Hertz was friendly but guarded with information in our short conversation just as he was the last time I talked to him, refusing to confirm or add any names to the list of five people who supposedly interviewed in Atlantat over the past two days. He did establish a new timetable for the AD decision. I hear they aren't thrilled with me for writing the Fielkow story for The Advocate, but I'm OK with that. It was a story people were interested in.

Three candidates definitely interviewed--Burke, Wickstrom and Sidwell. It's unclear whether Patulski or Benedict interviewed.

Anyway, here's the short interview:

Have you interviewed five candidates to this point?

"We've interviewed more than that. I can't even confirm the five that you guys published. There's a little incorrect information, but I'm not going to go into it. How about this? There is some correct, there is some incorrect and there are some omissions. We're trying to do a thorough a job as we possibly can, and we're really pleased with the interest. We hope to have a decision shortly, in the next few weeks. But it will ultimately be president (Michael) Fitts' decision."

The most pressing decision involves Curtis Johnson's future. Do you expect the new AD to make the call there?

"I hope not. I hope that decision is made one way or the other before he or she gets here."

Has the process gone as you expected it to go at this point?

"It has. It honestly could not have gone more smoothly. I'm really optimistic we get somebody really good. We are moving quickly, but Thanksgiving week delays things. I'd like to move in the next week to 10 days, but Thanksgiving week precludes us from doing that."

Arnie Fielkow's 54 page action plan for Tulane Athletics, which is online and view-able to everyone in the world. He posted this tonight because he's incredibly disappointed that Tulane ended his candidacy before he even had a chance to present this to them.

He wasn't even interviewed.

https://drive.google.com/a/conusllc.com/file/d/0B2YJ8QLYHY8aVkVkUS1LRy1zc28/view?pli=1

I delayed as long as possible to put this up, but we have new leaders at the top after I had a bad week despite picking Tulane.

Week 10 results

7

nyoscar

6

winwave
DrBox
WaveON

5

Chalamange8
jjstock2005
wavetime

4

Guerry
LSU Law Greenie
kettrade1
Golfer81
Rcnut

2

MNAlum

OVERALL STANDINGS

winwave 52.5
DrBox 52.5
Guerry 51.5
wavetime 47.5
Rcnut 46.5
MNAlum 42.5
kettrade1 42.5
jjstock2005 41.5
WaveOn 41.5
nyoscar 40.5
LSU Law Greenie 36.5
Golfer81 35.5

And the others

Charlamange8 29.5 (missed 5 weeks)
Dew99 26.5
p8kpev 24.5 (missed 3 weeks)

WEEK 10 GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 11 out of 13
Memphis 6
South Florida 1
Alabama 10
Arkansas 6
Oklahoma 4
Oregon 7
Georgia 6

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

SMU (-3) Tulane
Temple (+1.5) Memphis
Ole Miss (-6.5) LSU
Oklahoma State (-1) Baylor
Ohio State (-13.5) Michigan State
Oregon (-4) USC
Arkansas (-4.5) Mississippi State
Tulsa (+12.5) Navy

CJ said Richard Allen would miss his fourth straight game because he has not passed Tulane's concussion protocol.

CJ was more optimistic about Eric Thomas, who missed the Army game with a foot injury and has played well this year even though his lack of speed hurts him at times Thomas was limited in practice yesterday, but CJ was projecting two days ahead and felt like he would be able to play against SMU.

Lazedrick Thompson still is not 100 percent. I hope he only gets token carries against SMU because Dontrell Hilliard needs to get the rock a lot and show what he can do.

Eldrick Washington will not play. I was surprised when CJ said he had a shot earlier in the week because his ankle injury was nasty. I witnessed it at practice when it happened the week before the Navy game. The three-man crew of Tanzel Smart, Corey Redwine and Sean Wilson has been very good anyway. Smart is maybe the fittest guy on the team, so he can play a lot of downs.

I talked to Smart earlier in the week for a feature that will appear in The Advocate tomorrow. He's bright, with a double major in public health and applied computing, but he is not a talker. Here's the transcript of the interview.

How well do you feel you're playing?

"I’m blessed. That’s all I can say. The lord blessed me to work hard, and I just go out there and play."

What is your best attribute on the field?

"I don’t know what I do best, but I can work on a lot. I need to work on my craft a lot so I can perfect what I want to do."

Your coaches say you have a burning desire to get better every day. How important is that minds to your development?

"It’s important. Up until the last game of the season you’ve got to stay ready in the weight room and the film room after practice, you’ve got to stay ready."

What was the feeling like when you beat Army, finally giving you a reward for your terrific individual play?

"It was nice. It was a beautiful feeling, kind of a relief and for the next week."

How frustrating was it giving up that long, tying touchdown drive?

"It’s a bend but don’t break mentality. They scored, but our offense really helped us out. That’s what we need. They came through and we won the game."

Did you expect this to be breakout year for you?

"I really didn’t know. I just put everything in God’s hands, and that’s where I go."

What do you need to improve in your game?

"I need to improve on all aspects of my game. Everything can have a little spark."

Do you realize you have a shot at making 60 tackles this year, an absurd total for an interior lineman?

"I think I can do it. I pray and I pray and I pray and I work and work. That’s it."

Jason Rollins told me you're really looking forward to returning next year, when you think your brother (Keeyon Smart) will play a big role on the offensive. What do you think he can do?

"Yeah, I’m looking forward to playing with him. He’s going to be a monster. He’s a big guy. He’s going to be a monster next year."

So you're not thinking about applying for the NFL draft?

"I haven’t thought about that, but I will be back next year to get us a bowl game."

There's a lot of speculation about the direction of the program at the end of the year. What are your thoughts?

"I feel good. Just like coach CJ always says, we don’t give up. We’re practicing good and I feel like this year is going to go into next year and we’re going to have a monster season."

You got some uncharacteristic penalties in the Houston game, and your roommate, Darion Monroe, said he would talk to you to make sure it never happened again. Was that night just about frustration boiling over?

"It was a little frustration but really it wasn’t frustration. I was having fun and whatever. They got the calls, so I worked on it the next week. I had to calm down a little bit and play free. That’s what I did."

What are you like off the field?

"I’m a very laid back guy. I just like chilling. I love working out, and that’s really it, watching TV, eating and of course I’m a big guy, so that’s it."

The entire defensive line appears to have a close bond with your position coach, Kwahn Drake. What is he like as a coach?

"Kwahn Drake, he’s a workhorse. He’s probably the best coach I’ve ever had. He makes us pay attention to details, plus fall camp was a crazy fall camp. He had us working. All the stuff he has us doing in practice transitions perfect to the game."

College football has a “caste” system almost as formal as that ever experienced in India and it affects recruiting as much as almost anything else. It stretches from the BCS of Division I to the non-scholarship teams competing in Division III. And there are formal and informal “subgroups” within each Division that further define the system in which movement between “bands,” while not impossible, is certainly difficult.

At the very top of the pyramid is the Bowl Championship Series schools, further delineated into the “Power Five” (P5) and the “Group of Five” (G5) conferences. Within the P5, a less formal subdivision is apparent. At the very top are teams like Ohio State and Alabama along with several others. These schools have both long term and short term football traditions. They play before sell-out crowds of 100,000 and more people. They have highly paid, well respected head coaches and staffs. Alone among the hundreds of schools playing football, they actually “make money.” They plow this back into facilities and amenities that others simply cannot afford. They renovate locker rooms and training facilities for the cost that some schools put into building entire new stadiums. They receive tremendous local and national media coverage and youngsters from across the state and country go to their games, wear their jerseys, and dream all their lives of playing for these schools. Their success has built fan bases and legislative support found in few other places. Alumni giving to athletics is stupendous and faculty support (after all, they also benefit from the money contributed by football) is better than at those schools where athletics “steal” from academics. Recruiting at these schools is easy. What’s not to like for a gifted high school athlete? There is the opportunity to win national championships, learn from great coaches, enjoy wonderful facilities and amenities, play before millions, and be idolized by nearly as many. If you don’t “cut it,” you at least “reached for the brass ring” and didn’t “settle” for something less.

The next level of P5 schools can’t compete with the “national powers” very often, but on occasion, it happens. They have money, fans, media attention (at least locally), good facilities, and in many places name recognition not enjoyed by those farther down the ladder. They are frequently ranked in the top 20 and sometime higher than that. Schools like Tennessee, Clemson, and Wisconsin come to mind. They even have a fairly large pool of players to choose from who “always dreamed of going there.” And, for a few years at a time, they may slip into the top group or drop down into the next grouping. They tend to win recruiting battles with lesser P5 schools and hardly ever lose one to a G5 conference member.

At the bottom rung of the P5 are those schools that have rare success competing in the Power Five conferences. They have the “P5 name” attached to their “brand,” but don’t have the money, facilities, or “cache” of the top levels of the sport. Teams like Iowa State, Vandy, and Washington State might be included in this group. They play the best teams, before sometimes very large crowds (especially on the road), and occasionally pull off an upset, but they aren’t going to any of the top bowls. They do, however, receive the largesse of the bowls and increasingly lucrative television contracts unavailable to schools outside of the P5. This is a huge advantage when recruiting against a G5 school. The other big advantage is prestige and peer pressure. “I’m going to play in the SEC or Big 10” is a big factor in a kid’s status among his peers. It’s very hard to overcome.

The next, more formal, level is the “Group of Five,” so named because they are the conferences “left over” after accounting for the “Power Five.” And “leftover” is a good descriptor. They don’t have the TV contracts, following, or money of the P5. And, except for teams like BYU, Air Force, and East Carolina, they play to relatively sparse crowds at home, with fewer than 30,000 in attendance unless they happen to be playing one of the “big boys” of the P5 who brings in their own fans and curious spectators. Worse, virtually everyone in this category makes no secret of advertising their “second class” citizenship, by pleading for acceptance from the “Big Boys.” Many times they trade 1 for 2 (or worse) deals in football scheduling. They continually point out the failings of their counterparts in order to get “a leg up” when a P5 conference needs to expand. G5 schools rarely beat P5 schools and make a big deal of it when it happens. So far this season, through ten weeks, the record is 16-85. That’s a pretty stark difference in performance. And P5 schools in general, even the lowest level, are just as hard for G5 schools to beat in recruiting. Moving from G5 to P5 status is hard. TCU and Louisville are the best examples of schools that have successfully done so, even moving into the top two tiers of the P5 I described above. But conferences such as the Big East/AAC were “kicked out” when the core of their P5 credentials left. Moving up requires money, success, and university-wide commitment.

And the G5 is also divided into “winners” and “losers,” though the mobility between those two categories is easier. A team can go 0-12 one year and within two or three years be 10-2, significantly changing the perception of their standing within the community of high school recruits. Yet, they are still just “upper half” G5, the best of the “leftovers.” Recruiting against P5 competition is still very difficult and the P5 (roughly half of the teams in the BCS) continue to win almost every recruiting battle. G-5 schools end up with the “bottom half” of Division 1A talent, at least as seen by the 1,000 plus coaches and assistant coaches in the division.

Once you leave the BCS and go to the FCS, the change is even greater. The number of available scholarships drops from 85 to 65. TV contracts are effectively zero and fan interest devolves to some locals and/or “diehard” alums. The FCS tends to be the landing spot for kids who “don’t make it” with FBS teams and transfer, without penalty of losing a year of eligibility. They also are able to take more “at risk” academic players and, obviously, those viewed as “less talented” by the FBS crowd. FCS schools only beat a FBS school on the rarest of occasions and really compete in a world of their own. If a school gains continued success, they might apply for and gain acceptance to the FBS and one of the G5 conferences. It’s a big step both financially and competitively, but a dozen or so schools have made that leap in the past twenty years.

The non-scholarship Divisions 2 and 3 are really not relevant to this discussion, but they are places that good high school athletes have a chance to “continue the dream” and play football. Few of their players received any scholarship interest let alone offers and they generally view the opportunity to play as a better option than “walking on” and riding the bench elsewhere.

For Curtis Johnson, when he walked through the door, he found Tulane in the lower half of the G5 grouping. That means that even when he identified a good player, if that kid was offered by a P5 school or even a more successful G5 school, our chances of gaining a signature was very slim. Previous coaches also had to contend with restrictions on recruiting that their foes did not. Success had been limited (an understatement) and fan interest was low. His elevation to the job was not viewed with optimism either. It was a tough spot. But donors were starting to come through to improve facilities, which, unfortunately, barely kept up with the upgrades being made by peer institutions. And, at least according to CJ, the administration came through by lifting restrictions on recruiting and providing new “athletic friendly” majors. He claims to have received “everything he has asked for” and he set out to conquer the “State of Tulane.”

• These camps are ONLY for those players, who are serious about playing college basketball. All Camps are for 6th graders and older. The two-day camp format will be intense and players will be instructed by many of the top individual instructors in the country. Every single Camp will be run by a current or former COLLEGE coach.​

• Instruction will be given by ONLY current and former college basketball coaches. Campers will perform drills and skill work that they would be doing if they were current college players.​

• The Camp will include but not be limited to on court instruction (speed dribbling and moves off the dribble; half court and transition shooting; passing with a purpose; using and defending screens; ball screen actions; 3 on 3); detailed discussion on how to put yourself in the best position to get recruited; nutrition and diet; academic evaluation and goals; and the various basketball opportunities at all collegiate levels.​

• At the end of each Camp, every participant is given a detailed evaluation of what they do well and what they need to work on in order to reach their dreams of playing collegiately. We will then send these evaluations out to every college coach in the country. This can be a huge help to your recruiting.​

• Each Camp is Two Days long, hotels and meals are the responsibility of each camper. A player may decide to attend just one day; however we highly recommend attending both if possible.​

• Every camper will receive an official Maximum Exposure Basketball T-Shirt.​

• Camp cost is $195.00 per player (for both days) or $125.00 per player (if you just attend one day). A $100.00 deposit is required to reserve your spot.​

• These camps will fill up extremely fast! Make sure to register now so you don’t miss your chance to participate!​

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2009/nov/19/sdsu-athletic-director-resigns/

Everything about this process feels like amateur hour, including using this scumbag as a consultant.

Many Tulane fans believe CJ has recruited the necessary talent to be successful and much better than his recent predecessors, Chris Scelfo and Bob Toledo. That we haven’t seen the results on the field is frequently “chalked up” to poor coaching. That being the case, one would have to believe that CJ and staff are worse coaches than Toledo or Scelfo and their staffs. I’d have a hard time differentiating who did the worst coaching job in that regard, but I’m currently directing my attention to recruiting.

I’ve made my position clear in the past on the “team ratings” provided by the recruiting services: I don’t like them. But, some people like to bring them up because, despite glaring failures in many areas, they have pretty much tracked Tulane’s lack of success on the field, meaning, they say we have a poor recruiting class and, voila, we have poor results on the field. That hasn’t necessarily worked that well for other teams but, heck, it’s something, I guess.

Regardless, here’s a quick review. Rivals, Scout, and 247 have published team rankings since 2002. ESPN has only published the top rankings, which, of course, have not included Tulane. From 2002 through 2006, Chris Scelfo’s recruiting averaged a 77.4 ranking among the three services. In 2007, a transition year (half Scelfo/half Toledo), Tulane was ranked #108—evidently a rough transition. Bob Toledo’s recruiting, from 2008 through 2011 averaged 95.8 and the “transition year” of 2012 was ranked #86, mostly due to CJ bringing in the highly rated Darion Monroe. Since then, CJ’s classes have been ranked 82.3 in 2013, 92.3 in 2014, and 103.3 in 2014. The latter was ranked that low despite the inclusion of three players that were deemed academically ineligible by the NCAA. In fact all three services have ranked us lower in each succeeding year of the CJ era, for a cumulative average of 92.7, roughly three places ahead of “Buffet Bob,” but far behind (15 places) the much maligned (deservedly so) Chris Scelfo. For 2016, I think we may halt that trend if we can retain the “better” players we have committed. Right now I’d guess high-80’s or low 90’s when all is said and done—still not good, by any means. If we lose any of the higher rated guys, we could be back in the 100’s.

But again, I don’t place a lot of faith in these numbers; at least not as much as capability I personally view. So, next, in Part V, I thought I’d take a look at our current team compared to the group Toledo left behind. Has our “talent” improved very much?

1. It’s sure nice to win and break a five game losing streak, even if it was against one of the worst teams in NCAA football.
   
2. It was also nice to win on the road for the first time in a while and to beat Army who has clearly had our number for more than a decade.
3. Still, we’re a bad team. Beating an FCS squad and two of the “bottom feeders” in the G5 world is nothing to “crow” about.
4. Shudder. Could this mean that CJ gets another year? Could a win at SMU and a two game road winning streak warrant an extension? I woke up thinking about that. OK, not really, but it’s a disconcerting thought.
5. Good for Andrew DiRocco. Two clutch field goals including the game winner IS something to “crow” about. The kid is 7 for 7 this year and doing better than anyone, certainly me, expected. Bring in a solid strength coach and get his distance up to NCAA standard (at least 45 yards or so) and he could be an asset, not a liability. A “no option” zone (shouldn’t punt and can’t kick a field goal) between the 20 and 40 yard lines is too big.
6. What’s up with Tanner Lee? He was never particularly accurate, but most of his balls “looked pretty” (good spirals) until the past two weeks. Last week the rain was used as an excuse. Now, we’re hearing more and more about the broken finger. That sounds plausible, even probable, as a cause for the horrible passes. Hope it’s the case. That, at least, is correctable over time. Of course, that he’s playing ahead of our other three scholarship QB’s also says something bad.
7. Our offensive line outplayed Army’s defensive line. I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing, just my observation. We generally protected our QB on passes and blocked several plays pretty well. In fact, five of our 28 rushing attempts went for at least 10 yards. That’s pretty good. And our running backs average 5.0 yards per carry which is very good. The offensive line generally played well in my view.
8. Hilliard is the man! He had four of our five carries for at least ten yards. I thought two of those were well blocked and the others were all on Hilliard. He’s earned the starting job and the bulk of the carries.
9. Badie is being misused—badly. He had two rushes against Army both on pitches in which he was immediately surrounded going sideways by 3-4-5 defenders—NO Chance! If those are the only plays he knows or the only ones he’s used for, the defenders will ALWAYS be ready. We need to have some misdirection the other way to use him as a decoy or, better still, turn him into a full time “slot back.” He’s fast, elusive, and can catch the ball. Moreover, we don’t have anyone else who can do that job as well and with Hilliard getting most (should get even more) of the carries, he’s not needed at running back.
10. We started two tight ends in the game for the second time (Ardoin and Jones). The other time was against Navy. And we played two tight ends for much of the game. I suppose the reason was to get more blocking to support the run game. If so, we haven’t recruited the right guys. Our tight ends are more receivers than blockers. At least they are better receivers than blockers. Ardoin’s TD was a great individual effort, by the way. But, if we are going to use our tight ends primarily for blocking, we need to get at least one who is better suited to the task.
11. Veal is clearly our #1 target at wide receiver. In fact, Breaux only had one pass thrown his way until the final drive when he caught two. Veal was open a great deal also even though he only caught four passes. After having two open opportunities deep down field early (the horrible miss by Lee and the 90 yard TD), I don’t know why we didn’t continue to take occasional shots throughout the game. One thing that troubled me was that on his 90 yard TD, two Army DB’s seemed to be catching Veal. I know he doesn’t have “elite” speed, but that was disconcerting. Maybe they were faster than I'd given them credit for.
12. I thought he defensive interior line played very well; Smart, Redwine, and Wilson all had god games from my perspective and bottled-up the Army “inside” game completely. They were “spelled” only briefly by Calvin Thomas and Jason Stewart because both Eldrick Washington and Eric Bell did not play. Since Guerry reported no injuries on that front, I guess the latter two are simply no longer in the “mix” for time.
13. The rest of our defense did not fare as well in my opinion. Our defensive ends, linebackers, and defensive backs were out of position time and again on pitches to the outside. It wasn’t even that we missed a lot of tackles, but that we were not even in position to make “touches” until well down field. We also over-pursued or took bad angles on virtually every “trick” play Army ran. If Bob Toledo had the success with his “tricks” as Army did, he’d probably still be the coach (Ugh!!)
14. Nickerson is our only DB with BCS-level “cover skills” and he has been beaten badly several times this year. The rest simply are not doing the job. Lionel “Speedy” Washington may or may not be a great defensive coordinator (I think he’s pretty good), but I believe he is an outstanding coach of defensive backs. That ours are so bad at coverage suggests a lack of talent, not a lack of coaching.
15. After depending so much on freshmen last year, our “true freshman” class this year continues to provide virtually no help. Seven of the 15 are redshirting. Two of the eight who have played this year (Glenn and Shy) have now sat out the past two games. Are they injured? Hicks and Preston had no looks in their brief appearances at wide receiver and Block had one punt blocked and average 32.0 yards/punt on the other four. Teamer, Eugene, and Shenall, despite making some nice plays in other games, had a total of two tackles between them. That’s not a lot of contribution from the class that most people recognized as “sub-par” to start with. On other teams, more of these kids would have redshirted. And on a lot of them, never been signed.
16. Speaking of redshirts, I found it interesting that Sam Davis saw his first action of the year, making a tackle, and removing any chance of redshirting. Davis was the walk on who was a highlight of fall camp when he briefly worked out with the first team and coaches were marveling at his skills. Well, in game 10, he got to showcase them, at least fleetingly.
17. Poor snapping must be contagious. LeGlue, after doing a good job of snapping for a few weeks seems to be getting worse.
18. I don’t think conditioning was much of an issue in this game. Yes, Army controlled the clock and ran 68 plays to our 57, but they gained most of their yards (234 of 362) in the first half. They stopped themselves more often than not. Fumbles, even though they recovered them forced them into long yardage situations and “going for it” on fourth down four times; they only made one. Up until their last two drives, we held them in check throughout the 3rd and early 4th quarters. Of course, the 87 yard drive to tie the game was a complete breakdown of our defense.
19. Finally, our own game winning drive was a positive way to finish off the game. Some, including me, thought we should have been more aggressive, but it’s hard to argue with success. Lee was 3 for 4 on the drive for 30 yards and Hilliard ran three times for another 24. Thank heaven for DiRocco making the field goal.
20. Two games to go.

Roll Wave!!!

The first baseball game.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com. Tulane has covered three games in a row, so there's that.

Army (-2.5) Tulane
Houston (-7) Memphis
South Florida (+2.5) Temple
Mississippi State (+8) Alabama
LSU (-7.5) Arkansas
Baylor (-2.5) Oklahoma
Stanford (-10) Oregon
Auburn (-1.5) Georgia

Even though he has not totally recovered from a sprained ankle, Tulane running back Lazedrick Thompson will play early against Army on Saturday to gauge his effectiveness.

It’s come to that for the Tulane offense. With nothing else working, the coaches might as well see if a gimpy power runner with three carries since September can help them end a five-game losing streak.

Among a multitude of issues, the Green Wave’s inability to pick up first downs on third-and-short probably is its most glaring offensively.

Thompson failed on the first third down of the season, getting surrounded in the backfield by Duke for a 2-yard loss that set the tone for Tulane’s terrible performance the rest of the way. When healthy, though, he remains the Wave’s best option in those situations—a 219-pound physical player with a straight-ahead style.

“When he’s not on the field, you have to call plays that Dontrell (Hilliard) and Sherman (Badie) are familiar with, and some of those plays are wide plays,” coach Curtis Johnson said. “ We just have to block it better and continue to run it and get those tough yards. That’s what we’ve had in the past with Orleans Darkwa and Lazedrick.”

That is the start of my Next Level story for The Advocate that will run as part of the Tulane-Army advance package tomorrow, but I will go into more detail here, listing every second- and third- and fourth-down situation the Wave has had with one or two yards to get the first down. The results, predictably, ain't pretty.

DUKE

Third-and-1: NO (handoff to Thompson loses 2 yards)

Second-and-2: YES (Badie gains 8 yards)

Fourth-and-2: NO (Lee incomplete pass for Veal)

Third-and-1: YES (Hilliard rush for 4 yards)

Third-and-2: NO (Lee pass incomplete for Encalade)

GEORGIA TECH

Third-and-1: YES (Hilliard run for 6 yards)

Third-and-1: YES (Thompson run for 1 yard)

Second-and-2: YES (Lee complete to Badie for 5 yards)

Second-and-1: NO (Hilliard loses 1 yard)

Third-and-2: YES (Thompson run for 5 yards)

MAINE

Third-and-2: YES (Lee complete to Veal for 3 yards)

Third-and-1: YES (Thompson run for 3 yards)

Third-and-goal at 1: YES (Thompson run for TD)

Second-and-1: YES (Rounds run for 4 yards)

(Thompson got hurt during the Maine game and has barely played since then, getting three carries. At that point, Tulane was 10 for 14 on short-yardage situations overall and 7 for 9 on third-an-short. Since then, the story has been vastly different)

UCF

Third-and-1: NO (Badie stuffed for no gain)

First-and-goal at 2: NO (Kelley stuffed for no gain)

Second-and-goal at 2: YES (TD pass to Ardoin)

Second-and-1: YES (Hilliard run for 9 yards)

Second-and-2: YES (Kelly run for 3 yards)

Third-and-2: NO (Hilliard loses a yard)

Third-and-1: NO (Rounds stuffed for no gain)

Third-and-1: NO (Rounds stuffed for no gain)

TEMPLE

Second-and-goal at 2: NO (botched lateral loses 8 yards)

Third-and-1: NO (Powell no gain)

HOUSTON

Second-and-2: NO (Kelley loses a yard)

Third-and-2: YES (Joseph pass to Breaux for 51 yards)

NAVY

Second-and-1: NO (false start penalty on Veal)

Second-and-1: YES (Lee pass to Badie for 2 yards)

Fourth-and-1: NO (Hillard stuffed for no gain)

Third-and-1: NO (Lee fumbles on failed sneak)

MEMPHIS

Second-and-2: YES (Joseph pass to Rounds for 2 yards)

First-and-goal at 2: NO (Kelley loses 1 yard)

Third-and-2: NO (Hanson false start penalty)

Second-and-2: YES (Hilliard gains 2 yards)

Third-and-2: NO (Hilliard loses 1 yard)

Second-and-2: NO (Joseph loses 2 yards)

Third-and-2: NO (Hilliard stuffed for no gain)

Third-and-1: YES (Kelley rushes for 2 yards)

Third-and-1: YES (Hilliard rushes for 2 yards)

UCONN

Third-and-2: NO (Badie loses 3 yards)

Third-and-2: YES (Lee pass to Dace for 4 yards)

Second-and-1: NO (Hilliard loses 1 yard)

Third-and-2: NO (Lee sacked for 8-yard loss)

ANALYSIS

First off, the point here is not that Tulane's season would have been significantly different if Thompson had remained healthy. The overwhelming amount of evidence says it would have been inconsequential.

The real point is how horrible Tulane has been in short-yardage situations during its five-game skid. It is 7 for 21 in that span when needing two yards or less. That's abjectly awful.

And since Thompson went out, Tulane is 2 for 14 when trying to run for the first down on third-and-2 or third-and-1 or fourth-and-1. The two successes came on a meaningless final possession against Memphis when Tulane was not even trying to score in a 41-13 loss. That is absurd.

It's interesting that the one time Tulane tried something radical on third-and-short, albeit at a meaningless time during its 42-7 loss to Houston, Joseph completed a 51-yard pass.

It was a rough week collectively, but Dr.Box continued his second-half surge by missing only one game and winwave had his third excellent performance in four weeks. Hard to believe that Tulane has covered three consecutive weeks.

8

Dr.Box

7

winwave

6

Charlamange

5

Guerry
wavetime

4

nyoscar
jjstock2005
Rcnut

3

WaveOn

2

kettrade1
MNAlum
p8pkev

1

LSU Law Greenie
Golfer81

OVERALL STANDINGS

Guerry 47.5
winwave 46.5
DrBox 46.5
wavetime 42.5
Rcnut 42.5
MNAlum 40.5
kettrade1 38.5
jjstock2005 36.5
WaveON 35.5
nyoscar 33.5
LSU Law Greenie 32.5
Golfer81 31.5

And the other pickers

Dew99 26.5 (missed 4 weeks)
p8kpev 24.5 (missed 2 weeks)
Charlmange8 24.5 (missed 5 weeks)

WEEK 9 GAME BY GAME RESULTS

Tulane 9 out of 14
Alabama 7
Oklahoma State 3
FSU 6
Arkansas 7
Navy 2
Cincinnati 6
North Carolina 5

Louisiana is a great football recruiting ground. By most accounts, it provides more players to the NFL per capita than any other state. Each year roughly 100 high school players from the state sign “grants-in-aid” to play football in the FBS and a similar number sign to play in the FCS. Other than California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio, no other state provides as many players to the college ranks. That’s not ”per capita;” that’s total players.

I’ve followed Tulane recruiting closely for about 40 years and very closely for about the past dozen or so. When Curtis Johnson came on board, he made a very public pledge to turn Louisiana into the “State of Tulane.” Starting with those players he recruited and signed after Toledo left, I believe he has signed 59 players from Louisiana of his 75 “signees” (79%). This year may come in a little below that but the year is not done. Comparing the Tulane roster today, with 66 players from Louisiana, Toledo, in his last year (2011), only had 37. Scelfo, in his last year (2006), had 61. So, in truth, Johnson doesn’t have that many more players from Louisiana than Chris Scelfo had at the end. That’s surprising, at least to me.

For the past few years, with CJ’s emphasis on “in state” players, I have really concentrated on Louisiana recruiting. And, for my own interest, for the past three years I have ranked the recruits in the state based on a consensus of the various recruiting sites, lists posted by newspapers, magazines, and other websites, as well as a subjective rating I gave players based on HUDL/YOUTUBE highlight videos I reviewed. I don’t pretend that my ratings are any better than anyone else’s but I am comfortable that they are a reasonable portrait of where “in state” recruits were ranked at the time of signing (give or take).

Recognizing that roughly 100 players from Louisiana are signing “grants-in-aids” to play football in the FBS each year, I have ranked players from #1 to as many as #800 or more each year. Yes, there are that many recruits in various data bases and on HUDL. I have generally thought the “top 40” were the players we really needed to improve but have adjusted that to the “top 50” (roughly half of those signed) as time has gone by. Getting players from the “second 50” is not the way to become an “above average” team. The “top 50” tend to go to P5 schools and, as you get closer to #100, you start seeing a “crossover” between FBS and FCS caliber recruits. A roster full of players in the 75 or so range probably means a squad of “average” G5 talent, unless it is supplemented by above average signees from “out of state.”

Anyway, in 2013, we signed six players in “my Top 50:” Santa Marina (19), Badie (33), Chris Taylor (38), Ed Williams (41), Tanner Lee (44) and Eric Bell (47). For interest, two of our better players as it turns out, Tanzel Smart (54) and Nickerson (58), were next in line. I personally had both rated a little higher and Eric Bell and Tanner Lee a little lower, but those are the numbers I came up with on the consensus. Our average rank was #66, a little above average for a G5 recruit by my calculations.

In 2014, we dropped down to only four in my top 50: Marbley (26), Cuiellette (40), Veal (41) and Hilliard (43). Ardoin, who is running 3rd string as we speak, I had next at #52, but the overall average only dropped to #70.3 in my ranking of Louisiana recruits, essentially average, or slightly above, for a G5 school

Last year (2015), we didn’t have anyone in the top 50. Ricky Preston who signed just before the season started was #57 and Nigel Anderson (#62) were the only other ones in my top 70. Our overall ranking dropped to 81.0 on average among Louisiana signees. That’s slightly below average for G5 recruiting.

This year (2016) the recruiting year has almost four months to go so any data I have is incomplete. But, at this point, LaFrance would be our only “top 50” recruit by my methodology at #44. Price and Rainey would be in the mid-50’s, with the rest generally in the 70’s or below, some significantly below.

So, from my perspective, CJ ‘s recruiting of Louisiana is not getting better; it’s getting worse.

Despite that, I believe CJ and staff are identifying the best players. We offer close to 100 kids each year from Louisiana, including almost all of the “top 50” by my calculus. In fact, Tulane has been offering at least 45 of them annually. We’re simply not getting them. Something like 90% of “top 50” players are signing with P5 schools, a challenge I described previously. More and more of the “big guys” are making inroads in Louisiana. Times have changed, and not for the good from a Wave perspective. With only average coaching, we cannot expect to compete very well in the best G5 conference if we’re getting average or below average G5 talent. And, with the coaching we have, finishing near the bottom of our conference is understandable. Understandable, but sad. Next: what the recruiting services say.

I firmly believe we will beat Army this weekend. I wouldn’t put a lot of money on that prediction because I still have my doubts and history is not on our side. Since the turn of the century, we’re 4-7 against Army including losing in the last two meetings 41-23 and 45-6 prior to CJ taking over. Moreover, we’re 3-19 on the road in the CJ era with only one win outside of Louisiana. That was the 31-24 upset last year against Houston. So, are we that much better than those teams? Well, the short answer is “no.”

Army is 9th in the nation in rushing, averaging 257.4 yards per game and #125 in passing, averaging 70.4 yards a game. Their total yards (average of 327.9 per game) is #119. Comparatively, Tulane is #123 in total yards with 286.6 per game. On defense, Army allows 228.3 yards per game (#72) passing and 15.1 yards per game (#55) for a rank of #58 in total defense (385.4 yards per game.) Allowing 403.2 yards per game, Tulane is ranked #72. But the difference in schedules is stark. Army has played Fordham and Bucknell of the FCS (losing to Fordham) and Eastern Michigan, arguably the weakest team in the MAC conference. Five of their losses (Fordham, UCONN, Wake Forest, Penn State, and Rice) were by a total of 23 points with a lost to Air Force (by 17) and Duke (by 41) the other two. Except for the Duke game, they’ve been in every contest. But neither team has been good on offense and both have been pretty good on defense. That would seem to bode for a low scoring contest.

But Army is very one-dimensional. Based on the Navy game, I believe we can slow down or stop their running game. Their two QB’s, Bradshaw and Schurr have rushed 208 times for 780 yards between them this year, 3.75 yards/carry- not great. Their six primary running backs have carried the ball 235 times for 1482 yards (6.3 yards per carry), which is pretty great. This would suggest we must force the QB’s to run, not hand off. Solid line play and good pursuit will be important. In the air, they’ve only complete about 40% of their passes. The problem there is that when they throw, they throw long, with an average completion of 22 yards per catch. None of their receivers have caught more than seven passes on the year with Poe, Bell and Walker accounting for 15 of their 29 completions on the season. But those three have averaged over 27 yards per reception and scored all six TD’s through the air. We simply can’t be lulled into allowing huge gains from their passing attack. The other concern on our defense is the depth in the interior line. Last week, Redwine, Bell, Thomas, and Washington sat out for various reasons. Only Smart, Wilson, and Jason Stewart played according to the official site with Smart and Wilson playing almost every down. We may need more bodies against Army.

As the statistics show, Army has been pretty good on defense themselves, though against weak competition. Their best defensive performance was against Penn State when they only allowed 256 yards. Both UCONN and Duke racked up over 400 yards so they’re not invincible by any means. And there, of course, is the rub. Can we move the ball against them? I think so. They’ve got 49 tackles for losses this year but I don’t see them bringing enough pressure, even against our line, to force the horrible turnovers that have plagued us. At least that’s my hope.

The general population and Las Vegas have made Army a slight favorite at home. We’ll have to wait and see who is right. I think we need to start fast if we’re to win.

I had my worst week, making the race closer. Most people did well including Charlamange8, who entered for only the third time and got seven of eight games right. So did Rcnut.

8

Rcnut
Charlamange8

6

nyoscar
winwave
wavetime
DrBox

5

LSU Law Greenie
MNAlum
jjstock2005
WaveON
kettrade1

4

Guerry
Golfer81
DrBox

OVERALL STANDINGS

Guerry 42.5
winwave 39.5
MNAlum 38.5
Rcnut 38.5
wavetime 37.5
DrBox 36.5
kettrade1 36.5
WaveOn 32.5
jjstock2005 32.5
LSU Law Greenie 31.5
Golfer81 30.5
nyoscar 29.5

And the pickers who have missed multiple weeks

Dew99 26.5
p8kpev 22.5
Charlamange 18.5

Week 8 game-by-game results

Tulane 6 out of 13
Temple 4
Florida 11
Houston 9
Ole Miss 9
Washington State 5
Navy 11
Tulsa 12

I'm hearing Scott Sidwell has emerged as the frontrunner, and as others have posted, they want the AD in place sooner than later.

Sidwell, of course, is the AD at San Francicso after spending time at Syracuse and Tulane (200-05) as an associate AD. He played baseball for two years with the Wave and was an assistant under Rick Jones for two years after that.

I'll post more info as it comes.

With the recent de-commitment by Darius May and the previous “parting of the ways” of one-time commits Sci Martin, Jamal Crawford, Tyarise Stevenson, and Kwanzi Jackson, our 2016 recruiting class is really “up in the air,” before even considering the rumors that several other recruits may be “wavering.” And, if CJ is given his “walking papers” at the end of the season, we could have more. Heck, if he doesn’t, we may get more than that. But this is not new. Over the past few years, Tulane has had a number of committed recruits eventually sign elsewhere. I recently looked into how they are doing. As a group, to this point, I think it’s fair to say, we didn’t miss much with losing these guys.

In 2013, three commitments, Corey Smith, Lyn Clark, and Antonio McGhee opted out of their “Greenie commitments” and went somewhere else.

Corey Smith is a defensive lineman, who is now 6’6” and weight 290#. He got into some kind of conflict with CJ on his official visit (presumably a policy that would not let a commitment visit other schools once they took their “official” visit to Tulane, but who knows?) and eventually signed with Arizona State. After a redshirt year, he played in one game as a redshirt freshman in 2014. Now, as redshirt sophomore, he has played briefly in four of the nine games with zero tackles. He hasn’t played in four weeks. With his size, he might have been able to help the Wave, but he’s apparently not good enough to contribute anything at Arizona State.

Lyn Clark is a linebacker (6’2”, 230#), who, when he committed to Tulane, was very vocal in his efforts to recruit others to the Wave. Something happened on his official visit that caused him to decommit and sign with Louisville. It may have been the same issue as that with Smith (above). He left the Louisville program prior to the 2014 season, after redshirting his freshman year. He then signed on with Northwest Louisiana. He was a back-up linebacker at NWLA in 2014, playing in all 12 games and making 30 tackles. He has made 28 tackles in NWLA’s first nine games this season, playing in seven.

Antonio McGhee is a defensive tackle (6’1”, 280#) who now plays for McNeese State after originally committing to Tulane. If I recall, his girlfriend went to McNeese, which drove his decision, but that may not be correct. He played in ten games for McNeese as a true freshman, making 13 tackles. Last year, he appeared in eight games, starting three, but only had four tackles for the entire year. So far this year, he’s made18 tackles in nine games of which he played in seven.

In 2014, we lost five players to other schools after their commitment to Tulane.

Jorge Powell was rated the #2 kicker in the country in some quarters when he decommitted from Tulane to gain “preferred walk on” status at Penn State. He then switched to walk on at Florida. He redshirted his first year and has shared duty on kicks this year, though he apparently has now been “beaten out.” While kicking, he made two of three field goal attempts (22 and 31 yards) and missed a 34 yarder. He kicked off 18 times with six touchbacks and one out of bounds for a 62.4 yard average., along with numerous other “walk on” kickers and punters. He didn’t make the final roster that year or since. I have no idea what became of him. His replacement for the Wave was DiRocco.

Freddie Booth-Lloyd was a highly regarded commitment to Tulane as a defensive tackle when he decommitted and signed with Temple. He’s now listed at 6’1” and 315# following his redshirt year in 2014. He’s played a very limited role through Temple’s nine games making six tackles.

Tommy Boynton is a 6’4” 300# offensive tackle who was originally committed to Tulane. After backing out of our offer, he eventually signed with Georgia Southern. He played in seven games and lettered as a true freshman. This year he is a starter at right tackle and is listed at 6’4” 300#. I don’t know if he would have contributed on our offensive line, but it’s so bad, he might have.

Darian Dailey was a very fast (4.38) defensive back out of Manatee High School in Florida when he committed to Tulane, got “better offers,” and signed with Rutgers. There, he redshirted as a freshman. He was playing with the first team in the Spring of 2015 but was kicked off the team after being arrested for armed robbery in May 2015. I haven’t found a resolution to his case.

Deondre Skinner is another interesting case. He was a highly regarded tight end recruit who originally signed with Houston in 2013. But he had his scholarship revoked for “off field” legal problems, which have been discussed at length on this and other Tulane sites. He flirted with Tulane for the next year and a half and evidently signed with the Wave, and was ready to join the team in 2014. Just before the school year started, he enrolled at McNeese State where he played sparingly in eight games as a freshman last year and caught one pass for eight yards. Through nine games this year, he’s caught 5 passes for 58 yards.

In 2015, we lost only one to a decommitment.

Kendall Bussey is a running back and wasTulane’s first commitment in 2015. He first switched to Nebraska and then Texas A&M after flirting with Tennessee for a while. He has not played so far this year for the Aggies and will likely redshirt.

Only time will tell if any of these guys or those who “backed out” this year will become the players we thought they would be on recruiting them. So far the results suggest otherwise.

Roll Wave!!!

As always, the Tulane game counts double, the home team is listed first and all point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus.

Tulane (+6) Connecticut
Alabama (-6.5) LSU
Oklahoma State (+5) TCU
Clemson (-12) FSU
Ole Miss (-11) Arkansas
Memphis (-7.5) Navy
Houston (-8) Cincinnati
North Carolina (-8) Duke

When Curtis Johnson was hired as Tulane’s head football coach, many fans were disappointed. By most accounts, he was not a first, second, or third choice, possibly not even the fifth choice that many believe he was. Regardless, he was chosen. He had almost 30 years of experience coaching football in high school, college, and the NFL. True, it was always as a position coach, specifically a wide receiver coach, and he had never been responsible for more than the 6-10 wide receivers under his tutelage. He wasn’t too young (Scelfo was 35 when he became head coach) nor too old (Toledo was 63), but a mature 51 years old. He probably had 15 or more years of coaching left in him and, like Scelfo, was from South Louisiana and, if successful, likely to stay. He’d also experienced success that no previous Tulane coach had seen. He had been a coach on an NCAA champion at Miami and an NFL Super Bowl Champion with the New Orleans Saints. He must know what it takes to be a winner. Right?

But his true strength, it was said, was recruiting. At San Diego State, he brought in Marshall Faulk. Alone among his other offers, S.D. State offered Faulk the opportunity to play running back. Others wanted him to be a defensive back. Did Johnson recognize the future all-pro potential of Faulk at RB? Maybe. Or maybe, he and the head coach thought it was the only way to sign an obviously terrific athlete, whatever the position. Regardless, it was a great call and the beginning of Johnson’s reputation as a recruiter. At Miami, he recruited numerous all Americans and future all-pros. Of course, Miami was the most powerful college team in the nation, annually competing for and sometimes winning the National Championship. Top players around the country wanted to play for “the U.” In Logic, there is something called a “Circular Reasoning Fallacy.” Did great players coming to Miami make Johnson a “great recruiter?” Or, was Johnson, a great recruiter, the reason great players chose to attend Miami? Who knows? Regardless, he certainly was successful in signing a lot of very good football players. The question was, “will his magic work at Tulane.” In Part II, I’ll discuss the recruiting landscape.

I don't believe in making concrete determinations after one viewing, but here are my initial impressions of the 10 Tulane scholarship basketball players who played against Loyola tonight. Kajon Mack has ankle and knee issues that could keep him out until the start of conference play or longer. Cameron Reynolds hurt the wrist on his opposite hand in a scrimmage Tulane played against another team recently and could be out three weeks. (the Wave is not allowed to publish or talk about the results of those scrimmages; they whipped Auburn in one last year). If Reynolds turns out to be sidelined for longer than that, it will be a big blow because Tulane has little depth in the backcourt.

1) Malik Morgan

He is a very good basketball player, probably the best on the team. That's the best way to describe him. He dominated the second half, finishing with 24 points, and twice had steals that he took in for dunks. He sees the floor well for a guy who's never played much point guard until now. His listed assist total of 1 was not accurate-he made several passes that led to baskets. But him playing point guard still is a concern. He will be Tulane's starting point guard, and he was careless with the ball when he got pressured. I'm not sure how well he will hold up against AAC competition at point guard, but he is extremely aggressively offensively, which Tulane needs desperately. The last two years, we watched the Wave dribble out most of the shot clock and then take a forced shot to beat the buzzer over and over. Morgan won't do that.

2) Lou Dabney

He shot 6 for 11, which is a heck of a lot better than his sub-40 shooting from last year. He says those low numbers came because he did not have enough help. It's definitely true he did not have enough help, but he also missed a lot of open shots last year. A lot. If he shoots better, he will be a big force because he is a good all-around player. He had five rebounds and three assists to go with his 16 points tonight, but some of his outside shots were ugly.

3) Dylan Osetkowski

He is in better shape and definitely has a high basketball I.Q, but he will encounter the same problem he faced last year in AAC action--he does not jump high enough to get his shot off against athletic defenses. He struggled finishing against Loyola, going 3 for 10 and getting at least one shot blocked. He did hit a 3 and could be good for about 1 per game from outside because he has nice touch. He also hit 6 of 7 free throws, a huge improvement from his numbers last year. I'm just not sure how he will score much in conference games.

4) Jernard Jarreu

He started with a beautiful reverse layup on the first possession but finished 3 of 9 for 7 points. He will start in the frontcourt along with Osetkowski and definitely is more accomplished than Tulane's big men in the past under Conroy. One big concern, though--he got gassed before the midpoint of the second half and never recovered. I mean, he was too tired to think. His three blocked shots give Tulane a dimension it totally lacked last year, when blocks were cause for stopping the game and taking pictures.

5) Melvin Frazier

He's an excellent athlete at small forward but quite frankly did not do a whole lot. Still very raw, he also may have put too much pressure on himself playing in front of his hometown crowd for this first time. In 27 minutes he took four shots, making two, and grabbed five rebounds. Of Tulane's five starters he contributed the least and did not come close to getting a dunk, which we've heard have been routine in practice. One things I liked was his free throw stroke. He hit 6 of 10, but his stroke is solid.

The dropoff from the starters to the bench was dramatic.

6) Von Julien

He's not ready yet. Oh, he's more ready than Keith Pinckney was at this stage last year, but he can't start at the point. He will back up Morgan. In 18 minutes, he went 1 for 4 with one assist and two turnovers. He definitely is a natural passer who will see the floor well when he gets a little experience, but he isn't there yet. He had three steals, another indication of Tulane's improved athletic ability from top to bottom.

7) Ryan Smith

Conroy talks him up every preseason, but he still has the same liability--no jumping ability whatsoever and none of the natural flair for the game that Osetkowski has. HIs numbers were good--8 points and eight rebounds--but he will be a minutes filler as the first big off the bench rather than a producer against real opponents.

8) Kain Harris

He had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 12 minutes but is not ready to contribute much. I will need to see more of him to get a better evaluation because he was not very noticeable when he was on the floor.

9) Blake Paul

Not yet. He made his only shot while playing seven minutes but is not confident enough to give Tulane quality minutes on the post at this point.

10) Taron Oliver

Nope. Not in shape, and he almost had an inbounds pass stolen because of a lazy effort, then tried to drive into the lane and make a soft runner that clanged off the rim.

With the two guys injured, Tulane is a nine-man team right now, with only seven capable of producing much of anything, and one of those seven is Smith. That's a problem. I'm not sure what Mack will contribute if and when he comes back, but Tulane really needs Cameron Reynolds to come back quickly. The depth in the backcourt is not there without him.

I'm not sure where the 3-point shooting will come from this year. Morgan went 1 for 5, and although he did a lot of things really well, his outside stroke was not one of them.

This team has a lot of work to do, particularly the talented freshman class, which was not ready for prime time tonight.

Guerry, are you hearing anything about CJ? I know it depends on the new AD, but any rumors? He has to go. Us few remaining diehards have had our fill.

So we learned that, at least according to the recruiting rankings, Tulane was on an equal footing with three of the teams in its October death march and a little behind Houston.

How does the Wave match up with UConn, the first non-top 25 caliber team it has faced in a month?

OFFENSE

QUARTERBACK

UConn: Bryant Shireffs, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3 who signed with NC State and transferred after one year. He had no other significant offers coming out of high school.

Tulane: Tanner Lee, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3

RUNNING BACK

UConn: Arkeel Newsome, a sophomore, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.6. He committed before his senior year.
: Ron Johnson, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

Tulane: Sherman Badie, a redshirt sophomore, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.
ontrell Hilliard, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.
:Rob Kelley, a senior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.
:Lazedrick Thompson, a redshirt junio, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

WIDE RECEIVER

UConn: Noel Thomas, a junior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5. He also had offers from Rutgers and Temple.
: Tyraiq Beals, a freshman, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

Tulane: Teddy Veal, a sophomore, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.6.
: Devon Breaux, a redshirt junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.
: Rickey Preston, a true freshman, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4

TIGHT END

UConn: Alec Bloom, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.2.
: Tommy Myers, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

Tulane: Charles Jones, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.2,
: Trey Scott, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

LEFT TACKLE

UConn: Richard Levy, a redshirt junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

Tulane: Arturo Uzdavinis, a redshirt senior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

LEFT GUARD

UConn: Tommy Hopkins, a redshirt sophomore, was a 3-star tackle rated 5.5. Only other offer wasBucknell.

Tulane: Colton Hanson, a redshirt junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

CENTER

UConn: Brencan Vechery, a redshirt sophomore, was in the Rivals database but unrated.

Tulane: Nathan Shienle, a redshirt junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

RIGHT GUARD

UConn: Tyler Samra, a senior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

Tulane: Chris Taylor, a junior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.6 and the No. 38 guard nationally.

RIGHT TACKLE

UConn: Andreas Knappe, a redshirt junior, was a native of Denmark who started playing football at age 18 and was not in the Rivals database. He has an offer from Southeastern LA.

Tulane: John Leglue, a redshirt freshman, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.2.
: Todd Jacquet, a redshirt junior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

ANALYSIS: UConn's weakness is its offensive line, and that is born out by the recruiting rankings. But the Huksies have considerably more 3-star guys at the skill positions than I expected, more than Memphis. That is either an indictment of the rankings or a salute to Memphis coach Justin Fuente or a combination of both. The Huskies base package has two starting tight ends, so this is another team that does not use spread principles. It also is another team ranked near the bottom of the league in offense.

DEFENSE

LEFT END

UConn: Kentony Adeyemi, a redshirt senior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5. Chose Conn over lesser programs.

Tulane: Royce LaFrance, a senior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

LEFT TACKLE

UConn: Foley Fatukasi, a redshirt sophomore, was a New York recruit who was not in the Rivals database.

Tulane: Tanzel Smart, a junior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

RIGHT TACKLE

UConn: Julian Campbell, a redshirt senior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

Tulane: Corey Redwine, a redshirt senior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.
: Sean Wilson, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

RIGHT END

UConn: Luke Carrezola, a sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.2.

Tulane: Ade Aruna, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

LINEBACKERS

UConn: Graham Stewart, a redshirt senior, was a 4-star recruit rated 5.8 who signed with Florida. He played as a true freshman for the Gators and scored a TD off a blocked punt in the bowl game v. Ohio State before returning to his home state of Connecticut.

Tulane: Nico Marley, a junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.2.

UConn: Junior Joseph, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

Tulane: Eric Thomas, a junior was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

UConn: Marquise Vann, a redshirt senior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5. Had offers from Minnesota, Stanford.

Tulane: Jarrod Franklin, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

CORNERBACK

UConn: Jhavon Williams, a redshirt junior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.
: Jamar Summers, a sophomore, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

Tulane: Parry Nickerson, a redshirt sophomore, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.
: Taris Shenall, a freshman, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

STRONG SAFETY

UConn: Andrew Adams, a redshirt senior, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.4.

Tulane: Darion Monroe, a senior, was a 4-star recruit rated 5.8 and the No. 23 CB nationally.

FREE SAFETY

UConn: Obi Melifonwu, a redshirt junior, was a 3-star recruit rated 5.5.

Tulane: Roderic Teamer, a freshman, was a 2-star recruit rated 5.3.

ANALYSIS: UConn has five 3-star guys and one 4-star guy on defense, making it the highest rated unit in the AAC off the recruiting rankings. On the field, the Huskies have been pretty average, though they force a lot of turnovers. Tulane has two 3-star guys and a 4-star guy. UConn also is very experienced with five redshirt senior starters on defense and two redshirt juniors.

Tulane obviously has to win today. I rate the game a tossup with a slight edge to the Wave if its defense comes to play. UConn is not good enough on the offensive line to move the ball consistently against good defenses, so we'll find out exactly how Tulane's D stacks up today.