Had a good list last weekend. It will be interesting to see who comes back and what new guys show up.

Roll Wave!!!

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

Tulane (+6) Navy
Oklahoma (+1.5) Ohio State
Ole Miss (+11) Alabama
Louisville (+2) Florida State
Nebraska (-3) Oregon
Notre Dame (-8) Michigan State
Stanford (-8.5) Southern California
LSU (-14) Mississippi State

Cross checking the top 140 passers in the NCAA according to NCAA.com with the bios of the freshmen on that list, I found North Texas' Mason Fine, who became the starter in week 2, as the only other true freshman starter this weekend who did not participate in spring drills.

Jalen Hurts of Alabama, Jacob Eason of Georgia, Brandon McIlwain of South Carolina and Shane Buechele of Texas all enrolled in January.

Brantley joins Brian Bell of Sam Houston State as summer-arriving freshmen whom Willie Fritz started in game 3. Bell did it in 2010, completing 6 of 13 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns while rushing five times for four yards in a 30-14 victory against Gardner-Webb. He kept the job the rest of the year, completing 53.7 percent of his passes for 1,381 yards and seven scores with four interceptions while rushing for 269 yards. Fritz said today that Bell might have weighed 145 pounds at the time and they had been planning to redshirt him.

Brantley's rushing stats will be much better, but his passing productivity is to be determined. He arrived on campus in mid-June and has made rapid progress in three months. The key factor in a freshman playing right away?

"He's got to be sharp," Fritz said. "Really any position you play at the college level, there are so many variables that occur each week with formations and stances and alignments and splits and different game plans and all that stuff. The quarterback position is times 10, so you have to be a sharp dude, you have to be poised."

Brantley showed his eagerness from the second he arrived on campus.

"He was up in the office all the time," Fritz said. "That's how you want all of the guys to be--kicking them out of there instead of telling them to come up."

Sean Wilson did not practice again today, but look for him to play against Navy anyway. Tulane needs him, and unless he proves he is ineffective, he will get out there. The Wave needs all the interior linemen it can get to defend the triple option, and in Wilson's absence, Braynon Edwards received some reps with the first unit at nose guard on Thursday. If Wilson plays, the Wave will have five tackles ready for Navy--Tanzel Smart, Eldrick Washington, Edwards and John Washington are the others.

I'm still skeptical about Edwards, but here's Fritz' take on him when I asked if he would play a significant role against Navy.

"He certainly can," Fritz said. "He's a big guy, and for a big guy he's got quick feet. I remember when I first got here, I was tempted to move him over to the offensive line. He was down in the dumps. He said I'm a defensive lineman, and I said well, you go out and show me today when we do our offseason work, and we were doing the rope ladder, and he ran through there and I was like, wow, that's pretty good for a big fellow. He's certainly going to get some reps."

Fritz has liked Edwards' effort from day 1.

"He's a fine young man," he said. "He's a hard worker."

I contrast that response with CJ, who after watching Edwards get work with the first-team defense in a goal-line drill last August, told me on the record he was afraid to put him on the field because of his health and that he needed to lose weight to have any role. Clearly, Edwards still needs to lose weight, but these coaches believe he can be a contributor now. We'll see.

I did not see much passing in practice today, but Brantley came up two yards short on the first throw before throwing an absolute dark to Larry Dace on an in route. This time, Dace held on to the ball.

Hard to argue with Fritz on this. The early announcement is a little surprising and makes me think of Bellichik's disclosure practices. I hope #1 causes Navy fits and brings us to 2-1. Roll Wave!!!

Tulane completed its last full workout in preparation for Saturday's huge game against Navy on a hot Wednesday morning at Yulman Stadium. For the most part, the news is good on the injury front. Although coach Willie Fritz said running back Sherman Badie definitely would not play against the Midshipmen after sustaining a groin injury against Southern, defensive end Robert Kennedy practiced along with reserve end Peter Woullard. Defensive tackle Sean Wilson did not practice, but Fritz said he thought Wilson would be ready Saturday. That would be huge for the defense because DT is the single most important position against Navy, which relies on the dive play more than almost any team in the country.

A healthy Wilson would give Tulane a productive three-man group at tackle along with Tanzel Smart and Eldrick Washington, with Braynon Edwards and John Washington also capable of playing some downs as they try to rotate and keep everyone fresh.

"You've got to stop them with the dive," Fritz said. "If they have success with the dive, you got problems. We played The Citadel last year and they are an under-center triple option team, and we really played extremely well against them except one play. They hit the dive, there was a crease and they went about 60 yards (exactly 60 yards) on it. We've been able to look at film of that and see how we defended it last year. That was a team that ended up going over and beating South Carolina."

The Citadel rushed for 313 yards on 54 carries, but Georgia Southern won 48-13. That high rushing total may not sound good for the defense, but I remember when Florida played The Citadel in the late 1990s when Bob Stoops was defensive coordinator and he bit the head off a reporter who asked him about The Citadel gouging the Gators for 300 rushing yards. He pointed out they barely scored and had almost no passing yards and his defense had done what he wanted it to do.

Keenan Reynolds may be gone, but Navy's offense should look almost exactly the same as it did with Reynolds under center. Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo has been running that system for 17 years as an assistant and head coach and does not deviate based on his personnel. The same goes for the Midshipmen losing starting QB Tago Smith to an ACL injury in the opener this year, forcing Will Worth into the lineup. Worth is no Reynolds, but he will run the same plays.

"I really just see kind of the same plays," Fritz said. "We don't have a large enough data to really see if they are doing things differently. I don't think they are. They have been running this offense since Moby Dick was a minnow. They are going to do it, and that's how they do it. There might be something they do different with (Worth), but they probably won't figure it out for about three, four or five weeks."

Fritz believes in flushing negative and positive results as quickly as possible Asked if players were carrying themselves different after hanging 66 on Southern, he said he had not noticed it.

"There's a book I read a few years ago, "Every Week's a Season," he said. "That's your preparation. You have to do a great job of forgetting about past failures or successes and moving on to the next game. There is nothing from that Southern game that is really comparable to what Navy does, and it certainly is not going to help us win on Saturday if we're still thinking about that one. So we move on. We celebrate the victory afterwards and move on to the next deal. I feel I do a great job of compartmentalizing each game. That's what you have to do, and that's what I'm trying to get the players to do also."

Fritz said the players had been just "OK" at compartmentalizing this week and would get better at it as they got used to his approach. He singled out quarterbacks Johnanthan Brantley and Glen Cuiellette for doing it the right way, saying Brantley worked his tail off in preparation for Southern even though he was not sure when he would play and Cuiellette was doing the same thing this week even after losing his starting position to Brantley.

"He's still working his tail off and being positive and wanting the Green Wave to win," Fritz said. "That's what we have to have out of everybody."

Brantley is fighting off a cold. He apologized for his voice before he talked after practice, but he is pushing through it. Becoming a starter has not changed his demeanor.

"Mentally I've got the same approach," he said. "I've still got to work hard and give my all on every play, but obviously I'm getting the most reps and getting more comfortable with everything. A lot of people have been telling me they wanted me to be the quarterback, and now that it happened, they've supported me and are being good teammates just like I was a good teammate to them. When Glen was starting, I was a good teammate to him, and he's dong the same thing. We text all the time."

Brantley admitted he did not expect to ascend to the top of the depth chart this quickly, but added he was glad it happened. He knows outside expectations will be extremely high after his outstanding performance against Southern.

"People are going to be expecting us to put up numbers like that every week now," he said. "So I'm going to have to put in twice the work."

Brantley threw only four passes against Southern. He almost certainly will have to more in the air against everyone else the Wave faces this year.

"I'm confident about it," he said. "I don't know how much we plan on throwing this game, but whatever they ask me to do, I'll do, whether it's throwing, running, blocking, pitching. I'll do it all."

Tight end Charles Jones was on crutches today with a leg injury and will not play against Navy, leaving Kendall Ardoin as the starter and Marshall Wadleigh as the backup. Donnie Lewis practiced in a no-contact jersey with an unspecified injury but still is expected to start Saturday.

In all, Tulane should have seven defensive starters who started when the Wave held Navy to a season-low 133 rushing yards a year ago--Smart, Wilson, Ade Aruna, Nico Marley, Richard Allen, Jarrod Franklin and Parry Nickerson. An eighth starter from that game, linebacker Eric Thomas, will come off the bench, and that group combined for 43 tackles against Navy last year.

Still, defensive coordinator Jack Curtis does not see a whole lot of carry-over from that game because he has a different scheme, as you'll see in his comments in the Q&A that follows. After watching practice today, I think his scheme will be fairly similar to what Tulane ran last year, taking advantage of the talent along the defensive front.

I tried to set a spread for the Tulane game that would get half of us to pick each way, but 12 ended up taking Southern out of 19. We of little faith. I guess I should have made it 27.5 instead of 28.5

Those of us who picked Navy got lucky. I watched the end of that game, and I've never seen a team with less urgency trying to get off a final snap than UConn after it got stuffed inside the Navy 1. Bob Diaco had called his last timeout on the previous play, but there was plenty of time to to snap the ball. Incredibly, the offensive linemen walked back as if they were going to a huddle, and no one ever seemed to panic as they realized the clock was going to run out. It was surreal, bizarre. Can you imagine what the reaction would have been here if one of CJ's teams had lost like that?

Only three of us (not me) picked Wake Forest over Duke. It looks like the Wake defense is for real, which makes Tulane's offensive struggles in the opener less of a concern.

Everyone has entered both weeks except for ny oscar and paliii, both of whom got six right in the week they picked. Since you get to drop your lowest weekly score at the end of the contest, they are in good early shape if they remember to pick every week the rest of the way.

6

Harahan Wave
paliii

5

LSU Law Greenie
Kettrade1
WaveON

4

Mono41
buck2481
Guerry
highwave
diverdo
Wavetime
DrBox

3

Charlamange8
MNAlum
Golfer81
winwave
Gretna Green
Rcnut
jjstock2005

OVERALL STANDINGS

11

Kettrade1
DrBox

10

Mono41
LSU Law Greenie
highwave
Harahan Wave
MNAlum
Gretna Green
WaveON
Rcnut

9

diverdo
winwave
jjstock2005

8

buck2481
Guerry

7

Wavetime

6

Charlamange8
Golfer81
ny oscar (missed 1 week)
paliii (missed 1 week)

Game-by-game results

Tulane over Southern: 7 of 19
Arkansas over TCU: 6 of 19
Penn State over PItt: 11 of 19
Ohio State over Tulsa: 11 of 19
Navy over Tulsa: 12 of 19
BYU over Utah: 10 of 19
Tennessee over Va Tech: 9 of 19
Wake Forest over Duke: 3 of 19

1) Tulane scored the most points since beating ULL 72-20 in the perfect 1998 season and the 10th most in school history. ULL was the victim in six of the top nine, with Mississippi College, Centenary and Louisiana College also cracking the list. The most points Tulane has scored against an FBS opponent is 64 against Louisville in 1997.

2) Tulane's margin of victory was its largest since the 72-20 win against ULL in '98. The closest since then were 52-9 over ULM in 2002 and 45-3 over UTEP in 2013, the Wave's only bowl seasons since '98.

3) Parry Nickerson has scored Tulane's only two defensive touchdowns the past three years. He had a fumble return against Army last November and now the 96-yard INT against Southern. Before then, Tulane's last defensive touchdown was by Lorenzo Doss on a pick six in 2013.

4) Sherman Badie's kickoff return for a touchdown was Tulane's first since Jeremy Williams in 2009. I can vouch for that. I've been covering the team since 2010 and never saw one.

5) Johnathan Brantley's 119 rushing yards were, as far as I can tell, the most for a Tulane QB since Shaun King had 133 against Army in 1998. The only other Tulane QBs to rush for more than 100 yards in the modern era were Terrence Jones (his best was 119) and Steve Foley (his best was 118).

6) Tulane's 437 rushing yards were the third most in school history behind only the 638 against Mississippi College in 1937 and the 504 against Clemson in 1944. It was the Wave's first 400-yard rushing game since it got 407 against VMI in 1973. The 1998 team topped out at 303 against La Tech (in the only Tulane home game I attended between 1986 and 2010).

7) I can't vouch for what position Tulane guys played in ancient times, but Brantley's 63-yard run might be the longest by a QB in Tulane history. The media guide lists guys who had runs of 65 yards or longer, and I don't think anyone there was a QB, at least since 1950.

http://www.underdogdynasty.com/2016...-in-week-two-houston-navy-tulane-greg-ward-jr

"
Tulane is scary
Yes, Tulane. Not exactly a name that has commanded respect on the football field in most years, football fandom was certainly confused when the Green Wave, of all teams, was given the nod to join the AAC in 2014. But the administration at Tulane apparently wants to win— who knew?— hiring high-scoring head coach Willie Fritz in the offseason, a coach who brought FCS Sam Houston State to prominence, and also gave the Power Five fits last year as Georgia Southern struck that fear into opponents that Tulane only wishes it could.

Week One was a giant question mark, as they fought for all four quarters against Wake Forest, for what would be a 7-3 loss. Well, week two has shown us just what was at stake, as apparently this year’s Wake Forest is pretty good after all, beating a very good Duke 24-14, as elsewhere Tulane obliterated FCS Southern 66-21. These are two good teams and will continue to get better, and Willie Fritz will be one to watch, not just at Tulane but at whatever Power Five team eventually comes calling."

WAKE FOREST 24, DUKE 14

Cade Carney rushed for 108 yards and three touchdowns and Wake Forest scored the final 10 points to win at Duke, outgaining the Blue Devils 389-369.

Takeaway: Tulane's offensive struggles against Wake were not as distressing as they appeared. The Demon Deacons aren't that good on offense (they still had only 13 first downs v. Duke), but they are very solid defensively.

NAVY 28, UCONN 24 (Sept. 17)

Navy blew a 21-0 late-second quarter lead, rallied for a go-ahead touchdown and then held on when UConn had an epic meltdown after getting inside the 1 in the final seconds. A run play was stuffed when the Huskies had no timeouts left, and the players did not hurry up to get off another snap in a bizarre ending.

Takeaway: It should be a low-scoring game this Saturday. Navy's weakness is pass defense--UConn torched the Middies in the air--but can Tulane take advantage? Tulane should be able to control Navy's option attack, which no longer has Keenan Reynolds directing it.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 30, MCNEESE STATE 22 (Sept. 24)

The Cajuns trailed 16-15 early in the third quarter before taking control. McNeese scored in the final seconds to make it a one-score game. But after getting blown out by Boise State, this was not the bounce-back effort ULL was hoping for.

Takeaway: With the turmoil in Lafayette, the Sept. 24 game will be very winnable for Tulane. ULL does not have a sophisticated passing attack--former LSU washout Anthony Jennings is the starter--and Tulane's front seven is good enough to contend with the Cajuns' spread formation running.

BOSTON COLLEGE 26, UMASS 7 (Oct. 1)

After taking a 7-0 lead on a 58-yard touchdown pass, UMass ground to a halt against the nation's No. 1 defense in 2015. The Minutemen finished with eight first downs and 122 yards, gaining 32 yards and turning it over three times on their last 14 possessions. They also lost 24-7 to Florida in week 1, but that game was only 10-7 entering the fourth quarter. The defense is OK, but the offense is abysmal.

Other results

UCF lost to at Michigan 51-14, which tells us no more than the Knights' 38-0 win over South Carolina State to start the year. They can't throw, though. Their Oregon-like spread offense ran for more than 200 yards against Michigan (impressive), but QBs Nick Patti and Justin Holman both were 3 for 11 in the air. Holman, who suffered an undisclosed injury against Michigan and did not return, has pretty much stunk up the joint the past two years.

Tulsa stepped up in class and lost 48-3 to Ohio State. I was surprised the Buckeyes held Tulsa to 3 points, but Dane Evans threw four picks. He had a very good statistical year last season but is shaky under pressure.

SMU was tied 6-6 with Baylor at the half before losing 40-13. I'm surprised the Mustangs managed only 13 points on a shaky defense, but QB Ben Hicks threw three INTs. It's not shaping up as a good year for the AAC in the air.

Houston rested QB Greg Ward to get him healthy for Thursday's potentially tough game at Cincy and beat Lamar 42-0. No takeaways from that performance.

Temple bounced back from a embarrassing home loss to Army (which could win its first seven games this year) by beating Stony Brook 38-0. We'll learn more about the Owls when they play at Penn State this Saturday. Their 27-10 win against the Nittany Lions in their opener last year put them on the national radar.

I hadn’t planned to write about the details of the Wake Forest game but the range of views among Tulane fandom is beyond belief. One guy has decided after one game that Willie Fritz is a worse coach than Bob Toledo. Others are excited about the possibilities they saw in a 7-3 loss to a below average BCS team and well below average P5 team. I’m closer to the latter opinion if, for no other reason, we had a real opportunity to win a game on the road when “experts” had us as a prohibitive (17 point) underdog. But, excited about a loss? No way. Winning is what counts. That said...

What we didn’t see:
No kickoffs out of bounds
No Wake receivers running free 5-10 yards behind our deepest back
No devastating “pick sixes” by our offense
No snaps over our punter’s head
No dropped snaps
No line-ups with fewer than 11 men on the field
No “forced” time outs due to confusion and miscommunication
No long runbacks against our special teams
No one on our side of the field appeared to “give up”
And we didn’t see a head coach looking confused, dazed, and scared to death

While the absence of these circumstances is a very low bar to measure success, they are things that Tulane fans have seen game after game for a decade or more. I hope they are all in the past.

On the other hand, we didn’t force any turnovers (lost the turnover battle 1-0) and were unable to score more than 3 points despite several opportunities inside Wake territory. Several holding penalties were also devastating,

Of course, some of our performance issues had something to do with the opponent. Wake came in with the reputation of having a good defense. I thought they upheld that reputation. They had a good pass rush, solid interior play, and, in general, maintained their positions against our triple option and passing attack. Their offense, on the other hand, looked confused and disoriented and their QB’s didn’t have the accuracy expected of a BCS-level QB. The former made our offense look worse than it might otherwise, and the latter made our defense look better than it probably is.

The offense
Frankly, Cuiellette passed better than I expected and ran a lot better than I expected. Both of those views are probably based on extremely low expectations based on reports from the few open practices and his long absence from the field. Yet, he missed a lot of open receivers, some wide-open. And, when the game was on the line in the last couple of minutes, he went 1 for 7 passing with Breaux making a heroic effort to nab the one completion. That’s a time that “good” QB’s make the most of opportunity. And, as noted by many, he also made a number of apparent errors in keeping the ball when a “pitch” might have been the better call. He needs to improve if our offense is to succeed.

Bradwell, of course, looked terrible during his limited appearance. Tough position to be put in, but he didn’t just look like a freshman in his first series as some have said. As some of us old-timers might recall, he looked more like Gorge Plimpton, the author of “Paper Lion,” playing QB for the Lions in an exhibition game over 50 years ago (1963). In short, he didn’t look like he belonged at all. He has to improve a lot without the expectation of much game experience.

Our running backs are good. Last year, Hilliard, Badie, and Thompson all played in front of Robert Kelley, who, against NFL competition, but with a capable supporting cast, has been “tearing up” the exhibition season with the Washington Redskins. If our guys are better than him (at least according to CJ), they each have NFL potential. So, why did they only get 20 carries for 83 yards between them? Take out Badie’s 22 yard run and Hilliard’s 15 yard carry and we had 18 rushes for 46 yards (2.6 yds/carry). The primary culprit is lack of blocking and not getting the ball in “open space,” to take advantage of their speed.

Our offensive line is still terrible. Jacquet has been on scholarship for five years and still alternates between impersonating an aging matador and the revolving front door at the Monteleone Hotel. And, as our left tackle (a position normally reserved for a team’s best lineman), his performance only previews that of the other four. While that, of course, is an exaggeration, our line is still very bad. Did each individual (including Jacquet) make some good blocks? Of course. But we were not able to pick up blitzes and provided no running room at all up the middle. And despite all the protests (some legitimate) about not pitching enough, Wake had our pitch man covered well most of the time. Though, I still believe putting the ball in Hilliard or Badie’s hands one-on-one with a defender would have been a good move.

Our tight ends and wider receivers didn’t get much chance to shine and only caught 9 passes for 74 yards. That’s not much production. Need more, but a lot of that is on the QB and OLine.

On special teams, our kickoffs were fine. One bounced through the end zone for a touchback and the other was fielded at the 1 yard line. Our punting was solid. Our coverage was OK, not terrific. And our own return game continued to be lacking. DiRocco made one nice field goal (41 yards) and had a 43 yarder blocked. From the TV angle, it looked straight but I couldn’t tell if it was particularly low or if our line simply buckled. It was probably a combination of the two.

Defense
Obviously, holding a team to 7 points, 10 first downs, and 175 total yards is a good day statistically. It should win probably 90% of games; it didn’t in this case. Wake’s one TD came on a 12 play 53 yard drive in which they were 4 for 4 on 3rd down conversions. The rest of the game they went 3 for 11. Our interior line played well and but for a couple of missed tackles on the TD drive, I thought our tackling was pretty good. Pass coverage was solid though the Wake QB’s missed a couple of open receivers.

Coaching
A lot of folks are upset with the coaching in this game. Most complaints focus on putting Bradwell in the game when we did, the lack of pitchouts, play calling (specifically the number of QB draws), and the decision to "go for it" rather than attempt a field goal with 4 minutes to go. I can understand the frustration but I don't necessarily agree. Bradwell's appearance was clearly a disaster, but none of us knew that before it happened. I've covered the pitch outs already but am amused at the concern over QB draws after hearing and reading TU fans complain about the lack of such draws for years. As for the decision to go for it on 4th and 1, I thought that was the right decision. Had it worked, we'd probably have won. If we made a field goal, we still had an uphill climb. Had we missed the field goal ( any chance of that?), the results would have been the same. I don't think "in game" coaching decisions cost us this game by any means.

All in all, this turned out to be a game we could easily have won. So, it is very disappointing that we didn’t. But, it’s still only one game. I continue to think we’ll win 4-5 games this season and expect to see improvement as the year goes on. Had we pulled off the upset this past Thursday, I might be predicting six or more wins, but it is what it is. The next five games (Southern, Navy, ULL, UMass, and UCF) will take us to the mid-point of the season. We’ll all have a better understanding of where we are and where we’re going by then.


Roll Wave!!!!

WILLIE FRITZ

"I'm really excited about my first victory here at Yulman Stadium. That's always special. We got to play a lot of guys, which is great. They work so hard, you want to reward them with some playing time. We started off and played extremely well defensively. The first three possessions we got takeaways, one of which was a 90-plus yard interception return by Parry Nickerson. Give Southern credit. They've got some good players, they really do. I told the team their running back and that wide receiver and kick returner are better than what we saw last week against Wake Forest, and they didn't prove me wrong. They have excellent, excellent players, and then offensively we got some short fields and were able to score and get some points.

"It's disappointing how we came out in the second half. We've got to learn how to slam that door and keep it shut, and we didn't do a great job at the beginning of the second half. We had a fourth-and-1 I believe, and I went for it near midfield because I just wanted to get momentum back on our side, and we got a first down and scored a few plays later and kind of got in the driver's seat again, but we're just happy for the win."

You'd harped on not getting any turnovers against Wake Forest. How nice was it to get three in the first quarter tonight?

"It was great. Plus-one in turnover/takeaway, this is my 24th year as a head coach, when we've been plus-1 or better, we've won 91 percent of our games. Plus-2 I've never lost a game. That's the number one thing we emphasize in the program--do a good job with ball security and not turn the ball over and get takeaways. It's great when you're plus-3 like we were tonight. It's pretty hard to lose when you're plus-3."

It was a nice debut play for Johnathan Brantley. How did you feel he did overall?

"The first run, I think he had 60-plus yards, I think he was surprised how open he was when he got out there. Then he started running with a little bit more authority. I don't know if it's cleared up the picture at all tonight. It may not have. We'll get it figured out."

Was there any point when you were standing on the sideline that you were like, wow, this is a lot more points than I expected?

"Well, most coaches are perfectionists. I am, too. Sometimes you look at the things that you can do better. I told our guys we're capable of playing a lot better than that. I'm happy for the win, though. It sure beats last week."

Obviously it's a run-heavy offense, but would you like to complete a few more passes?

"Yeah, you know, we had a nice throw in the end zone that should have been a touchdown and we dropped it. We had one over the middle that was wide open and we were a little short on it. That will come just like everything else. If we run the ball effectively, we are going to get a bunch of man coverage out there, or if they're playing zone, the linebacker's going to be at the line of scrimmage and it will really open up a big throwing lane. We've got to throw it better. With this style of offense, if we can run it effectively, there's big throws in there. A few years back we were the number one pass efficiency offense in the country (in the FCS at Sam Houston State). We threw 33, 34 touchdown passes, and they were all big rips, but it all starts with the run game."

What's your takeaway from running for 437 yards against Southern?

"At Georgia Southern when we rushed for less than 400, they got mad at me. We're happy. We felt like we were going to be able to run against these guys."

The one concern is you did have a number of injuries (Robert Kennedy, Sean Wilson, Zachery Harris, Peter Woullard, Sherman Badie). Was there any initial evaluation of those guys?

"There's a few guys that I took out and just said, hey, let's sit them the rest of the game. We'll get it figured out."

In your first opportunity in front of Tulane fans, how much pride does it give you to put on that kind of show for them?

"We've got really good goals here for this football program. As I said many times, I feel like there's no reason why we can't win here at Tulane and win consistently year after year after year. Hopefully we'll get a lot of people to come back next week."

It seems much more organized this year and the players are disciplined in their assignments. Is that something you harp on?

"Well, I'm an organizational nut. I try to go over every possible situation that can occur in a game, and it's hard to do. That play today with Central Michigan and Oklahoma State, there's a lot of different situations and things that occur, so we try to go over all of them the best we can. Our guys are getting used to how I like to do things, and we'll get better and better on that. You won't have to correct 11 people on the field. That's one of the reasons why I use that launch pad. I want to make sure we've got the right guys going out there and coming off. It's hard to win with 10 guys on the field, and it's impossible with 12, so we're trying to get the correct 11 out there every single play. We're working on all those different things. We do it in practice, and hopefully it transfers to the game."

Ade Aruna set the tone on that first series with his pass rush, pop and forced fumble. Can you talk about that?

"That was a big, big play by Ade. He did a good job reading the guy and getting the sack and forcing the play for us. We feel like we've got a bunch of good pass rushers. We feel like we can get pressure with four guys, and a lot of places you can't do that. You have to bring a fifth or sixth guy. We've got some good pass rushers now, and he certainly is one of them."


PARRY NICKERSON

What did you see on the interception, and how quickly did you know you were going to score?

"I kind of saw the ball was overthrown, so at that point I knew this was going for six with my speed."

Can you talk about the way you guys came out in the first quarter forcing turnovers and making big plays?

"We had that start-fast mentality--start fast and finish strong. I think we did a great job of that. Ade sparked it up with that turnover he forced, and after that it just started constantly happening. Nico (Marley), then me, then special teams, we are feeding off each other."

Did you have a lot of confidence coming into this one after holding Wake Forest to 175 yards?

"We had a lot of confidence on both sides of the ball, but you never underestimate your opponent. We definitely had confidence."


ADE ARUNA

What happened on that fumble you caused right off the bat?

"My coaches told us to go all out every time. We can't underestimate them because they are on scholarship, too, so we keep getting on us about we gotta start fast. Last week I believe we left a lot on the field against Wake Forest. We wanted to start fast and play and not look at them like they play for Southern. We just had to keep playing every time."


DONTRELL HILLIARD

How good was it for the offense to have the ball in such great field position at the start of the game?

"Yeah, it was amazing. The defense came out and dominated and did their part, so it was up to us to do our part and punch it in. But overall, we really enjoyed that."

You had 437 rushing yards, numbers that have not been seen in a long time here. How much fun was it?

"This week we came in focused and just planning to have fun, but at the same time execute and do our part to know our role and what we're supposed to execute, and we got it done."

Coach Fritz says he is an organizational nut. How much does it help you guys to be so prepared going into a game?

"It helps us a lot. We know exactly what teams are gong to do against us and when they are going to do against us, so we have to get out there before that happens to us. It's great."


JOHNATHAN BRANTLEY

How surprised were you when your first carry in college went for more than 60 yards?

"I was kind of surprised, but then again, I've been waiting so long for them to give me a chance in a game. Last week when we lost, even though I didn't play, it hurt because I wanted to win for the defense because they played extremely well. I've just been waiting for my chance, and they finally gave it to me today."

How comfortable did you feel?

"I felt pretty comfortable. The good thing about us is we have a strong defense and we go against them every day in practice, so when we get in the game we're ready."

Are you thankful the way it played out. You got to come in with a big lead?

"I'm very thankful. I'm just glad they believed in me to even put me in. I know that's tough decision for them to make, to put a true freshman in."

You made the right decisions on options. Do you see that one of your strengths?

"I'd never run triple option until I got here, but whatever the coach asks me to do, I'm going to do it. If it's pitching, throwing or running, I'm going to try to do it. I have a grasp of what they want."

This was the worst slate of games I've ever seen. Finding seven besides Tulane was not easy, and coming up with a spread for the Tulane game was hard, too.

As always, home teams are listed first.

Tulane (-28.5) Southern
TCU (-7.5) Arkansas
Pittsburgh (-5.5) Penn State
Ohio State (-29) Tulsa
Navy (-3.5) Connecticut
Utah (-3.5) BYU
Tennessee (-11.5) Virginia Tech
Duke (-5) Wake Forest

Marley now listed as starter at MLB w/Thomas as a backup. Harris now the starter at WLB where Marley formerly started.

UNCOMMITTED VISITORS

1) Trey Creamer, RB, Cartersville, GA. (Cartersville High)

6-0, 175

Skinny: Rivals has him as a 3-star DB recruit, but Tulane is recruiting him strictly as a RB. He has offers from seven mid-level Power 5 schools, including Louisville.

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/27216

2) Jakyle Holmes, RB, Ponchatoula

5-10, 195

Skinny: Has offers from Arizona State and Minnesota as well as some smaller D1 programs.

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/94002

3) Shannon Forman, DT, Baton Rouge (Southern Lab)

6-2, 254

Skinny: Has offers from Jackson State and Troy as well as Tulane. He is the Rivals database but does not have any stars.

4) Kevin Ledee, WR, Houston (Cypress Ridge High)

6-3, 182

Skinny: Has offers from Illinois, Memphis, Bowling Green, Colorado State and UNLV. He is rated the highest 2-star possible (5.4).

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/35595

5) Chris Allen, Baton Rouge (Southern Lab)

6-4, 233

Skinny: He is a four-star recruit with offers from just about every elite program in the south, including LSU and Alabama. Ranked as the 12th best OLB and 209th best overall prospect by Rivals.

COMMITTED ELSEWHERE

1 and 2) LB Bruce Jordan Swilling and DB Jeremiah West, from St. Aug in New Orleans

Skinny: Swilling is a 4-star Georgia Tech commitment and West is a 3-star ULL commitment.

3) Josh Clarke, LB, Riverdale

Skinny: He's a 3-star OLB who committed to Ole Miss and is rated the No. 38 prospect nationally at his position.

ALREADY COMMITTED TO TULANE

Davontavean Martin
Cameron Jackel
Will Wallace
Jaylon Monroe
Stephon Huderson
Caleb Sampson

2018 PROSPECTS

Devin Winters, DT, McDonogh 35
Greg Clayton, WR, Lutcher
Damone Clark, LB, Southern Lab
Kyle Jackson, LB, St. Aug
Juan Monjarres, DE, St. Aug
Garland LaFrance, RB, St. Aug
Joey McNeely, DL, Kinder
Markus Martin, LB, Southern Lab
Shawn Preston, DB, St. James
Chris Reid, QB, East Coweta, Ga.
Lance Robinson, DB, De La Salle
Collins Woods, WR, Blount, Ala.
Devin Brumfield, RB, Covington
Anthony Williams, WR, Hahnville
Cedric Anderson, WR, East Feliciana High

With all 19 of us picking Tulane, we all got the two points for the Wave's opener, a stark contrast to last year when Duke buried the Wave. We had a few 7-point weeks and a few 3-point weeks.

I'm glad I didn't know Ole Miss was ahead of FSU 28-6 until after the fact because, in a pool from my old magazine in Florida, I went 3-7 straight up while picking the Rebels to beat FSU and would have thought I had salvaged the week when they took that huge lead.

7

Gretna Green
MNAlum
Rcnut
DrBox

6

Mono41
ny oscar
highwave
winwave
Kettrade1
jjstock2005

5

LSU Law Greenie
diverdo
WaveON

4

buck2481
Guerry
Harahan Wave

3

Charlamange8
Golfer81
Wavetime

Picks breakdown

Tulane over Wake Forest: 19 of 19
Wisconsin over LSU: 11 of 19
Houston over Oklahoma 10 of 19
Alabama over USC 18 of 19
Texas over Notre Dame 6 of 19
FSU over Ole Miss 11 of 19
Auburn over Clemson 1 of 19
Texas A&M over UCLA 5 of 19

No one on the Tulane football team impressed new coach Willie Fritz more than sophomore wide receiver Andrew Hicks, who worked insanely hard to rehabilitate a torn ACL he sustained in spring drills and was on course to play as soon as the beginning of October if the coaches decided not to redshirt him. It was amazing comeback story, and Hicks looked pretty good as he jogged along the sideline during preseason camp.

Unfortunately, Hicks tore the same ACL in a non-contact drill at the Saints facility last week and is back on crutches. I saw him yesterday and didn't even realize it was Hicks, but I confirmed it after practice today.

I'm not sure it would have been wise to play him this year considering the normal timetable for an ACL recovery, but it's a moot point now, and the injury could not have happened to a more hard-working guy. Hicks played i 11 games with one start as a true freshman last year (two catches, 52 yards, one TD), so he has a redshirt season available and will not have to apply to the NCAA down the road for an extra year.

"He's going to be out for the season," Fritz said. "It's very unfortunate because he worked his tail off to get to this point."

Wide receivers coach Jeff Conway said Hicks' original timetable to come back was November, leading the coaches to assume he would get a medical redshirt, but he worked so hard that he was far ahead of the curve and definitely might have played.

"I think there was a chance, yes," Conway said.

Conway was a little emotional talking about it.

"For him to injure it again in a non-contact at the Saints (facility) was tough," Conway said. "He just slipped and fell running routes on air. It's very frustrating, and I'm sure he's frustrated. I feel bad for him, but our own experiences are what forge who we are, and Andrew will be an even stronger player from having to go through this. It seems dark and desolate right now, but I'm positive with the way he came back from the No. 2 surgery (Hicks also had knee surgery in high school), this No. 3 will make him even stronger. One thing about it, that guy's committed."

In other news, Fritz said after practice today he definitely would use two quarterbacks against Southern but had not finalized the plan and was going to talk about it with his staff. He does not want to identify which freshman quarterback will relieve starter Glen Cuiellette. Darius Bradwell played one possession against Wake Forest in the second quarter last Thursday and failed to get a first down while running four consecutive times. Johnathan Brantley has received a lot of reps in practice this week, but Fritz listed knowledge of the offense as the determinant of who was No. 2 earlier this week, and Brantley has been behind Bradwell in that department since Bradwell participated in spring drills. I'm not sure which way Fritz will go, but it will be interesting to see Saturday.

The starters for the Southern game will be the same as for Wake Forest. I took down the second-team defense yesterday, and it had Luke Jackson and Quinlan Carroll at end, Braynon Edwards and Eldrick Washington at tackle, P.J. Hall at nicknack, Will Harper and Sean Harper at safety and Thakarius Keyes and Stephon Lofton at cornerback. Taris Shenall and Roderic Teamer were getting a rest at that point, altering the depth chart a bit.

There are several injured players, but none of them are projected starters. Guards Phabion Woodard and Brian Webb, who were competing for the top backup spot to Leeward Brown at right guard, are two of them, leaving Jason Stewart as the No. 3 guard if they are not ready by Saturday. Freshman cornerback Tre Jackson, listed as Donnie Lewis' top backup, also has not practiced along with wide receivers Jacob Robertson and Tristan Cooper, linebacker William Townsend and running back Miles Strickland.

One quick note: I'm hesitant to ask about the injuries because, in a polite way, Fritz made it clear when Nola.com's Will Guillory asked about an injured player yesterday that he does not want to talk about some of them, adding that reporters did not have to be permitted to watch practice if he was not happy with what got out. It's a feeling out process at this point. But I have not gotten one negative word about anything I have written here or for The Advocate from anyone on the staff.

Here is the rest of Fritz from today:

How was practice today?

"It was good. We cut back a little bit on Thursdays. We didn't go with pads right now. This week was a little bit different, too, because we kind of had a jumpstart by going an hour on Monday. Normally we don't go on Mondays to start working on the upcoming opponents. I think we went an hour and 48 minutes today or something like that (EDs note: I can't imagine CJ having any idea about the exact time spent at practice on a day)."

Are you moving into the renovated locker rooms today?

"No, I think we're moving in tomorrow. We were going to go today, but I don't think they have all the Ts crossed and Is dotted, so we're going to wait until all that's done."

How do you feel practice has gone all week?

"Not bad. You start getting into school, it's still hot and it's a long morning. We get them up at 6, we meet at 7, we get on the field at 8:45, we get out of here around 11:30 in the morning, they shower, they go to lunch check and they go to class. They are up and at them, some of them from 5:30 and some from 6 o'clock. We just have to get in the habit and rhythm and the routine of it. I'm still working on it"

Has Larry Dace been a surprise?

"Well, Larry played quite a bit last season. The thing about Larry is he's really assignment sound, and that's half the battle. If you know what you're doing, you've got a chance, and when two guys know what they're doing, usually talent takes over. The guy with more talent is going to play more, but Larry is very assignment sound."

How excited are you going to be for your first game in front of Tulane fans?

"This will be 270th head coaching gig. It's going to be exciting, but I approach all these games the same way as when I was the head coach at Blinn and we were playing Cisco in front of 100 people. As a coach you've got to make sure you're making proper decisions down there and staying two or three plays away. I want to coach in here. It's a beautiful venue for the game."

How do you make sure the players don't take Southern for granted? That may sound stupid, but I've seen it happen here in the past.

"I don't know how anybody could do that. We're scratching and clawing to get a win. I know our coaches, our approach to this game is no different to last week or next week or the week after. As I told these guys, all these games count 1. None of them count 2 and none of them count a half. They all count 1."

Is there anything you can do to help Glen Cuiellette cope with emotions in his first home start?

"No, I don't think he's that kind of kid. He'll be able to handle it. He's a sharp, composed guy."

Do you know what your plan is for the quarterback rotation?

"We're going to play two. As a matter of fact, we're going to talk about that right now, get the whole week in and make an educated decision."

Is Tulane planning to have post game highlights and pre and post game press conference videos posted anymore? I enjoyed watching these on Youtube in the past, but i can't find them this year. Can you pass on to whoever your contacts are at Tulane that they need to do this for the fans.

I didn't used to bother with these since the SID office posted the quotes on TulaneGreenWave.com, but since that no longer is the case, and the Nola.com video appears to have issues, here goes. I actually got there a minute or two late because my son had the day off from school and had a temper tantrum before I dropped him off with the baby sitter, so I will skip Fritz' preamble except for his assessment of Southern and get to the questions.

"Southern played Louisiana-Monroe last week and lost 38-21. It was probably a lot closer game than the score indicated. They are explosive offensively. They have a little return guy, a receiver who's extremely quick who averaged 45 yards on kickoff returns against ULL and had a couple of catches and turned them into big plays as well. Their quarterback has the ability to extend plays with his legs, and they've got some very explosive receivers on the outside. Defensively, they probably played like a lot of people in that first ball game, kind of learning how to play leverage and tackling and all those other kind of things. I saw some pressure they were able to bring. Our pass protection really has to improve."

Is Tulane healthy?

"We're pretty healthy at this point in time. I try to do a good job during the week of staying on our feet. We are thin at a few spots. If we lose a few guys it would be a big problem for us, but we've done a good job staying healthy. Kendall Ardoin, who did not play last week, will be able to play this week, so that will help us out at the tight end position."

Most coaches hate the term "moral victory," but is that what happened against Wake Forest?

"I hate the term, too. We did some good things. We felt like we had a great opportunity and didn't close the door. That's disappointing. When our guys are in that situation again, we have to close the door and find a way to win."

What was your assessment of the offense against Wake Forest?

"We have to score more points. We did a decent job at times between the 20s. If you take away a lot of our minus plays, we probably had 350-something yards of total offense, which is OK this day in age but not great. It's OK. When we cross the 50 and get in the red zone, we've got to make something happen and get in the end zone. If we're not getting in the end zone, we're kicking field goals. We got in the situation where we had one blocked. I didn't know if we were going to get down there again, so I went for it in the fourth down situation. We've got to play better. That's everybody. A lot of people talk about the quarterback, but we need better play from the quarterback, the wide receivers, the running backs and the offensive line."

You had four passing attempts in the first half and then opened it up a little bit more. Was that an adjustment to Wake Forest or did you get a little more confidence in Glen Cuiellette?

"I think we got a little bit more confidence in Glen. We also got in some down and distances that weren't good for us. There are not many offenses out there that are going to look good on second-and-long and certainly not third-and-long. We're definitely not. We've got to stay out of those situations. We are going to have them a couple of times a game and still have to be able to convert, but we'd like to stay out of those situations."

Will you go with Johnathan Brantley as the backup to Cuiellette this week instead of Darius Bradwell?

"We're going to wait until after Thursday. We need to see who has the best grasp of the offense."

Do you want to play a ton of players against Southern? (Eds note: some reporters just don't get that coaches never are going to assume publicly they are going to blow out a weak opponent.)

"We want to play the guys that will help us win."

You mentioned yesterday the receivers ran some poor routes that contributed to the pressure on Cuiellette when he tried to throw. How big of a factor was it?

"It was a factor. It's everything. It's the receivers running the right route with the correct depth and the proper tempo coming out of the break. It's the whole thing. Sometimes that makes the quarterback pat the ball and hold it a little bit longer. It's the offensive line being good in protection. It's the running backs knowing sometimes they have to block in pass protection like everybody else. We didn't do a great job in pass protection with the backs. It's everybody. It's not just the offensive line. It's everybody in the offense."

Do you expect a big difference in playing the first home game instead of being on the road again?

"I've always talked about it. It's an old saying I guess, but your greatest improvement should come between week 1 and week 2. We've worked a lot of the kinks out--coming out of the locker room, halftime, what we do in between series, all those kind of things. They are comfortable with how I like to do things. We will have great improvement from week 1 to week 2."

Glen had 22 carries when he got the job because of his throwing prowess. Was that something you didn't expect?

"He needs to do a little bit better job of pitching the ball. We probably had four or five pitching opportunities in the game Thursday night, and he has to be comfortable doing it. We are trying to provide some more drills, which we've been doing, to put him under pressure where he pitches while he's running full speed. You've got to be just as accurate then as you are throwing. That's probably one of the reasons why he had a few more carries than normal, but it's also how they were playing us. The guy who was accounting for the pitch was kind of slow playing it and staying in between the quarterback and the pitch. Sometimes that made (Cuiellette) put his foot in the ground and get vertical."

Does anyone have a list of recruits planning to visit for the game this weekend against Southern?

Thanks.

Roll Wave!!!

Tulane practiced for an hour this afternoon after getting three days off after the loss to Wake Forest, working on scout stuff for Southern and special teams drills like onside kicks.

Interestingly, they had scout teams for both the offense and defense instead of having the starters go against each other. Last week Fritz said he did not have enough bodies to do that, but since today was a no-contact practice, he did not have to use real offensive linemen on the scout team. Tight end Trey Camissa was one of them, as was defensive tackle John Washington.

Freshman linebacker Larry Bryant had a rough go against the scout team, getting burned twice by a walk-on receiver Bryan Newman on deep sideline routes. The first time, a coach yelled at Bryant to stop looking at the quarterback, and he responded with a nice breakup on the next play, but about 10 minutes later, he let Bryant beat him again on the same route for about a 25 yard gain inside the 5.

Nico Marley made a nice play on an onside kick, leaping to grab the ball securely. He makes mistakes at linebacker, but he's a true football player who does a lot of things well.

I had Fritz to myself because I was the only media member in attendance.

You said in the preseason you are the exact same guy after a loss as after a win because you want to be even keel. Is today an example of that?

"Yeah. It was back to work, back to practice. I kind of have a one-day pout rule. I told the kids I was encouraged (by their immediate response to the loss). The locker room was quiet. We got on the bus--quiet. The airport, quiet on the airplane. Quiet when we got back. When you put a whole lot into something and don't get the results you want, that's discouraging to you at the moment. The only thing you can do is bounce back, though. You should care about it, but now we have to bounce back. It's part of handling adversity."

Wake Forest did not get past its own 38-yard line in the second half (until causing a fumble in the final minute). How frustrating is it to lose a game like that?

"Well, it's just frustrating. I felt like we were playing on their side of the 50 quite a bit in the second half, and we had some opportunities. We just have to cash in on them. We were real close on about five, six seven plays and just didn't quite get it done, so we've got to learn from it. The next time we get in that situation, we need to finish."

Did you want to see more big plays from the running backs you were so high on in the preseason?

"We had some stuff. They got in the open field a couple of times. It's different when it's a real game. There's real tackling going on, real leverage. You have to get experience in that. We're going to get it going. We just have to keep improving every single week, and we're going to bounce back this week."

The offensive line struggled, particular in pass protection. What do you do there?

"We've got to get better. We got into some situations where we had to throw and we had a few of them (breakdowns) in max protection. But it wasn't just the offensive line. Sometimes that involved the tight ends and the running backs as well in protection, the quarterback going in the right place and a receiver running an incorrect route and the quarterback having to hold the ball. When you get into pass pro, it's just like a run play. Everybody's involved in, and we can play a lot better than that."

I guess the locker rooms will be ready for the game?

"They better be. We don't know where they are going to dress at (if they aren't). I went in there this morning and they've gotten quite a bit more done. I think we'll be able to get it going."

Have you decided whether or not you will use two quarterbacks against Southern?

"We're not 100-percent sure. We're evaluating that position just like we are all positions?

After watching the video, how would you evaluate Cuiellette's performance?

"He did some good things. There were a few times maybe he went the wrong way or something, but he's going to get better. It was the first game he's played in three years. I thought there were some really good things that he did. He's got to build on those and start minimizing mistakes as much as he can, and that will give us a heck of a chance."

His teammates talked about how poised he was.

"He had some poise without question, but it's everybody. We all have to elevate our level of play."

Would you have liked to have seen more pitches on the option? It looked like Glen was hesitant there and ended up keeping the ball when he should have pitched it a few times.

"We have to get comfortable pitching the ball without question. I thought there were four or five times we could have pitched the ball and had some productive plays. I really did."

You mentioned it after the game, but how tough was it to not get any takeaways?

"It's big. We just need to get a little more pressure on the pass plays. Sometimes when you're playing man coverage it's a little bit more difficult to get a takeaway. Interceptions especially, when we're on the second or third guy in on a ball carrier, we need to rip the ball out. We are always talking about ball awareness when you're approaching the ball carrier. How's he carrying it, what's the best takeway technique to utilize. If we had gotten two or three takeways, that would have been great for us."

Did you come out injury free?

"For playing our first real game and first real tackling, we came out of the game unscathed."

On a normal week, will you take Monday off and practice Sunday?

"Most of the time what we'll do on Mondays is watch the film of the game and then lift weights. I gave the guys off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They had three days off, which is unheard of during the year. The next time we'll get that is our off week. Hopefully everybody took advantage of it. We came out and got an hour workout in here and got a little jumpstart on Southern."

From what I wrote down during the pregame:

3 QBs: Cuiellette, Bradwell, Brantley
4 RBs: Badie, Thompson, Hilliard, Rounds
3 TEs: Wadleigh, Jones, Medina (I did not see Ardoin, but he might have been there)
8 WR: Breaux, Scott, Mooney, Glenn, Encalade, Dace, Owens, Johnson
9 OL: McLeod, Leglue, Stewart, Brown, Taylor, Jacquet, Santa Marina, Diaz, Johnson
11 DL: Woullard, Edwards, Smart, Aruna, Kennedy, E. Washington, J. Washington, Williams, Wilson, Carroll, Jackson

7 LB: Marley, Graham, Bryant, Harris, Bowie, Marbley, Thomas
13 DB: W. Harper, Franklin, S. Harper, Lewis, Teamer, Keyes, Napoleon, Davis, Allen, Nickerson, Shenall, Lofton, Hall

5 ST: Dirocco, Block, Neenan, Eatherly, Harvey

Guys I might have missed include Webb, Ardoin, Tre Jackson, Woodard, Devon Johnson and Bell.

50 players got in the game, as per the box score on the TulaneGreenWave.com.

Everyone on here saw the game and has their own opinions on the good and bad we all witnessed, so I won’t belabor any of that. But, I always like to look through the “participation” listings after a game to see who played, and, equally important, who didn’t. As close as I try to watch, I miss some of the players. And sadly, the official site, who is my only other source, tends to err on occasion also.

Regardless, using the official site as a source, ten of our 22 true freshmen saw action last evening against Wake Forest. With the exception of our snapper, Geron Eatherley, most of them played very limited roles. The others included Darius Bradwell, Chris Johnson, D.J. Owens, Darrell Mooney, Lawrence Graham, Larry Bryant, Will Harper, Sean Harper, and P.J. Hall.

Twelve true freshmen on scholarship did not see the field: Johnathon Brantley, Phavion Woodard, Tyler Johnson, Jacob Robertson, Miles Stickland, Coby Neenan, DeAndre Williams, Deion Rainey, Takarius Keyes, Eric Napolion, and Tre Jackson. Since Jackson was probably our most “highly rated” recruit, his lack of playing was a bit of a surprise, at least to me.

Among returning veterans there were few surprises. All eleven of our returning seniors saw significant action including recent scholarship recipient, Marshall Wadleigh, who played a number of snaps at tight end, along with his special teams responsibilities. Several juniors sat out this game: Sergio Medina, Trey Scott, Jason Stewart, Tristan Cooper, Eric Bell, and Williams Townsend. Townsend is apparently hurt, but, after moving to wide receiver, I was surprised that Scott didn’t see the field. Stewart, Cooper, and Bell have not been significant contributors in the past, so their “sitting” was not a big surprise.

Four sophomores did not play including Andrew Hicks, who may be out for the year. I cannot explain the other three: Devon Johnson, Kendall Ardoin and Stephon Lofton. Johnson was thought by many to be our next starting tackle even last year and Ardoin did some good things in his time on the field in 2015. That Wadleigh is now playing in front of him is a surprise, unless he has an injury I’m not aware of.

We also had four redshirt freshmen not play. These included Keyshawn McLeod, Brian Webb, John Washington, Jeremy Francis. McLeod is our backup center and unless Dias goes down, he’ll probably sit all year. Webb and Francis don’t appear to be serous contenders for playing time but I’m surprised John Washington is so far down in the depth chart. I’ve not seen any practices, but I thought, coming out of high school, he’d be a major contributor by now.

Anyway, we only played 50 kids yesterday and most teams (including us in the past) play about 60 each game, so some of the players who did not see the field against Wake Forest will get their opportunity in weeks to come. Regardless, it does appear that some of our redshirt juniors may be heading toward graduation (hopefully) after this season rather than a fifth year on scholarship.

Roll Wave!!!

A tough loss. Tulane should have won but did not have a versatile enough offense to make a play when it mattered most.

I talked to Fritz, Cuiellette, Dace and Smart after the game. Here are the Fritz quotes:

FRITZ

"It was very disappointing. We got in some passing situations and obviously that's not our strength. We had a tough time protecting tonight. Four-man rush most of the time. It was just a lot of guys that were playing their first game. I saw some bright spots at times. Everybody's got to do their job and someone's got to make a play. There are some calls we'd like to have back--offense, defense and kicking game. But those are the kind of games we've gotta win. It's one reason I got hired here."

You elected not to go for a field goal down 4 with four minutes left. Was that an easy decision?

"I didn't know if we'd get back in there. Andrew's strength is really not long field goal kicking. Early in the game I almost wish I would have gone for that one (a blocked 43-yarder in the fourth quarter). We had one blocked. It was just a low trajectory on the kick. I just felt like you don't know if you are going to get down there again, and then they had to go the long field. If we don't jump (offside), we get them to punt it with quite a bit more on the clock. It would have been 3 minutes instead of 1:26 or something."

Cuiellette had nothing going on the fourth-down play there. What happened?

"It wasn't executed very well. They had a good defense against it and we tried to spread them out and see if they would go out with us. They didn't, and they had more people than we could block."

Josh Rounds was wide open for a touchdown and could not stay on his feet after hauling in that long pass from Cuiellette. Was that another missed opportunity?

"Yep. We had some opportunities. We had our backs four or five times out in the open field, and they had to make a guy miss. We had Larry (Dace) over the middle one time and didn't hit him in stride. That would have gained maybe another 20 yards, so there were a lot of opportunities. We didn't get any takeaways. That's disappointing."

The possession where Darius Bradwell went in during the second quarter did not pan out. What was the thought process?

"We had a couple of option plays where the quarterback had the opportunity, and we just wanted to see what Darius could do. It was a tough spot to put him in--a brand new freshman, and we're throwing him out there. It was a tough spot for Glen. It was the first time he's played in a couple of years. They'll get better. They are going to get much better."

How did you feel about the defense?

"The one touchdown they scored, heck, I think we missed three tackles on the drive. We could have held them to a field goal or pitched a shutout. That's all so different. We don't have a ton of guys. We're thin at a few spots and just aren't able to tackle much in practice. I had them work on the drills I wanted, but it's different when you get out there and do it. They will be a much better tackling team in game 2 than game 1."

What positives did you share with the team?

"We kept competing defensively and I think offensively we moved the ball. We just didn't do a very good job inside the red zone. There's a lot of good things to take away, but there's no moral victories. I told them that in the locker room. One of the reasons I got hired is to win these type of games. When we get these type of situations, we have to do our job and make a play. There are probably about 20 plays we can go back and look at, if we had made the play we would have had a chance (to win). We'll get better. We are going to improve."

What happened to Leeward Brown?

"He cramped up. He's fine."

Here's what they handed out today at the press conference.

OFFENSE

WR (H): Larry Dace, Devin Glenn
WR (Z): Devon Breaux, Chris Johnson
WR (X): Terren Encalade, Darnell Mooney

TE: Charles Jones; Kendall Ardoin OR Marshall Wadleigh
LT: Todd Jacquet, Tyler Johnson
LG: Chris Taylor, Jason Stewart
C: Junior Diaz, Keyshawn McLeod
RG: Leeward Brown; Phabion Woodard OR Brian Webb
RT: John Leglue; Kenneth Santa Marina OR Devon Johnson

QB: Glen Cuiellette; Johnathan Brantley OR Darius Bradwell
RB: Sherman Badie OR Dontrell Hilliard; Josh Rounds OR Lazedrick Thompson

DEFENSE

DE: Robert Kennedy, Daren Williams
DT: Tanzel Smart, Eldrick Washington
NT: Sean Wilson, Braynon Edwards
DE: Ade Aruna, Quinlan Carroll

MLB: Eric Thomas; Rae Juan Marbley OR Eric Bowie
WLB: Nico Marley, Zachery Harris

NKL: Richard Allen, P.J. Hall
CB: Parry Nickerson, Thakarius Keyes
CB: Donnie Lewis, Tre Jackson
FS: Jarrod Franklin, Will Harper
SS: Roderic Teamer, Taris Shenall

SPECIALISTS

PK: Andrew DiRocco; Randy Harvey OR Steven Logan
P: Zachary Block, Coby Neenan
DS: Geron Eatherly, John Leglue
HO: Glen Cuiellette; Zachary Block OR Terren Encalade
KOR: Dontrell Hilliard; Sherman Badie OR Devin Glenn
PR: Dontrell Hilliard; Larry Dace OR Terren Encalade

Other than Hilliard being listed as the top kick returner instead of Badie, there's nothing to contradict anything I saw or Fritz said in the past week. I think Shenall would come in at nickel before Hall, but they didn't want to list him twice.