This is our last chance to bring in recruits to see the Wave play this year. Should be interesting to see who takes in the game. We need to "shine" this weekend.

Roll Wave!!!

What redshirt juniors will participate in “Senior Day” ceremonies at our last home game against Temple? Last year two starters, Colton Hanson and Nathan Shienle, participated in “Senior Day,” thereby signaling their intention not to use their final year of eligibility. By my count we have 13 redshirt juniors: Ade Aruna, Sherman Badie, Eric Bell, Quinlan Carroll, Tristan Cooper, Jarod Franklin, Luke Jackson, Sergio Medina, Kenneth Santa Marina, Parry Nickerson, Jason Stewart, William Townsend, and Eldrick Washington.

Some have been major contributors and some, not so much. But, after four years of school plus at least parts of four summers, many are probably on track to graduate prior to next football season. What are their plans? Do they want to keep playing for the “love of the game?” Do they want to keep playing with the hopes of achieving elusive success? Do they think one more year might give them a better shot at a pro career? Do they wish to get a start on, or complete, a master’s program? Are they tired of playing and simply wish to “get on with life?” Will they graduate and have the opportunity to transfer to another school with a better chance of playing time or a more “appropriate” scheme for their particular talents? Or, in the case of those who haven’t contributed much, will they quietly be shown the door after receiving a “free ride” for four years. How many choose to complete their eligibility will have a lot to do with how many kids we sign in February and what positions need the most help.

While decisions made for Saturday’s ceremony are clearly not final, they’ll go a long way to determining who will be back next year. I’d be surprised if we didn’t lose at least three prior to next season.

Roll Wave!!!

Parry Nickerson went out early against Houston. Is he going to be OK? When will he return? He’s obviously one of the top 3-4 players on the entire team and I think, if he’s healthy, he might choose to turn pro after this season. Regardless, I hope the young man is back soon.

Several other players have missed recent games and I don’t have any idea if It’s due to injury or simply the coaches decision not to play them

After starting six straight games, though splitting time in some of them, Kenneth Santa Marina did not play against Houston, at least according to the official site. If he played, I didn’t notice him. Devin Glenn apparently also sat out. Are they hurt? Braynon Edwards has now missed the last two games. His status? Several guys have been hurt off and on including Peter Woullard, William Townsend, Devon Breaux, Quinlin Carroll, and Eric Bowie. All have missed one or more games recently. Any word on when any of them might return? Finally, Tre Jackson. After playing briefly in games 4 and 5, and thereby foregoing a redshirt, Jackson has not been in a game since. This is despite the fact that all five of the other freshmen DB’s have seen action since his last appearance. I can only assume he’s hurt. Does anyone know how bad? Most of us would have picked him as one of the freshmen most likely to make a positive input immediately; it hasn’t happened.

Regardless, best wishes to all “our guys.”

Roll Wave!!!!

I was a band of one when it came to media at the Tulane-Southeastern game tonight, and with a deadline of 9:30 for The Advocate, the foul-extended game led to Dunleavy showing up in the media room just as I was sending my story.

Thankfully, he waited a minute for me to finish before I could ask him questions. Here's what he had to say about his first victory as a college coach.

Can you talk about getting your first win here mean as well as getting the program going?

"It's great. It's really exciting. I'm really excited about the possibilities of where this program can go. I knew it when I took it over and I feel even moreso right now because I've seen the improvement in a lot of the kids. Really all I ask for is give me guys who are going to really work hard and try to do what we teach them to do, and they've really been very much engaged. They've done a great job of that. They're getting better. They're getting better all the time."

There were a lot of fouls called (58). How hard was it for the players to adjust?

"Yeah, well, they were trying to use speed and doing a lot of off-the-dribble stuff, turning corners, and that can create foul opportunities, and by them playing smaller, we were trying to actually go into the post against them a lot using our size, and that's going to create fouls as well, so the confluence of the two created a long night. The bottom line is we did a great job of shooting free throws. We work on them a lot. It's a big improvement for us.

"Ryan Smith had a great second half for us. He really controlled the paint, got some scores, got to the line. He was our anchor there."

When Malik Morgan went out with his fourth foul, you were up by 3 points, but there was a stretch after that where Ryan and Kain Harris (career-high 19 points) took over. How nice is that to see?

"Well, Kain is a really good scorer. He can make shots and he's got the ability to go to the basket. I'm still learning about guys and how I can use them and put them in situations where they can be successful, and he's one of the guys that we have done a pretty good job of running different sets for him and giving him a chance to be open, and he's come through for us."

How did you feel overall about the performance?

"The one thing I continue to really appreciate about the guys is how hard they play. I didn't think we played great in the first half, but in the second half we came out and had great effort. Ultimately we broke the game open. It's a learning tool for us. We had to go to a small lineup, and when we have a small lineup, they can play big. It allows us to match up when somebody tries to go small against us. We had an exhibition game where a team had a small lineup against us and I tried to play our bigs against it because I wanted to see them, but come the regular season a win's a win. You match up the way you need to match up to get a win."

Even last year, Ryan Smith seemed a long way away from being able to get a double-double. How much has he improved just since you arrived?

"Tremendously. The work he's put in and he's learned it and understood concepts and part of it is getting to the right spots to be available to receive the ball and have a chance to put the ball in the basket. He's gotten into good condition. We really ran him. I think he's lost some weight, but he plays hard. He gives really good effort."

All of your big guys were in foul trouble in the first half, so how much did it mean for Ryan to play the way he did after picking up three early fouls?

"It was important for us. Obviously his ability to grab rebounds and alter shots around the basket and get fouled and go to the free throw line was a big plus."

Kain Harris hit some 3s, but the rest of the team struggled (2 for 15; he went 3 for 5). Were they good shots or rushed shots?

"Clearly, Cam (Reynolds) is a really good 3-point shooter. We have some guys that are better than others. Some of the shots were good. You can shoot the same shot two times in a row and one time it can be a great shot and another time it can be a bad shot. It doesn't mean whether it went in. It's because of time of the game, score of the game, momentum of the game. That all determines what's a good shot and what's not a good shot. Down the stretch, we got away from that. We didn't shoot the ball from the outside. We tried to get the ball more inside. We tried to attack the basket a little more and get ourselves to the free throw line. We did a pretty good job of it."

Always hate to lose but definitely a lot to be encouraged about. You can see the Dunleavy effect on our shooters. Reynolds is finally playing the part rather than just looking it. Harris isn't rushing his shots and he's now got arc rather than the line drives he shot last year. Frazier is under control and looks much better. MD commented after the game how we started shooting some bad shots in the second half. Our guard play was better in the second half. We were getting trapped off to the side of the court in the first half. We held our own rebounding until late in the game. We hung tough throughout and they couldn't clear the bench till the 1:30 mark. As said above we lost by 20 so we covered.

We had a good student turnout. UNC traveled well. They filled up the two big sections behind their bench and had fans in every other section .

The only disappointment player wise was Morgan. As a 5th year senior he needs to really step it up. He was invisible on the offensive end in the biggest game of his career.

Game day experience wise there was once again no programs. I don't care if they just put a sheet out w/the rosters but that's two games now w/nothing. Also there were clearly not enough concession stands open. Lines so long many gave up.

Looking forward to seeing this team progress. We played 10 guys tonight. We could go .500 overall and do the same in conference. Excited to see how it plays out.

The competition got a little tighter after last week. As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first and the point spreads are from VegasInsider.com consensus.

Houston (-24) Tulane
Washington (-9) Southern Cal
Navy (+1.5) Tulsa
Memphis (+3) South Florida
Arkansas (+7) LSU
Texas (-2) West Virginia
Georgia (+10) Auburn
Texas A&M (-10.5) Ole Miss

Had no chance to post this yesterday, but Devon Breaux very likely will not play against Houston, Willie Fritz told me after practice yesterday. Breaux has been almost no factor this year, but Tulane is so thin on quality receivers, you never know when he could break through with a big play. Well, except this week, when we know he won't.

Richard Allen will be back in the lineup, although I doubt he will start. He worked with the second-team defense at nickelback in practice this week behind Taris Shenall. Allen is a valuable member of the special teams coverage unit, though, and can help limit Houston from long returns. The Cougars returned a kickoff for a TD against Tulane last year and have one score on a kickoff return this year. Amazingly, their longest punt return is 11 yards.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson was not practicing when I got there for the last 20 minutes of scout-team work. I assume he is getting the Nico Marley treatment and will be fine for the game. Fritz never mentioned him as being hurt, and he practiced every other day.

I don't think the result will be pretty Saturday, but the good news is I've been wrong about Houston almost all year long. I still think that's a top-10 potential team and I still expect Houston to knock off Louisville next Thursday. but the Cougars were terrible for 14 of the 16 quarters they played in October. Even their win against an underrated Tulsa team was shaky. It looked like Tulsa was going to drive for the winning field goal before a sack/fumble turned into a tie breaking touchdown, and then it looked like Tulsa was going to force overtime before a slightly off-target throw led to a heck of a tackle inches from the goal line on the final play. Houston's loss to SMU was pathetic, and its loss to Navy was not good, either--the Cougars have too many athletes on defense to give up that many points. Then they no-showed for the first half against UCF before dominating the second half.

I believe the week off will help Houston immeasurably, but there's also the possibility the players will be looking ahead to the Louisville game. If Cuiellette can hit some big plays in the passing game and Tulane doesn't get completely stuffed by the AAC's best run defense, you never know what can happen. For whatever reason, Houston's offense has been mediocre this year, with Greg Ward averaging less than four yards per carry, the running backs struggling to find holes and Ward throwing some bad picks, as he did when Tulane upset Houston two years ago.

I did not have much to ask Fritz yesterday--he's reached the point of the season where he repeats his talking points anyway like in-season heroes and staying on schedule offensively--but here are his comments. Showing how high his standards are, he disagreed with my contention that Tulane has been good in short-yardage situations. For a story in The Advocate earlier this week, I found out Tulane was 11 for 11 in getting first downs when it had third-and-1 this year until failing in the second half against UCF, but there's a flip side I didn't write about. The Wave actually failed to convert the third-and-1 on its first try on six of those 11 chances, but Fritz went for on fourth down every time and had converted all of them. He also wants a better fourth-down conversion rate than 17 for 30, although Tulane has been quite good in fourth-and-1.

When you had the third-and-1 against UCF down 20-6 and they stopped you on consecutive plays, I felt like I had not seen that before and it turned out I was right. I looked it up and you were 11 for 11 at getting first downs when you had third-and-1, either on the next play or on fourth down. What has made this team good in short-yardage situations?

(Fritz actually smirked when I said Tulane had been good in short-yardage situations. I like our Thursday sessions because for the last month, I've been the only guy there and he can be more free with his comments)

"Well, we haven't been on short yardage as I'd hoped. I think last year we were 24 of 31 on fourth down (at Georgia Southern), and I think I told you this before, we missed our first seven. It's just an attitude play. You gotta get down in there, you gotta get some movement and then you've got to be disciplined enough also that if you get third-and-1, you can throw it because you're going to get it on fourth. But that's part of changing the culture."

How do you feel about the practices this week?

"Not bad. It's been all right. We have some guys who are really tough-minded, we really do. I just got done telling them, hey, help us with the guys who aren't. Let's get them on that side. Again, that's part of changing the culture. It's not human nature to do something to the best of your ability every single day. Those people who do, those are the great ones in their profession.

How big of a deal is it that Houston is coming off a bye?

"I'm sure they used that to their benefit. Tom (Herman)'s a smart guy, so I'm sure he rested the guys that needed rest and all those kind of things. That's probably about where most people want a bye or the week before, but that's just the way it is. Shoot, I've played a lot of games where I had a bye week and I didn't play very well and I've had a lot of weeks where I've had a bye week and played great, so you've got to go out there and go."

Navy had success on the ground against Houston, but almost everyone else has struggled. What makes Houston so difficult to run on?

"Well, they've got really good players. They've got really good football players. With the great athletes, schematically it's hard to get outside on them. They do a good job with that. It's just a lot of good athletes and a good scheme. They are very well coached. You get that combination and you are going to be pretty good on defense."

What's the status of Devon Breaux and Richard Allen?

"Richard's going to be playing. Devin it doesn't look like."

Kettrade1 had his first rough week of the year, and Golfer81 rode his UCF pick to a 7-point week, 2 better than anyone else. The swing game was Georgia-Kentucky, with the Bulldogs covering on the last play with a field goal.

7

Golfer81

5

LSU Law Greenie
Guerry
highwave
Gretna Green
Wavetime

4

ny oscar
diverdo

3

Charlamange8
WaveON
Rcnut

2

Mono41
MNAlum
winwave
Kettrade1
DrBox

OVERALL STANDINGS

44.5

Kettrade1

40.5

MNAlum
Gretna Green

39.5

Charlamange8
diverdo
LSU Law Greenie
Golfer81

38.5

DrBox

37.5

winwave
highwave
Guerry

36.5

Rcnut

35.5

Wavetime
ny oscar (missed 1 week)

34.5

WaveON

29.5

Mono41

GAME-BY GAME RESULTS

UCF over Tulane 1 of 16
Alabama over LSU 12 of 16
Ohio St over Nebraska 5 of 16
Memphis over SMU 9 of 16
Navy over Notre Dame 10 of 16
Arkansas over Florida 9 of 16
Miss St over Texas A&M 4 of 16
Georgia over Kentucky 8 of 16

I hope they both pan out. We certainly need size.

BTW, Reyes is a sophomore.

Here is Houston's Monday presser with Tom Herman and selected players in anticipation of the Tulane game.


http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...c_non_event/PressConference_Quotes_Tulane.pdf

Dontrell Hilliard has a shot to become the fifth Tulane running back to gain 1,000 yards in season, joining Matt Forte, Eddie Price (twice), Mewelde Moore (twice) and Andre Anderson.

After practice on Wednesday, Hilliard talked about his season and what he needed to do to get better. Here are excerpts from that interview:

What would it mean to become the fifth Tulane running back with a 1,000-yard season?

"It would mean a lot. That’s really not my biggest goal, but at the end of the day I’d look at it as an accomplishment. My biggest thing now is to face Houston and try to get this win so we can get to a bowl game."

What do you remember most about your breakout performance against Houston two years ago as a freshman (he had 25 carries for 81 yards and five catches for 107 yards, with two TDs)?

"Me just coming out playing and not being afraid. My freshman year, coming in and getting adapted to getting hit was a big thing. Coming up with 30 touches, that really broke me in."

With four talented running backs, what is the competition like every day?

"We kind of coexist as a group with each other, but we are still competing. At the end of the day we are all trying to beat each other, so it keeps us on edge. Competition definitely makes you better, and that’s what we look at every day when we come to meetings, like who made the best play, who had the best practice. That’s what we look at and try to compete against the next day."

You have nine TDs and are four away from tying Orleans Darkwa's mark for the second most in Tulane history for a season. What would that mean to you?

"It’s nice. My biggest goal is to try to get as many points on the board as I can from a personal standpoint to help this team. That gives us a better chance to win."

Where do you still need to get better?

"My vision and balance. I can run with more toughness. I try to key on myself and try to fix my nicks and bruises."

You broke through for a long run against SMU two weeks ago, but just like Josh Rounds against Tulsa, you got caught before you reached the end zone. What did teammates say to you about that?

"They let me know. they had good angles at the end of the day, but that’s one I should definitely finish. I kind of look back and feel like I should have definitely had that one."

CHRIS TAYLOR on Hilliard:

"He’s kind of the total package. He’s fast, he’s got good vision, he’s explosive, he can run over you and he’s a real good teammate. He’s bouncing around and always trying to give energy to other guys, always trying to hype up practice. He’s a real good guy. He’s really worked his tail off to be able to get 1,000 yards. It is kind of hard trying to compete with other backs to get it, but he’s a good back to get it."

GLEN CUIELLETTE on Hilliard

"Dontrell is a whole different animal. He just keeps on grinding. I see him in the training room sometimes and he’s nicked up here and there. I’m like, are you good, and he’s like, I’m fine. I wonder if he’s going to be able to go, and then all of a sudden I see him out there running people over, getting those tough yards, getting the first downs. He’s a big security blanket to me.

"He’s very tough-minded. He’s very strong and resilient, so after that Memphis game when he fumbled the punts, I saw the look in his eye. he was determined. Even after the game, he came up to me and said, Glen, you can’t be sitting there dwelling about it. Don’t let it eat you up. Let’s go out there and go to work. Today I had a pretty decent practice, and he was encouraging me, telling me good throws and stuff like that. He is a good leader and just a very resilient person."

Now that the presidential election is over, I can focus on football again. I quite frankly had no interest in writing or talking about Tulane football in the last two days.

It looks like Devon Breaux will be a game-time decision for Tulane against Houston with an unspecified injury. Willie Fritz said as much after practice today, while he said he hopes John Washington, out with an ankle injury, will be ready. Richard Allen practiced and looked pretty mobile after sitting out the UCF game with a foot injury.

The best sight at practice was Nico Marley on the field instead of watching the workout after two weeks of getting only observational reps to protect his injured ankle. He made a nice interception and screamed in joy. This guy really loves football and was glad to be back.

Here is what Fritz had to say today:

With three practices under your belt, how do you feel the team has rebounded?

"Well we really had a couple. Monday we come in, lift weights and watch tape from the game. The tough-minded guys are able to go hard every single week. We have a few guys we have to motivate to get them going, but this is what we talk about all the time--in-season heroes. We're out here for an hour-and-15 minutes when we get a little later in the season. We ought to be able to go hard, and most guys do a great job of that."

You said after the game that Chris Taylor had played well on the O-line. Where have you seen his improvement during the season?

"He's gotten much better. He's really banged up. He's been banged up all season long. He practices hard. He's what you're looking for in seniors. You want a senior to have his best year and do the best job leading, and Chris has certainly done that this year."

How big of an adjustment was it for those inside guys when Junior Diaz went down?

"It's a big adjustment. Every play starts with the snap. Some people forget that. They always think it starts with the quarterback. It actually starts with the center, and that's a big deal. We've been doing it for quite a few weeks now. I think John Leglue has done a very good job moving from tackle inside to center and understanding what's going on, and certainly Chris helps him out in there because he has a lot of game experience."

Dontrell Hilliard has a chance for 1,000 yards this year. What does he do best?

"I think all of those backs have got a lot of ability and we're getting better with them every single day. The big part is our vision. We've got to be able to see the cuts in the holes and understand the blocking concepts on each play and be able to do it every day in practice and every day in the games."

Hilliard has played very well since muffing those two punts. Do you like his mental toughness?

"Yeah, he enjoys football and he wants to get better. We're certainly working and improving every single practice."

You got Donnie Lewis back last week and Richard Allen back on the practice field today. How much is that going to help get that starting unit together?

"It gives you depth and guys that have played a bunch of positions. Donnie's a very fine player and Richard's had a really nice year for us. It's good to get Donnie back last week and it will be good to hopefully get Richard back this week."

About this time five years ago, Tulane was looking for a new head football coach. We were told by Rick Dickson and “insiders” that we were going to get an exciting hire, someone who would thrill the fan base. For most fans that meant Rich Rodriguez or Mike Leach, with most favoring “Rich Rod.” We offered Rodriguez a competitive contract but after a lengthy delay, he chose instead to go to Arizona. I don’t know if we ever offered Leach, but, after the fact, we know he had a tentative agreement with Washington State prior to Rodriguez turning us down, awaiting only final board approval to fire the then-current coach and approve the contract with Leach. Regardless, he signed with Washington State and we eventually signed our nth choice, a little known, wide-receiver coach who was, we found out, completely out of his depth as a head coach.

I haven’t really followed the subsequent careers of Leach and Rodriguez but noticed yesterday that Leach’s Washington State team beat Rodriguez’s Arizona team by the whopping score of 69-7. So I decided to look deeper.

When Rodriguez took over at Arizona, the school had gone 27-24 (.529) in the previous four years with three bowl appearances. They had gone 3-1 against rival Arizona State and had a four game winning streak against Washington State. Obviously, those results would be very good at Tulane but were enough for Arizona to make a change. Since he took over, Arizona has gone 35-27 (.565), going 8-5, 8-5, 10-4, 7-6, and so far this year, 2-7. While this is an improvement (percentage-wise of .036), it is obviously showing a downward trend. Worse, he’s gone 1-3 against Arizona State, the arch rival, and now has a 1-3 record against Washington State. He was on the “hot seat” before yesterday and now his job is in real jeopardy.

For his part, Leach took over long-time PAC 12 doormat, Washington State, at the same time Rodriguez went to Arizona. At that point, Washington State had gone 9-40 (.184) in the previous four years with no bowl appearances. As mentioned, they were on a four game losing streak to Arizona and had gone 1-3 against rival, Washington. Since taking command, he has gone 28-31 (.475) with consecutive records of 3-9, 3-9, 6-7, 9-4, and so far this year, 7-2. That’s a percentage improvement of .291 and an encouraging trend. So far, he’s taken the team to two bowls and has already reached bowl eligibility this year-- results seldom achieved in Washington State history.

Does any of this mean anything to Tulane? I don’t think so, but I found it interesting. Coach Rod will probably be back on the market later this year.

Roll Wave!!!

after finally watching a game live . I think it's unfair to say we have no qbs and if we can say that then we have to say they are poorly coached.
1. Watching Glenn warm up you can truly tell he has the coaches and team backing but clearly lack athleticism in every thing he does. He is a try hard guy and you can win with them guys when you have players around them. However Tulane doesn't have that!
2 the ideal that you had enough confidence to start Brantley for a game but now he is not good enough to replace a kid who turn the ball over 5 times, three for touchdowns is a head scratcher.
3 Bradwell was the first to get snaps in first game and supposedly was in a even qb battle during spring and summer however is planted so far on the bench that makes you wonder if he is the dog house. By the way I think it a crime to waist a kid redshirt for four plays another head scratcher. Someone says that the coaches see these kids every day in practice and they may know their not ready. If So that's a problem because it clear that the other two have more raw talent and you haven't find away to use it. That's call coaching UCF qbs didn't look any better in warmups than Tulane. But when game time happen it all went downhill

I'm sure that this has been posted elsewhere but here it is anyway. Very excited about this

https://www.zagsblog.com/2016/11/05/big-men-bul-ajang-buay-koka-tulane/

I'm focusing on the option and what didn't work most of the time today, but with some added notes when warranted.

Option 1: A total miscommunication between Cuiellette and Hilliard that was called a pass because the pitch went forward. Hilliard did not even know the pitch was coming until it was in the air and made a nice catch before falling down. for 1-yard loss. Strange deal there. Apparently Cuiellette did not think it was an option play and Hilliard did, so Cuiellette improvised and pitched it to him in the hope something good would happen. That stuff shouldn't be happening in game 8.

Option 2: On fourth-and-1 from the SMU 38, Cuiellette made an outstanding individual effort to pick up the first down when nothing was there and Hilliard was accounted for on the pitch. Cuiellette ran into contact hard and then stretched the ball just far enough to pick up the first down on a play that should have lost a yard. The blocking was horrible.Chris Taylor got beaten. Tyler Johnson blocked someone at least. Center John Leglue blocked no one as he ran downfield.

Option 3: On second-and-10 from the SMU 27, Encalade went in motion as the pitch man but was covered, so Cuiellette, after faking a handoff to Badie, cut up field and gained 11 yards thanks to a nice blocks from Johnson and Medina and an excellent block from Taylor. Cuiellette never will be a great runner, but he's improved and is not as bad as people think in that department. His problem is executing the pitch.

Option 4: After a lost play when Brantley ran to his right like it was an option but did not have a running back behind him, Brantley ran an option to the short side of the field on the right again with Encalade behind him. The spacing did not appear right, and everything was covered as Brantley gained a yard. His series was awful. If that's all they can come up with when he's in there, it's time to file him. It was a wasted series.

Option 5: On first-and-15 from the SMU 32, Cuiellette, running left, pitched quickly to Rounds when a man came in untouched. Tulane did not appear to have enough bodies over there. Breaux and Encalade blocked their men OK, and Medina held up his man, but no one accounted for the safety, who had a clear path to Rounds and tackled him for a 3-yard gain. I didn't see any missed blocks, but there was nothing there.

Option 6: Out of the diamond formation on the next snap, Lazedrick Thompson served as the pitch man running left. No one touched the right end initially as Jacquet, back in at left tackle, ran downfield and barely got an arm on the MLB who ended up making the tackle. Cuiellette cut inside with no room to run outside and managed three yards. Taylor blocked well but got not help from his teammates.

Option 7: Cuillette, running to his right with Rounds as the pitch man, gained 17 yards on nice blocks from Medina and Chris Johnson. Unfortunately, Jacquet wrestled the left end to the ground for an obvious holding call.

Option 8: Faking to Badie, Cuillette ran to his left on second-and-20 with Thompson as the pitch man. Again, the spacing appeared wrong, with Thompson almost in front of him and covered. Cuiellette cut up and was tackled for a 3-yard gain by a pursuing linebacker who was untouched again. That seems to be a recurring problem on the options to the short side of the field.

Option 9: With good spacing between him and Rounds, Cuiellette cut up field and gained 15 yards running to his right. Jacquet sealed the left end, but Sergio Medina, executing a kick out block, grabbed the left leg of a defender and tackled him. I think Cuiellette would have gotten around him without the tackle, so it was a really bad penalty. Chris Johnson did a nice job blocking downfield.

Option 10: On the first play of the second half, running to his left, Cuiellette, with Hilliard as his pitch man, cut up for a 5-yard gain. It was the right decision. Santa Marina, playing left tackle, had a good block.

Option 11: On third-and 3 from the SMU 46, Cuiellette ran right with Badie as the pitch man and got stuffed for a 1-yard loss. This was the first time in this game when Cuielettte absolutely, positively needed to pitch it. No one had Badie, who would have run for the first down and probably gained 15 yards if Encalade had held his block. Instead, Cuiellette cut up with nowhere to go and got tackled by two guys. That's an elementary mistake a QB cannot make on the option. The color commentator was blathering on about it being a bad call, but it wasn't. Pitch the damn ball.

Option 12: I'm not sure this was an option rather than a straight pitch, but Cuiellette took two steps to his right and pitched to Hilliard on third-and-3 from the Tulane 15. Trey Scott made a nice block to allow Hilliard to pick up the first down on a 6-yard gain right before his 67-yard burst. Leglue had the best block on Hilliard's long run, and Tyler Johnson had a good block, too.

Option 13: Running right to the wide side of the field, Cuillette pitched to Badie just before being hit on a play that actually looked like a real option team. No one accounted for Badie, who would have strolled in for a 9-yard touchdown if Tulane had not messed up its perimeter blocking. Medina missed his diving block, so Badie had to outrace a defender to the corner and dive across the goal line. Great blocking initially, and a great run by Badie. Devin Glenn did a decent job holding off his man.

Option 14: On second-and-9 trying to put the game away from the SMU 29, Cuiellette ran to his right with Hilliard as the pitch man. When Hilliard was covered, Cuiellette cup up field behind a good block from Taylor and gained 7 yards. Nice play.

Option 15: Running to his left on the next snap, Cuiellette had nothing. He could not pitch to Hilliard, who was covered, but he should have tried to run outside when he cut. Instead, he went inside and was crunched. He probably would not have gotten the first down going outside, either, because he's not fast enough, but he had no shot cutting inside. Leeward Brown whiffed on his block downfield, allowing a linebacker to fill the hole. The play lost almost a yard and was a really bad moment to have a breakdown.

OTHER NOTES

The INT by Quinlan Carroll was unreal. I haven't seen a Tulane lineman do something like that in the six years I've covered the team. He probably saved a touchdown on a screen that would have worked perfectly against a Tulane blitz, but he leaped in the air, tipped it with his right hand and pulled it in. Man, what a play. The Wave will miss him tomorrow. He also was the guy who ripped the ball out at the SMU 1 in the third quarter. No one remembers the play because SMU recovered it.

Shenall's INT on SMU's next pass was nice, too. He played the route perfectly and was in position to pick off an ill-advised throw that Zach Harris caused with pressure on a delayed blitz. Shenall looks like he's going to be a good player.

Robert Kennedy and Eric Bowie did a poor job on SMU's 22-yard run to start its second series. Smart and Wilson were blocked out of the way, creating a gigantic hole up the middle on the next play, and Jarrod Franklin missed a tackle coming up to fill, springing a 41-yard run. Marley and Marbley were blocked effectively, too.

Smart was blocked out of the play on SMU's 25-yard run that set up the Mustangs third TD, and Marley got clocked as he tried to fill the gap. Shenall did a poor job of getting off a downfield block.

Tulane blitzed effectively all day, something I have not said much in the past. Roderic Teamer was untouched on a sack early. Eric Thomas had a sack on a blitz in the second quarter, and Shenall's blitz led to the second interception.

Marley's height hurt him on the third-and-16 TD pass SMU had late in the second quarter. He was in position to make the deflection, but the ball went over his outstretched hand. That was the difference between an incomplete pass and a 35-yard touchdown. Roderic Teamer did a terrible job of overrunning the play. He should have made the tackle at the 15.

Cuiellette's 33-yard completion to Hilliard down the sideline that set up the go-ahead TD was a play I have not seen from Tulane this year. Hilliard lined up wide right and ran a streak route. Cuiellette's bullet throw beat the safety, who could not get to the sideline in time. Really nice play.

One other thing: the Richard Allen injury is a mystery. He obviously was hurt because he was in a boot all week, but I can't figure out when it happened. He looked fine on the play when he got beaten deep and he looked OK on the touchdown pass, playing the short route when the throw went over his head to Shenall's area in the back of the end zone. I don't know whether he is on the kickoff return team or not, but no one appeared to get hurt there. P.J. Hall replaced him to start the next series, and Allen did not play again.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, the home team is listed first ( neutral game noted) and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus: It was hard to find eight significant games this week.

Central Florida (-16.5) Tulane
LSU (+7.5) Alabama
Ohio State (-17) Nebraska
SMU (+3) Memphis
Notre Dame (-6.5) Navy (Jacksonville)
Arkansas (+5.5) Florida
Mississippi State (+13.5) Texas A&M
Kentucky (+2.5) Georgia

It was a tough week for most of us, with Charlamange8 the only contestant getting six points.

6

Charlamange8

5

Mono41
Golfer81

4

Guerry
MNAlum
diverdo
winwave
Gretna Green
Kettrade1
DrBox

3

LSU Law Greenie
Rcnut
Wavetime

2

ny oscar
highwave
WaveON

OVERALL STANDINGS

42.5

Kettrade1

38.5

MNAlum

36.5

DrBox
Charlamange8

35.5

diverdo
winwave
Gretna Green

34.5

LSU Law Greenie

33.5

Rcnut

32.5

WaveON
highwave
Guerry
Golfer81

31.5

ny oscar

30.5

Wavetime

Mono41

28.5

Paliii (missed 2 weeks)

27.5

Mono41

GAME BY GAME RESULTS

SMU over Tulane 5 of 16
Tulsa over Memphis 12 of 16
FSU over Clemson 4 of 16
Okla St over West Virginia 3 of 16
Texas over Baylor 5 of 16
Nebraska over Wisconsin 4 of 16
Auburn over Ole Miss 12 of 16
Utah over Washington 7 of 16

With signing day less than a week away for the 2018 baseball season, I think we’ve got or had commitments from 18 or more players. How many of those are still committed or if any others have committed, I have no idea. But Wednesday should give us some indication.

The most intriguing commitment, at least to me, is a right handed pitcher/1st baseman named Trent Johnson.

Johnson is reported to be 6’3” and 230# from East Peoria, Illinois. His history is interesting. During his freshman year in high school (2011-2012), he broke a vertebrae in his back, and the best I can tell didn’t play much, if any. Nonetheless, he apparently showed enough to get Arizona, the national champion that year, to offer him a hefty scholarship. (“I was surprised at how much they offered.”) He committed to Arizona in December of his sophomore year in high school

Recovered from back surgery, as a sophomore, he was named the most valuable player in his league. He pitched 70.1 innings, striking out 97, while walking 15, going 9-1 with a 1.80 ERA. He also hit .460 with ten HR’s. He then had arm problems eventually leading to Tommy John surgery and pitched very little in 2014 and none in 2015, his senior year. As a senior, he played 1B and hit .392 (37/120) with 9 HR’s and 17 doubles. This was enough to get him drafted in the 16th round by the NY Mets. Rather than sign, he chose to attend Arizona where he redshirted as a freshman, still recovering from TJ surgery. During the summer of 2016, he played with the Danville Dans of the Prospect League, a summer college league in the mid-west. There, he pitched in 10 games with 8 starts, 47.1 innings, allowing 42 hits, 14 earned runs, 12 BB, 41 Ks, with a 2.66 ERA. He also played 9 games at 1B, going 4 for 27 at the plate(.148.)

He has left Arizona and is currently enrolled at John A. Logan College (a JC). There could be many reasons for this switch. Among them: didn’t like Arizona; saw no future there; had his scholarship reduced or withdrawn; or, wanted to be eligible for the MLB draft next summer. Who knows?

Back in 1913, Perfect Game rated him 9.5 and said he had 90 MPH fastball. Depending on how his JC season goes, he could well be drafted again by MLB. But, if he gets to Tulane, he should be eligible as a redshirt sophomore for the 2018 season, but be eligible for the major league draft each and every year. His JC season should be interesting to watch.


Roll Wave!!!!

https://n.rivals.com/news/texas-region-under-recruited-prospects-with-next-level-ability

Scroll down to Roach to see the update.

Tulane plays Loyola tonight at Devlin. It will be interesting to see what Tulane looks like under Dunleavy. I'm skeptical about the Wave given the current roster, but this will be the first chance for those guys to prove me wrong. I really want to see how Colin Slater performs at point guard. If he is ready to play, that will make a significant difference. I'm also curious about Cam Reynolds at power forward. He hit some big shots last year but has not played well for the most part, largely due to injury. Playing out of position, can he find his game?

Here are a couple of stories I wrote for The Advocate this week: The first is on Dunleavy ratcheting up the pace and getting the players in condition to play that way. The second one is a notebook that includes the starting lineup.

http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orle...8b23-fb0bff4cf019.html?sr_source=lift_amplify

http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orle...85a4-6b8e40066513.html?sr_source=lift_amplify

Jonathan Banks, according to Hudl, is 6’3”, 225# and runs 4.46 40. From his highlights, I doubt that speed, but he looks good, though not, in my view, spectacular: Login to view embedded media
At Nimitz H.S. Houston,TX, he was coached by former LSU player and graduate assistant, Robert Toomer, who also coached at Jesuit in New Orleans before becoming head coach in Abbeville, LA, then to Nimitz. As a Senior, Banks was District MVP in 18-5A in Houston, though he saw little recruiting interest and went the JC route.

As a freshman, he led Contra Costa JC to a 9-1 record as he earned Northern California Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year and All-California Region II First Team honors. He threw for 1,992 yards and 17 touchdowns on 140-of-235 (59.6%), while rushing for 700 yards and 11 scores on 131 attempts (5.3 yds/carry).

Signed by Kansas State in 2015, he did not see the field (redshirt) and transferred to Independence CC in Kansas. This year, through six games, he is 68-113 (60.2%) passing, for 759 yards and 7 TD’s with 5 INT’s. He also leads the team in rushing with 83 carries for 531 yards (6.4 yds/carry) and 4 TD’s.

He is apparently planning to visit Tulane for the Temple game later this year.

Roll Wave!!!

Nothing major happened at practice today. Nico Marley continued to sit out, as he has all week, to rest his injured ankle, but he will start against UCF. Overall, Willie Fritz has liked what he has seen this week at a time when some teams might go in the tank.

"I thought we had a pretty good week of practice, I really did," he said. "We're getting guys to be able to play multiple positions, and that takes a lot of work. I think it went pretty well, though."

UCF is tough against the run. Only Maryland averaged as much as 4 yards per carry against the Knights, who held Michigan and Houston below that figure. It does not appear to be a good matchup for the Tulane offense, but that's why they play the games.

"They have big, fast athletes," Fritz said. "They are very talented on the defensive side of the ball without question. We just need to be assignment sound."

Fritz said he was leaning toward starting Kenneth Santa Marina this week, meaning Todd Jacquet would return to left tackle. Tyler Johnson played the last two-and-a-half quarters at left tackle against SMU, with Jacquet shifting to right tackle because Johnson had not practiced there. Fritz said Johnson would play a bunch this Saturday, so look for Jacquet to make the same move again when Johnson goes in.

When Parry Nickerson let a punt go over his head in the fourth quarter against SMU, I tweeted that he had to catch it. The ball ended up rolling almost 30 yards inside the Tulane 20, flipping the field, but I got a tweet in response that the punt was a knuckle ball and he made the right choice.

Score one for the responder.

"It looked like a knuckle ball to me," Fritz said. "I didn't fault him on that. Obviously you'd love to have him catch them all and not let it bounce because that was about a 25-yard play. That would have been a tough one to handle. I always tell those guys if you think it's going to be a hard one to handle, let it go."

Tulane's starting offense for the UCF game will be Jacquet, Chris Taylor, John Leglue, Leeward Brown and Santa Marina on the offensive line, either Kendall Ardoin (if he is healthy enough) or Sergio Medina at tight end, Dontrell Hilliard at tailback, Glen Cuiellette at QB and Terren Encalade, Darnell Mooney and either Larry Dace or Devon Breaux at wide receiver. Dace has come on a bit in the last two weeks, and Breaux has not made a catch since the ULL game.

The starting defense will be Ade Aruna, Tanzel Smart, Sean Wilson and Robert Kennedy on the line, Marley and Zach Harris at LB, Taris Shenall at nickelback, Nickerson and Donnie Lewis at cornerback and Roderic Teamer and Jarrod Franklin at safety. They might go with Rae Juan Marbley ahead of Harris at one of the LB spots, but I doubt it. Marbley mysteriously had no tackles against SMU after playing very well in the previous two games.

Richard Allen was in a boot again today. I can't see him playing, although Fritz has not ruled him out.

Reading body language, I'm not sure Johnathan Brantley will play against UCF. He had one series against SMU, running all three plays without picking up a first down, and the Knights have the team speed to render him ineffective. Strangely, no one asked Fritz about the QB plan this week. I had him to myself after practice today and forgot.

First, some injury news:

Willie Fritz said he expected tight end Kendall Ardoin to play against UCF after missing the SMU game with an unspecified injury. Ardoin looked fine at practice today although he was in a no-contact jersey.

Fritz also said cornerback Richard Allen, who hurt his left ankle against SMU, might be able to play. He was in a boot at practice and it will be a game-time decision as to whether he is in uniform. It is unlikely Allen would get any time at defensive back, but he is a valuable member of the special teams coverage units.

Quinlan Carroll was on crutches today and has been ruled out of the UCF game, joining Peter Woullard as unavailable defensive ends. That leaves Tulane with little depth behind starters Ade Aruna and Robert Kennedy. Daren Williams (11 tackles) and Luke Jackson (eight tackles) are the top backups, with no one else having played at all at the position.

Nico Marley sat out practice again today but definitely will play. Marley joked when the UCF game got postponed last month that the coaches had gotten three extra practices out of the players in what turned out to be a bye week, so he is returning the favor at the back end. No, I'm not being serious. They just want to make sure his tender ankle is as close to 100 percent as possible by Saturday. He started sluggishly against SMU in my view but came on strong in the second half, finishing with 10 tackles and three stops for losses.

With Marley missing practice time, Eric Thomas definitely is back in the mix at what has become a relatively deep position. Zach Harris had five tackles against SMU, and Rae Juan Marbley had 17 tackles combined in the previous two games before coming up empty on Saturday. Eric Bowie also logs consistent playing time, giving Tulane five guys to fill what usually is two spots.

The starting defensive backs are Parry Nickerson, Donnie Lewis, with Taris Shenall at the nickel, which I believe is Tulane's best lineup. Shenall made a really nice play on his interception Saturday.
I caught up with Lewis after practice. He missed the last two games with a shoulder injury.

"It's a blessing," he said. "It feels really good to be back out there playing and not watching from the sideline. I'm good. I'm healthy."

Lewis heard he might be out for the year after hurting his shoulder at the bottom of a pile against Memphis, but he quickly learned that would not be the case.

"Some people said I might be out for the year, but my trainers told me if I get in and do what I need to do every day, I could be out there as soon as possible," he said. "It was just a little small shoulder injury. Actually I kept playing through it at first, but it was messed up."

Lewis saw how valuable he was the defense in his time out, with Tulsa picking on Allen repeatedly and Tulane's defensive backs failing to make plays when they needed to on SMU's final two drives.

"I have good length, and my team depends on that," he said. "We've known that from the beginning of the year. I'm just happy to be back. It was real hard to watch, but instead of just complaining about it I was out there cheering my teammates on."

Lewis returned to practice last week but spend almost all of his time on the offensive scout team.

"They just wanted to get me back running and get my cardio back up," he said. "They just didn't want me sitting around, and I didn't want to be sitting around."

Lewis knows what the defense needs Saturday to pull an upset against UCF.

"We just have to stop giving up explosive plays and get off the field on third down," he said.

Tulane defensive end Ade Aruna, who has really blossomed this year as a redshirt junior, talked after practice this week about his surging play. He has 31 tackles, one off his career high, seven tackles for loss, surpassing his total in the first two years combined, and four sacks, matching his total from his first two years combined. He had a career-high eight tackles against SMU, three more than his previous best.

You had your first two-sack game against SMU and were coming off some strong performances before then. What's really clicked for you?

"It's just my coach, especially my D-line coach (Kevin Peoples). He's been on me the last week before we played that game. He just keeps tell me I just have to keep being tough and keep doing the assignment. As soon as I came into the game, I just kept listening to everything they told me on the sideline. Everything came out good for me as a player even though we didn't win as a team."

How much did getting two sacks mean to you?

"It really meant a lot to me. I've not been playing the game for so long, and just the transition every day is getting better. I just keep learning and learning every day, and that's what it is."

How much better are you against the run than you were when you first started two years ago?

"I'm much better than two years ago when I first got in there. I know when the run is coming and when it's going to be a pass. My D-line coach did a very good job of telling me some clues to look at so that makes me play faster rather than just sitting there not knowing what's going on. I know if the back sets this way and the tight end sets this way, I know what's going to happen pre-play before they do everything. That set me up for success last week."

People have always looked at your body and said you could be as good as you wanted to be. How high do you feel like your potential is?

"I'm no NFL scout. I don't know what to say. But being 6-5, 6-6, 265 pounds, all I need is someone to just tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I don't care how. I'm going to get it done as long as you tell me how to do it."

Today they had you getting a few reps on the scout team at tight end, and you had to keep looking at the play sheet. What's it like doing that extra duty on a team with no depth?

"Yeah, we're just trying to make the team better and prepare each other. I'm just being a part of the team."

Where do you feel like you could still get better?

"I can still get better in many things. I'm still a student of the game. I didn't play football so long like the other guys who have been playing since middle school. It's just everything I have to get better. I have to get better on the pass rush. I have to get better against the run."

When you do still notice your football experience is limited?

"The last game you could tell the knowledge has stepped up a lot from what it was two years ago, by thinking about how the O-line was set and then I can really just run. It's way better that it was two or three years ago."

How frustrating was the end of the fourth quarter after the defensive dominated the second half until that point?

"We just have to keep playing as a team. We didn't give all out as a defense because we were leading and they came back and scored twice on us. We've just to keep doing what we're doing. We can't let up."

When did you realize football was going to be your sport?

"It was during my sophomore year. I was introduced to play football by my AAU coach back in Alabama. UAB was my first camp and I went to Auburn and I went to Alabama. People looked at me in the camps when I would go there, and the offers I was getting before I was even playing football, that just kind of told me right there, I'm going to play football. That's what stuck out for me."

Why did you end up at Tulane?

"The key factor is first, I want to be close to my family. I have family in Alabama. I'm close to Chris and Cynthia, and the second was the education. I just looked at it 50-50. What if I don't get to go the NFL? I want to make sure I go to a good school and get a good education and I can get a good job. I believe a Tulane degree is way better than other schools. I don't care what you tell me, but right after you step in the door, you are going to get employed. And I didn't want to go to a school where I was going to sit for three years and then get to play my senior year. I knew the transition was going to be a little slower, and I didn't want to go to a slow where they were not going to be patient with my development, and that's why I came to Tulane."

What is your major?

"Homeland security. I'm doing pretty good. I love managing it."