they play South Florida next. The Tulane Green Wave have won 5 of their last 6 road games

Winwave continues his roll while I dropped off a bit. Tulane refusing to give up cost all of us the cover when Oklahoma tacked on the final field goal after a fourth-and-long turnover.

WEEK 3 RESULTS

7

tacklethemanwiththefootball
wavetime

6

winwave

5

roll wave
charlamange8
LSU Law Greenie
DrBox
money.max

4

GretnaGreen
MNAlum
Guerry
WaveON


3

p8kpev
paliii
chigoyboy

2

diverdo

Played at Texas A&M for two years...2022: Appeared in six games ... Scored a touchdown on his first career reception, bringing in a 66-yard pass against Sam Houston ... Made two catches against App State ... Registered one catch for 15 yards at South Carolina...2021: Appeared in five games ... Made his collegiate debut against New Mexico ... Broke away for a 45-yard run against Prairie View A&M, adding a 21-yard kickoff return to set season highs.

2023: Appeared in 9 games, totaling 16 tackles (7 solo and 1 tackle for loss), 0.5 sack, and 1 forced fumble; High School: Selected to play in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game representing Corinth High School … Rated as a three-star, No. 25 player in Mississippi and No. 103 linebacker in the country per 247Sports Composite … No. 19 player in Mississippi and No. 86 linebacker nationally plus a three-star per On3 … Earned first team all-state honors and was named the MAC Region 1-4A Defensive MVP … Recorded 109 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, three sacks, six pass break ups and five forced fumbles as a senior … Helped lead the Warriors to a 14-1 record as a senior after winning a combined eight games the previous two years … Also rushed for 653 yards and 13 touchdowns and caught a pair of touchdown passes … Also ran track for the Warriors, named most outstanding sprinter