Guerry,

Has there been any further insight on Dauphine's hydration issues? I understand his two carries were over 100 yards in the first half, which can take a lot out of a guy, but I've never seen anyone succumb to it that fast on a relatively mild evening unless they were sick, etc.

Further, from your watching practice during spring and the fall, did you have any idea that Dauphine is so far ahead of our other backs with vision and hitting the hole at a higher gear? I guarantee that our other RBs wouldn't gain more than 3 yards on his second TD run of 65+ yards when he jumped the pile and shot through the gap. It seems our coaches may have missed something from the practices. Is it because there are so many practices in shorts where it is difficult to determine if someone can really break tackles and hit holes? It was obvious in the Wake game that he was the most effective runner, but he got his chances late in that game. Also, what were his nagging injuries in fall camp?

Just trying to understand the thought process in the handling of Dauphine.

Tulane practiced earlier than usual today to avoid the potential for bad weather, but I still caught the last 45 minutes. The most notable thing was Jeffery Johnson did not practice, standing on the sideline without his helmet. UAB averages about 250 rushing yards per game, so Johnson's presence would definitely help Saturday. In his absence, Robert Kennedy and Cam Sample flanked DeAndre Williams up front. That's a solid group, but depth becomes an issue without Johnson, particularly on a hot September afternoon. He only had one tackle against Nicholls--I'm not sure if he got hurt in the game because I was writing on deadline again--but he is tough to move out of the way in the middle. Fellow true freshman Alfred Thomas has played a little bit in the first two games but has not been as productive, and Tulane does not really have anybody else. True freshman Jamiran James recently had wrist surgery, his brother told Rod Walker of The Advocate last week, so he is out of the picture. Maybe Johnson will be back at practice Wednesday and negate this concern.

Darnell Mooney said he learned proper catching technique from Terren Encalade when he arrived at Tulane. Although Encalade is very good, the student has surpassed the teacher in that department. Mooney said after Saturday's game he could not recall ever dropping a pass in a game. Encalade has dropped a few, and he bobbled one before dropping it in practice today. Otherwise, though, it was a crisp workout. Jonathan Banks looked sharp. Mooney looked great. Corey Dauphine looked great.

Dane Ledford took most of the second-team reps at quarterback, but Justin McMillan got some, too, and he throws a pretty ball. I will ask Fritz for an update on him after practice tomorrow.

Charles Jones was in uniform with a helmet but did not practice while I watched. He was walking with a slight limp on the sideline. Freshman Tyrick James made a nice catch on the sideline downfield. He's not polished yet, but he has potential as a receiver.

Tulane is a 4-point favorite at UAB, which lost 47-24 at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Blazers are 7-0 at home since the start of 2017 and the resumption of the program. The Green Wave is the better team and should, but I did not like what I heard from the players on Saturday after the win against Nicholls. Both Banks and Mooney referred to UAB as a lower school than Tulane, which is pretty much the atittude the players took into the FIU game last season. I guarantee you UAB players do not think of Tulane is a higher school. They see this as a game they should win, just like Tulane does. It's up to the players to go to Birmingham with the right focus and the desire to play as hard as they possibly can. If they do that., they should be fine. UAB gave up nearly 300 rushing yards to Coastal Carolina, and if Tulane can run effectively, the Blazers won't be able to cover Encalade and Mooney.

On the other hand, UAB has a big running back, Spencer Brown (6-0, 228), who rushed for 1,329 yards last year and has gained 196 yards through two games this season. Phil Steele picked the Blazers to win the Eastern division of Conference USA. They rushed for more than 270 yards against Coastal Carolina. If Tulane does not come with a physical approach, the defense could struggle to get off the field.

Fritz's entire Tuesday press conference is available in video form at TulaneGreenWave.com, but he did not say anything earth shattering today. I got the impression he was not thrilled with the way Tulane played against Nicholls right after the game and again today. Coaches always are going to look for negatives in victories, and he found two major ones in Banks' fumble before halftime and the inability to bring Nicholls QB Chase Fourcade to the ground. He counted 11 missed tackles of Fourcade, although none of them involved him actually breaking a tackle. They were guys using the wrong leverage and whiffing.

The fumble kept the game reasonably close for longer than it needed to be.

"We had the game under control and then unfortunately had that fumble right before halftime," Fritz said. "That gave them hope. If we could have gotten points on that one (Tulane had the ball at the Nicholls 43, but the fumble and the return set up the Colonels at the Tulane 26, and they scored a touchdown to pull within 21-10), we would have gotten it under control at halftime. In the second half we didn't break much on defense and played well, especially in the red zone. Corey Dauphine had a sensational game and really did a good job with his vision. The big thing for him is when he gets into open space he runs fast. Darius Bradwell, there were a couple of times he should have stayed inside when he tried to pop it wide, but for the most part he had a good game recognizing where to run.

"It was a good job by Darnell Mooney. I brag on him quite a bit because he always plays up to his talent level, every practice, every game. And then defensively, Rod Teamer had a great game. He got a bunch of kudos for the interception, but the bigger play was that real good vision when they tried to sneak the back up the pike and he got over to knock the ball down (to prevent a TD in the second quarter; Nicholls then missed a field goal as Tulane preserved a 21-3 lead). That was an outstanding play. If he wouldn't have made that play, we would have said, ah, he was over there covering his guy, but he had the wherewithall to make that play. We feel like if we keep our guys each year, they are going to get better and better. Rod's a good example of that. He's really stepped his game up, he's changed his body and he's playing extremely well."

Darius Hodges committed last night after his official visit over the weekend.

He is a 3-star ILB from Montgomery with an offer from Arkansas among others. He is big and oves well. Good get. I will try to talk to him this evening.

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We will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1998 team on 9-8. I hope our team gives a great performance in their honor. I also hope we have a great crowd:

https://crescentcitysports.com/video-tulanes-jimmy-ordeneaux-and-torie-taullie-at-gnosf-qb-club/

This was quite a bit better week for the conference. As should be the norm, Tulane and UCF won handily against FCS opponents. In a surprise to many, Navy edged Memphis in an in-conference battle. But our performance against G5 schools was again sub-par. Temple lost to Buffalo and UCONN was mauled by Boise State while surprising Cincinnati shut out Miami (Ohio). It’s hard to separate yourself from the other G5 schools if you don’t consistently beat them. On the other hand, after SMU was swamped by rival TCU, the conference looked very good against other P6 schools. Tulsa lost in a close one, 21-28 to Texas but surprising ECU hammered North Carolina; USF beat Georgia Tech,;and Houston trounced Arizona. This week there are no in-conference games and opponents will include three G5 teams, three FCS teams and six P5 teams—UNC, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Illinois, and Texas Tech, mostly middle to upper level P5 teams. A 9 win week appears possible and anything less than 7 wins will be disappointing.

Roll Wave!!!

1) First, when I said Banks woefully underthrew a wide open Encalade on Tulane's last offensive play of regulation, I was getting it confused with an earlier throw to Mooney from the same side of the field. On the last play, Encalade really wasn't open. Banks would have needed to lead him perfectly to the sideline to complete the pass. Since I have very high expectations for Banks, I still think he should have made a better throw, and he did have time to set his feet before throwing. He chose not to, probably because of the accumulation of hits he had taken.

2) On the miss to Mooney, Corey Dublin whiffed on a block, forcing Banks to scramble to his left, but he was in the clear before he threw woefully short. That one really hurt. As I posted before, Banks made some sensational plays (both TD passes and his incredible fourth-down run) but I expect more out of him. He also missed Jacob Robertson with no pressure for what would have been a first down and another time he spun around and ran backward when he had no pressure whatsoever, wasting a down. He also rarely threw in rhythm. On one of the plays when had pressure, it looked like he could have thrown to two guys right away but could not pull the trigger. He has to get better at making the routine plays and throwing to secondary receivers, particularly the running backs. His worst play, as another poster pointed out, was the decision to hand off to Bradwell into a wall that resulted in a 5-yard loss. Banks might have scored if he had kept it, which was the proper read. He certainly would have run for a first down.

3) Tulane was really unlucky late in the fourth quarter when P.J. Hall broke up a pass that ricocheted back toward the line of scrimmage. Cameron Sample had a bead on it and likely would have gotten an interception deep in Wake territory, but Marvin Moody knocked it away diving for the ball. Moody did nothing wrong, but if he had not been there, the ball would have hit Sample in the hands. Sample showed great alertness, almost deflecting the pass and then turning around and following the ball when it bounced back to him.

4) Donnie Lewis had an outstanding game. He got beat for one first down on a short pass but had excellent coverage almost every time the ball was thrown his way. Plus, his interception was a great diving catch.

5) This is the biggest hitting Tulane defense I've seen since I started covering the team in 2010. Lawerence Graham delivered a couple of monster blows, as did Rod Teamer and Marvin Moody. One game is too early to make a confident assessment, but I like the potential for this defense. It plays faster than previous groups.

6) Just about everyone had a had in the blocking issues in pass protection. Tight ends Will Wallace and Kendall Ardoin were at fault once on plays I noticed.John Leglue was beaten on a spin move for a sack. Noah Fisher had the back-to-back awful plays in overtime, with the blatant face mask on one snap before getting beaten badly on the next one as Banks had to run for his life. Fisher also missed his block on Banks' sensational first-down scramble on fourth down. Fisher got tired. Pass blocking is his strength, so it was a very disappointing effort. Then there was the play Fritz referenced earlier this week where Dominique Briggs blocked no one, showing poor awareness. And Ive already mentioned the play where Dublin got beaten. All that said, the breakdowns were nowhere near as massive as during the CJ era. That's no cause for celebration, but the protection was good in the first half. I do not agree that Banks had no chance, except in OT. Still, every sane person is in agreement the line play has to be much better as a whole.

7) Thakarius Keyes was feast or famine, but I like his potential. He almost had an interception early when he showed excellent anticipation. He made a great tackle to prevent a likely TD on the early Wake drive that ended in a missed field goal. He broke up a pass that was going for a first down. Although it probably still should have been caught, it definitely would have been without his effort.

On the other hand, he had four bad plays, and three of them were costly. On the first touchdown, where he had no help, he got beaten by the initial inside move off the line, recovered and then got beaten again, although the receiver pushed off slightly. His technique was not good on that play. On the second touchdown he was fooled completely by a nifty fake by the receiver to the inside and could not recover when he went outside. The TV did not catch either of his hands to the face penalties, but Fritz did not complain about the calls. His second face mask penalty came right after he was beaten for a 42-yard gain on a scramble play. He has to clean that stuff up, but the tools are there.

8) I'm not as harsh on Stephon Huderson as most people were. Clearly, Corey Dauphine showed the most explosiveness of the three backs, but Huderson made a nice run for a first down the first time he touched the ball. He just did not have much room to run the rest of the night, but I do not think he was sluggish.

9) Let's credit Sam Hartman here. Wake's QB was terrific. That third-down play where he dumped it to the RB for a first down was an incredible piece of improvisation, and his throws were outstanding for most of the night. He looks to be the complete package.

10) P.J. Hall had a lot of tackles but I don't think he had a great game. He was solid, although he missed a tackle that turned a short gain into a 23-yard gain.

11) The refs missed two key calls that could have helped Tulane. The non-interference call on what would have been a third-down conversion to Clewis was unbelievable. The ref was in good position and swallowed his whistle even though the contact came well before the ball arrived. And they missed the blatant trip of Sample that should have drawn a flag and left him gimpy for a little while. But on the play when Taris Shenall broke up a pass at the goal line, the announcer was right. He should have been called for interference because he had his hand on the guy's back long before the ball got there. It still was a nice play for a guy who has not impressed me in the past. That's a sure TD if he does not knock it away.

12) That was a heck of a play by Robert Kennedy on the punt return, preventing what could have been a huge gain. That's a defensive lineman making an open-field tackle on a guy with a full head of steam.

13) As pointed out by another poster, Tirise Barge is a good blitzer. I was prepared to say he deserves to start, but Will Harper made a really nice tackle on Wake's first play of OT. They have different skill sets, although Harper went too far inside on the third-down conversion that ended any hope of Tulane winning. I see a situation rotation of those two guys tonight, and I still have no idea why Barge fell so far on the depth chart in preseason camp.

I have participated in a weekly AAC power ratings piece with other beat writers for the past two years but have not gotten The Advocate to let me post it (they would have to pay me for it). I will start posting it here each week.

Here were my rankings. I don't really think Cincinnati is the third-best team in the league but was rewarding the Bearcats for winning at UCLA. Early in the year, I treat the power rankings as a combination of on-field performance and projection of how good I think the team will be.

1) Central Florida
2) Memphis
3) Cincinnati
4) South Florida
5) Houston
6) Tulane
7) Navy
8) Temple
9)Tulsa
10) SMU
11) Connecticut
12) East Carolina

And here are the composite rankings from all of the beat writers, with write-ups for each team.

1. UCF

Record: 1-0 (1-0 in AAC)
Last week: defeated UConn, 56-17
This week: vs. South Carolina State

Trajectory: Surging. McKenzie Milton passed for 346 yards and five touchdowns and the Knights scored on 8-of-9 offensive possessions against the Huskies with no scoring drive lasting longer than 2 minutes, 39 seconds. Defensive back Richie Grant recovered a fumble and an interception.

Did you know? UCF holds the nation’s longest winning streak at 14 games.

- Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel

2. Memphis

Record: 1-0 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: defeated Mercer, 66-14
This week: at Navy

Trajectory: Surging. Quarterback Brady White had an impressive debut (358 yards, 5 TDs) and Memphis led 56-0 at halftime after scoring on its first eight drives. Defensively, TJ Carter returned an interception for a touchdown as the Tigers held Mercer to only 37 total yards of offense in the first half.

Did you know? Memphis defeated Navy last year for the first time in school history.

- Evan Barnes, The Commercial Appeal

3. Houston

Record: 1-0 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: defeated Rice, 45-27
This week: vs. Arizona

Trajectory: Steady. After two injury-ravaged seasons, Marquez Stevenson scored a pair of touchdowns and had 203 all-purpose yards. All-America defensive tackle Ed Oliver kicked off his Heisman Trophy campaign with 13 tackles, 3 1/2 tackles for loss and two quarterback pressures. Next up: Arizona and Heisman hopeful Khalil Tate.

Did you know? Before his three-sack performance against Rice, defensive end Isaiah Chambers last played in a game in high school in 2015.

- Joseph Duarte, Houston Chronicle

4. USF

Record: 1-0 (0-0 AAC)
Last week: defeated Elon, 34-14
This week: vs. Georgia Tech

Trajectory: Surging. The Blake Barnett era got off to a rousing start (305 passing yards, three TDs) against Elon, but the Bulls' run defense was periodically gashed by the Phoenix, who amassed 192 yards on the ground. With Georgia Tech's flexbone triple option arriving Saturday, many USF fans are justifiably concerned.

Did you know? USF has won five of its last six against Power Five opposition

- Joey Knight, Tampa Bay Times

5. Cincinnati

Record: 1-0 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: Defeated UCLA, 26-17
This week: Miami (Ohio)

Trajectory: Surging. Sophomore running back Michael Warren rushed 35 times for a career-high 142 yards as UC upset UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Junior LB Bryan Wright had two sacks and a pivotal forced fumble in the fourth quarter that resulted in the go-ahead safety.

Did you know? UC has won its last 12 meetings with neighboring rival Miami U.

- Tom Groeschen, Cincinnati Enquirer

6. Navy

Record: 0-1 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: lost to Hawaii, 59-41
This week: vs. Memphis

Trajectory: Skidding. The Midshipmen could not have imagined a worse start to the season, traveling halfway around the world to get routed by the Rainbow Warriors. Navy's defense was shredded from start to finish, allowing 522 total yards of offense. Quarterback Malcolm Perry and the offense did not help matters early on, picking up just one first down on three possessions to start the game.

Did you know? Navy has not started a season with consecutive losses since 2012.
- Bill Wagner, Baltimore Sun Media Group

7. Tulane

Record: 0-1 (0-0 AAC)
Last week: Lost to Wake Forest, 23-17 in OT
This week: vs. Nicholls State

Trajectory: Steady. Tulane was outplayed by Wake Forest for most of the night but had a tremendous chance to win at the end of regulation, needing one more first down to get into range for a go-ahead field goal. Everything went wrong from there. It was a missed opportunity for a statement victory against a Power Five program.

Did You Know? Tulane is undefeated against FCS teams.
- Guerry Smith, The New Orleans Advocate

8. Tulsa

Record: 1-0 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: defeated Central Arkansas, 38-27
This week: at Texas

Trajectory: Surging. Although the win against a good FCS team wasn't particularly impressive, the Hurricane showed signs of moving in the right direction especially on defense. Tulsa held Central Arkansas to 0-for-10 on third downs and allowed the fewest yards since 2012.

Did you know? For the 10th time in four years under Philip Montgomery, Tulsa had two 100-yard rushers in a game (Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor II). The Hurricane is 9-1 in those games.

- Kelly Hines, Tulsa World

9. Temple

Record: 0-1 (0-0 AAC)
Last week: lost to Villanova, 19-17.
This week: vs. Buffalo

Trajectory: Skidding. Even though Villanova is an extremely talented FCS team, it is still an FCS team and all the momentum from last year’s 4-1 finish, is now gone. The Owls were outgained 405-251 in total yards and also missed a 29-yard field goal. Newcomer Rock Ya-Sin, a senior transfer from Presbyterian College, played well in his Temple debut with five tackles, including one tackle for loss. Defensive end Dana Levine is expected out four to six weeks after suffering an unspecified injury against Villanova.

Did you know? This week’s opponent Buffalo has an NFL prospect at quarterback in 6-7, 245-pound junior Tyree Jackson, who threw six TD passes in the Bulls’ opening 48-10 win over Delaware State.

-Marc Narducci, Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News

10. SMU

Record: 0-1 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: lost to North Texas, 46-23
This week: vs. TCU

Trajectory: Skidding. The Sonny Dykes era got off to a rough start in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Mustangs were held scoreless and to one first down until scoring all their points in the final 8 1/2 minutes. SMU had four rushing yards on 19 carries.

Did you know? SMU and TCU meet for the 98th time Saturday, the sixth-longest active non-conference series in the nation.

- Joseph Duarte, Houston Chronicle


11. Connecticut

Record: 0-1 (0-1 in AAC)
Last week: lost to UCF, 56-17
This week: at Boise State

Trajectory: Skidding. No one was surprised to see UConn lose to UCF, but the Huskies probably expected better than a 39-point blowout. Though the offense moved the ball with some efficiency against the Knights, the defense ceded touchdowns on eight of the UCF’s nine full drives. With more than a few true freshmen playing significant snaps on D, UConn could allow a lot of points this season.

Did you know? Boise will be the farthest west UConn has ever played.

- Alex Putterman, Hartford Courant

12. East Carolina

Record: 0-1 (0-0 in AAC)
Last week: lost to North Carolina A&T, 28-23
This week: vs. North Carolina.

Trajectory: Skidding. Tension is very high in Greenville and math is already working against third-year coach Scottie Montgomery, who has guaranteed a bowl bid this season, after a 28-23 loss to FCS squad North Carolina A&T. Now the Pirates face a three-game set against North Carolina, Virginia Tech and South Florida.

Did you know? ECU’s announced attendance of 38,640 against N.C. A&T marked the first time since the 2006 season that it had a home-opening crowd of less than 40,000.

- Ronnie Woodward, Greenville Daily Reflector

I see one listing of -17.5 for the spread on the Tulane game, which Vegas books do not have since they don't bother with FCS teams, so that's what I'm using.

Other than that one, it's the same story: The Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus.

Tulane (-17.5) Nicholls State
Navy(+6.5) Memphis
South Florida (+3.5) Georgia Tech
South Carolina (+10) Georgia
Texas A&M (+12.5) Clemson
Stanford (-5) Southern Cal
Pittsburgh (+9) Penn State
Houston (-4.5) Arizona

Darius Hodges, a 3-star ILB from Montgomery (Ala.) Park Crossing High, will take an official visit this weekend. Tulane does not have many of those on game weekends. Other than Arkansas, Hodges does not have any offers from big schools, but Rivals ranks him the No. 57 prospect in Alabama.

Here are the guys on unofficial visits:

Already committed

Freddie Mango
Dante Wright
Tyjae Spears
Colby Orgeron

Uncommitted

1) Tyrone Lewis, a 3-star, 5-10, 168-pound cornerback from Hammond.

Skinny: Rated the No. 34 prospect in Louisiana, Rivals has him with offers from Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky among others.

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2) Devonta Lee, a 4-star, 6-3, 205-pound ATH from Amite.

Skinny: Rated the No. 75 overall prospect in the country, seventh at his position and the No. 6 overall prospect in Louisiana. Offers from everyone, visited Arizona State and Arkansas.

3) Marcus Harris, an unrated 6-2, 236-pound defensive end from Montgomery Park Crossing (same school as Hodges)

Skinny: No offers from big schools yet. He is the Rivals database but does not have any stars.

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4) Jordan Jefferson, an unrated 6-3, 280-pound DT from Navarre High in Florida

Skinny: a lot from Group of Five schools. He is in the Rivals database with no stars.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2019/jordan-jefferson-213944

5) Kyle Maxwell, a 3-star, 6-2, 178-pound WR from Amite.

Skinny: Committed to La Tech in August. Rated the No. 44 prospect in Louisiana. Rivals lists offers from Arkansas, Tennessee, Kansas, Kentucky and Memphis among others.

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6) Kiland Harrison, an unrated 5-11, 165-pound WR from St. Joseph Catholic in Madison, Miss.

Skinny: In Rivals database but no stars. Has offers from Southern Miss and Central Arkansas.

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7) Kash Foley, a 3-star, 6-0, 185-pound WR from Riverside Academy.

Skinny: Ranked the No. 45 prospect in Louisiana. Has offers from Kansas and Kentucky among others.

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8) Jack Mashburn, an unrated 6-4, 210-pound Athlete who plays QB for St. Paul's in Covington.

Skinny: Not in Rivals database or any other database. Height and weight are from MaxPreps. He led St. Paul's in passing and rushing a year ago and was third in receiving. Here's a recent Advocate article on him.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orl...cle_72b0f5e2-9520-11e8-a3bd-f370a594a9ae.html

9) Maliek Stallings, a 3-star 6-0, 173-pound CB from Noxubee County High in Macon, Miss.

Skinny: Committed to Memphis in July. Rated the 44th best prospect in Mississippi.

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10) Jack Stanton, an unrated 6-4, 235-pound DE from Alpharetta, Ga.

Skinny: in Rivals database but no stars. Has offers from Air Force, Army, Southern Miss and Miami (Ohio).

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11) Khris Simmons, an unrated 6-1, 168-pound WR from Zachary.

Skinny: In Rivals database but no stars. Only FBS offer is from Louisiana-Monroe.

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I hear Tulane also is bringing in a slew of really good players from the 2020 class.

I remember reading it at the time after just moving back to New Orleans from Florida earlier in the year. Former Times-Picayune writer Trey Iles wrote it.

http://blog.nola.com/tulanebeat/2008/10/tulane_football_recalls_perfec.html

I talked to him yesterday:

You are coming off a huge win at Kansas heading into your first meeting with Tulane. What are your thoughts about coming off an an emotional game like that and having another one this Saturday?

"It's just like any other week. You've got to put the last game behind you. That's what we're always preaching to our players is you have 24 hours and it's move to the next one. Win, lose or draw, you've got to go on. This week is Tulane, which is a very good team. It is kind of unique and exciting to think that the two schools have never played before. They are so close and they play in all the other sports and never played in football. And then there is the familiarity between the two. Our players know Tulane obviously and now they are starting to know about Nicholls a little bit. The guys on the team played against each other, and then the job that Willie Fritz has done over there is amazing. He's getting his right guys in there. He's getting his recruits in there. He just missed out on a bowl game last year, and they have some tremendous talent."

You not only beat Kansas, you controlled the line of scrimmage. What does that say about your physicality?

"Well, it goes with the philosophy of our staff since we've been here. We believe that if you can run and stop the run, then you'll have a chance in games, and that's what we've done. We have some experience on the offensive line with guys that have started a bunch of games, and defensively we have some depth. The two positions are so different in that usually with the offensive line you stick with the (starting) five and on defensive line you have to rotate and roll some guys. We have some depth. We stopped the run, got them in some third-down situations and got off the field. Conversely, offensively that's what you've got to do--try to get manageable first downs, convert them and keep the ball out of their hands. If you play to that philosophy whether you're playing FBS or FCS, you'll have a chance to be in some games."

You added Kendall Bussey to an experienced roster. What do you like best about him?

"Just the person that he is, too. Everybody knows what kind of athlete he is and what kind of player he is. He came here and fit right in from day 1. He's humble. He works his butt off. He just fit in with a good stable of running backs we already have. He just added to that room.

Chase Fourcade does not always have great stats, but he scored the game-ending TD against Kansas in OT. What do you like best about him?

"He's just got that grit about him. It doesn't matter if he's having a great game or an average game. When it comes down to the fourth quarter. he is the type of guy that everyone comes to know. He loves to have the ball in his hand. He's such a competitor. He's such a winner. He's everything that we thought he was when we recruited him and even more. He's still scratching the surface of how good he can be."

I can't recall an FCS team winning two games in one year against FBS teams, and you have that opportunity on Saturday. How big of a deal would that be for your program?

"It's like we talked about last week, beating a Power Five school. We said, hey, that's nice, but you're 1-0 and you have to move on to the next one. If something like that happens, we've got to put it behind us because next week we have our conference opener against McNeese, and then maybe at the end of the season you can reflect back and think about some of the accomplishments. But the oldest cliche in the book is you've got to try to play them one game at a time."

You mentioned the familiarity many of the players on both teams have with each other. What does that mean for your guys with the opportunity to play Tulane?

"I think it's fantastic and they do, too. A lot of our guys went to school in New Orleans, so they are going to have a bunch of their buddies there. They played against some of these guys, and even some of the guys that didn't play against each other, they have buddies that went to Jesuit. They are going to know each other and it's a chance for their families to see them play. Us being able to go to their place is going to make for a good evening of football in south Louisiana."

Where do you want to see the most improvement from week 1?

"We have to get some more consistency and we have to get better on third downs. We want to score more points. We protected the ball well and didn't turn the ball over on offense, but the big elephant in the room is we've got to be better on special teams. You can't shoot yourself in the foot and expect to win games against good teams."

What did it say about your team that you were able to overcome three special teams gaffes (bad punt snap for a safety, blocked punt and muffed punt) in the fourth quarter against Kansas?

"Yeah, looking at it, when it happened I thought we were in control of the fourth quarter. But the one thing is our guys didn't panic on the sideline and say, oh crap. Our guys just knew what we had to do. We thought we could move the ball. It was about that veteran leadership, the senior leadership. Those guys said, hey, we've been here before, and we played on those past experiences. It helped us stay calm, and our offense did a great job of going down the field. We have a real good kicker."

How did the close calls against Georgia and Texas A&M the past two years help you get over the hump against Kansas?

"Every team is different starting the season, but some of those guys had been in those close games and not just against the other FBS schools. Our conference is really tough, and we have nailbiters every week that go down to the fourth quarter. That's how our team has come to play: let's get into the fourth quarter and see if we can come out on top. They did draw on some of those past experiences."

What have been the keys to getting the program turned around? You inherited a winless team in 2015.

"A couple of things. You have to change the whole culture and the whole mindset of the players. Look, we had some good players on the team, but when we landed that first class and then that second recruiting class, we got some good players. You can talk about the coaching and all that, but when you have good players, they make you a good coach. We got the Sully Laiches, the Evan Verons and Allen Pittman and Ahmani Martin and guys out the city. We talked about Chase. When you start getting those guys to recruit for you after changing the culture a little bit, that's been the biggest thing."

Your schedule was disrupted by the expected storm this week. You practiced Monday but had to take off Wednesday to meet the NCAA mandate of one off day per week. Are you concerned?

"Yeah, I think we're good. Coming back and practicing on Monday, you are worried about their legs and how they are going to bounce back, but we've been smart toward the latter part of the week and I think our guys will be able to handle it."

The only injured player I saw was Sean Harper. WaveON wondered why he did not play against Wake Forest in a thread I can't find now, but he has been out a while. I had it somewhere buried in a preseason camp report.

Here's Fritz from today:

How much contact is the team going to have with the 1998 team this weekend?

"A little bit. When we're leaving, they are coming in at 6. I'm going to stay here for the event as well."

What do you tell your team about that team?

"I tell these guys all the time, I've always used it as an example here, they are the standard here at Tulane. I know they've had a couple of other undefeated teams (9-0-1 in 1925, 9-0 in 1929), but they were quite some time ago. There have been a lot of great teams here, but that's the only modern one that went undefeated, didn't lose a game and all those things."

Are you going to have someone from that team speak to your team Friday night?

"Unfortunately coach (Tommy) Bowden and coach (Rich) Rodriquez weren't able to make it. We might. I've got to see who's coming."

How has practice gone this week?

"We were able to go Monday. We usually don't practice on Monday, so we practiced Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately we weren't able to get in today like we wanted to. It was a little bit of a head start on Nicholls."

What is the No. 1 improvement you want to see from week 1 to week 2?

"The Wave can't beat the Wave. We have to do a good job eliminating pre-snap and post-play penalties, play smart, do our job and things that we control."

Chase Fourcade's numbers aren't special but he makes plays. What challenge does he present?

"The guy does a good job of knowing when to throw it and when to run it. He's one of those guys, you have to play 11 guys. He's not handing the ball off. He's running it as well. He's a very effective runner and knows where to go. They are a big RPO team, and when you get into RPOs, that quarterback has to make decisive, smart, quick decisions, and he does a good job of that."

A long time ago Kendall Bussey was a Tulane commitment. He had a huge debut for Nicholls after transferring from Texas A&M, making a strong FCS team even stronger. What does he do best?

"He has good size and speed. He has a lot of experience. As a matter of fact, one of the games I've watched quite a bit is the game last year against A&M. He really had a good game against them for A&M last year (a team-high 99 yards on 15 carries, including the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter). He's a quality back."

First off, when I'm writing on deadline at night games, there is a whole bunch I miss. I will have a more thorough analysis later this week after watching the game again.

But some things were crystal clear last night as Tulane made a boatload of mistakes to lose a game in which it would have won the turnover battle 3-0 without the desperation play on fourth-and-25 in overtime. Willie Fritz is not having as much success in games when he wins the turnover battle by two or more at Tulane than he did at all of his other coaching stops.

First, Jonathan Banks has to play better. This is his team. He stays after practice every day. works incredibly hard and is the leader of the pack, and he simply did not execute well enough last night. They've changed the offense to take advantage of his passing along with the receiving skills of Terren Encalade and Darnell Mooney, but Banks repeated was off target in the first half. I keep hearing about all the drops by his receivers, but the only blatant one was the killer drop by Encalade on the opening possession. Jacob Robertson's drop was a very poor pass. He is not a good enough receiver yet to make that catch after having to jump high to get it. It should have been thrown right into his hands. Banks' sketchy first half not only kept Tulane from scoring points when it had the ball in Wake territory, it forced the defense to be on the field too much. and it wore down in the second quarter.

And it's not just the missed throws. Banks has to make better pre-snap decisions. A lot of the apparently mystifying run calls on third and long were RPOs that he read wrong, handing the ball off when he needed to throw. Going forward, that may be the bigger issue. He has not proven yet that he can consistently make the right decisions. His passing will get better, but he needs to cut down the misreads. If he does, his dynamic playmaking ability won't go to waste. This is not a new issue. On that key fourth down gamble against SMU last year when he got sacked, he rolled the wrong way and away from his blockers, dooming it from the start.

Second, Tulane simply is not good enough to commit as many costly penalties as it did last night and expect to get away with it. The illegal block personal foul by Kendall Ardoin, which no longer is allowed, was a killer in the first half. And the last two penalties--the false start on Stephon Huderson when Tulane was knocking on the door for the winning field goal and the face mask by Noah Fisher--sealed the deal. The 83 yards on eight penalties was the fourth highest of Fritz's tenure, and Tulane is 0-4 in those games.

Tulane did not deserve to win last night, but after forcing the three and out in a tie game late in the fourth quarter, the Wave should have found a way to steal the game. Everything was set up for it, but then Huderson's penalty hurt and Banks, after stepping up in the pocket, woefully underthrew Encalade on a pass that would have set Tulane up for a chip shot field goal. It was not an easy throw, but it was one the team's catalyst needed to make.

Although the defense struggled to stop Wake Forest after the first two possessions, it made enough big plays for Tulane to win. It looks like the young line will be effective this year, but it's hard to gauge after one game. Lawrence Graham was very active at linebacker. Donnie Lewis played well at cornerback.

Other than that, I'll reserve judgment until I re-watch the game. Tough, tough loss because it was there for the taking in the final minute of regulation.

For the first time in 11 years, I did not write a preseason national football top 10 or BCS playoff prediction column for my old paper in Florida, Gator Bait, which ceased its print edition last September. I blame that for my weak performance in week 1 because I did not have to do any research during the summer. Gotta blame it on something, right? As a group, the majority picked the wrong team in seven of the nine games, only getting Tulane and Auburn right.

There were 22 entrants for the first week.

6

MNAlum
buck2481
mono41
winwave

5

LSU Law Greenie
charlamange8
diverdo
Kettrade1
Golfer81
paliii
Wavetime
DrBox

4

highwave
GretnaGreen
Gang_Green
sscald

3

Guerry
chigoyboy
St. Amant Wave
WaveON
Harahan Wave

1

bbos1025


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 20 of 22
Auburn 13
LSU 6
Virginia Tech 10
Alabama 7
Notre Dame 9
Ole Miss 6
Hawaii 5

I think Jeffery Johnson had a terrific game! He moved there linemen backwards often. He was also double team a few times. He had at least 1 maybe 2 tackle for loss.

I am bullish on Marvin Moody who showed terrific range! Same for Thakarius who was there to make plays every time, but give credit to Wake’s receivers, who made plays.

Defense as a whole deserves credit. I didn’t see a lot of separation. I didn’t see blow coverages with someone running wild. We showed range. Carney is a great back and makes me feel better about conference match ups They had a GREAT O—Line. They performance isn’t easy against a team like Wake, and with very little pass rush normally our back end would be exposed. Feel better about the position group than I did yesterday even though we surrender massive yards, because it was a bend don’t break defense. They were held to less than half their average point total during regulation. Only 3 tds including overtime. That’s a bend don’t break defense. Offense needs to execute.

Tirese Barge needs to be on the field more. You guys need to watch the game again if you have a chance. He made plays.

Sean Harper had a few good moments as well.

Rod Teamer played well. Zach Harris played well. Cam Sample needs to get health. He looked slower and less powerful. Patrick Johnson was outmatched.

Zack Block isn’t good. Take notes from the few pints they executed and what a real college punter looks like. Blocks is wildly inconsistent.

Darnell Mooney really performed consistently, and Encalade needs to catch that TD on the first drive!

Will Wallace was open and did okay, but miffed on one key block in the third quarter I believe.

Dublin played well. The left side of the line is a liability. But all Fritz teams have progressed rapidly during the season between game 1-2, and throughout the season everywhere, but especially along the O-Line. I believe based on history their best days are ahead of them. Not worried.

I didn’t have a program. Not sure if Tulane handed any out. Bad move on their part. I have no idea if 80 was Tyreke James. He got a lot snaps. Not sure which other true freshmen played, such as Hatcher?

A lot has been made about our choices to punt inside Wake territory last week. And we did that seven times. Some of the comments: “Coach Fritz was playing not to lose;” “We needed to give Glover a chance; his field goal would have made it from 45 yards;” “We should have gone for it on several of those occasions.” Even the play by play guy thought we should have “given up” on a first down when we were 3rd and long, and gotten 4-5 yards to make a field goal possible. So, what were the real options?

#1. On 3rd and 19, we threw incomplete. We punted on 4th and 19 from the 35 yard line. Should we have gone for it? Should we have tied a 53 yard field goal? Should we have gained 5 yards on 3rd down and, if successful, tried a 48 yard field goal?

#2. On 3rd and 10, we threw incomplete. We punted on 4th and 10 from the 35 yard line. Exact same questions as above.

#3. On 3rd and 8, we threw for 4 yards (the analysts choice) and then punted from the 38 yard line rather than going for it on 4th and 4 or trying a 56 yard field goal.

#4. On 3rd and 8, we threw incomplete. We then punted from the Wake 47 yard line on 4th and 8 rather than going for it or trying a 65 yard field goal.

#5. On 3rd and 13, we rushed for three yards. Was that what the TV analyst was suggesting? After an intentional delay of game, we punted on 4th and 15 from the 46 yard line. Without the delay, our choices were to go for it 4th and 10 or try a 59 yard field goal.

#6. On 3rd and 8, Banks rushed for 1 yard. Then, on 4th and 7 from the 39 yard line, we chose to punt rather than go for it or try a 57 yard field goal.

#7. On 3rd and 12, we threw incomplete. We then punted from the 38 yard line rather than try a 56 yard field goal or go for it 4th and 12.

So, our field goal options were to attempt 53, 53, 56, 64, 59, 57, or 56 yard field goals. With Cairo Santos, we might have tried 3 or 4 of these, but with Glover I doubt many of us would even consider anything of them.

How many of our fans (and I haven’t seen any mention of this option) liked the TV analyst’s idea of gaining 4-5 yards on 3rd down to set up shorter field goal attempts? I thought the point was to throw “beyond the sticks,” not play it safe on 3rd down to try a risky, still long range, field goal. For those who think our play calling was conservative, I wonder what giving up on a first down would have been seen as.

Going for it? The 3rd punt from the 38 yard line with a 4th and 4 is the most (and possibly only) questionable decision I thought we made among the seven punts. Sure, we could pin them deep. In fact, even with a bad bounce from the 2, we stuck them at the ten yard line. But going for it there on 4th and 4, to me, would have been the better choice rather than the punt or a 56 yard field goal try.

Anyway, best I can tell, those were the factual circumstances of our seven punts inside Wake territory. What could have, should have, or might have been done constitutes opinions. In retrospect, mine is that we should have gone for it 4th and 4 on our third punt. I really don’t find much fault in the other decisions. Though it might have been a long shot, going for it on 4th and 7 from the 39 yard line (#6) wouldn't have upset me either.

Roll Wave!!!

This was really an up and down weekend for the America Athletic Conference. For an aspiring “P6” organization, the results were not good. UCF beat UCONN in the only conference game, 56-17, and, with luck, could be set up for another New Year’s day bowl. Tulane, of course, lost to Wake Forest, but Cincinnati beat UCLA, another P5 school, 26-17. So far, not too bad. But, SMU fell behind 36-0 to North Texas (yes, North Texas) before losing 46-23. Navy also lost to another G5 school, Hawaii, 59-41, and, though trailing at the half, Houston beat cross-town rival, Rice, 45-27. Still, 1-2 against “lower level” G5 schools is not what the conference needed. Of course USF mopped up Elon 34-14; Memphis beat Mercer 66-14; and Tulsa came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Central Arkansas 38-27 in expected wins over FCS schools. Sadly, Temple was beaten by cross-town rival Villanova, yet another FCS school, 17-19, and East Carolina lost, 28-23, to North Carolina A&T, also of the FCS. So, bolstered by a 3-2 record against the FCS, and including an in-conference contest, the AAC went 6-6 the first weekend. That probably moves us closer to P7 than P5. Not good.

Roll Wave!!!

I don't have the list, but with high school teams practicing and getting ready for games tomorrow, I'm told there will only be a few local players who come to the game.

Tulane will get a visit from OL commitment Brevyn Jones on Saturday, but tonight will be sparse. That's the reality of Thursday night games.

He was asked 11 questions (nine from New Orleans beat writers and columnists, including three from me), which has to be a record for the AAC teleconference and a Tulane coach. Of course. the Green Wave is coming off a tough overtime loss to Wake Forest that featured a lot of self-inflicted wounds and, stop me if you've heard this before, offensive line issues. Tulane hosts Nicholls State this Saturday.

Here's the transcript:

"It was a tough game for us. Unfortunately we made some first-game mistakes that didn't help us. Wake Forest's returns a lot of veterans, 10 of 11 starters on the offensive side of the ball, and I thought their true freshman really came out and played with a lot of poise. Defensively they were active. The defensive line did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage. There were just a couple of times we put ourselves in bad situations with some penalties that got us in some long-yardage situations that make it difficult for anybody to convert.

" I liked out fight. I liked the effort that our guys gave. We have to make sure that we play as error free as possible. That's what you want to try to accomplish from week 1 to week 2. It's a big game this week. Nicholls went in and defeated Kansas at Kansas to get their first win against a Power Six team. I was very impressed. I coached FCS ball for a long period of time, and they've done a really nice job of putting together an excellent squad, combining a lot of high school kids that have really panned out for them with quite a few transfer guys that are also doing a good job for them.

"They have a good, salty offensive and defensive line and some good skill kids, so this will be a super challenge for us on Saturday."

What can you say about the litmus test of being close against a team like Wake Forest but ultimately not winning in OT? What is your takeaway?

"It's frustrating, there's no doubt about that. You've got to just keep forging ahead when you get these games. Our expectations are very high here. When I first came in, there were very little expectations. Just lining up right and playing hard were a plus to a lot of people, but now we feel like we're at a point in our program where we need to start winning these games and playing better throughout the game because they are going to be close games. It's just the nature of Division I football. There's a lot of parity, and we need to make those plays when they come to us. Obviously no moral victories, but it's game 1. You have to move on. We had a good sitdown with our team about that this morning, and that's what we'll do."

Off of the field, what are you seeing the culture becoming right now?

"It's the expectations. At one point in time the expectations were not very high. Our AD is doing a good job of helping change the culture of the entire athletic department, not just the football program. We feel like we've really taken some steps forward, particularly recruiting. We've got some better athletes here and more of them. That's what we need, is to keep improving and to start seeing it on the scoreboard."

What do you tell your team after such a hard fought, close game, but not getting the win, and keeping them on the right track?

"When they watched the tape, they could see how close it was. A play here or there, a little bit smarter play here or there, a better call here or there and we have an opportunity to win. Wake Forest. that coach has done a great job there. Coach Clawson, they beat Texas A&M in a bowl game last year and they've won a lot of games in that conference. It was frustrating as I've said before, but you just have to keep plugging away and learning from your mistakes and not repeating those mistakes and making plays when you need to. I think our guys understand that. Also know that this was one of 12, not all 12 of the games that we play this season."

Nicholls won at Kansas this weekend. How much did that get the attention of your players so they will not see this as a lower-division school?

"Oh, I think they had our attention no matter what. Coach (Tim) Rebowe has done a tremendous job with that program. He's played in the 1-AA playoffs last year and competed for a conference championship in the Southland Conference. I'm an old FCS coach myself. A lot of these kids played with the guys that play at Nicholls. He's done a really good job of putting a roster together. He's got a lot of veterans. Probably the big difference between his program the last couple of years and now is the offensive line and defensive line are really formidable. They've got some good size, some good athletes and a lot of them. It's not just one or two. I know it was always difficult for me when I was at Sam Houston putting together some depth on the offensive and defensive line. We maybe had two guys that stood out and maybe two guys you had to hide a little bit. That's not the case with these guys. They are really good across the boards with both lines in size and ability, and they've got some really good skill guys as well on the offensive and defensive side."

Do you find yourself recruiting the same players that they did?

"Yeah, without question. There's a lot of carry-over in recruiting. There are four or five kids that when I first got the job, I came in and it's just hard to figure out the lay of the land. There are quite a few kids I wish I would have jumped on and recruited. That's just how it goes. With 1-AA sometimes, I'm not sure coach coach divvies up his scholarships, but sometimes you can get a kid on a quarter or . half. You can divide them up at the FCS level, and all of a sudden that guy turns into a great player for you. I had a few guys that turned into All-Americans for me at Sam. That's a neat deal as well. You can go around and recruit guys and develop those guys once they get into your program. They've certainly done a super job of that."

You had a lot of young or inexperienced guys that appeared to be pretty active defensively against Wake. What was your assessment of them?

"I thought our guys played fast. They really did. There were a few errors that we made during the game, and for the most part we really played fast and physical. We had some young guys in the secondary for us that really handled themselves well. Then also the linebacker position, Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody, that was by far the most those guys had played, and they did a good job. Up front, big Jeffery (Johnson) played a lot of snaps and did a good job at the point. Davon Wright played a bunch for us up front, also, and probably got 20 to 30 snaps. A lot of young guys played for us on Thursday night, and they handled themselves well for a first Division I game."

Jonathan Banks made three tremendous, difference-making plays in the second half, but the consistency for the whole offense wasn't there throughout the game. How would you assess his performance?

"Jonathan is probably like everybody on offense and defense and special teams. There was some really good play to learn from and also some play he'd like to have back and be able to do over again. The thing with the quarterback, as I've said many times before, is he probably gets too much credit when things go well and way too much blame when things don't go well, kind of like the head football coach. Overall for his first game (this year), I thought he made some really competitive plays, particularly like you talked about in the second half. We've got to get consistency with all 11 guys in order to do what we want to do offensively."

You mentioned after the game the offensive line got a little tired at the end. When you watched the tape, how did you feel the group played overall?

"Yeah, it kind of was that way after I watched the tape. Wake Forest has a really good defensive line, a lot of movement and penetration, and really good athletes up there. They are much better than I anticipated, so for a first game of the year, that was a crew to really go against, which is good because we are going to play against another real good defensive line this week."

What did you think about the linebackers' performance against Wake?

"They played well. Zach Harris had another good game for us. He's really fully healthy right now. He's been banged up the last couple of years a little bit, and once you get into the season, you maybe haven't seen him at full speed, but he played fast on Thursday night. The other two guys did, too. It's a unique offense. They run the inside zone play with the RPOs and the zone read, but they run it a little differently than other people where they ride that mesh for what seems like about a minute. I thought they (the linebackers) showed some really good patience, which is what you have to do in order to be gap solid."

P.J. Hall had a team-high 11 tackles. How did he do in his first game at safety?

"He did a nice job. He's just a Steady Eddie type player. He just doesn't get himself out of position very often and is just a really smart, cerebral player. He has a high football I.Q. That's probably the biggest reason why he's an effective player."

What do you need to do better offensively up front going into this week?

"We have to be assignment sound. We have to do a good job of staying on our blocks. We got whipped a few times up front. A lot of that was technique, just not stepping properly. As I said before, we are going to see it again. This is a very active front with Nicholls, and we need to see some big-time improvement between week 1 and week 2 with our offensive line. It's a big challenge coming out of the gate playing Wake Forest. They've got a very talented front, but we are going to see that again this week."

I caught the last 30 minutes at the Saints facility today and the big news was tight end Charles Jones practicing in a full-contact jersey.

Tulane missed Jones against Wake Forest. Kendall Ardoin drew a crucial 15-yard personal penalty for a blatant cut block that has been outlawed, stalling a late-first-half drive, and neither Ardoin nor Will Wallace was a factor in the passing game. True freshman Tyrick James caught a pass for 4 yards but he is still learning the offense.

The depth chart they released is the same as last week, which simply means the coaches did not update it. Jones should be available to play this Saturday against Nicholls State.

Keon Howard made a heck of a throw while serving as the scout-team cornerback. I did not catch the number of the receiver, but he threw a dart on the roll through traffic. I'm sure he was not thrilled when Justin McMillan transferred. It should be a good competition between them for the starting job next year, but I'm getting too far ahead. McMillan took some reps with the second-team offense today, so it is not inconceivable he will play against Nicholls.

Terren Encalade remained in a no-contact jersey, but we saw how little his injury status affected his play last Thursday. Jorrien Vallien looked good today. No idea whether he will play this year, but he is impressive physically. I was surprised Brian Newman did not play against Wake Forest after the amount of reps in he received in preseason camp. Tulane is thin at wide receiver in terms of production--Encalade and Darnell Mooney combined for 16 catches for 263 yards against Wake, Jabril Clewis had one catch for 13 yards despite being a repeated early target and the rest of the crew was blanked. That dovetails with what I saw in the preseason. when Newman made more plays than the others but was not consistent. Jacob Robertson and Jaetavian Toles played Thursday but came up empty.

Today's practice ended with a tipped pass that Mooney caught. That brought to mind what may have been the pivotal bad break for Tulane on Thursday. During Wake Forest's three-and-out near the end of regulation after Tulane tied the score, Cam Sample had a bead on an interception off a tipped ball, but Marvin Moody did not see him and deflected the ball away from him going for his own pick. Tulane would have gotten the ball in long field goal range on the spot, which guarantees nothing considering the Wave's struggles in Wake territory all game but certainly would have been beneficial. Instead, Wake punted, and Tulane had to start at its own 37.

Without question, even though Tulane gave up a lot of yards and could not stop Wake on third down--a huge problem last year as well--this team played faster on defense and has the potential to make more big plays than a season ago.

Initial thoughts without watching replay. Should've won this game.

Fritz too conservative in the first half on punting

Huderson too tentative a runner. Dauphine looks to be faster and more of a slasher - give him more touches. Bradwell appears to be still injured as arm tackles brought him down.

O-Line pass protection was improved compared to last year.

Too many drops by wide receivers. Robertson and Clewis had a couple of critical drops. Would love to have seen Newman play and make some catches.

Banks was outplayed by freshman Wake Forest QB.

Tulane Defense stopped the run for the most part but secondary could've made a few more plays

Face mask penalties were killers.

Hopefully we can beat Nichols.

Rob Segedin was on the disabled list for the Dodgers' AAA team in Oklahoma City since early June. A couple days ago he was released by the Dodgers. I'm not sure what the current problem is but Rob has been on the disabled list frequently over his eight year professional career. This may be the end of that dream. At least he had the opportunity to play in 53 major league games. Many of us high school and college players would have given anything for that opportunity.

I wish him the best of luck in whatever is his future.

Roll Wave!!

Yesterday, Badie, Doss, Warmsley and Hilliard were cut from NFL rosters. Previously, Rounds and Santos were shown the door, and Darkwa, a free agent, has had several “try outs” but hasn’t hooked up with any team. So, to this point, the only former Tulane players on an NFL roster are Ade Aruna (Minnesota), Ryan Grant (Indianapolis), Ryan Griffin (Tampa Bay), Rob Kelley (Washington), Parry Nickerson (NY Jets), and Tanzel Smart (LA Rams). Of course, as teams scrounge through the recent cuts, some of these could find themselves on the outside and some of the recent cuts could still find themselves on a team or at least a practice squad. Good luck to all “our guys.”

Roll Wave!!!

I was in Knoxville last week to attend the Knoxville Central vs. Fulton game on Thursday and the Murfreesboro Oakland vs. Maryville game on Friday night, which featured a pair of Tulane targets in Fulton linebackers Deshawn Page and J'Coryan Anderson.

Both players impressed and I included some video of their performances in the aricle.

You can read the story and get my thoughts on those two and several other prospects here.

It's well worth the read. Les Johns is excellent.

If I could find guys as good as he is for every team, this would be a weekly story rather than an irregular one.