<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Look at my school! Terrific work by <a href="https://twitter.com/TulaneEquipment?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@TulaneEquipment</a> to make it happen. Keep up the good work <a href="https://twitter.com/Tulane_AD?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@Tulane_AD</a> (Troy Dannen) we look great and are going to play even better! <a href="https://t.co/aHl2C56uFO">https://t.co/aHl2C56uFO</a></p>&mdash; Lord Charles from NOLA (@SirrLance) <a href=" Login to view embedded media ">September 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

if tonight’s game was in Houston it would be postponed.

UH may be spending a few extra days in NO.

It is up. Joseph Duarte is a pro and did a good job explaining the differences between Houston under Holgorsen and Houston in the past.

Joseph Duarte's story for the Houston Chronicle:

https://www.chron.com/sports/cougar...big-lead-fall-to-Tulane-on-TD-in-14454320.php

Ross Dellinger of SI.com on the fumblerooskie and its aftermath:

https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/09/20/tulane-fake-kneel-houston-trick-play-justin-mcmillan

CBSSports.com on the play:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...rilling-td-in-final-seconds-to-shock-houston/

Wow. Just wow. I can't ever recall Tulane winning a game like that, aside from the one the refs handed them against Kentucky in 1980 as an unwitting payback to Fran Curci for the fifth-down loss at Miami.

They brought Justin McMillan and Jalen McCleskey in to the interview room and then Willie Fritz. I missed the beginning of the two players because I was still writing for The Advocate.

MCMILLAN

What happened on the final two plays?

Amare got us about halfway manageable. Naturally, we just wanted to get in field goal range. the catch would have been fine with me. I was fine with just the catch, but he (MCCleskey) hs just wanted to be an overachiever and take it for six. I'll go ahead and let him go for it."

What did the coaches say at halftime for you guys to get this done?

"Obviously it was more than just a team effort. Coach Fritz, as a head coach, you are going to tell your team to stay in. I don't remember what the score was, but it was a margin we were losing. In a game like that against Houston with a great offense and a pretty good player at quarterback (laughs), that alone it is tough to handle him, but our defense did great. As an offense we just stood strong with each other and as a team we stood strong with each other and we got to finish it."

What happened on the first touchdown to McCleskey?

"That first touchdown, at first I can say I saw he was doubled. It was totally out of respect for him to give him a chance. Originally I wasn't looking at it. I saw the safety there. The safety was kind of flat-footed. He took off right by him so I just had to give him a half-way catchable ball and he made the play."

What did you see on the third-down catch he made on the sideline after you almost got caught in the end zone?

"We won. To a catch like that, that's really all I can say. It's been a journey for me and Jalen both. I was one of the first guys that he talked to when he got here. But just the fact that me and him have been working together, we have classes together and it's finally coming along. It's coming around. I know people have been kind of waiting for me and Jalen to get clicking. I put that upon myself to get it going and get the ball to him. He made some plays for me today and I can't be mad at him at all."

You embraced the hype of this game, so how awesome was it to get this win moving forward?

"I'm from Dallas, Texas. You know what I'm saying. I've been playing Houston teams all my life, and I don't like losing to Houston, so this game was pretty big for me. Let's just be honest. For this city, for Tulane, for Yulman Stadium, this game means the world to us as a university, not for the fact that it was Houston, but just for the type of win. ESPN, Thursday night, the stage was set for us to make plays. You've got to play with that D'Eric King, and it can go either way. He can take a game over himself just with one play, throwing or running, so like I said, our defense did what they could. He's a good player. It's going to happen, but this game meant the world to us."

Did you almost feel relieved to be only down 28-14 at halftime knowing you were going to get the ball to start the third quarter?

"Like I said, I know how that Houston offense is. They can move it. If you play with them too much, the game can get out of hand instantly. Originally it looked like it was heading towards the same road as last year, I can be honest with you. The leaders of this team that have been here for multiple years and have consistently lost to teams like that--Lawrence (Graham) and Patrick (Johnson), they fought and they came to me and said we need you. I got here last year and (McCleskey) just got here. We don't understand the severeness of the situation in the past. They get that through our heads real quickly that if we are going to be on this team, we have to contribute for the most part. I'm trying to do my best to play for this team in the time in which I got here and I know he's doing the same."

What does it say about the caliber of this team to not only come back from 21 down but to come back again after the game was tied?

"Grit and grind. There's no other way to say it in football. We are down on the 5 and the defense made an incredible stop. It just shows fight. The fans were in it the whole game. Like I said, this win is big for this city because it shows that we're improving and trying to make a difference. This isn't the same Tulane that people thought it was two years ago. I repeatedly said it in the locker room. This program was almost gone not too long ago. To think that we were looked at as the favorite against Houston, such a good team, that just shows you the strides we've made as a program under coach Fritz and the staff that we have."

What more can we expect from the offense down the road?

"This offense is coming along to be real strong. People may not know this, but No. 11 (Amare Jones), I think he had a broken nose. People don't know that. He had a broken nose a couple of series in the fourth quarter, and you would have never known by how hard he played. Coming from a sophomore, he's playing like a senior. He's easily one of the best players on the field. Our offense is going to move with him. I just love this team that we have. That stable of backs we have, I'll take them with the best in the country."

Was there any talk between the defense and the offense in the locker room at halftime about having each other's back?

"For sure. Like I said, Pat and Lawrence came up to me personally. They went out there way to tell me, we're going to hold our end of the bargain and you do the same. I told them to trust me. I'm going to make sure this gets rolling. The first half, a lot of it was my fault, my mistakes. I could have played better in the first half. I can't take that away, but I said moving on from that in the second half we just got to go as if it's 0-0. The game isn't over until it's over."

MCCLESKEY

Were you waiting to absorb the hit so you could down and set up the field goal?

"Justin put it on the money right in the middle of my chest and I knew I was going to get hit. Just hold on to the ball and then they missed the tackle and I had open field and it was just off to the races."

Can you talk about your first TD catch?

"The corner played low, so I knew I could just go right past him and Justin's throwing that ball to me in practice enough times, so I knew it had a chance to come to me, and I looked back and I just saw him cock back to start the throw and I was like, I just have to come up with the catch."

The catch you made straddling the sideline when it was third down deep in your territory kickstarted the tying drive. Can you talk about that play?

"I just saw Justin throw it. I knew the sideline was right there just to get a foot in, and I knew it was a big third down. We needed the momentum, and after that the whole line, they played their butts off the rest of the game."

What did you like best about this win?

"Man, I just liked how we went out there and fought. We had a deficit in the first half and we went to the locker room and were like, we just had to stop the penalties and stop killing ourselves. We knew we could drive the ball on offense and we trust our defense the whole way. We knew they were going to get stops, so it was just coming together as a team, keep fighting until that clock hit triple zeroes."

What was the hardest part for you getting adjusted to this offense?

"It wasn't necessarily the offense. Me and Justin just had to get clicking, keep working in practice, so it was just that. We knew it would click at some point. We weren't really stressing over it. We just had to keep working and that's what happened."

What more can we expect down the road?

"Just big plays by the offense, big plays by the defense. All the receivers and running backs played their butt off today. We couldn't have done it without the line. We couldn't have done it without the running backs. Darius (Bradwell) ran the ball hard. Amare (Jones), like he always does, ran the ball hard. Corey (Dauphine) ran the ball hard. It's just a whole team effort. We just come together on the sidelines during halftime and we just knew that we just had to keep fighting if we were going to win the game."

Is there any ribbing between you and your dad?

"No, I was mostly talking to the players. I never lost faith in our defense. I knew when the time came they were going to get the big stop and then it was just up to the offense to go out there and execute."

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

Tulane (-4.5) Houston
Southern California (+4) Utah
Georgia (-13.5) Notre Dame
Wisconsin (-3) Michigan
Pittsburgh (+12.5) Central Florida
TCU (-9.5) SMU
Texas A&M (-4) Auburn
Ole Miss (-2) California

Michael Pratt a Tulane commitment plays for Deerfield Beach in Florida. Last week Deerfield played Zachary in the Independence Bowl stadium. Deerfield won 53-0. Pratt passed for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns. Keilon Brown who we recruited was 2 for 11 and 7 yards for Zachary. Keilon has committed to Memphis .

I will be posting that feature probably tomorrow morning but maybe earlier with Houston Chronicle beat writer Joseph Duarte, who is coming to the game.

I'm not even going to discuss the offense, which had a terrible night featuring bad throws, drops and penalties. We know what the problems were there.

Here's a look at the defense, which played hard, controlled the line of scrimmage for the most part and deserved a better fate, although it had a few miscues of its own.

STUFFING THE RUN

I went over the series where Auburn had first-and-5 on its second series and tried to run JaTarvious Whitlow up the middle four straight times to no avail in my Advocate game day feature on the defensive line, but they have not put it up yet, so here's what happened in that sequence.

First-and-5: Whitlow had a crease but Cam Sample, while being blocked, reached for him and stopped him for a 3-yard gain. Nice individual effort and an impressive display of strength.

Second-and-2: Jeffery Johnson, who had a huge gain, just stoned Whitlow at the line of scrimmage and drove him backwards.

Third-and-2: Patrick Johnson, unblocked, got there faster than Auburn expected and tackled Whitlow a yard shy of the first down. Johnson showed his quickness there.

Fourth-and-1: Whitlow got a head of steam going after taking the handoff but got hit by Sample and Lawrence Graham short of the first down and fumbled. Even if he had not fumbled, he was hit so hard he would not have gotten the first down.

Davon Wright subbed for De'Andre Williams on second and third downs, but Tulane's line played this series perfectly. I probably should have included Wright in my defensive line feature but had not watched the tape of the game when I did interviews. He pressured Bo Nix into a third-down throwaway on Auburn's third series.

BAD LUCK

Will Harper almost had an interception but let the ball go through his hands for a first-down completion in the third quarter. Auburn ended up scoring a TD to go up 21-6, but if Harper had finished the play, it would have been Tulane ball. There were a lot of instances like that.

Tulane was incredibly unfortunate right before Auburn's second TD. Never mind the catch that Tulane thought was a Willie Langham interception. It wasn't an interception, but it very well could have been ruled an incomplete pass. The problem was the replay angle sucked. Regardless, on the next play Whitlow took a direct snap, dove for the end zone and was met head on by Graham, who stopped him cold and forced a fumble that the defense recovers at least 80 percent of the time. Unfortunately, as Patrick Johnson pointed out to me, the pulling left tackle for Auburn happened to turn around and see the ball. He dove on it and made better effort than Juan Monjarres, who would have recovered it for sure if the lineman hadn't seen it. That would have been a tremendous momentum swing. If the ball had bounced backward a little more and the lineman had not been so alert, Monjarres might have had a touchdown return. Instead, Auburn scored on the next play when Graham and Sample got blocked out of the way uncharacteristically, creating a seam.

Graham was a half-step away from a pick six in the second quarter but could only get one hand on the ball when Nix did not see him on a throw in the middle of the field.

BAD PLAYS

I'm not sure exactly what happened on the busted coverage that gave Auburn its first TD.
Larrry Brooks and Chase Kuerschen were trailing a receiver for what could have been a touchdown on Auburn's third series. If Nix had led him on the post pattern, he would have been gone, but he dropped it as he dove for the ball. The receiver, Hastings, lined up inside the far left hash and ran his route unimpeded, veering slightly inside. Patrick Johnson was lined up slightly outside him but told me he was not his responsibility. Will Harper lined up well inside of him and did not react. Cornerback Chris Joyce ended up being responsible for the outside receiver and Hastings and had no chance to stop it. If he had covered Hastings, it would have been an easy throw for a TD to the outside guy. Everyone else was on the other side of the field. Someone had to be lined up wrong. The tackling was shoddy by Joyce, but it would have been first-and-goal inside the 5 anyway.

That was not the only issue for the pass defense. The secondary let guys get behind it two other times and was fortunate Auburn did not connect. Here are the instances:

1) Larry Brooks and Chase Kuerschen let someone get behind them on the second series, and it would have been a touchdown if Nix had led the receiver properly on a post pattern. Brooks showed good closing speed, and the guy dropped the underthrown ball as he tried to dive for it. Kuerschen was left in the dust.

2) Right before the half, Chris Joyce got fooled by an out and up move as Hastings ran wide open down the sideline for what could have been a 59-yard TD. P.J. Hall might have angled him out inside the 20, but Nix overthrew him badly.

Those issues need to be fixed and Tulane will have a complete defense.

MISCELLANIOUS

---Sample had a tremendous game. He tipped a pass on third down to force a 3-and-out on Auburn's fourth series. He pressured Nix into a rushed pass later in the first half. He is going to be an All-AAC performer.

---Alfred Thomas had a couple of nice plays. I didn't even see him practicing last week, and he practiced sparingly this week despite being in uniform. Jamiran James worked with the second unit.

---Graham made a nice tackle on a punt return that looked like it my burst open. He just got his hands on the returner as he flew by him and forced him to fall down about five yards past contact. Interestingly, Jeffery Johnson was the next guy in position to make the tackle. You don't see too many defensive tackles on coverage units.

All of the key players practiced today in the last full workout before Thursday's big game with Houston. Whether that means they are 100-percent healthy remains to be seen, but Tyler Johnson, Joey Claybrook and Lawrence Graham all received reps in the last 30 minutes.

The first-team offensive line was Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Christian Montano at C, Ben Knutson at RG and Keyshawn McLeod at RT, the same lineup Tulane has used in the last two games.

The second-team line was Tyler Johnson at LT, Stephen Lewerenz at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Knutson at RG and Cameron Jackel at RT.

Nick Anderson received plenty of reps with the first-team defense at LB along with Marvin Moody, but Graham got some, too. Malik Lawal was on the second unit.

The second-tam line D-line was Juan Monjarres, Davon Wright, Jamiran James and Mike Hinton. James almost accidentally caused a Drew Brees-like injury to scout-team QB Josh Holl when Hall hit James' arm hard on a follow-through and dropped to the ground in pain. It turned out to be a momentary issue and Holl did not miss a rep after shaking his arm.

Before the Houston game last year, I looked up all of the AAC Thursday games that had followed Saturday games and listed the results, which counterintuitively did not favor the home teams. Then Tulane went to Houston and got waxed, with the home team having the clear advantage you would expect in a game when both teams had a short week.

Today, I've expanded the list to include teams that played on a Friday and then the following Thursday. Houston is doing it after losing at home to Washington State last Friday, and although Tulane played Saturday, it was the equivalent of a Friday game since the starters played only one half.

In a short-week scenario, the home team is 7-5 straight up and 3-6-3 versus the point spread.

The full list:

1) 2018: Temple (home) 31, Tulsa 17 (Temple was favored by 7.5)

Comment: Temple is at least two TDs better than Tulsa anyway, so it does not appear like the short rest for the road team made a difference.

2) 2017: Memphis 42, Houston (home) 38

Comment: Houston was a 2-point favorite and lost, so again, no advantage for the home team.

3) 2017: USF (home) 43, Temple 7 (USF was favored by 19

Comment: both teams ended up in bowls, but USF was lethal offensively and routed the Owls on the way to a 11-2 season. This was one of the Friday to Thursday games rather than Saturday to Thursday.

4) 2016: Houston 40, Cincinnati (home) 16 (Houston was favored by 7)

Comment: Cincinnati actually was winning at the start of the fourth quarter. I remember the game well because I had fallen hard for Houston as a legitimate playoff contender after it beat Oklahoma in its opener, and I defended the Cougars against critics who dismissed them for struggling for three quarters against Cincy. I was wrong. The more I watched Houston that year, the more I realized that team was nothing special with an offensive scheme under Tom Herman I did not like. They ended up losing three AAC games. But I digress. For the purposes of this post, it was the home team that wilted late rather than the road team.

5) 2016: Navy 66, East Carolina (home) 31 (Navy was favored by 8)

Comment: Once again, the road team had no issues. The oddsmakers still had not come to grips with how bad ECU was. This was a mismatch. Navy would have won on 4 days rest if ECU had had two weeks to prepare.

6) 2016: Memphis (home) 34, Temple 27 (Memphis was favored by 10)

Comment: Again, the road team covered, although Temple turned out to be better than Memphis and ended up winning the AAC. That was the only conference game the Owls lost.

7) 2016: Houston (home) 42, UConn 14 (Houston was favored by 28)

Comment: Nothing to see here. Another mismatch that played out just as expected.

8) 2015: Memphis (home) 53, Cincinnati 46 (Memphis was favored by 7)

Comment: Again, the home team won by the exact amount it was supposed to win. Memphis turned out to be significantly better than Cincy that year.

9) 2015: Temple 24, ECU (home) 14 (ECU was favored by 3)

Comment: The Owls were a ranked underdog agains a team that finished with a losing record, and the Owls took care of business.

10) 2014: Houston (home) 49, SMU 28 (Houston was favored by 21)

Comment: The Cougars were really good that year, finishing 13-1. This game was another push.

11) 2014: UCF (away) 34, ECU 32 (ECU was favored by 7)

Comment: This regular-season ender between 8-3 UCF and 8-3 ECU, played on a Thursday after both teams had Friday games the week before, could have gone either way. The Pirates rallied from a 26-9 fourth-quarter deficit to go ahead 30-26 but had horrible clock management at the end and gave up a 51-yard Hail Mary TD on the final play.

Willie Fritz, Justin McMillan, P.J. Hall and Cam Sample talked at the Tuesday press conference. I will have their quotes in about an hour.

The fall baseball roster is out and we list 36 players including 20 pitcher. We’ve added a boatload (10) pitchers including six from the JC ranks. Sadly, several players from last year’s roster, who had not previously been identified, have apparently departed. These include Kobi Owen, Michael Slatten, and Stephen Sepcich. For me there were two additional disappointments. The first is that Damon Fountain, an outfielder from Barbe in Lake Charles, and our only recruit rated a 10.0 by Perfect Game, did not enroll. I have no idea what happened to him. Second, a one –time Tulane commit, Devin Kirby, a closer who tore up JC ball and his summer college league, also did not enroll. A piece of good news is that Ty Johnson, a certain starter last year who missed almost the entire season, has returned for his redshirt senior campaign.

Overall, we have a number of good hitters returning despite major holes at 1st base, 3rd base, and shortstop defensively. I think Mathews or the hard hitting JC transfer, Luis Aviles, will end up at 1st with Colin Burns bringing more offense to the shortstop position while adequately replacing Gozzo defensively. Third base remains a question unless Bedgood or the very promising JC transfer, Tevor Mindor, can fill the bill.

A long way to February so back to football.

Roll Wave!!!

When Kentucky missed a go-ahead field goal in the last minute and Florida responded with a 70-something yard touchdown run, it created a push, with the Gators winning by 8. I will give everyone a half-point on my spread sheet but will not do it in the standings here because it wastes time writing out a half-point for everybody week after week.

Those of us who picked Houston should feel fortunate with a backdoor cover.

WEEK 3 RESULTS

7

MNAlum
wavetime

6

diverdo
WaveON
Guerry
sscald/aa013289

5

ny oscar
LSU Law Greenie
highwave
charlamange8
p8kpev
paliii
chigoyboy
Harahan Wave
GretnaGreen
DrBox

4

St Amant Wave
kettrade1
Golfer81
winwave

3

buck2481


OVERALL STANDINGS

20

p8kpev

19

highwave

18

MNAlum
WaveON
Guerry

17

charlamange8
ny oscar
LSU Law Greenie
Harahan Wave
ssscald/aa013289

16

kettrade1
diverdo
Golfer81
winwave
wavetime

15

chigoyboy
DrBox

14

pallii

12

St Amant Wave

11

Gretna Green
mono41 (missed 1 week)

10

buck2481


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 21 of 21
Houston 10
Temple 4
UCF 16
Iowa State 5
Florida 17/Kentucky 4 push
Navy 14
TCU 16

It's Reggie Neely, a 2-star WR from Briarcrest Christian in Eads, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis.

He had offers from Duke, Memphis and Tulsa among others. Tulane's 23-man class is now rated 42nd by Rivals, the highest for any Group of Five conference school.

He texted that he can talk to me tomorrow. I assume he will play WR because he also is a DB. He played for his high school hoops team and was considered a potential prospect there as well.

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Sorry for the late report. I did not make it to practice today because they moved it to the Superdome, but I talked to Willie Fritz, Jack Curtis, Chase Kuerschen and Patrick Johnson, asked two questions to Dana Holgorsen on the AAC coaches teleconference and listened in on an interview with P.J. Hall.

Fritz said he thought Lawrence Graham would play against Houston and said Joey Claybrook was fine. I thought he would say Graham definitely would play, but the news about Claybrook is good. I don't have an update on Tyler Johnson, but his status will be evident tomorrow. Tulane cannot afford to be without both starting tackles on Thursday.

FRITZ

On practicing in Dome:

"We wanted to make sure we could get it in, so that’s why we did it there."

On the challenge of facing Houston QB D'Eriq King:

"He’s just a real quick player. He’s got really quick feet, great speed and is tough and he throws it well. He’s one of those guys that throws it well on the run."

On defending his running:

"You have to attack him with leverage and not let him cross your face. The year before we did a good job besides one play early in the game of playing with leverage with tight man coverage and we did a good job with rush lanes. Last year they were able to run the ball effectively and they had the whole arsenal going, not just him."

On advantage of playing at home in game with short rest:

"It’s good. I’m glad we’re not having to travel. There will be a lot of familiarity and I think it’s good for us."

HOLGORSEN

On King:

"He’s extremely competitive and is really doing a good job of learning another offense. It’s unfortunate he’s had to learn like three or so offenses in his college career. What you’re going to see is him just continue to get better with it. He manages a game better last week than he has in the previous couple of games. We’re having success with him in the running game. We’ve got to continue to work hard to get as much success as we can in the passing game. We’re a little unbalanced right now but we’re working hard to fix that."

On getting proper run/pass balance:

"The defenses have something to do with that. You have to look and see what they’re doing defensively and what they’re plan of attack is and you have to pick the right plays. Tulane brings big problems in what they do defensively. They load the box, so we don’t want to just ram him up in there with a whole bunch of people. I’ve always talked about balance being able to really identify what the defense is doing and attack them. They can kind of dictate what you do."

On King as special QB:

"He’s a dynamic football player. My job is to get him to be the best quarterback that I can possibly do. He’s played a lot of ball and had a lot of success and he just wants to win. He’s dynamic with his feet and he’s dynamic making plays. He’s done a great job getting into the end zone and we’ve got to get the rest of the group there on the same page to have more success."

JACK CURTIS

On King:

"We have to make him a quarterback and keep him in the quarterback and make him hand the ball and throw the ball to beat you. If he can do those things and run the ball, it can be a long night for us because once he gets in the open field, he is so fast and athletic. He can make a lot of plays with his feet. Two years ago he made some plays but we were able to keep them out of the end zone and he didn’t make the throws that he needed to make at times. Again, make him a quarterback, make him have to beat you throwing the ball."

On King as breakaway threat:

"He can take it to the house. Unfortunately for us they’ve got so many other weapons, you can’t just say, hey, we’ve got to stop the quarterback and they’ve got wide receivers probably as good as anybody in the country. There are times you are going to have to have a spy on, and you have to pick and choose when you go after him?

On having personnel to contain King:

"We have to do a great job in stopping the run and get him behind the chains where he’s having to throw the ball and keep him in the pocket. Can he be accurate and hit those passes, can we get off the field on third down. That's going to kind of be the game. If they get it all going like last year, they had everything going for them and we didn’t play very well. He was a big part of that."

On advantage of playing at home on short week:

"They had one more extra day to prepare but they have to travel. Fortunately we were able to handle business last week and some of the starters only played 20 snaps, so we should be fresh. We’ve done well on short weeks in the past. Hopefully we can be fresh and play well Thursday night."

On D against Missouri State:

"We went about business and handled it the right way. We did what we had to do, what were expected to do. They hit us with a couple of plays. They had one run that was 25 yards but other than that I think they had 24 yards (on the ground; it was actually 29) and then they had the little touchdown pass. It was a nice play. Give those guys credit. They did a nice job, but from a standpoint of getting off the field on third down, we did that. They were 2 of 12 on third down. We stuffed the run. They had 54 yards rushing. When we do those things, we are going to win big."

On play of Larry Brooks and secondary:

"Larry has a lot of upside to him. He’s learning more and more as well as Macon (Clark), so we’ve got four safeties that are playing a pretty good bit. It keeps us fresh and we've got confidence all four of those guys can get through a game without a dropoff. The more those younger guys play, the better they are going to be. They have a real big upside to them in the future here at Tulane."

On pass defense breakdowns against Auburn:

"One of them they flat out ran right by us. Fortunately it was the guy with a cast. He has world-class speed. We are playing well. We’re not playing perfect yet, but I am pleased with the way the secondary has performed. We’re seeing the ball and we do a lot of work on playing the deep ball and trying to come down with it. They are doing better. We put them on the spot a lot. We are in a lot of one-high safety, so it's man free or cover free, which is a one-on-one situation. We are going to do that, stop the run first and see if we can get people in third down."

P.J. HALL

On King:

"We saw him last year but we haven’t faced anybody like him yet this season. He’s a great runner, good passer, but we are going to be ready for him. We really have to tackle him in the open field. He’s a great open-field runner. Easily that’s his greatest strength. It’s challenging when you play a dual threat like him, but we have to be sound when it comes to tackling and have everybody stay in their gap and I think we’ll be all right."

On Houston's other weapons:

"They've got some pretty good running backs. They've got some receivers. They are solid all around on offense."

On what he remembers from last year's game:

"Everything. We didn’t play well, we didn’t tackle well and we didn’t cover well. We're goign to watch the tape a little bit from last year, go over it and see what they've done this year and we’re hoping for a different outcome. It's a little motivation. You always remember the losses, but we aren’t really focusing on it being a motivating game. It's just next game. That's all we're focusing on."

This was Tulane's most lopsided victory since the Tommy Bowden era, when it beat ULL 56-0 in 2007 and 72-20 in 1998 (tying tonight's margin).

WILLIE FRITZ

"I'm just excited we got an opportunity to play almost everybody on the team that was eligible to play. Sometimes guys get in and take advantage of the opportunity. I saw four or five guys who got in and really did some good stuff. We are going to watch this film very quickly. We are getting up here early in the morning and then we got a short work week. We've been preparing all summer. We knew it was going to be a Thursday night game a long time ago.

"I also want to congratulate Darnell (Mooney) for going over 2,000 yards (receiving for a career). Great young man who worked his tail off, but his roommate (P.J. Hall) scored more touchdowns than him tonight I believe. And I was also proud of all of our guys. Sometimes you get up in these games and guys lose interest in what's going out there on the field, but all of our guys, from Justin (McMillan) and P.J. and Darnell were coaching the young guys who were in there. That's a step in the right direction."

How much of a help was it to be able to rest your starters?

"It was great. Sometimes you tinker with getting them out there for one drive in the second half, but it was put to bed pretty early. In the past we had to fight and scratch and claw with these kind of games. We've obviously got better players than we had in the past. These guys came in and took care of business and did a really nice job."

Are you happy with the way you cleaned up the penalty situation?

"Yeah, that was much better. We had four. We could have gotten away with it in this game but we just want to be one of those teams that just plays disciplined all the time. We certainly need to do that Thursday evening."

Did you need this kind of game coming off of Auburn?

"Yeah, I think so. That was a tough, hard-fought game. Our guys were disappointed. We didn't play as well as what we're capable of playing, but you gotta turn the page and move on, and our guys did that."

Why did Lawrence Graham not play?

"Yeah, we wanted to make sure he was ready to go Thursday."

JUSTIN MCMILLAN

The caliber of opponent was different, but how much did the offense want to come out and make up for what happened at Auburn?

"Like I said, this opponent, we took it as if it was the Auburn game again. We had a couple of mistakes that we needed to correct from the Auburn game. We got back to our base offense and pretty much our bread and butter and tried to work that a lot more and pretty much get an identity for this team and keep working that direction. At the end of the day this is still a new offense. I don't think people understand, this is still a new offense and a lot of young players. You see Tyjae (Spears) out there having a great time. This offense is going to continue to work. The caliber of the team doesn't matter in my eyes. You can ask Darnell. I don't think our offense sees it as any other way. We are going to continue to play hard every game."

You completed your first seven passes. Did you feel in good rhythm from the start?

"Yeah, it felt good. Once we learned our identity and started to hone down on it and get better at it, we're going to get better. This offense is a nonstop progress for us, and we hope to continue to grow."

You are incredibly deep at running back, but what did you think of Spears watching him in the second half?

"It's what I see every day. I can say this as an older guy going back to when I was a freshman, I didn't work that hard. He does that every day. It doesn't shock me one bit to see him score touchdowns like that or get long runs like that because he works his butt off every day. He does it. Cam (Carroll) does it. Sometimes in practice Cam doesn't get as many touches, but he's behind Darius, he's behind a player who's doing the exact same thing, so to see those two guys go out there and perform didn't shock me at all. Honestly I expect more out of them because I feel like they have the intent. I can't wait to see these guys in the future."

What did you guys do to make sure you were ready for this game and not looking ahead?

"I was told by an older, wise man in the past to don't go 0-2, don't let a loss carry over into that next week. The offense, there was a lot of mistakes we made in the Auburn week, and during that practice we take notes and go over film and on to Missouri State. We'll be back here in probably less than 24 hours and start getting ready for Houston. We'll take it in, receive the information, notice what we did well and notice what you need to be better at and roll into next week's practice and keep pushing."

Who was that older, wise man?

"Les Miles."

Will Hall said he was humiliated by the performance at Houston and he pointed the finger at himself. What did you see from him this week?

"Me and coach Hall talked on the phone a little bit that next day. I was sick to my stomach myself, so we had the same mindset. Having a guy like that as a leader for us on this offense, I'd run through a brick wall for him. You look at this win right here, you watch him walking in to watch film right now, and not as a job. This is fun for him. This is his life. It's not a job. This is his life, so when he says stuff like that, I don't take it as a joke. I can feel where he's coming from, so I'm going to work my butt off for him in that situation. I feel like the offense all took that to the chin. Games like that, we're not going to have that again just for the fact that coach Hall won't allow us to."

You had a rough night against Houston last November and get a crack at them Thursday night. How different do you expect it to be?

"Of course it's going to be a different result as far as our effort and our ability to make plays. Like coach Fritz said, we have better players. No crack on the guys in the past, but we have a better team this year. Houston is never going to back down. It's a tough opponent. It's going to be a big game, first conference game for us, so I expect us to be doing well this week."

P.J. HALL

Can you talk about the interception return?

"Oh yeah. We talked about that play all week, the defensive call. I knew it was going to come out hot. Coach (Jack) Curtis made a great call and I just trusted it and it ended up coming out hot and it came straight to me."

What was the call?

"It was a little blitz. I don't want to go into more detail, but it was a blitz package. We all knew it was going to come out hot."

Last year you guys did not get many interceptions, but you had three tonight. How important is that for what you want to do defensively?

"That's big for us. Last year we got our hands on a lot of balls, but we never completed the play by making interceptions. That was a big thing going into fall camp, even in the spring. We just had to start catching balls, and we did that tonight."

If the secondary plays like this, will opponents have a hard time figuring out where to attack the defense?

"Oh yeah, for sure. I really don't see any team on our schedule running the ball against us, and on the back end, as DBs, we just have to pull our weight. I feel like we are going to do that throughout the season, too."

The only thing you didn't do was get Tulane's first shutout since 1997. Have you guys talked about that at all?

"Every week we talk about a shutout. That's the goal as a defense. If the other team doesn't score, they can't win, so that's our goal going into every week. It wasn't just a this-week goal."

You could have come out flat easily but didn't. What did you guys do to make sure you did what you were supposed to do?

"Coach Fritz is going to preach being one note every week. We watched the film of the Auburn game and it was in the past then. Then we focused on Missouri State. Our whole goal was to be one note this week. After tomorrow when we watch the film, we'll be on to Houston."

DARNELL MOONEY

What does it mean to go over 2,000 receiving yards for your career?

"It's all right. I put another achievement on my resume. Hopefully just strive for 3,000."

It's a short turnaround to a huge game against Houston. How do you feel that you only had to play a half?

"It was good that we could get up off our feet early and be able to rest because they played yesterday, so they are a day ahead of us. It was good for us."

How do you feel about the offense?

"I feel very good. Even last week, you could see that it was an opportunity. We just have to execute, and when we execute, nobody can stop us."

How did you make sure to be focused on this game instead of looking ahead?

"The Auburn game we didn't have the game we wanted to have, so coming into this week we were just hungry and just wanted to get back on the same accord."

Tulane may have played more players against Missouri State than in any game in the Wave’s history. According to the box score on the official site, we played 81 players, though they counted Sample twice and missed a number of players who I KNOW appeared in the game, and possibly more. By my count we played at least 84 players including 15 walk-ons and 14 “true” freshmen, most of whom will probably end up “redshirting.” Quite a few “backups” played at least a quarter and some even more. Lawrence Graham and Tyler Johnson did not play. I assume, like Johnson, Graham was kept out to heal for the Houston game. Also, for whatever reason, Patrick Johnson did not seem to play all that much even in the first half. I don’t know why.

Anyhow, it was really nice to see a lot of guys get the opportunity to see the field after having put in a great deal of time and effort during practice. It was particularly exciting to see Dane Ziegler, a 5’9” defensive lineman, get a tackle and the response by his teammates as he came off the field. He’ll never forget that; it was “Rudy-esque.”

It was a fun game against an overmatched opponent in which we could pretty much do what we wanted. Still, we had a couple of needless penalties, though much fewer than the first two weeks. We also had trouble hitting into the middle of their line and Bradwell never got going. Another bad center snap forced our first punt of the night; that simply can’t continue to happen. And Wright had one really good punt (47 yards with a -1 return) and one horrible one—13 yards. Add to that, I didn’t think we got as much pressure on their QB as I had anticipated.

Nonetheless, it’s a win and the focus now has to be on Houston.

Roll Wave!

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

NOTE: There is a Friday night game on this list because this is a terrible slate of games and it would have been even worse without including Houston-Washington State. Kickoff is 8:15 p.m.

Tulane (-29) Missouri State
Houston (+9) Washington State
Temple (+7) Maryland
UCF (-7.5) Stanford
Iowa State (+2.5) Iowa
Kentucky (+8) Florida
Navy (-7) East Carolina
Purdue (+2.5) TCU

Tulane's only Saturday home game in September is attracting plenty of prospects for down the road. This year's class, barring departures, is almost complete.

Here is the list:

ALREADY COMMITTED

1) Adam Chaney
2) Phat Watts
3) Duece Watts
4) Kevaris Hall
5) Justin Ibieta
6) Josh Remetich
7) Cornelius Dyson

2020 RECRUITS

1) Kyren Lacy, a 6-3, 211-pound 3-star WR from Thibodaux High.

Skinny: committed to ULL in June. Has offer from Virginia.

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2) Donovan Kaufman, a 5-9, 192-pound 3-star ATH from Rummel.

Skinny: Committed to Vanderbilt in June. Rated the No. 20 overall prospect in Louisiana and the No. 28 ATH in the nation. Also had offers from Boston College and Colorado.

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3) Pig Cage, a 5-10, 185-pound 3-star safety from Rummel.

Skinny: Uncommitted. He took an official visit in February. His only other know offer from an FBS school is ULM.

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2021 RECRUITS

1) Ahmonte' Watkins, 4-star ATH, Riverside Academy
2) Iverson Celestine, 3-star RB, Fontainbleau High
3) Mandel Eugene, ILB, St. Charles Catholic
4) Karon White, DE, Sparkman High in Harvest, Ala.
5) Baryn Sorrell, TE, Holy Cross
6) Salvon Jones, DE, St. James
7) Kyle Wickersham, QB, Rummel
8) Kenny Bannister, OT, Karr
9) Logan Diggs, RB, Rummel
10) Lynarise Elpheage, Jr, ATH, Carver
11) Devan Tott, QB, Mandeville
12) Gabriel Cabarjal, OT, Slidell

2022 RECRUITS

1) Tygee Hill, DT, Karr
2) Landon Ibieta, WR, Mandeville

Tulane pushed against Auburn, meaning all of us get a point. For math purposes, I'm glad I'm not going to be carry a half-point for everybody the rest of the year.

WEEK 2 RESULTS

7

ny oscar
charlamange8
p8kpev
Guerry
ssscald/aa013289

5

ketttrade1
MNAlum
LSU Law Greenie
highwave
Golfer81
winwave
Harahan Wave
WaveON
wavetime

4

St Amant Wave
mono41
diverdo
GretnaGreen
DrBox

3

buck2481
paliii
chigoyboy

OVERALL STANDINGS

15

p8kpev

14

highwave

13

charlamange8

12

ny oscar
kettrade1
LSU Law Greenie
Golfer81
winwave
Harahan Wave
WaveON
Guerry

11

MNAlum
mono41
ssscald

10

diverdo
chigoyboy
DrBox

9

paliii
wavetime

8

St Amant Wave

7

buck2481

6

GretnaGreen

GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane push
LSU 17 of 22
Ohio State 14
Texas A&M 10
USC 6
Army 11
Colorado 14
Ole Miss 15

Tulane offensive coordinator Will Hall minced no words when he talked about the Wave's performance against Auburn on Saturday. He respects the talent level of the Tigers but laid the blame on himself for the Wave's struggle.

The passing game was really out of synch Saturday. What corrections need to be made?

"Yeah, it was just a humiliating performance. I feel like I humiliated anybody that knows me. It's something that I'll have a hard time getting over with the rest of my life. We just didn't play well. We had a lot of things there. We ran the ball well early and got some penalties, some post-snap penalties on some holds when we had a chance to take the lead. We dropped five passes, so really that's it. If we catch the balls that hit us in the hands, it's a different game. Obviously I didn't call my best game, which is something I'll carry with me the rest of my life.

"But it's something we have to move forward from. We think we got a lot better this week. We have a great offensive team but we have to play well on game day."

Are you worried at all about guys losing confidence in themselves?

"We're not preparing any different. You see me practicing all the time. I never come off the field, and I'm completely drenched, so I'm going to bring it every day. All it is, is No. 1 we were playing a defense that's got eight guys projected to be drafted right now. They are a really good defense. They're good versus everybody. They are good versus Georgia. They are good versus most everybody, but at the same time we've got to catch balls that hit us in the hands, and it's a different game. And then we have to not get penalties. We're good enough to play on that stage. It's very disappointing that I didn't do a good enough job to prepare us to do better in that deal, and I'll carry it with me the rest of my life because I let a lot of people down."

Did some guys get affected by the atmosphere?

"Anything could be the cause of that, but we had five dropped passes and obviously I could have called a better game, but we can't lose sight of the fact that we've got players that are really good. We were right there in the game with them through three quarters and we've got to do better and we've got to address those issues."

McMillan had a lot of passes that weren't close. He can make every throw. How do you make sure he's on point?

"Well, we just have to do better in the passing game, a little bit here or there. The week before we were 10 of 14 and everybody was making plays. Maybe if we catch those five balls early, it changes. He also made some phenomenal throws. The (would-be) touchdown to (Darnell) Mooney in the end zone was absolutely incredible. He's a good player. We've got a lot of good players. I have to put them in a better position to make plays, and we've got to prove to everybody we are better than that."

My two cents: I haven't had an assistant coach say stuff like that in a long time. I love that Hall holds himself accountable and the entire offense accountable and is not willing to accept performances like the one at Auburn. He's a winner and he's headed for big things in his career. The offense has issues on the line, although it held up pretty well against Auburn, and at receiver, but it is good enough to win a championship if McMillan throws better. Hall and Fritz protected him this week, but he was downright awful on many of his throws against Auburn. If he plays like he is capable of, this will be the best team in the West and maybe the entire AAC.

The entire staff is not happy about the way Tulane played against Auburn. That's a good thing. They really thought they could win that game and are not settling.

On to the practice: It is unclear if Tyler Johnson will play against Missouri State, but I don't think he will simply because it is more important to have him healthy for the Houston game.

The defense had numerous opportunities for interceptions against the scout-team offense today. Linebacker Lawrence Graham stepped in front of a hard pass and could not hold on, but I predict he will have an interception Saturday. I like his instincts in pass coverage.

Macon Clark has the best hands in the secondary. He snagged a ball with ease. P.J. Hall and Jaylon Monroe dropped interception opportunities, while Willie Langham made a diving catch for a pick.

I confirmed with Willie Fritz that Tyjae Spears did not play against Auburn, but I was wrong yesterday when I wrote that Sincere Haynesworth was the only freshman to get on the field. I sometimes forget that Dorian Williams is a freshman since he participated in spring drills, and I already had noted he played.

Fritz was not in a talkative mood today.

What is Tyler Johnson's status?

"We are going to see how he works out Saturday night."

What was your thought on the Macon Clark ejection for targeting?

"It was a bang-bang play but they've emphasized that now for a few years. You just can't do anything above the arm pits. We always talk about arm pits and below. It doesn't matter if it's shoulder led, helmet led, whatever. I had somebody tell me, oh, it was his shoulder. It doesn't matter. If it's above the neck area, they are going to call it a hundred times out of a hundred."

Overall how do you feel like the week has gone?

"Good. The kids have worked pretty good. We had a good workout today. Things are going well."

I asked Willie Fritz if he had to be mindful of the short week coming up before the Houston game as he set the schedule for Tulane's preparation for Missouri State, and he said no, that they were treating this is as a normal week with no adjustments.

One thing almost all coaches are loathe to do is to publicly play down an opponent, but I think Fritz meant it. He has played Thursday night games before and knows how to handle short weeks.

Tulane did not play that many guys against Auburn. You find out what a team's true depth is when it faces a top-notch opponent because the marginal players aren't good enough to get on the field like they can in other games.

Defensively, Juan Monjarres, Mike Hinton, Davon Wright and Alfred Thomas played on the line behind the starters. That's it. Malik Lawal and Nick Anderson played as linebacker reserves. Dorian Williams might have, but I think he was limited to special teams. The usual four safeties and usual four cornerbacks played, and that's it. The only spot where Tulane went three deep on defense was nickelback, with Tirise Barge and Larry Bryant backing up Will Harper.

On offense, four running backs played, but Cam Carrroll, Tyjae Spears and Ygenio Booker did not. Tyrick James and Will Wallace were the only tight ends. Offensive lines rarely substitute anyway, but Cameron Jackel, Timothy Shafter and Sincere Haynesworth logged a few snaps. Tyler Johnson definitely did not play even though the official stat sheet had him participating. Jacob Robertson, Jorrien Vallien and Kevin LeDee played wideout along with starters Darnell Mooney, Jaetavian Toles and Jalen McCleskey.

Dane Ledford did not get on the field. Neither did Quentin Brown or Jamiran James or Carlos Hatcher or KJ Vault, although he usually plays on kick coverage and might have been missed by the official stat keepers.

Haynesworth was the only freshman to play.

I would not be surprised if Tyler Johnson sits out again this Saturday. Willie Fritz would not commit one way or the other when I asked him today, but there's no reason to risk re-injury against an overmatched opponent. He needs to be ready for Houston.

Will Hall was not happy with the offense at one point against the scout team today, making everyone do push-ups.

Macon Clark is getting his normal reps at safety even though he will miss the first half on Saturday because of his targeting suspension. Tulane does not have a fifth viable safety.

The second-team D-line against the scout team was Monjarres, Wright, James and Hinton. Alfred Thomas, who caught me off guard by playing Saturday, did not practice in the portion I watched but may have gotten in earlier. He had his helmet on.

Troy Dannen and Ron Hunter sat next to each other on a bench and watched practice.

WILLIE FRITZ

When you have a short week coming up after a normal week, do you make any adjustments during the normal week or do you worry about it after the game?

"We'll worry about it after the game. We have to prepare and understand what you've got coming up. This is a regular week we normally have."

Will you sit Tyler Johnson this week?

"Yeah, we're going to see how he's doing tomorrow."

How has the team bounced back physically and emotionally?

"I think pretty good. Not bad. For us, it was like the game was a month ago. There were a lot of good, teachable moments without question, but we've got to move on."

How good a player has DeAndre Williams become?

"He's really doing a good job. He's pretty good friends with him and he reminds me so much of Tanzel (Smart). He's from the same high school and is a really hard worker. Jeffery, DeAndre, Cam and Patrick really played well. They were giving it a hell of a lot more than they were receiving."

The line has lived up to its billing coming into the year. How good a unit is it?

"It's a really good unit. The thing they do such a good job of, which sometimes goes unnoticed, is they really play the run well. They do a good job of playing gaps and locking out on people. They are just real good overall players and good young men, too, easy to work with and a lot of fun to be around."


DEANDRE WILLIAMS

How good is the defensive line working as a unit right now?

"I think we're working real good as a unit. Every day we give glory to God and we just come out every time trying to get better, from Cam all the way back to my end and Patrick at the joker. We are all working real hard trying to get better every day."

What makes you and Jeffery Johnson work so well?

"When Jeff came in I really tried to help him as much as I could because I knew he was going to play as a freshman. I didn't play that much, but I knew a lot about the defense and I was just trying to help him as much as I could. He listens a lot. We are just like brothers really. He coaches me. I coach him. We work real good together."

Did you gain even more confidence as a group after playing Auburn?

"We approach every week the same. We held our hats up to Auburn and we played real well against him. We just have to keep playing our best football and we should be able to do that every week."

JEFFERY JOHNSON

The ESPN2 color guy, Rod Gilmore, could not stop talking about how immovable you were in the first half even though you were double-teamed.

"As long as I'm doing my job, everyone else is happy. Most of it has to do with body weight and just playing technique and stuff like that. I'm a pretty big heavy guy to move in the middle."

Auburn had 13 carries for 20 rushing yards in the first half. How well did you play as a group?

"I feel like we played a really great game. There are some things we can improve on. We left a lot of plays out there on the field, but overall up front we played a great game."

What makes you and DeAndre such a good tandem?

"I feel like it's the pressure. DeAndre is great as a person and great as a person and he's a really good role model. We talk to each other and help each other out on the field."

How tough is it to know you are going to get double-teamed?

"I know it's coming, so it's no surprise. It's easy to take on. Before I got here I struggled with it, but now I know it's coming and I know I'm going to get it and I know how to play it. Nobody can move me."

What is the difference between you this year and last year?

"I can play a heck of a lot faster. Last year was a slow year for me learning the pace of things and getting into the flow, but this year I can pick it up and play real faster."

Did the Auburn offensive linemen say anything during the game?

"They were pretty chill for the most part. They knew we were kicking their butt."

If you can win the battle up front against Auburn, how good can you be the rest of the year?

"I feel like we can be unstoppable. After the way we played against Auburn and dominated the running game, we have a pretty good chance this year. A lot of teams are going to come in here thinking they are going to win, but they are not."

James Morgan, who was touted as an NFL prospect by some preseason magazines, followed up his rough night at Tulane by going 3 of 11 against Western Kentucky and getting benched as FIU lost 20-14 at home. Ouch. FIU even had a 2-0 advantage in turnovers, scoring on an 80-yard INT return.

FIU had first-and-goal at the 2 late but went backwards from there and turned the ball over on downs. The QB who replaced Morgan got hurt on a play that lost 14 yards, and Morgan came back to throw incomplete passes on third and fourth down.

Western Kentucky had lost 35-28 to Central Arkansas in its opener.

Anyone watch games of our conference brethren? Curious if anyone has an opinion about how we will fair when we match-up the rest of the way.

One of the staples of Willie Fritz's tenure at Tulane is his belief in keeping an even keel. Tulane's practice today in preparation for Saturday's likely beatdown of FCS also-ran Missouri State was just as intense as the workouts before the Auburn game, with assistant coaches getting on the players to play through the unseasonably hot conditions. The message on the scoreboard read "Beat MSU," and one defensive assistant got really angry when the defense allowed two consecutive completions to the scout-team offense. The guys responded with two consecutive interceptions one by Tirise Barge on a pass that was deflected by Nick Anderson and another by Larry Brooks.

Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Will Hall tried to buck up his the receivers' confidence after a rough night at Auburn when Tulane went 10 of 34 in the passing game and dropped as many as five passes according to Fritz. "We are a good football team," Hall said at one point. "We can complete passes." Hall then demonstrated the proper technique on routes to some of the receivers, running the entire route himself to show them what he wanted them to do.

Brooks made a really nice play in 11-on-11 work, picking off a deep ball from Keon Howard that was intended for Kevin LeDee. Brooks will play a big role against Missouri State with Macon Clark suspended for the first half due to his targeting penalty against Auburn, maybe getting time at both safety spots as a backup. Tulane does not have a fourth safety getting playing time.

Tyler Johnson did not practice today but was moving around better. I don't expect him to play against Missouri State because he will not be needed, but he looks on course to play against Houston. The starting offensive line was the same as against Auburn, with Ben Knutson at right guard, Keyshawn McLeod at right tackle and Joey Claybrook at left tackle. The scout-team offensive line is Trace Oldner, Michael Remondet, Ben Bratcher, Colby Orgeron and Jackson Fort.

"Wave don't beat the Wave," Fritz yelled at one point, which is one of his constant refrains. Tulane definitely needs to cut down on its penalties since it is tied with Vanderbilt for last place among 130 FBS teams with 23 after two games. As counterintuitive as it seems, there is not a strong correlation between penalties and losing--more years than not, the 10 teams with the most penalty yards per game have a better overall record than the 10 teams with the fewest penalty yards per game--but obviously there's not benefit to getting multiple false start penalties.

Fritz's teams usually are in the middle of the pack in penalties. Tulane's rank was 64 in 2016, 48 in 2017 and 94 in 2018. Georgia Southern was 30th in 2015 and tied for 14th in 2014, but triple option teams, which Georgia Southern truly was in Fritz's two years there, almost always commit fewer penalties than teams with regular offenses.

Tulane's kickoff unit is Chris Joyce, Jaylon Monroe, Chase Kuerschen, Malik Lawal, Dorian Williams, Merek Glover (I forgot to ask why he had replaced Sterling Stockwell but will do it tomorrow), Larry Bryant, KJ Vault, Tirise Barge, Brooks and P.J. Hall. The group has good athletic ability.

I will transcribe all of the quotes from Fritz, Justin McMillan, Cameron Sample and Jalen McCleskey from the Tuesday press conference and get them up here in about an hour.