While you wait for news to break on Fritz's successor, here are interviews I conducted today previewing Tulane's critical basketball game against Mississippi State on Saturday (10:30 a.m., SEC Network):

HUNTER

On having five players averaging in double figures, the same as in his last year at Georgia State in 2018-19:

"It's very similar. A lot of things are very, very similar from that last year. It helps a lot. It doesn't help the other coach because I don't know what you take away, but it's extremely helpful when you have that."

On Mississippi State defense:

"They are a team that recently was one of the top 20 teams in the country. He's built his teams on great defense, and so we know they'll do that, and it's one of the better teams in the SEC, but this is a great opportunity for us. We're playing good basketball, so we're looking forward to it."

On defending Josh Hubbard, a 5-10 freshman guard averaging 16.0 points:

"One of the things I've always done is not so much game plan for what they do but make sure we do what we do at the top of our level. If we play well and play hard, then we'll let the results lie where they are, but I like our team, I like our chances in that regard. We know they are a great opponent, but I think they will have a lot of great respect for us. We're a veteran team, so we're looking forward to playing in State Farm Arena (in Atlanta) and see what happens."

On Forbes making two big plays late against Fordham:

"Yeah, he's getting the best defenders. They are game planning for him every single night, and his last 80 minutes are getting better and better. He's getting healthier and healthier and we're resting him at the times that we can, and meanwhile other guys are getting better. When you start worrying about what Forbes is doing, and the other four players, whether it is Collin (Holloway) or whoever, they'll step up and burn you. It's not always been that way. When Jaylen didn't get 17 the last couple of years, we didn't win a game (in 2020-21, Tulane lost its last 11 games when Forbes scored 16 or less). And Cross is also having a great year and we didn't have him in that game (a win at Fordham on Sunday). It just shows the great versatility of our team."

On Cross status:

"He's definitely back. Right now, knock on wood, everybody's playing Saturday."

On what he has really liked:

"I like our maturity, but we haven't played our best basketball. We're not shooting 3s really well right now. It's getting better, but when we put all the pieces together, we are a dangerous team now, but when you add that element to it, I don't know how you stop us offensively."

On having more than a handful of guys who can finish at the rim with contact:

"We've had a lot of these guys in the program for a long time, and when you've got veterans and they're older and they're stronger, it helps. A couple of years ago we were the youngest team in the country, and now we're one of the oldest. Guys have fully developed now, and they are smart basketball players. When you play in a league when you've had Houston the last few years and got beat up a little bit, contact doesn't bother us."

On leading nation in free throws:

"With some of the changes in the rules, we wanted to take advantage of that and drive the basketball. We've got a lot of great ball-handlers, so we get to the basket fairly easily, so you have to be able to guard at all five positions, and we want to put that pressure on you to do that. There will be days when we don't have to do that and have to find other ways to score, but that's what I love is the versatility of our offense that we've been able to score."

FORBES

On balanced scoring:

"It helps us a lot. Like you just said, there were times when if I didn't score over 15, we would definitely lose the game. Now I don't even have to attempt a shot, I feel like, and we'll win the game. That just shows you the good team we have and the hard work we put in over the summer. It's paying off.

On if huge shots down stretch against Fordham are the start of him getting his scoring rhythm back:

"I hope it's the start of it. If not, as long as we keep winning games, that's all that matters. Last year and the years before we dropped games at this time of the year. Just for us to be winning these games while I'm struggling is big for us."

On what guys were saying to each other when trailed 72-68 to Fordham before going on 15-3 run:

"March 17. Sion said it one time in the huddle and it just stuck with us since. Selection Sunday, any time we get in tough games like that, that's all we try to think about. That was a revenge game for us. They came in our house and beat us last year, so we had to make sure we got that game back."

On Mississippi State:

"It's a pretty good team. SEC school. We're going to be the underdogs of course, but it's nothing new. They are a pretty good defensive team, but we are a pretty good offensive team, too, so it's going to be a pretty good game and we're going to come out there with the win, make sure we go out there and just compete. As long as we compete, we are sure we're the better team."

On hamstring injury:

'I'm fine. The hamstring is not bothering me. It's just a matter of getting back into rhythm, not rushing shots and taking the right shot when the time comes."

On so many finishers at basket making team tough to defend:

"It's very tough because if you look at us on the roster, we don't have a bunch of size. It's just a bunch of small guys who can finish around the rim, so that just lets you know how tough we are."

On importance of this game:

"We feel like it's a must win for us. It would be a big statement win for us. A lot of people look at our schedule and say we had a cake schedule, but every game you play is a hard game no matter where it's at and who you are playing, so it will be a big game for us for sure."

On getting respect:

"We feel like we still don't get a lot of respect that we deserve. Fordham ran a defense leaving Collin wide open, and he took that very personally. It's just a matter of us coming out and earning respect from everybody. That's all."

On Tre' Williams being a point away from becoming sixth guy averaging in double figures:

"I'm pretty sure he will add that, too. Tre has been a pretty good piece for us this year coming from not playing until playing big minuets the last game. Tre's been big for us."

When do practices begin? I assume they must start soon, right? Monday? Guerry, will you be attending practices to determine our 2 Deep on both sides of the ball? Would be interesting to see what coaches are on the field too.

Assuming Sumrall brings the majority of his Troy staff with him, the question is will he retain any of the current coaches and staff? He should keep McMahon and McClesky. McM is an outstanding ST coach and should be retained. McC I was the best recruiter on WF staff. He and Brock Hays have a lot of Louisiana HS connections. Just my thoughts.

While we wait on who our coach will be Monday and beyond I’m left with a few thoughts and questions.

1. The obvious, who will our coach be?

2. Success, can it be repeated?-
Can the next guy, if there is one, be as successful as Willie? If Willie remains at TU, can he lead us to improved play, or even more consistent play going forward? Can the next guy or current, meet the current threshold Willie created and sustained the past years?

3. Will we hire someone who “threads the needles” and accomplishes the above, and leads us being a top G5 perennially? Or will the hire result in us saying these were the glory days and and loose the precious momentum and respect we gained? Do we believe Tulane can make the next great hire, or are filled with doubt from years of PTSD watching Tulane of old?

4. Can Tulane and booster show animal support the way SMU has experienced? This is critical to having the right roster year in and year out.

Guerry,

Any word on what's going on with the AD search. It's been really quiet from both the Tulane side and the media side? Thoughts on potential candidates? When would you expect an announcement from Tulane?

Also, thanks for all you do - it is much appreciated.

Roll Wave!

Hey Guerry-

Tahj Butler just posted on Twitter that he’s taking an OV with us this weekend!

I know things are hectic, but would you be able to get details from the football staff on whether this is true?

Given the news deluge today I’m not sure what’s going on anymore…

Well, in the last half hour, Coach “I’m All About Character” offered Derek Joiner to play at the glorified community college that is UH.

Joiner has since been deleting Tulane posts from his timeline.

Shitbird couldn’t even wait 72 hours before going after our recruits…

Just came out.

His buyout could pump substantial $$ into Tulane’s coffers. I was told that last year it was $10-12M. Assuming he signed an extension for $3-3.5M for 7 more years, his buyout could be in the $ 15-20M range. That is probably an optimistic number but does anyone know?

1) Willie Fritz will find out whether the grass is greener on the other side for him at Houston.

In addition to simply liking living in Houston, where his two daughters live, Fritz said in one of his Houston interviews that the lure of coaching in a Power Five conference was too great for him to pass up, which makes sense. It's why he had agreed to become Georgia Tech coach at this time last year before the Yellow Jackets' insistence on him doing an acceptance interview the week of the AAC title game and his refusal prompted them to change their mind. But another thing Fritz said often about players who returned to New Orleans from the transfer portal after going to Power Five schools was they thought the grass was greener on the other side and found out it wasn't.

Look no farther than what happened to SMU after beating Tulane for the advantages a Power Five school has over a Group of Five program. SMU went 11-2, won its nine conference games by an average of 27 points, trailed Oklahoma 14-11 on the road with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and its reward for a historic season was a date with 6-6 Boston College in Boston in late December. If you don't get the one New Year's Six bid that goes to a non-power conference team, you are screwed. The NIL advantages, the facilities advantages and the funding advantages are tremendous in the power conference world, and the gap is only going to get larger.

That said, Houston will not be an automatic fix. The Big 12 is getting weaker with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma, but Houston, a commuter school without a big fan base, has no clear advantage on the other teams in the league and has been atrophying under Dana Holgorsen for a while. Fritz will have to recruit at a high level to contend for a conference title, and I would argue he would have had a better chance to get to the playoff next year at Tulane than he will at Houston. Down the road that will change if he recruits well enough--Houston can get the 4-star guys that never would consider Tulane--but it will take hard work and a good staff around him. Fritz had found the right path to winning at Tulane, which was set to contend in the AAC for years to come if he stayed. He will have to find a new path at Houston and won't be given a lot of room for error.

2) Jon Sumrall would be at the top of my list for next coach

The Tulane job is much more attractive now than it was when Fritz left, so the pool of candidates will be good, but Sumrall checks all the boxes. He looked like a budding star when he worked for Curtis Johnson for three years, coaching well and showing an eye for talent and an ability to recruit when he landed Ade Aruna. The Sun Belt has been better than the AAC from top to bottom the past two years (not the very top--Tulane would have beaten anyone from the Sun Belt last year and I believe SMU would beat anyone from the Sun Belt this year), and Sumrall has won back-to-back titles while going 23-4. He clearly hires well, as indicated by Shiel Wood, and maybe could even be reunited with him at Tulane, although I have no idea what Wood's plans are. He could end up with Fritz at Houston or get an even bigger job. Regardless, I like everything about Sumrall. He might not stay long if he came to Tulane, but that's a good problem to have. Tulane needs to keep winning in case an opening in the ACC arises (by no means a certainty, but possible), and Sumrall could do that. He's already a proven winner. Making a mistake in this hire would be devastating.

3) The basketball team has a massive game with Mississippi State on Saturday

I will be brief here because everyone's attention is on football for obvious reasons, but Tulane debuted at No. 66 in the first NET ratings today and can move up by beating the Bulldogs, even though Mississippi State will fall out of the top 25 following its inexplicable 61-60 loss to Southern and former Ron Hunter assistant Kevin Johnson last night. Mississippi State has the size and athletic ability that can give a smaller team like Tulane fits, but Tulane can give the Bulldogs fits with its balanced scoring (all five starters average in double figures), particularly if Jaylen Forbes breaks out of a season-long slump. He had two huge baskets late against Fordham yesterday as Tulane won on the road without Kevin Cross, who rested a leg injury. If Tulane wins Saturday in Atlanta, it will have a real shot to be 12-1 entering AAC play. Let's see how the Wave fares against a team with a lot of size.

Willie better win in a big way. The last six coaches lasted an average of 3.5 years. Here is the list:

Briles. 5 years
Sumlin. 4 years
Levine 3 years
Herman. 2 years
Applewhite 2 years
Dana 5 years

Levine, Applewhite and Dana were fired with better overall records than Willie.
Briles, Sumlin and Herman jumped ship as soon as they could. Granted Sumlin and Herman left for premier jobs.
The president and Tillman micromanage the football program. Read their quotes from his presser today.

Willie better win in a big way. The last six coaches lasted an average of 3.5 years. Here is the list:

Briles. 5 years
Sumlin. 4 years
Levine 3 years
Herman. 2 years
Applewhite 2 years
Dana 5 years

Levine, Applewhite and Dana were fired with better overall records than Willie.
Briles, Sumlin and Herman jumped ship as soon as they could. Granted Sumlin and Herman left for premier jobs.
The president and Tillman micromanage the football program. Read their quotes from his presser today.

Tyler Grubbs tweeted he was coming back for his senior year and was ready to win a championship.

Grubbs post

Sources tell me Brazzell and Kai Horton have hit the portal...

A wide variety of results last week.

WEEK 12 RESULTS

7

roll wave
GretnaGreen

6

p8kpev
charlamange8
winwave
Guerry
paliii
DrBox

5

WaveON
MNAlum
diverdo
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
Wavetime

4

chigoyboy
ForeverTU

3

LSU Law Greenie

1

tacklethemanwiththefootball
Kettrade1


OVERALL STANDINGS

60.5

winwave

58.5

chigoyboy

57.5

Wavetime

56.5

paliii

55.5

roll wave
charlamange8
ForeverTU

54.5

p8kpev
2DatWuzAGoodDay2

53.5

WaveON

52.5

DrBox

51.5

LSU Law Greenie

50.5

Guerry

49.5

taclkethemanwiththefootball
Kettrade1

44.5

MNAlum (missed 1 week)

41.5

diverdo (missed 2 weeks)

40.5

GretnaGreen (missed 1 week)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane over UTSA 15 of 18
Oregon over Oregon State 11
Michigan over Ohio State 8
LSU over Texas A&M 14
Auburn over Alabama 1
Washington State over Washington 6
FSU over Florida 9
NC State over North Carolina 9

Will there be one?

I'm not sure how healthy Jha'Quan Jackson will be if he plays Saturday, but Shaadie Clayton-Johnson has looked good this week. As Tulane searches for targets in the passing game, his health should be beneficial because he is easily the best receiver among the running backs. After failing to complete 10 passes against UTSA, Michael Pratt should be very happy with Clayton-Johnson's availability.

Other than Adonis Friloux, Tulane is healthy on the defensive line. Angelo Anderson practiced today, so everyone on the original two deep up front is available except for Friloux.

Hunter Summers did indeed practiced today with the offense. I had forgotten all about him during the year, but he got reps along with Jalen Rogers and the two walk-on wideouts who have played recently. Rogers has gotten reps every single week and never made an impact, but maybe this will be the week. I doubt they will trust Summers after not using him all year. Yulkeith Brown has practiced all week, too, and should be closer to 100 percent than he was in the past two games.

When it comes to the $4.5 million question--and I have not been able to verify Tulane is willing to pay Fritz that much in an attempt to keep him from going to Houston--I do not have a concrete answer. This much I know. Fritz is Houston's top choice and will have an opportunity to interview soon after the game Saturday. The job is his if he wants it, so the ball is in his court. I doubt money is a significant issue. Facilities could be. It's a matter of whether he feels more comfortable at Houston or Tulane moving forward, and he knows he has a path to the college football playoff at Tulane starting next year. We will find out no later than Sunday what his choice is.

Today could have been a mess for practice, but light rain did not arrive until the last 15 minutes, so nothing was disrupted. This is the type of day, though, that makes an on-campus indoor facility a crying need. It would not have been a good look if practice was disrupted two days before the biggest game of the season.

I finally transcribed Pratt's long interview from Tuesday. Here it is:

On opportunity to win back-to-back titles

"It’s huge coming off last year, coming off the past few years that I’ve been here. This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we set the goal to be every single year. It’s quite the opportunity. We’re fired up to be in this situation."

On playing at home:

"The environment is huge for us, having our fans here, being at home gives us a big advantage. We are super excited to be here, super excited to be in that atmosphere, have the stadium packed out and be able to play in front of all our people."

On key:

"You have to play all four quarters. You have to have grit and take advantage of every opportunity. You gotta make the plays when they are there, so we have to play four good quarters to be able to win this game."

On what have to be wary of:

"They have a really good defense. They’ve showed that. I don’t think they have a lot of weirdness in their defense. They are a lot better structured than they were last year and past years. They seem to be very disciplined, well coached and they do a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback. They are really good in the back end. They’ve got some really good athletes. Coach Fritz talked about where they went out and got a bunch of guys in the portal, so they have playmakers all over the field. Like I just said, we have to take advantage of our opportunities, we have to hit guys when they’re open. We have to be able to pick up blitzes and have good protection and ultimately like I said just make the plays when they are there."

On if they will try to cheat up to take Makhi Hughes away from Tulane:

“Yeah, based on the film of what we’ve seen, they are a big man coverage team with a lot of cover 3, too, Ninety percent of their snaps are one-high safety, so they are going to try to fill the box and take away the run and make our players make plays, make me make throws, make our protection pick up blitzes and pick up blocks. Like I said, it will just come down to making plays. We have to make them when they’re there and do a great job in all facets of what we’re doing—running the ball, passing the ball. That’s going to be the goal.”

On significance of his taking Tulane to new heights:

“It means a lot. It’s what I came here for. I wanted to be able to fulfill a lot of those things. It’s not just me. It’s a credit to everybody else around me. It’s a credit to my coaching staff for putting me in positions to be successful, a credit to my offensive line for blocking so well the past four years and a credit to my receivers for making it easy for me by running great routes, getting open and making contested catches. From a personal standpoint, it’s exciting to me, but it speaks to the whole program itself and everybody else around me.”

On if he will remember this forever:

‘I guess that’s something I’m going to have to find out in the future, but it’s just really cool to be a part of something and be able to reach those milestones and some goals that I set.”

On significance of doing something that has not been done since 1930-31:

“It means a lot just to be in the situation to be a part of history here at Tulane football and achieve some of the things that we wanted to achieve and make history bringing Tulane back to what it used to be and just raising the bar for the future as well. It’s just something that’s really cool to be a part of.”

On drawing from last year’s game:

“Knowing what it’s going to be like here at home and having everybody here and just the extra motivation of how exciting it was last year, especially after the game when we took the final knee and everybody rushed the field, that was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Just knowing what we’re capable of and knowing the potential outcome definitely motivates us.”

On making clutch plays this year and last:

“It boosts a lot of confidence, and that’s been something we’ve experienced throughout the whole course of this whole season in a lot of games that have been really close. When the play needed to be made on both sides of the ball, the play was made, and that speaks to the guys on the team and what we’re able to do because we’ve been in a lot of those situations where we really needed to make a play to come out with a victory. It just speaks to the team and the coaching staff and everybody involved.”

On if he agrees with phrase that winning is a skill:

“I would agree with that statement. It takes a lot to win Division I football. It’s not easy. You can credit a lot of different things, but to win a game at this level is not easy. It takes it a lot, so to be able to have 11 wins on the season speaks to everybody involved and the trials and tribulations and adversity that we’ve been through and being able to come out with wins in a lot of different circumstances is good for this team.”

Smu returned a ton of tickets. And we’re expecting them to return even more. Tulane is trying to get people to buy some of those and donate them to students. They’re expecting more students than the 4,000 allotment we have. If you’re so inclined to buy some extra tickets Tulane will handle getting them to the students. If you interested call the Ari at the ticket office.

His name is Ari Gerberg
Number: 504-481-2178
Email: agerberg@tulane.edu

Mike Aresco, Rhett Lashlee and Willie Fritz spoke today previewing Saturday's AAC Championship Game

ARESCO

On if he anticipates further expansion after Army and if has discussed anything with Oregon State and Washington State:

"Adding Army was not expansion in the sense we're losing SMU to the ACC next year and we wanted to get back to 14 if we could find the right program, and Army speaks for itself as a tremendous addition to this conference. We didn't want to play with an odd number of teams where you have byes in November, and that causes all sorts of controversy. There are other issues, too, about not having an even number of teams. We kicked the tires a while back on Washington State and Oregon State and had some serious initial dialog, but the more we talked about it with our membership, the more we realized the travel in that scenario, especially in the Olympic sports and men's and women's basketball was going to be too big a burden. We don't have the resources that for instance UCLA or USC or Oregon or Washington or even Stanford and Cal where they will be traveling their teams across the country constantly in the future. We didn't feel we had the ability to do that, and if you can't charter with a lot of the Olympic sports, you are looking at 22-, 24-hour trips and you're putting your student-athletes through an awful lot. It's not the easiest thing to get to Pullman or Corvalis. We ultimately said this isn't going to work. If geography was different, it might have worked out had they wanted to be with us. They did express some interest, but we don't know what level that ultimately was, but we did talk to them about it, and ultimately I let them know before we announced that we were not going to go west. Again, the burden and the expense but mostly on the student-athletes, that's the real issue. We closed it down. We wish them well. Ultimately they'll figure something out."

On if SMU would be deserving of New Year's Six spot and whether Mustangs would actually get it if they beat Tulane:

"I really do think they would be deserving and I hope that they would get it. Without question. Strength of schedule is critical. One of their competitors literally is like 133 at the total bottom (Liberty). No P5 opponents. Records of 2-9 and 3-7. Eight of the teams they played had losing records, and we have had a really tough nonconference schedule. SMU played at Oklahoma. It was competitive midway though the fourth quarter. Let me ask you the teams that would be potentially competing with for New Year's Day would have done that at Oklahoma. And then at TCU, that's a rivalry game, and it was at TCU. That's a reputable P5 team, which has had an up and down season, but they gave Texas all the wanted. They are a real team. The point is both SMU and Tulane beat a Memphis team that lost by 7 to Missouri andthat was in St. Louis. That was essentially a road game. I could talk all day about this. SMU scored 52 points against Navy in the first half and 52 against Tulsa in the first half. What they've done in the conference is nothing short of remarkable. Obviously they don't know the status of Preston Stone, but should they win on Saturday, absolutely deserving. Our league as far as I'm concerned has the four best teams in the G5 with Memphis just being edged out by the other two and UTSA an outstanding team that was dominating its competition and then just ran into a tough game at Tulane and lost to an outstanding Tulane team with a veteran quarterback, a great coach in Willie Fritz and had a bunch of turnovers, which is not characteristic of them. Whoever wins this game will be very worth. If Tulane wins, it it almost a certainty they are the team, but if SMU should win, they should be the team, and I'll make that point all week."

RHETT LASHLEE

On update on Preston Stone:

"He had appointment actually today with a specialist to confirm what we all feared, is he broke his lower leg, so he'll be out for the remainder of the season. Really unfortunate for him. He was having a fantastic season and may have played his best two halves of football the second half at Memphis and the first half last week. He was 14 of 19 for 322 and two touchdowns in about a quarter-and-a-half. It was the most yards a quarterback's thrown in a quarter since 2019, what he did in the first quarter, so he was really clicking. His growth and development all year was exceptional, so we're really proud of how he performed. We've got some great quarterbacks in this league, but I think you could argue he's just as good as any of them. We're going to miss him. Fortunately for us, there's probably not a lot of teams that if they lost their starting quarterback, could feel as good as we do. We've got a guy who won a state championship just two years ago here in Dallas in Kevin Jennings. He's played in big-time moments this year. He came in when Preston got knocked out in the Rice game and led us on a big scoring drive in the last few minutes that was necessary to secure that win, and last year when Tanner (Mordecai) got knocked out, he came in and led us on a 90-yard touchdown drive against Memphis. You can't replace the experience and the production of how Preston was playing, but that's not what we're asking Kevin to do. We feel like we have a good team, and if Kevin will just show up and be Kevin that he's more than enough and we're excited about it."

On exact injury:

"It's the fibula, so kind of the upper ankle, lower leg. At least from everything we've been told, it's really clean. It's something that he should make a 100-percent recovery from. I don't know that he'll be back for the beginning of spring ball, but by middle of March he should be almost back up throwing and doing everything and should have a full summer and offseason and be just fine for the future. He's going to be OK long term."

On demeanor of Jennings:

"It's just kind of one of the strengths of who he is. He's just very even keel. He's the same guy every day. That's what helped him win the first DISD state title in 50 or 60 years at South Oak High School here in Dallas. It's what turned us on to recruit him when we got hired for the job, and he's been that way ever since he got here. He's super talented. He can throw it. He can run it. It's been really hard. We've got so much depth on our team, we feel like at a lot of positions this year we've had co-starters, and quarterback's one of those positions it's hard to do that, but if you could, he's talented enough to have been playing. You don't always think that about your backup. There's usually a reason they are a backup. And just the way he's handled the times he's had to come in. That's the hard thing about being a backup--you don't get the reps during the week and then you're thrown in, and he's handled that well. It's a little different when you've never started, so they'll be some probably different nerves that he'll overcome that we'll all had if we played, but that's kind of been who we are this year as a team. Next-man-up mentality. Offensively we've got a lot of good players, but it's been a different running back and receiver each week, and we had our first receiver finally have a 100-yard game in week 12 last week. Same thing on defense. I think we have over 20 guys on our defense with over 20 tackles, but at least going into the last week, we don't have a single guy in the top 25 of the league, so it's been a next-man-up mentality when guys get banged up, and it will be no different with Kevin."

On what clicked differently with defense:

"That's what we felt like from my time as OC and then even being back in the first year (as head coach), if we wanted to have a chance to compete for the championship, we couldn't just have top-10 offenses. We had to have a championship caliber defense. You look at Tulane and what they did last year, they had a championship caliber defense coupled with a big-time quarterback and running back and really good receivers, and the've done it again this year. You look at UTSA, a team that coming down the stretch they had a really good defense this year. The reality is we haven't had a top 40 defense at SMU in 40 years, so we felt like that had to change if we wanted to change our overall result as a team, and our staff did a great job. We had some really good returning players like Elijah Chatman, DeVere Levelston, Nelson Paul and Isaiah Nwokobia and on and on,, but we went out and were very aggressive in recruiting. We brought in some transfer defensive linemen that really stepped up and made a huge impact and some transfer DBs, so we feel like we upgraded our roster and added value to those guys returning on defense, and then at the same time you've got to give Scott Simons and our defensive staff a ton of the credit. Scott's.a guy when I hired him that had back-to-back top 15 defenses at Liberty, so he just needed to get one year here, get his system in place and maybe fill some holes like we did, and they were able to put guys in position and create a lot of confidence. Fortunately we were able to play some really good defense this year, and that helped us get here."

Jha'Quan Jackson practiced today. Not sure he has at full speed, but he definitely is trying to gear up to go Saturday. The previous weeks it was more hope than a real possibility. This week it is a real possibility.

I learned today that Yulkeith Brown has been dealing with a groin pull, which has been the real issue rather than the concussion that was a concern for a week. He will play Saturday and should be closer to 100 percent than he was the last two weeks, when his only reception was the long one that allowed Michael Pratt to break Tulane's career passing record.

Fritz is AAC coach of the year. Pratt is AAC offensive player of the year. Makhi Hughes is AAC rookie of the year. Tulane placed seven players on the first team, and although I was surprised Darius Hodges was there while the player who started ahead of him at the same position, Devean Deal, was relegated to honorable mention, it was a nice recognition for an 8-0 team and a pretty accurate reflection. The conference release incorrectly states Tulane and SMU had 17 players on the list (it was 18 for both).

All-AAC teams

I was yesterday years old when I realized Kam Pedescleaux was only 5-9. No idea how that slipped by me all year, but he looked really small when he came in for interviews. He is tied for the shortest scholarship player on the team. I've already done a short piece on him for The Advocate earlier in the year but will write another one tomorrow. Fritz corrected my assumption that Pedescleaux would not have been on the team if Andre Same had not transferred to LSU--Pedescleaux arrived after that happened--saying he would have been welcomed regardless. Sam played nickel some in the spring but ended up at safety, so there would have been a spot for Pedescleaux regardless, and he has had a heck of a year (Sam was pretty good for LSU, too, despite the Tigers awfulness on defense).

Fritz. Slade Nagle and Jarius Monroe talked to me after practice. I was the only reporter there, which says something about the continued lack of consistent media coverage for this team.

FRITZ

On having 18 guys on All-AAC teams:

"It's good. All those guys are very deserving. There's a couple of guys that didn't make it that are very deserving, too. It always happens this way. We spend a lot of time on who we vote for.--bviously you can't vote for your own guys--and hopefully everybody else did as well."

On Jackson's status:

"I think he is (going to play). I can't give you a definitive answer. He looks a lot better today than he did the other day, so we're hoping he can do."

On Pedescleaux:

"We were very, very, very fortunate to get him, and also he's an an excellent young man. He's just got really great instincts. He reminds me of the guy from here in town (Tyrann Mathieu) who plays out for the Saints. He's got great instincts. He knows when to get around blocks. He knows when to play the ball over the block. He's a very sure tackler. He's a good cover guy. He just does everything well, and he's really good on special teams."

NAGLE

On situation at wide receiver:

"Hopefully we get Jha'Quan back. I think Yulkeith is getting more healthy. He had a pulled groin at one point, so he's been fighting through it, but I think he's finally starting to get back to where he really feels good, so hopefully that will help us a little bit. But the guys don't flinch. Whoever's out there, they keep playing."

On offense making play when needed:

"They're just gritty. I really do. We've got grit. We've got toughness. When we have to make a play and we have to put a drive together, we have. It's been frustrating at times because we haven't been very consistent. As a staff and a group of players collectively we feel like we could have put some games away a little sooner, but you're still striving. The season's obviously not over yet, and we're still striving to get there, so hopefully we'll play more consistent this Saturday for sure."

On Hughes:

"He's an excellent player, and the greatest thing about him is he's been so durable. When you are able to carry the ball 20-plus times a game, that takes a toll on a lot of people, but he's physically built well and mentally built right. He's done an excellent job for us. I'm glad we've got him."

On Shaadie Clayton-Johnson:

"I think Shaadie has a chance to be back this week. He's been out there practicing some and looked pretty good, so we're excited about that, too, to give us a little more depth and everything."

On clock management controlling ball:

"If you look at our team, we have a good team altogether, and one of the strengths of our team is we're playing really good defense. Shiel and those guys have done an excellent job, and kind of the way we're built, especially right now with some guys out, we're built to run the ball. If we can get a few scores on the board and control the clock and be smart with things and stuff like that, that's kind of how we've approached the last month, and it's been working for us. On the flip side of that, a credit to our guys. We've been in a couple of games where we had to put together drives in the second half and score points to go win games, and they've been able to do it as well. At the end of the day the goal is just to win, no matter how you do it. I felt like Rice, North Texas, UAB, Memphis, we played pretty good on offense. It's just been tough. Any time you have good players that aren't available, it's a little tougher, but I tell you, these players are gritty and they are tough and they will do whatever it takes to win, that's for sure."

On Chris Brazzell:

"He'x extremely talented. He's played good for us all year, but obviously with those guys out, he's stepped up and played a little bit of a bigger role. I gotta give him credit. He's done an excellent job the last three weeks with preparation, he's matured and gotten better and you're seeing it on Saturday."

On plan against SMU:

"The game plan is obviously the same as what we've been. We play good team, complementary football. We don't necessarily go into the game saying, hey, let's control the clock, but we have to do calculated things that we feel like our offense can do and execute and move the chains and score points. And when you get to a certain point in the game, you make calculated decisions on how you want to play and stuff like that."

On Pratt's health:

"He's feeling pretty good. He's battled some injuries for sure all year, but right now he's as healthy as he's been."

On Pratt as AAC offensive player of the year:

"Shoot, he means so much. He really is an example of what our team is about. Mike doesn't come out every week saying I want to throw for 350, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. He just makes the plays that help you win when you need to win, and he's done that this year. If we need to put a drive together at the end of the game, he's done it. If we need to make first downs to keep churning clock and end the game, he's done it. He's been good for us, and I know he'll do a good job Saturday also."

ON SMU D compared to last year:

"First they went out and hit the transfer market and really got some talented players. They are just playing together as a whole. They look like a more disciplined team. They look like a more motivated defense. They are playing sound. You don't see as many unsound things and guys making mistakes. They are pretty good. It's going to be a big challenge, that's for sure. We're looking forward to it."

Jha'Quan Jackson, who practiced some yesterday, did not do much this morning for Tulane. I think he will give it a go Saturday if at all possible and will find out pretty quickly whether he is close to 100 percent, which will determine how much of a factor he can be against SMU. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson practiced today, and he would be a welcome addition if he can play Saturday. I'm thinking of that play against UTSA when Shedro Louis lost two yards on second-and-1 after Makhi Hughes needed a breather, and one incomplete pass later, Tulane was punting.

The offense line should have everyone available again. They used seven linemen against UTSA, with Rashad Green returning to start at right tackle, Prince Pines starting at left guard and Shadre Hurst starting at right guard. Josh Remetich (guard) and Trey Tuggle (tackle) got some downs off the bench.

There was not much new stated about the game we haven't heard before, but Fritz was asked some questions about his coaching status near the end of his 13-minute interview.

On his saying he wanted to win consistently when he arrived at Tulane and if these last two years qualify as a fulfillment of that goal:

"It got us going in the right direction for sure. This is a huge game for us. It's an opportunity for Tulane to be conference champs back to back. The last time they did that was 1930 and 1931. I don't think anybody in the room was here for that. I certainly wasn't, so this is big. The guys have worked so hard, and that's why I've been talking to them all week about just focusing on our books and football this week. These opportunities don't come around that often, so we need to prepare and play great on Saturday."

On if he is happy at Tulane:

"Yeah, why wouldn't I? (pauses). Do I look sad?

On new AD saying they want him to retire at Tulane:

"One of the things is last year I wasn't going to be a distraction. This year I'm not going to be a distraction. I hope next year you're asking me the same god dang questions and I'm not being a distraction. We're locked in on Saturday. As I said before, this is a huge game for us. That's the only thing I'm concerned about."

On if he has to address it with the team:

"I think that's a compliment to our program and all those kinds of things, but that's something that I'm not concerned about, and I don't think our guys are either. Other than having these little events right here, they probably wouldn't hear about all that stuff. I thought we kind of talked about that yesterday at the press conference, but I guess we just keep going."

On if it's better than the alternative:

"Yeah, it's much better than the alternative. That means they are going to get rid of your ass. That would be bad."

On how often people have asked him those kind of questions:

"I've been really lucky. I haven't had that."

The last question was about the game, with Fritz being asked about the times backups came in for starters and turned out to be really good. SMU will go with normal backup Kevin Jennings in place of Preston Stone, who started all 12 games this year before breaking a fibula against Navy on Saturday.

"We're just addressing it and wanting to play the very best we can play," Fritz said. "We have to play great. This kid's a great player. He's on full scholarship at SMU, they are the 25th ranked team in the country and he's their No. 2 guy. We have to play really well on Saturday to have the outcome we want to have."

Guerry,

What's the word on WF? Do you have any inside info about when Tulane will make him an extension offer and what that will look like? What are you personal thought of him potentially leaving for Houston?

Thanks in advance.

Roll Wave! 1-0