Spears practiced again today. Can't guarantee he will be 100 percent Saturday, but he looks good to go.

Michael Pratt, whose completion percentage of 66.7 percent ranks second all-time at Tulane for a single season to Shaun Kings 68.0 percent in 1998, threw a beautiful pass to Bryce Bohanon for a touchdown in 7-on-7 work. Bohanon has fallen out of the picture as of late, but maybe he will re-emerge on a deep receiving crew.

Alex Bauman was on an exercise bike when I arrived, and about 10 minutes later he was back out on the field and dropped a pass. He has a bright future but is not reliable yet.

Cornerback T.J. Huggins, who is on the scout team, made an impressive one-handed stab for an interception, flashing his old receiver skills.

FRITZ

On standing up to UCF defensive line:

"Well they are big. We just have to be able to stay on the line of scrimmage with their defensive line. Offensively they have an edge guy who's really quick and explosive. You've got to get bodies on bodies and to run the ball you've got to get a little movement, and on pass plays you've got to stay in front of them and not let them run you back to the quarterback. They are really good on both lines."

On not knowing what quarterback will play for UCF (John Rhys Plumlee on Mikey Keene):

"Obviously Plumlee's going to run the ball more than Keene, but they both run the whole offense and Keene is a very capable runner and Plumlee is a very capable passer. It's not like they just do one thing or the other, but they are probably going to run more quarterback run when Plumlee's in the game. But it's not like we're going from an Air Raid to an under-center triple option. There will be some changes, but we've seen it. There's a possibility of both guys doing both things."

On last year's 14-10 loss:

"I tell you what, I watched that game the other day and was just so proud of how hard our guys played. God, they were playing hard. We battled and battled and battled, so we need to have that same kind of effort. We just need to do a better job of converting first downs and touchdowns and getting points when we're in position to get points. They are a lot better offense than they were last year, too. It's going to be a tremendous challenge."

UCF allowed 12 TDs in 36 red zone possessions:

"They lead the nation in that category right now. We talk all the time about 4-point plays. Instead of kicking field goals, scoring touchdowns, and instead of getting touchdowns, forcing them to kick field goals. That's going to be a very important factor in the game."

On Rashad Green progression:

"He's got great feet. He's kind of a slim 290. He's got good feet and movement and stamina, and he's getting tougher by the day. He's competitive and he's very athletic. He's one of our more athletic offensive linemen."

You're just going to love next years home schedule....

Awful, just pitiful......

Tyjae Spears practiced today, and although he did not look 100 percent, he's looked that way a few times earlier this year and been completely ready for the game. Judging by his last run against Tulsa, which went for 11 years after he already had walked gingerly to the sideline after slipping earlier, he should be fine. Willie Fritz loves three-headed running back systems, so look for Spears, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson and Iverson Celestine to get plenty of touches Saturday. Celestine was not as explosive as the other two on Saturday, but he was returning from injury himself and should be more comfortable this weekend.

Nine games into the season, it is hard to find a weakness with this team. It can hurt teams in the air and on the ground, can stop the run and defend the pass, does not beat itself with penalties and covers and returns kicks well, Jha'Quan Jackson's reluctance to catch the ball against Tulsa notwithstanding.

The defense is deeper than it has ever been under Fritz. After a stretch of quiet weeks, Noah Taliancich played a lot and had a significant impact against Tulsa. Patrick Jenkins (19 tackles), Eric Hicks (19), Devean Deal (17), Tylo Phillips (15) Darius Hodges (15) Taliancich (11), Angelo Anderson (9), Kameron Hamliton (8), Keith Cooper (8) and Carlos Hatcher (7) all have at least one tackle for loss, giving the Wave a 10-man rotation up front. Jarius Monroe stepped in for the injured Jadon Canady and had a fantastic game against Tulsa, taking the lead for cornerbacks in tackles with 27 for the season. Monroe also has the most pass break-ups with five. Although Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson have played so well, you never want to see them off the field, they have very capable backups in Jesus Machado (22 tackles) and Corey Platt (17). Even the reserves who do not play a ton, like safety DJ Douglas, can make plays. He had a huge hit on a kickoff return Saturday.

On offense, the loss of right guard Kanan Ray does not appear to have affected this team at all. Josh Remetich stepped in and has played quite well. Six receivers have between 20 and 23 catches, unheard of balance around these parts, and Spears is close behind with 17.

Of the 30 statistical categories on the AAC website (strangely, turnover margin is not one of them), Tulane is in the bottom half of the league in only nine, and most of those are either insignificant or distorted. For example, the Wave is eighth in passing yards but second in passing efficiency. Also, the Wave is eighth in red zone defense the way the NCAA idiotically calcluates it (by percentage of scores, which is 15 of 18, rather than points allowed per red zone possession, which is much better since opponents have scored only 8 TDs on those possessions, the second lowest success rate in the league behind UCF's opponents (12 TDs in 36).

The other categories in which Tulane is in the bottom half of the league are field goal percentage (.667; Valentino Ambrosio was not the kicker for the first five games), punting (Casey Glover is seventh and has not been great, but opponents have returned only four of his punts for 8 yards, so his net is definitely in the top half), third-down conversion (at 40.5 percent, Tulane is seventh in the AAC but in the top half nationally at No. 57 out of 131). opponents fourth down conversions (seventh), opponents' penalties (seventh), sacks (eighth, with 14) and sacks allowed (eighth, with 20). Of all those categories, the two involving sacks are the only thing you can really nitpick, and Tulane applied good pressure to Tulsa on Saturday.

Tulane ranks first in the AAC in three critical defensive stats--yards allowed, points allowed and third-down conversion percentage, with that latter one representing a huge turnaround from recent years. The Wave also leads the league in first downs allowed and average punt return.

Fritz, Jarius Monroe and Michael Pratt talked today. I will have their quotes up soon.

A few weeks ago I was dismissive of the possibility, and while I am still skeptical, there definitely is a chance of it happening for the UCF game on Nov. 12. Tulane has gotten higher in the polls than I expected. and UCF entered at No. 25 after beating Cincinnati on Saturday. I'm not convinced UCF will beat Memphis this Saturday--I'd make that a 50-50 game just like UCF-Cincinnati--but if the Knights and Wave win, it would be one of only two games pitting ranked opponents next week. The other is Alabama at Ole Miss, but the Crimson Tide has to get past LSU in Baton Rouge this Saturday (I think Bama wins by at least two touchdowns, but I've been wrong before and may be wrong again).

The other game that would be attractive to GameDay is Purdue at Illinois. The Illini, like Tulane, are in the college football playoff top 25 for the first time ever at No. 16, so their ranking is better and their conference is higher profile. If Illinois beats Michigan State at home and Purdue beats Iowa at home, GameDay almost certainly will head to Champaigne for what would be a de facto Big Ten West Championship Game. Illinois leads Purdue by one game but plays at Michigan the following week while Purdue finishes with bottom feeders Northwestern and Indiana.

If Illinois loses to Michigan State, that game would no longer be of interest and it would come down to Tulane-UCF vs. Ole Miss-Alabama. I have a feeling GameDay would pick the latter, but they have shown a proclivity for newbies this year. If you really want GameDay to come to New Orleans, pull for an Illinois loss, an Alabama loss and a UCF win. In that scenario, Tulane-UCF would become the clear favorite.

Someone tweeted at me pointing out ESPN would rather promo a game on one of its networks than Fox or CBS, which sounded reasonable but when I did the research, it fell apart. Here is where GameDay has gone this season:

Ohio State-Notre Dame ABC

Texas-Alabama Fox

Appalachian State ESPN+

Tennessee-Florida CBS

Clemson-NC State ABC

Kansas-TCU FS1

Tennessee-Alabama . CBS

Oregon-UCLA Fox

Jackson State-Southern no TV

Georgia-Tennessee CBS

ESPN owns ABC, so that means three of the 10 games were on an ESPN network, three were on Fox, three were on CBS and one was on nothing. Clearly, promoting an ESPN product is not a significant consideration when they choose the site.

Team looked solid. Had a few lulls which let UMBC back in but I never felt like the team was in jeopardy to lose the game.

What is the status of Cook, Holloway, and Daniels? They didn't play last night

I am writing a feature on Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson together.

What other linebacker duos at Tulane would you compare them to? They are combining individual and team success at an incredibly high rate this year.

Nothing much to report from practice today. Tyrek Presley and Shi'Keem Laister continued to get plenty of reps at cornerback in case they need to play meaningful downs Saturday at Tulsa. Tulane is favored by 7.5, second to its 12-point favorite status against USF three weeks ago as the largest point spread in its favor for an AAC road game since it joined the league in 2014. Before this year, the largest was 6 at Temple in 2019, a game where Justin McMillan played terribly and the Wave went through the motions in a 29-21 loss. Regardless of the score this time, that will not happen. The only other time Tulane was favored by more than a field goal in an AAC road game was at ECU in 2017, the one year The Advocate paid for my to go to every road game. Tulane won 31-24 in OT.

Due to a scheduling change, Matt Forte was not at practice today. I talked to linebackers coach Mike Mutz.

MUTZ

On Dorian Williams saying Mutz told him and Nick Anderson they could be the best linebacker duo in Tulane history on their recruiting visit:

"I remember having a conversation with both of them that same weekend. It was a Saturday in my office. We talked about what their future could be, and I saw a lot of untapped greatness in both of them and why not set the bar as high as you can set it. That's what they have attempted to achieve."

On what he saw in them:

"I think we got (Williams) to 190 on the recruiting visit after the Mulates dinner. 190 might be a little strong, but when you meet both of those kids, the first thing that jumps is out is what high-character, wonderful young men they are. Guys with high character have limitless potential. Limitless. And I was so impressed the first time I spent time with either one of them, and their families. They have wonderful, wonderful families. They were guys we really wanted in this program and felt could not only elevate our program. They have the rare quality to make the people around them better, and that's really the mark of greatness when you have an effect of making the people around you better."

On Nick Anderson saying he almost got a penalty congratulating Jesus Machado for a big play he made against Memphis:

"Yeah, it's a group of 10 young men that are very good friends and genuinely care about each other and respect each other. It doesn't matter Washington D.C., Florida, Mississipp, they get along so well, and that just says a lot about the chemistry that they want and the character of them. They are just such a joy to coach."

On Dorian:

"He has never not had a smile on his face. He just loves playing, and it's so fun to coach kids that love playing because they hang on every word you try to impart and every bit of wisdom you try to give them. They have an incredible thirst to improve. It's like I'm never good enough. They are not anywhere near the potential that they can be (in their minds). They just continue to ascend. He always makes me smile because he's always having a good time out there. You love to watch guys that love to play the game because they are playing for the right reasons and not anything external. It's just the joy of this great game that touched us from a very young age."

On Nick Anderson:

"On the field his toughness is just unbreakable. His will is so strong, and one of the greatest leaders I've ever had the privilege to coach, and it just radiates. His toughness is infectious because he demands it. If you are going to be in that huddle, you are going to be at his standard."

On future with Jesus Machado and Corey Platt:

"You think back to the game in Manhattan, they played almost the whole second half because the other two were trying to get IVs in them to stop cramping. That's arguably the second best team in the Big 12 and we didn't miss a beat. Those guys have limitless potential as well, and they are young kids."

(I asked Mutz if Anderson and Williams were the best LB duo he had coached, but that's an unfair question because he would have to downgrade other really good guys he coached to lift them up. He wouldn't go there, mentioning Nico Marley, Rae Juan Marbley and Zach Harris by name and saying they passed a tradition down.)

I tweeted earlier today about Tulane's defense having committed zero penalties through three games, which is incredible. I cannot recall covering a unit that started the year without a flag for three games in a row, although there is no way to verify it.

Overall, Tulane ranks 14th nationally in fewest penalties per game (4.33) and 10th in fewest penalty yards per game (33.33)

Here are the penalties Tulane has committed. I will keep a running game-by game tally.

UMass (6)

False start (not ID's in official play by play, but I believe it was one of the Watts twins)

Hold on punt return (No ID, but apparently it was Shi'Keem Laister)

False start (Tyjae Spears)

Personal foul on kickoff coverage (Darius Hodges)

Hold on punt return that negates TD by Jha'Quan Jackson (No ID, but apparently Shi'Keem Laister)

False start (Chris Brazzell)

Alcorn State (4)

False start (Sincere Haynesworth)

Hold (Haynesworth)

False Start (Trey Tuggle)

False start (Sully Burns)

Kansas State (3)

False start (Spears)

Hold (Shae Wyatt)

Hold (Will Wallace)

4) USM (2)

Hold Duece Watts

Hold Alex Bauman

(interference on Jadon Canady declined)

5) Houston (4)

False start Haynesworth

Hold Jadon Canady on punt return for TD

Face mask Alfred Thomas

False Start Rashad Green

6) East Carolina (7)

Personal foul Lance Robinson

Block below waist Tyrek Presley (kickoff return)

False start Joey Claybrook

False start Prince Pines

Horse collar Macon Clark

Delay of game on punt (intentional)

Kick catch interference (Jesus Machado)

7) South Florida (4)

Illegal motion Duece Watts

False start Alex Bauman

Intentional grounding Michael Pratt

Holding on punt return (no ID)

8) Memphis (4)

Holding on kickoff Keith Cooper

Illegal substitution offense

False start Dea Dea McDougle

Personal foul Angelo Anderson

(Memphis was not penalized at all in this game)

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

Tulsa (+7.5) Tulane
Georgia (-8.5) Tennessee
LSU (+12.5) Alabama
Notre Dame (+3.5) Clemson
Kansas State (+2.5) Texas
Oklahoma (-3.5) Baylor
Memphis (+3.5) UCF
SMU (-3.5) Houston

The Jarius Monroe interception in the end zone gave Tulane its seventh cover in eight games, tied for the best mark in the country. Meanwhile, a Kansas State receiver dropped a TD pass that would have given them a potential cover. The other six games were more straightforward. Ny oscar is on a roll.

WEEK 8 RESULTS

8

ny oscar

7

LSU Law Greenie

6

WaveON
diverdo
roll wave
paliii

5

winwave
DrBox
MNAlum
wavetime
p8kpev
charlamange8
Guerry

4

Kettrade1
Gretna Green

3

chigoyboy
tacklethemanwiththefootball


OVERALL STANDINGS

46.5

DrBox

45.5

charlamange8

44.5

ny oscar

42.5

winwave
WaveON

41.5

MNAlum

40.5

chigoyboy

39.5

Guerry

38.5

roll wave

38

paliii (missed 1 week)

37.5

Gretna Green

36.5

diverdo (missed 1 week)

33.5

wavetime (missed 1 week)

32

LSU Law Greenie

31.5

p8kpev

30.5

tacklethemanwiththefootball

24.5

Kettrade1

23.5

2DatWuzAGoodDay2 (missed 2 weeks)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 15 of 17
Cincinnati 15
Syracuse 8
Oregon 6
LSU 3
Oklahoma State12
East Carolina 6
TCU 8

I started a practice report yesterday but had to abandon it quickly when I realized how much work I had to do, so I will get everything in here.

Tulane is No. 19 in the first college football playoff rankings, which is a little higher than expected considering past committees' low opinion of Group of Five conference teams. The Wave's win over No. 13 Kansas State obviously is a huge factor in the ranking, which matches Tulane's AP poll position. Ultimately, it does not matter where the Wave is ranked. Whoever wins the AAC will get the spot in the Cotton Bowl that goes to the best G5 champion, but it is great publicity for the program to be the highest ranked G5 team by six spots over UCF. If this were 2026, that spot would be one of the 12 playoff spots. I'm wondering what Tulane's ceiling would be in the rankings if it wins out. I'm thinking around No. 10 with wins against Kansas State, UCF, Cincinnati and an opponent in the AAC Championship Game among them. It would help if Kansas State reached the Big 12 Championship game, which is likely if the Wildcats split their next two games against Baylor and Texas, which are a game behind the Wildcats and have tougher schedules the rest of the way.

Kentrell Webb is practicing, so reports of his demise (with a season-ending injury) have been greatly exaggerated. He is the backup nickel and is getting a few reps at cornerback, where the top backups are Shi'Keem Laister and Tyrek Presley. I did not see Kiland Harrison at all today, but Willie Fritz said he was practicing primarily at nickel as a backup. I will look for him tomorrow. There will be no official update on Jadon Canady, by the way, until right before kickoff Saturday.

Here's Fritz on Laister and Presley:

"They've been working all year. Tyrek is a big, tall, long, fast, and the same thing with Shi'Keem Laister. It will be interesting to see. They've played a little bit and done a nice job. There are some things they do really well in practice. Obviously they are just a little inexperienced."

An interesting factoid in Tulane's weekly notes is that the Wave has 20 players with at least one catch, tying Michigan for the most in the country. I wrote a feature a couple weeks ago on the Wave's numerous receiving options, but I did not know that number. At wide receiver, though, the Wave is down to six options. Shae Wyatt, Duece Watts and Jha'Quan Jackson start, with Lawrence Keys and Dea Dea McDougle playing a ton and Bryce Bohanon getting some time. The other guys no longer are in the picture, with Phat Watts injured and Chris Brazzell and Jalen Rogers not getting reps. I saw Brazzell out there today but did not see Rogers, who may be hurt.

It looks like Josh Remetich will retain the starting right guard spot he won over Trey Tuggle in practice before the Memphis game. The rest of the offensive line is the same as usual.

Levi Williams got plenty of reps at running back today, but Fritz said Iverson Celestine would play against Tulsa. The depth chart is Tyjae Spears-Shaadie Clayton-Johnson-Celestine-Williams if they are all available.

Tulane's four starters on the defensive line against Memphis all have between 14 and 15 tackles this year--Tylo Phillips (15), Patrick Jenkins (14), Eric Hicks (14) and Darius Hodges (14). Interestingly, reserve end Devean Deal has the most tackles among the linemen with 17 and he missed one game entirely while serving as a backup in the other seven. It is a deep group, with sometime-starter Angelo Anderson, Keith Cooper, Carlos Hatcher, Noah Taliancich and Elijah Champaigne all capable of contributing up front.

Matt Forte will be at practice tomorrow along with Bruce Murray, a Sirius XM and NFL Network contributor who is a Tulane grad. I will try to get an interview with Forte.

Here is the rest of Fritz from today. I also talked to Dorian Williams, and yesterday they brought in Nick Anderson, Macon Clark and Michael Pratt. There transcripts will come in the next post.

FRITZ

On open date coming at perfect time:

"I think so. You never know, but I thought it was good just to really reset mentally. Give them a little bit of time off. A lot of guys went home for a couple of days. Some of them just relaxed and were a couch potato on Friday night and Saturday. It's good."

On Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams:

"They were guys we looked at a whole bunch because of those different reasons you were talking about (I prefaced it with Williams being an under-200-pound safety in high school and Anderson being a Juco guy who was a little heavy for his size at the time). They both have got good size now. Dorian was a 191 maybe on his visit. Now he's 225, 230. What we do is very complex, and both those guys are really smart, intelligent players. They are both excellent students, too. Probably something that goes unnoticed maybe is they both are really good in the kicking game, and that's why I feel like they both have the opportunity to play at the next level. I'll be shocked if they don't get an opportunity, and I'll be surprised if they don't make it. I really think they can play at the next level. They are just the complete package. They are also just really involved with helping the community. They are both servant-leaders. They are two-year captains, which you don't have very often. They were elected captains last year with Sincere and Michael and I didn't even have another vote this year. Nobody said anything to me and I said here's what we're going to do. Just overall, I can't think of a weakness in either one of them's games."

On what they do around the scenes:

"That's the culture we always want to have in our program and the kind of student-athletes we want to have in our program. When your better players are that way, it makes it easier for me as a head coach to promote those things."

On Nick Anderson jump:

"I'm an old junior college coach, and Nick was only there for a semester. It wasn't like he was there for a couple of years. The schemes we run are a lot more complex, and we had a good group of linebackers in Marvin Moody and Kevin Henry. We had a bunch of really good linebackers and they all kind of learned together. The special teams, he really made a mark in that area, and they both play extremely hard, too. Everybody thinks everybody plays hard, but they really play hard. There are a lot of guys who don't play hard. Shoot, you watch the NFL and see guys that don't play very hard. These guys play extremely hard, so that also makes them the complete package."

On Tulane being 19 in college football playoff rankings:

"We're just trying to keep that focus on Tulsa and going 1-0. I know that's not fun to hear, but that's what we have to do in order to be successful. I've told these guys all the time we're not going to roll the ball out and just whip people. We have to prepare. We've had a great week-and-a-half of preparation, and then we got to flip the switch at 11:02 or whatever time we're playing."

I'd love to hear the various perspectives here.

With November here and coaching carousel starting to turn, what's going to happen with Coach Fritz?

We know he interviewed at Arkansas and Missouri after the 2020 season, and was then forgotten about after last year's debacle.

Could he become a hot commodity once again?

My gut says he's not high on many lists - not because of his ability/record, but because of his age. I'd honestly be surprised to see him want to jump to a bottom-feeding P5 team with a short leash so close to retiring.

What does everyone see happening?

I looked only at the first half because Tulane relaxed after halftime and stopped tackling or playing with the same intensity on defense and lacked aggressiveness on offense. The lead was big enough that it ultimately did not matter, although an onside kick recovery or one mistake on the drive for a field goal might have painted a different story.

My thoughts on the first half:

--What a beautiful play design on the pass to Tyrick James on the second play. After a handoff to Tyjae Spears, Tulane took advantage of the hyper focus on Spears and faked a lateral to him as James ran a in route in the other direction for 16 yards. The play design has been better under this offensive staff than any other one under Fritz, and this was the latest example. Three plays later, Tulane had three receivers lined up in a bunch formation to the left and Pratt threw a quick strike to Lawrence Keys on the far right, again taking advantage of Memphis expecting a play to the other side. That one gained 10 yards.

--Good things came in twos for the Wave in the first half. Two Memphis receivers got their hand on the ball but neither held on to it on the Tigers' third snap, leading to a 3 and out. The tight end tried to grab it with one hand, and the ball ricocheted to a receiver who should have held on to the ball but failed to do so. Linebacker Dorian Williams, Tulane's MVP to this point in my book, got 33 yards downfield to break up a pass he thought he should have intercepted on one snap, then blitzed on the next one and pressured Seth Henigan into an incompletion. Williams is such a versatile player, and he does everything well. He also defended a wheel route of the backfield perfectly. On a touchdown drive, Pratt made a nice quick throw to Jha'Quan jackson on an in route, then immediately hit him with a quick thrown on an out route for back-to-back first downs. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson had a hellacious block on a Jackson run later in the drive, and Clayton-Johnson knocked a defender backwards after being stopped short of the goal line on the next play, bulling his way into the end zone.

--Jackson's 90-yard punt return for a TD was terrific. He had good blocking, but he made the first man miss by running around Jarius Monroe and using him as a shield, got by a second defender, then made a gorgeous cut to the outside that left multiple players in their tracks. Once he got to the outside, it was all over. Not many players would have scored on that punt.

--Tulane's kick coverage was outstanding, too. DJ Douglas blew up the next kickoff return, forcing Memphis to start at its 14.

--Although Memphis picked up three its four first-half first downs on the next drive, Tulane had three big hits. Lance Robinson and Monroe clobbered the same receiver on back-to-back catches before Macon Clark forced a fumble with another massive hit. That type of tackling has been the Wave's trademark all year.

--Lawrence Keys and Dea Dea McDougle give Tulane the ability to make guys miss after catches the Wave simple did not have in the past. Keys juked a defender on a reverse to pick up a first down on a play that would have gone for minimal gain with a guy like Jaetavian Toles.

--Tyrick James, another complete player, threw the key block on Spears' walk-in touchdown that made the score 21-0.

--Bailey Despanie almost had an interception on a overthrown pass after Nick Anderson pressured Henigan into a bad throw. In the past, Tulane was dead when its backups played. That simply has not been the case this year, and that depth had been a huge factor in the Wave's success. Despanie does not play a whole lot, but he is productive when he is out there. In another example of strong reserve play a little later, DeVean Deal showed good pursuit to make a tackle on a first-down run and linebacker Jesus Machado tackled a runner 1 yards short of a first down on third down. Tulane's tackling totals on the D-line show incredible balance: Deal leads with 17, followed by Tylo Phillips (15), Patrick Jenkins, Eric Hicks and Darius Hodges (14 apiece). Noah Taliancich and Keith Cooper have eight tackles. Carlos Hatcher and Angelo Anderson have seven. That's nine guys who have been factors up front.

--Just about the only first-half negative came on a 3 and out in which Shae Wyatt, who had a nice catch and run to set up Tulane's first TD, was weak with the ball after catching a pass on a deep post and had it stripped from him. That was an incomplete pass that should have been Tulane's longest play of the day. On third down, Joey Claybrook got overpowered for a sack. He has been victimized more than a few times like that this year.

--I am not concerned about Tulane's starting cornerbacks without Jadon Canady. Robinson made an outstanding play to knock a ball into the air that Larry Brooks picked off, setting up Tulane's fifth touchdown of the first half, which proved to be very important. Robinson and Monroe are capable of playing at a very high level the rest of the way. They just have to avoid injury.

--Shaadie Clayton-Johnson had a huge run on fourth-and-3 on the fourth TD drive, breaking three tackles and surviving running up the back of teammate Alex Bauman to pick up a first down when he would have been short if he had not broken all of them. Clayton then had an 18-yard run thanks to a very good block by Trey Tuggle, who was subbing for Claybrook at left tackle. There was yet another example of Tulane's depth.

--Pratt was sharp for the entire first half, and he capped it off when a nice back-shoulder throw to Duece Watts in the corner of the end zone. Watts made a nice adjustment to catch the ball, too. Pratt now leads all AAC quarterbacks in efficiency.

--The half ended, appropriately, on a sack by Cooper. It was the best half Tulane has played in the Fritz era.

it was posted on YOGWF that Celestine tweeted that Canaday is injured and wishes him a full and speedy recovery. it included a photo of Canaday with a knee brace on. It has since been deleted. Please check into this Guerry. We need him for this stretch run.

My quick thoughts on each AAC contender

1) Tulane

--The Wave is the most complete team in the league, able to win with defense, the running game and the passing game. The only real concerns are the lack of sacks, which puts a lot of pressure on the secondary, and the run blocking at times. Tyjae Spears is a heck of a player, but his average per carry is down considerably from the past. We also don't know whether or not Valentino Ambrosio will make a pressure kick. He was pretty good at Rutgers, but those leg injuries can linger, and a recurrence could limit his effectivenes.

2) Cincinnati

--The Bearcats have the most talent from top to bottom and know how to win, but they do not have as much margin for error as in the past two years, and they make a lot of errors. Always among the nation's leaders in penalties, they are numero uno in that category this year with a whopping 86.3 penalty yards per game. Without Desmond Ridder, do they have enough playmakers on offense to win the league for the third year in a row? I'm not sure. I actually have not see Cincinnati play all year.

3) Houston

--Everybody loves to hate on Dana Holgorsen, and he brings a lot of that criticism on himself with his behavior and his team's general lack of discipline, but as I pointed out above, Cincinnati actually gets penalized more than the Cougars. I like Clayton Tune, and Houston has the best wide receiver in the AAC in Nathaniel Dell. Maybe the sloppiness that has hurt Holgorsen's teams in the pass will bring the Cougars down again, but I don't see them losing to USF, Temple, Tulsa, SMU or East Carolina. One slip-up almost certainly would knock them out of title contention, though.

4) Central Florida

--I'm simply not a Gus Malzahn believer. UCF has a lot of talent, but his teams do not throw the ball consistently well and come to a grinding halt when teams slow down the running game. The Knights have a pretty good chance to beat Cincinnati at home today (I'm not picking it, but it feels like a 50-50 game), but I don't see them coming to Yulman and beating Tulane.

5) East Carolina

_-I watched all of the Pirates game against BYU last night and was unimpressed. Keaton Mitchell is an incredible running back, but Holton Ahlers is overrated and the defense is mediocre. East Carolina has to run the table to get in position to reach the championship game, and I cannot see the Pirates beating Houston AND Cincinnati. Maybe one of them, but not both.

At the moment, I have Tulane entering its game at Cincinnati undefeated in the league, the Bearcats being 6-1 and Houston finishing 7-1. That would mean Tulane would have to beat the Bearcats to host the championship game against Houston. A Wave loss would sent it to Cincinnati the following weekend for a rematch.

Just talked to Chuck Sullivan in the AAC office (a great guy by the way, but that's not really relevant here) to get clarification on the AAC tiebreaker scenario, which is convoluted because they still have all the COVID contingencies that no longer are relevant.

The scenario I presented him was Tulane losing at Cincinnati to fall to 7-1 in the conference, with Cincinnati and Houston also finishing 7-1 to create a three-way tie that cannot be resolved by head-to-head because Houston and Cincy don't play. In that very specific case, the tiebreaker would be the average of four computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Billingsley, Colley and Wolfe) that would be adjusted right after the final game. Normally the tiebreaker would be the previous week's Football Playoff Championship rankings, but since Tulane would have lost its last game--necessitating an impending drop--and the new rankings would not come out until Tuesday night. it would be logistically impossible to wait that long to determine the conference championship matchup, so they would use the computers instead.

For what it is worth, Tulane looks good to make the game in that scenario. Anderson & Hester has not come out with its first ranking, but here are the current rankings of the other three computers:

Billingsley: Cincy 11, Tulane 34, Houston 50

Colley: Tulane 17, Cincy 27, Houston 46

Wolfe: Tulane 19, Cincy 25, Houston 38

Houston is nowhere close to Tulane in any of the three available computer rankings, and beating ECU, SMU, Temple, USF and Tulsa would not help the Cougars move up a whole lot. Tulane would play at Cincinnati in the championship game because after the two teams are selected, the tiebreak reverts back to head to head when applicable, which it would be in this case.

In another scenario, if Tulane, Cincinnati and Houston end up tied because Tulane loses a conference game but beats Cincinnati, Tulane automatically would be the host based on beating both of the other two teams.

The bottom line is this: If Tulane finishes with only one conference loss (obviously going undefeated is the ideal scenario), there appears to be no way the Wave will be kept out of the championship game. If UCF (which also does not play Houston), the other 1-loss team, beats Tulane and wins out, it is hard to imagine Tulane finishing behind both UCF and Houston in the Nov. 22 Football Championship rankings, or if none of them are ranked, the computer polls. There cannot be a four-way tie with one loss because Cincinnati and UCF play this week and both still have to play Tulane, making that scenario impossible regardless of the results in those head-to-head matchups.

Even if you did not follow all of what I just wrote, the points to remember are these two:

1) Tulane basically cannot miss the championship game if it loses only one conference game.

2) There is a strict formula, so there will be no favoritism shown or any leeway whatsoever for the commissioner to choose a returning member over the departing members.

He must have liked what he saw this past weekend, because he's our newest commit!

Joining Makai Williams and Dickson Agu, the cupboard will NOT be bare when we lose Nick and Dorian after this season!
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Tulane practiced at Yulman Stadium this morning and Willie Fritz, Michael Pratt and Eric Hicks talked after it. The Wave will have closed workouts tomorrow and Thursday, then take the weekend off before beginning regular game-week preparation for Tulsa.

Fritz elected not to say Jadon Canady was out for the year when I asked about him, mentioning they were doing tests on him this week.

FRITZ

"Great win for us on Saturday. It was a fantastic atmosphere. It's what we've wanted to have happen here at Yulman, and I've said many times before, it's a hidden gem here in New Orleans. Every seat is a great seat and then you come to the game and see the atmosphere on campus and everything else, you enjoy it and come back again and again. Obviously we had a fantastic first half. I blame myself a little bit for taking a little bit off the accelerator in the second half. We started out a little bit slow, and sometimes you get out of rhythm doing that and it's hard to get back into it, but at the end of the game the guys did a great of running the clock out. We ran the ball when everybody in the stadium knew we were going to run, and a win's a win. It's a big win for us. We're excited about it. We're using the off week to get ourselves better. We're working on Tulsa a little bit as well. They are playing this weekend (against SMU) and then we'll jump all the way into them next Monday, but right now we're working on us. There are some things we do with analytics. What's working. What isn't working. Is it because of the players or because of the scheme? Was there a mismatch in there? What are some things we can change and do different. We study other people who run similar type offense, defense, kicking game, see maybe some things they are doing, so there are a lot of things we can do in a bye week along with recruiting, which I'm excited about doing this week starting in an hour."

On if there is a specific example where analytics have won him a game:

"Oh, they help you win. They are just another tool, using analytics. There are certain plays. Years ago I had an assistant coach, and he told me we needed to start running zone defense when we were playing goal line defense because we weren't very successful with it. I went back and broke it down. This was a long time ago. We had to do it shorthand and had chicken scratch up there. He was incorrect. We should have run it every time. Our opponents were 1 of 12 with one completion for 5 yards and we had two interceptions. So what he thought was the case was 100-percent wrong. That's what you want to see. I sometimes get guys, 'oh, we're good at this.' How good? is my response almost every time. Oh, we're 71 percent good on this. If we're 30-percent good, we probably ought to get rid of it, so that's the analytics part of it we try to do."

On Jadon Canady:

"He's still getting looked at with the doctors."

On Iverson Celestine:

"Hopefully he's going to be fine. This is a good time for a bye week for both of those guys."

On bye coming at good time:

"I think it's good. I like having it at the three-quarter point if I had my choice. Obviously I don't get the choice on it, but it's a good time right now for us to do it. We took a little time off when he had the Friday game (against Houston), but there's a lot of stuff to do with recruiting and analyzing yourself and still analyzing your opponent and looking at some other people and what they're doing. There's always something to do."

PRATT

On playing in front of sellout crowd:

"It was really exciting having all the people in the stands. That was definitely the most packed I've ever seen it here, obviously coming in the COVID year and last year when he had re-located and whatnot. It was a really cool environment."

On biggest difference this year:

"The leadership and the team morale and attitude. Just the way that we jelled with each other and the relationships have been bonded, just the togetherness in the locker room. That's really made the biggest differences. I think all the pieces were there. We just couldn't really put them together last year, but that's come along a lot."

On relationship with coaches:

"100 percent. Relationship with coaches is huge. They are trying to make what they can kind of fun for us and just different ways to learn."

On bye week goal:

"We just have to stay focused. That's going to be the biggest thing. Preparation is going to be a huge aspect of that. The bye week couldn't have come at a better time. It's giving guys some time to relax and get 100 percent healthy. It's exciting to have the weekend off and relax and watch some other football, but we've got to stay locked in and take advantage of these next few days and our opportunity before we get into the weekend and just go from there."

On first drive against Memphis being 11 play TD drive:

"That was one or our biggest emphasis going into this game was that we had to start fast. Coming out on that first drive we did everything that we practiced all week. Our top plays we came out and executed. Everything looked good, and we marched down the field and got that score, which was huge to start off the game."

On being QB of nationally ranked team:

"It's really cool just to be a part of our program in general, no matter what your play, no matter what your role. It's just a really cool environment, a cool atmosphere. seeing everybody around here really excited for us."

On if he saw this season coming in spring:

"Yeah. Honestly I did. I knew that we had the talent. I knew we had everything we needed. It came down to leadership and accountability. Since our last game last year, the way that everybody locked in and took leadership roles and stepped up, I believe that really was a positive."

HICKS

On bye week coming at good time:

"Yes, it's a great time to have a bye week and get refreshed and recovered, get our minds and bodies right for the next couple of games."

On key to success:

"The biggest key is being consistent and working hard every day, not taking things for granted, just continuing to work hard and getting together as a team and not being down on ourselves when we mess up on plays and just continuing to fight. That's very important for us and has been going very well for us."

On first half against Memphis the best half he has been involved in:

"Yes, since I've been here that's been the best half. We were ready to come out and were just fired up ready to play. We had two or three turnovers in the first half, which really helped us. We flew to the ball and the offense did their job as a whole unit."

On feeding off crowd:

"For me, that's the first time seeing a sellout. When I saw that, I was surprised."

On maintaining that energy away from home:

"We just need to keep being us no matter the atmosphere, just keep doing what we've been doing. Don't worry about outside talk. If we do that, we'll do our job."

On what happened second half:

"We just put our foot off the gas. We had it rolling in the first half, so we have to stay consistent. It's definitely a lesson for us that we can't let up no matter what. We have to keep doing wht we've been doing the whole time. Saturday it didn't feel good after the game. We were grateful for the win, but as a team the second half wasn't good for us."

On first place in AAC:

"I just keep my head down and keep working, that's all. I'm happy that we're in first place, but we just have to continue doing what we've been doing."

On possibility of winning championship:

"It would be huge. First time ever I believe. That would be huge for the football program, huge for the school and huge for the team."

On his year:

"I feel like I've played my role very well. It was upsetting for Adonis to be out the first week, and I had to take on the challenge, do my role and play my part, whether that's being nose guard, tackle, whatever the team needs. I'm going to be in that position."

On depth up front:

"I think it helped very well for us on the defensive front. Being able to roll guys and stay fresh is very important for our defensive front to continue to play the way we need to play."

Willie Fritz said it all in his opening statement after Tulane jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead for homecoming and held on to beat Memphis 38-28, surviving one anxious moment in the fourth quarter.

"Real good first half, real bad second half. Any questions?"

Yep. Tulane was awesome in the first half, causing three turnovers, forcing three straight three and outs, scoring on two long touchdown drives and getting a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown by Jha'Quan Jackson. Memphis is a pretty good team that easily could have, and probably should have been 6-1 entering the game.

Tulane was awful in the second half, save for one excellent drive thanks to Tyjae Spears that resulted in what was essentially a clinching field goal, although any long-time fan (or, for that matter, anyone who watched the home games against Navy in 2018 and 2020) had to be nervous all the way until the Jarius Monroe interception in the final seconds that allowed the Wave to cover the point spread and kept Memphis from trying an onside kick that would have scared the bejesus out of everyone regardless of how little time was left. I have no explanation for why the defense gave up touchdowns on four consecutive drives and stopped tackling well.

Ultimately, though, Tulane is 4-0 in the AAC with a half-game lead on Cincinnati, a game lead and a game-and-a-half lead on UCF and Houston. I have a feeling the championship game--if Tulane gets there--will be a rematch with Houston at Yulman Stadium (have you checked the Cougars' paper-thin schedule the rest of the way?), but there's a lot of football to be played before we know anything for sure.

Fritz, Dorian Williams, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson and Jha'Quan Jackson talked after the game.

FRITZ

"Real good first half, real bad second half. Any questions?" I thought we played excellent in the first half. We did a great job in the kicking game. Huge punt return by 'Quan. Great kickoff coverage all day. Nice play by Lawrence Keys on the muffed punt. Good clutch field goal by Valentino (Ambrosio) in the fourth quarter. I kind of slowed us down a little bit the second half. I wish I hadn't. I wish I would have picked a better play on that fourth-and-short when we were backed up, but I didn't. Good job by the guys. Big play at the very end of the game by Jarius Monroe. Good job by the hands team with 'Quan. Everybody did a good job of getting body on body and getting the ball out of bounds. A lot of good things, but there were some things we need to correct, but as always it's better to do it from a win than a loss."

On how Tulane reacted to being ranked for the first time in 24 years (he ignored my question):

"Played great the first half. The kids were pumped. We appreciate everybody who came out to the game. We'll be at home here in a few more weeks (against Tulsa on Nov. 12). Hopefully we'll get a bunch of people back. As I've said many times before, this stadium is the hidden gem in New Orleans. Every seat's a perfect seat. It gets loud."

On defense in second half:

"You know, we came really close on a bunch of plays. I think there were four different times with Nick, with Patrick Jenkins, with (Darius) Hodges, one time with Angelo (Anderson), they almost sacked the guy. The guy just got out. He does a nice job finding the crease and taking off and running. He did that a bunch of times. We're bending and we broke a few times. Not too many big plays. We had a couple missed tackles. One time we went for the ball instead of tackling the man with their last touchdown. Third downs kind of got us. One drive I think they converted three third downs (did not happen, but they did convert three fourth downs combined on their last two TD drives). We'll look at it and see. There's some good stuff we did defensively, too."

On getting ball in Spears' hands on field goal drive:

"He did a really nice job. There were a couple of runs he didn't quite run it where it was intended to run but he made a nice run out of it. One time he gained about 20 yards, and our coaches (said) 'where is going? Good run.'He makes some stuff happen. He's a very talented young man."

On if this was one of best offensive performances he's ever coaches:

"We had a very good first half without question against a difficult opponent. They had an opportunity to come in here at 6-1. We knew they were good. They had a couple really tough losses, but we played great in the first half, no question about it."

On if this is the best first half in his career (the questioner was not going to stop until he got a firm answer):

"I'm thinking about it. I know it's the best first half we've had here. I'm positive about that."

On Josh Remetich starting over Trey Tuggle in place of Kanan Ray:

"Unfortunately Kanan Ray is out for the season. He (Remetich) had a good week of practice, and Trey played quite a bit, too (I never saw him play other than on extra points and field goal). We're happy that he's back. Josh has started a lot of games here. He's fully healthy now, so that's good for us."

On if things change expectation-wise when team is ranked:

"Oh I don't know. It's the first time I've been ranked here. The guys were excited about it. I certainly don't think it's a negative. We talked about it a bunch about how we've got be 1-0 and if you want to continue to be ranked, you've got to keep winning."

On if this is what he envisioned:

"Oh yeah. We'd come close. There'd been some seasons where we came close to 8, 9, 10 wins and just didn't get it done, but yeah, I certainly felt like this was possible all along."

On if it is good that second-half issues give them something to focus on going into open date:

"Yeah, there's going to be a lot for us to work on this week. I certainly would have been OK doing the same thing in the second half. We didn't. We've got to learn from that mistake and come out with the same intensity. We'll sit back and really look at play calls. The one great thing about having a bye week is you get to reflect on yourself. We work on that every week where we see what plays are successful, what plays aren't. Seeing things that tip you--tells that you have on offense, defense and the kicking game. We're going to work on a lot of that stuff and just do a lot of analytics on Tulane."

On open date coming at good time:

"It's coming at a real good time. Luckily there are a lot of great players in New Orleans and a bunch of them came to the game today. I'll be able to coach these guys in the morning and go out and recruit in the afternoon. I won't have far to drive. There've been some other places where I couldn't do that because i had to get on a plane and go somewhere, so that's good."

On recruiting after huge win like this in front of packed house:

"Oh it's great. These guys were able to see that. We've always sold the fact we've got the opportunity for a world-class education. You get to play big-time Division I football and you get to do it in the iconic city of New Orleans. That's what we've always said, but now they see the big-time football a little bit clearer."

It was a good week for most of us, although I came out on the wrong end of almost all of the close results. There's nothing like needing a team to cover and then having the game go to OT, knowing the only way to win is for your team to score a TD in one of the first two extra sessions and the other team not score.

On another note, I used to enter a football pool where you picked three NFL games by point spread each week, and the person who finished first and the person who finished last won an equal amount of money. If this one were like that (and I awarded money), Kettrade1 would be headed for a second consecutive payday. After finishing first last year, he has failed to pick up as many as 3 points five weeks in a row.

WEEK 7 RESULTS

8

winwave
ny oscar

7

chigoyboy
charlamange8
paliii

6

DrBox
WaveON
p8kpev

5

wavetime
Gretna Green
tacklethemanwiththefootball
Guerry
2DatWuzAGoodDay2

4

roll wave
LSU Law Greenie

3

MNAlum

2

Kettrade1


OVERALL STANDINGS

41.5

DrBox

40.5

charlamange8

37.5

winwave
chigoyboy

36.5

MNAlum
WaveON
ny oscar

34.5

Guerry

33.5

Gretna Green

32.5

roll wave

32

paliii (missed 1 week)

30.5

diverdo (missed 1 week)

28.5

wavetime (missed 1 week)

27

tacklethemanwiththefootball (missed 1 week)

26.5

p8kpev

25

LSU Law Greenie (missed 1 week)

23.5

2DatWuzAGoodDay2 (missed 1 week)

20.5

Kettrade1


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 15 of 17
Michigan 10
Tennessee 11
Oklahoma State 10
Syracuse 7
LSU 3
Memphis 9
USC 13

Here it is:

I am writing a feature on Tulane's receiver depth for the Advocate, and although what I'm about to say here has very little to do with wins and losses, even the walk-on wide receiver depth is good. At the end of 11-on-11 work today, freshman quarterback Carson Haggard threw a 45-yard completion down the sideline to No. 41, who made an outstanding catch with a couple of backup defensive backs (did not catch their numbers) in the area. The offense whooped and hollered like it had just completed a game-winning Hail Mary, so I checked the roster and saw it was Michael Lavergne who made the catch. He is a redshirt freshman who played for St. Louis Catholic in Lake Charles and would not even my list of the top three walk-on receivers, with Luke Besh, Trevor Evans and Lucas Desjardins ahead of him.

I can recall watching entire practices in years past and seeing no deep balls completed. Now you've got a fourth-string quarterback completing one to a no-string walk-on with a perfect throw and catch. The coverage was not terrible, unlike South Florida's late touchdown on Saturday. This is a different team when it comes to passing.

There is no update on Kanan Ray's status for Saturday, although he did not practice.

I talked to wide receivers coach John McMenamin today. HIs receivers are by no means perfect--witness Shae Wyatt's easy touchdown drop against USF--but they are playing so much better as a whole than in the past and have so many more contributors.

On receiver depth:

"It really helps out. Sometimes it's hard to accept at first, but if you look at our wide receiver group, we have a very selfless group. We play a lot of guys. We're big on playing fresh guys as much as we can, and they've really accepted that and they cheer for each other, so it's hard to pick on one guy and say one guy's going to get the ball here and one guy's going to get the ball there. It's a tribute to the guys here before me recruiting and the guys themselves who are making some plays, so that helps. When Mike (Pratt) makes some throws, it's our job to catch them, but we've got a really fun group right now that they don't care who gets the credit. They just want Ws, and that's the ultimate goal."

On Jha'quan Jackson, who leads the team with 19 catches:

"Quan's steady week in and week out. I think he's gotten tackled more on the 1-yard line than anybody we got. He should have a few more touchdowns, but I told him Tyjae should be taking him out for dinner a lot because he gets all those TDs. But Quan just shows up and goes to work. When he's in there, he makes plays. I don't know if he's been 100 percent all year, but he just shows up when you don't expect it and is really consistent. Last week for the wide receivers he was our player of the game. I thought he had a really good game and played well, so it was really good to see him do that."

On McDougle and Keys being effective out of motion:

"It helps out a lot just because those little quick tosses count as pass plays but they are all runs, so they have to be really smart. Dea Dea and Keys do a good job of knowing how to line up, when to line up. As coaches, they really force our hand. We've got to figure out a few ways to get them the ball because Keys, when he's running around the edge, he makes full-speed cuts. He's really electric, and Dea Dea is a big play every time he touches the ball. Once they master how to line up and how to play, their performance goes up, and that's what we've seen."

On Bryce Bohanon, who has only three catches but is coming on:

"Yeah, he goes for more reps. In weeks 1, 2 and 3 he wasn't getting as many reps as everybody else, but he's just steady. He can play every position. He just shows up and then when his number was called, he just made huge catches against East Carolina, so as his numbers go he'll keep playing. He does a good job of spelling Quan when he needs a break, but right now there's not a huge difference between the two."

On having five wideouts between 15 and 19 catches:

"It's huge just because you can't say when Duece lines up here by himself, we're throwing to him, or when Shae lines up here. That's all by design really as you try to get the tight ends involved, you try to get the backs involved. That's really hard to cover. You say we're going to take Tyjae away, you've got to win with somebody else, well I think we can. Houston had a good receiver, No. 1. He is really good, but guys prepare for that. For us if you have four or five guys who are really good, that's what makes an offense go. The other thing that's really helping us is Mike knows where to go with the ball. Because we'll have guys that we're looking at hitting, and if they take that away, he knows where to go. His efficiency is through the roof and he's really finding guys. I think that's what we're going to have to have. We're not going to get as many wide open looks. We've got to hit fast balls. When they throw it down the middle, you've got to hit it, and fortunately we have so far."

WILLIE FRITZ

I asked Fritz exactly one question today because he's already talked a lot this week.

On Memphis TE Caden Prieskorn, a 6-5, 255-pound guy who leads team with 27 catches, 306 receiving yards and six TDs:

"He's a big-time (concern). He's a big target, runs excellent routes and has very good hands. Some teams you play, they don't use the tight end much, but Memphis uses the tight end a lot. He's a very good player."

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

Tulane (-7) Memphis
SMU (+3) Cincinnati
Clemson (-13.5) Syracuse
Oregon (-6.5) UCLA
LSU (-1.5) Ole Miss
Oklahoma State (+6.5) Texas
East Carolina (+5) UCF
TCU (-3.5) Kansas State