My commentary is on the front page.

Any thoughts?

Just looked at a thread on the Gotula.net site where someone wrote he canceled his subscription to The Advocate because of its lack of Tulane coverage.

It's a strange world we live in. Anyone who thinks the Advocate has a lack of Tulane coverage is nuts. They've been running most of my stories on the front page of the sports section, and in August and during game weeks I've been writing almost every day. That's why I started doing my practice updates at the end of preseason camp for this site DURING practice while sitting in the press box or the upper deck. I had to budget my time to get it all done.

OK, vent over.

First, an apology for being a dumb-bell.

When I asked CJ about Richard Carthon yesterday (and I re-checked the tape to make sure I said Carthon, which I did), he mistook it for Richard Allen. That would be OK if the conversation ended there and I had written what he said, but he then stopped Richard Allen to ask him if he had played. I was looking around for Teddy Veal because I had requested him for an interview and thought he might have slipped past me, so I was not paying attention when Allen, not Carthon, said he had played special teams against Maine.

That long preamble is necessary because Carthon no longer is even on the team. He decided over the weekend to concentrate on baseball to prepare for his senior year, which makes sense because he did not play at all in the first three football games and he is a starter in baseball. Carthon was a gunner on special teams the past three years and had six tackles in each of them, excelling at the role, but he was not healthy at the beginning of preseason drills this August and lost the job to Allen.

A second departure for another sport is offensive lineman Anthony Taylor, who was last on the depth chart at tackle. Taylor, a John Curtis product, joined Tulane's track team in the fall of 2013 with the promise he could join the football team as a scholarship player in 2014. He did exactly that, but he never made any impact, getting hurt early last year. He left the team this week to concentrate on track, where he has not competed in a meet since he arrived. He specialized the shot put and the discus at Curtis, but Tulane had no competitors in either event last year even though Taylor and Eldrick Washington were listed on the roster.

By my count, Tulane has 75 eligible scholarship players this fall. It was 81, but Braynon Edwards, Kenneth Santa Marina, Leonard Davis and Edward Williams are sitting out for academic reasons, with Carthon and Edwards leaving. I'm counting former walk-ons Jordy Joseph and Larry Dace.

Today's practice was as lively as any I've seen under CJ, going from 9:45 to 12:10. The competition elements he injected into practice at the beginning of last week have really caught on, with the offensive and defensive starters talking trash from the sideline (good-naturedly, I add; there's no dissension) while the younger players and backups get after it on the field. When tight end Sydie London alligator armed a pass from Glen Cuillette that could have been a touchdown in the middle of the field, Royce LaFrance hollered out, "that's what happens when you go to your fifth option." When Rickey Preston dropped a short pass, a defensive player screamed, "he has the hands of a snake."

With the defensive starters making an appearance on the field during a red zone drill, LaFrance batted a Jordy Joseph pass right to tackle Tanzel Smart, who began lumbering toward the end zone with plenty of company. He stopped around the 20, and wide receivers coach Carter Sheridan grabbed the ball from him.

On the next play, Joseph hit Dave for a nice touchdown in the back of the end zone, and Tre Scott made a terrific catch for a score right after that. Scott had a chance to make it two in a row, but he dropped a hard Joseph throw in the corner of the end zone after Joseph scrambled toward the sideline and launched it before stepping out of bounds.

The day ended on a Roderic Teamer interception, but everyone appeared engaged from start to finish.

"I enjoy it," CJ said. "I can sit back and laugh about it a little bit when those guys are going at it. It's a big lift for our team for our emotion and confidence."

Andrew Hicks had some good catches today as the young players took center stage. I have not seen much out of him all fall, but he is starting to develop a little bit. Dace was the best of the receivers who got much action, but he seems to be a guy who can excel against backups in practice but not get the job done against top competition. After looking like Tulane's third-best wideout in the preseason, he has zero catches through three games. The freshman secondary of Taris Shenall, Dedrick Shy, Malik Eugene and Teamer plays like it is much more experienced. All of those guys can help Tulane this year.

"Those young DBs are really going to be good players for us," CJ said. "It's good to hold Tanner and Powell out and let those other quarterbacks operate. The two things that we wanted to do this week were get to the basics with individual work and the fundamental stuff and just see who can play and who can help us down the stretch."

Zach Harris was not in uniform today and spent time on the exercise bike with a wrap around his right knee. CJ said Harris experienced some swelling after leading the team in tackles against Maine Jarrod Franklin also was held out of the practice with swelling in the knee he had major reconstructive surgery on in the spring of 2014. CJ said both players would be fine next week and holding them out was precautionary.

Devin Powell and Lee sat out the entire practice again as planned, giving all of the work to Joseph and Cuillette. If Powell is not ready for the UCF game after getting banged up against Maine, CJ said he was not sure who would be the top backup to Lee. My comment: Cuillette has the athletic ability, but Joseph has total knowledge of the offense.

Terren Encalade ran sprints along the sideline during practice. His status for UCF remains up in the air. He missed the Maine game with a sprained shoulder he sustained against Georgia Tech.

"He's going to the doctors tomorrow, so we'll see," CJ said.

Sean Wilson ran springs across the field during practice and also spent time on the exercise bike CJ said yesterday Wilson was scheduled to play against UCF, and although he did not run at total full speed, he ran hard enough to support CJ's contention.

Tulane will return to the practice field tomorrow morning, but not for long.

"We'll introduce UCF tomorrow," CJ said. "We'll be out here for about an hour. It may not even be an hour, just an introduction, a little bit of a glorified walkthrough, then we'll come back Sunday (for normal game-week preparation)."

We did better collectively, with nine of 15 people picking Tulane to cover and the majority taking Navy and LSU, too. Memphis-Bowling Green was a push (Memphis won by 3 and was favored by 3), so everyone gets a half point for that one. Ten of us lucked out with Nebraska, which rallied from a 23-point fourth-quarter deficit against Miami, then lost in OT but covered the 3.5 spread.

Winwave was the only one to pick Notre Dame over Georgia Tech. I still write monthly college football column for my old magazine in Florida, and I picked ND to make the 4-team playoff at the end of the year but still picked Georgia Tech last week.

Week 3 results:

6.5

Guerry
Charlamange
jjstock2005
Rcnut

5.5

winwave
kettrade1
p8kpev
Dew99

4.5

nyoscar
DrBox
wavetime

3.5

Golfer81
WaveON

2.5

LSU Law Greenie


OVERALL STANDINGS

17.5

Guerry

13.5

Kettrade1
DrBox

12.5

Rcnut
wavetime
Dew99

11.5

winwave
MNAlum


10.5

nyoscar
p8kpev
Charlamange8 (missed 1 week)

9.5

Golfer81
Jjstock2005

7.5

WaveON

5.5

LSU Law Greenie

Correct picks for week 3

Tulane 9
Navy 12
LSU 11
Ole Miss 7
Notre Dame 1
Northwestern 7
Nebraska 10

Here's what Eric Price said when I talked to him after practice Tuesday. I had not re-watched the Maine game yet when I talked to him or I would have asked a couple of different questions.

How helpful was the performance against Maine to give a lot of guys on offense some confidence?

“It makes a world of difference. We made big plays. We didn’t necessarily play great every snap, but we did make big plays and that was our goal going into the game in trying to get our fast guys in space and have them just make a play. They really responded, and once one kid made a play, it just caught on and then we got a second one and it was like, OK, we’re good.”

It did not look like the offensive line dominated, so how important were the huge chunks of yardage?

“We tried to get them out in space a little bit. Maine’s defensive front was pretty strong and they were playing real hard, so we had to do some things on the perimeter to try to get the ball down the field.”

Sherman Badie had his first breakout performance as a receiver. He dropped a couple of passes, but how important was it for him to prove he could use his open-field ability as a receiver, too?

“Very important. We did have some dropped passes. We were a little sloppy at times. When we graded the film it wasn’t as good as you would think it was, but they did make the plays when they needed to make them, and Sherman is real good out in space and he’s hard to tackle one-on-one, so just finding the plays that he feels comfortable catching it at receiver is what we’re trying to figure out, but he’s doing a really good job with that.”

Dontrell Hilliard looked a little sluggish to me in the first two games. How did he grade out in those first two games as opposed to his performance against Maine?

“He probably didn’t have as much room. He played real well this game. It’s just like everyone else. He got some confidence going, and the whole hesitation was gone because they felt like this play’s going to work, and they made it work.”

You used the word “hesitation.” We saw a lot of that in the first two games. Do you feel like that should be gone now?

“Well, yeah, we still have a lot of improvement to do because it wasn’t as great as (it looked). We made some big plays, and that’s really the key. That’s what you have to do. You have to make plays because you’re not always going to be perfect, but we did leave some meat on the bone there. We had some opportunities to even get more points and didn’t get it. We had a few drops. The mental errors were down. We didn’t have a lot of mental errors, but we just had some things that need to be cleaned up. We need to keep getting better as we go into conference play because it’s going to get tougher.”

Tanner Lee has two interceptions after three games. Last year at this time he had six. How much better is his decision-making?

“He’s doing a great job. I was just disappointed that in the fourth quarter when we subbed in, we had a couple of sloppy plays there that don’t look good. We need to finish better than that, but everyone got to play, which is good. Tanner’s done a good job of taking care of the ball and understanding what he needs to do with the ball. So far, so good.”

I'm not going to go too in-depth here because the opponent was Maine, which did not have the depth of talent to hang with Tulane, but here are a few observations about an overall solid performance that had a few issues.

1) The most concerning part of the game was the play of the offensive line. Lazedrick Thompson did not have much room to run in the first half, gaining 44 yards on 11 carries, well below his average from last year, and Tulane rarely blew Maine off the line of scrimmage with the exception of Dontrell Hilliard's 85-yard TD run. A first-and-5 run on Tulane's opening possession illustrated a recurring problem. Left tackle Arturis Uzdavinis blocked no one, going inside while a blitzed ran right around the edge and hit Thompson before he got back to the line of scrimmage. On Tulane's last series of the first half, two linebackers blitzed. One of them went in untouched to sack Lee. The other beat a late block by Sherman Badie to get in, too.In the second half, another blitzed got to Lee after Badie made a diving block attempt trying to get in the way of him. Either there's confusion or the plays weren't schemed right.

Every team the Wave faces the rest of the way should be tougher up front than Maine. Will Lee and the running backs have enough room to execute?

2) Dontrell Hilliard was back to his old self after two mediocre games. What I like the best about him is his explosive first step after he catches a pass, which he exhibited on Tulane's first touchdown drive to get by a defender and turn a short completion into a medium gain. He also made a beautiful 21-yard run for a touchdown right after that catch, but it was nullified by a holding penalty, so he could have had three scores, not two. He's not as fast or as elusive as Badie and not as powerful as Thompson, but his all-around ability is impressive. He always gets overlooked by announcers, with the color commentator calling for a steady diet of Badie and Thompson at the start of the second half. Badie was awesome, but he needs to do it against better defenses than Maine.

3) With the exception of a couple of plays, Lee played excellent. He threw a horrible pass at the end of Tulane's second series, never seeing a linebacker as he tried to hit Devon Breaux in the middle of the field. The linebacker dropped the interception. Lee also saw a phantom pass rush on one play, running forward and into a sack when no one has broken through to touch him. Other than that, though, he was sharp. I loved his third down completion to Rickey Preson on a drag route, setting up Tulane's second TD. As the color commentator said, if he had been a tad off, it could have been a pick six. Instead, he led Preston perfectly. The deep throw Veal dropped also was perfect. If Lee had under thrown it , it would have been a touchdown, but he did not know Veal would be that open, so he hit him in stride where he needed to make a nice grab, something a receiver of Veal's caliber should be able to do and will do in the future.

4) Veal is easily Tulane's best wide receiver, as he showed all throughout preseason camp. He can go over the middle, run a streak, run a good out, and he sold the Maine DB beautifully on his down and out and up for Tulane's third TD. The chemistry between Lee and Veal is excellent. The next step for Veal is becoming a little more fundamentally solid, and he will have a huge year.

5) Tulane's best defenders were at fault for the Maine's opening TD drive. On the first three plays alone, Parry Nickerson missed a tackle on the edge, Nico Marley overran a play and Darion Monroe looked out of position. But the D settled down the rest of the way, containing a very good running back. Since Maine was weaponless other than the RB, I don't put much stock in the defensive performance, but I have to take issue with the color commentator who said Maine would have scored a TD o a pass when a receiver was open if the QB had made an accurate throw. It would have been a 20 or 25-yard gain, but nothing more. Tulane's front four took control of the game after the opening possession, but again, that doesn't prove a whole lot. Tanzel Smart, Royce LaFrance and Ade Aruna need to be playmakers against UCF to prove they can do it against a team with a pulse.

6) I know I'm in the minority, but I don't see any way the ref could have overruled the call for a TD on Maine's opening possession. There was no camera at the goal line, and although one of the angles made it look clear the QB did not score, camera angles can be very deceiving. Watching it live from the press box, I thought the QB stuck the ball over the plane just before he got hit. The replays made it look like I was probably wrong, but they were in no way conclusive. I also don't think they should have overruled the call that the punt returner did not touch the ball on the "muff" Tulane recovered right before the half. In this case, it sure looked like the ball glanced off the returner's left hand, and his initial reaction was to go back and get the ball. He stopped himself pretty quickly and acted like he had not touched it, which was a good acting job, but the first reaction was telling. Regardless, the replay was inconclusive. When the official missed the call on the field, it could not be overturned.

7) My favorite announcer moment was when Lee almost connected with Breaux deep, and the play-by-play guy said he was covered by linebacker Nico Marley. It took him nearly a minute to correct himself, seeing as how Marley plays for the wrong team and there's no scheme anywhere that would put a linebacker on Breaux running a streak pattern. That mistake topped "Tanner Hill."

Anyone have any idea of the status of our injured?

Is Sean Wilson on track to return against UCF?

What happened to Lazedrick Thompson on Saturday? Is he going to be OK?

Devin Powell was also injured on Saturday. He’s apparently our #1 backup at QB. Is he OK?

How’s Terren Encalade doing? Will he be back soon?

Tristen Cooper did not play at all on Saturday. Is he injured? What’s his story?

Neither Richard Carthan nor Sergio Medina have played this year. Is Carthon hurt? Since he's on a football scholarship, I wouldn't think he's been released t play fall baseball. What about Medina?

On a slightly different subject, is Trevor Simms working out with the baseball team in between practicing kickoffs and long field goals? As a pitcher, I’d think that certainly possible.

Tulane 38 Maine 7

After allowing an opening drive TD of 75 yards and stumbling to a 7-3 first quarter deficit, Tulane dominated an undermanned Maine team until reserves from both squads made the fourth quarter another clown show.

The much maligned offensive line, though allowing three sacks of Tanner Lee (or Tanner Hill if you watched the game on ESPN3), generally provided good pass protection. Lee helped a great deal by getting the ball off quickly to “check offs” when otherwise pressured. Badie’s long run was pretty much all on him as he was hit right at the line of scrimmage and logged about 55 yards after contact on that one play alone. Hilliard’s long TD, on the other hand, was very well blocked. Taking away those two plays and not counting the three sacks, we still ran the ball 33 times for 112 yards (3.4 yds/carry). That’s actually not bad because you can’t take away the best plays and still expect great stats. Can we do that again when we face tougher competition? That’s the question of the day but the performance was encouraging nonetheless. In Badie, and to a lesser extent, Hilliard, we have some speed at running back that most teams (even P5 teams) do not. That doesn’t necessarily make them better running backs than some others, but it means they can do significant damage in the open field. My major concern is Lazedrick Thompson. When he went out (for good), he looked in pain and was shaking his head. I haven’t seen anything about his injury, but he did not return to the game.

With time to throw, Lee looked really good. By my count, Badie dropped one pass and Ricky Preston dropped two, but receivers generally helped him out. His potential TD pass to Veal was a beautifully thrown ball that also should have been caught. Going 16-27 for 277 yards is a really good passing line, regardless. I thought he missed a couple of passes, but so do Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, etc. Powell and Joseph both looked bad and bringing Ciuellette in to take two “Victory formation” snaps didn’t tell us or the coaches anything about that young man. I'd have put him in for some meaningful time. Hopefully, Powell is OK after getting injured on his ill-advised effort to pick up his fumble. I, for one, didn’t think Dias’ snap was that bad; a little high, but certainly “catchable.”

As for the receivers, this is the first time in quite a while that I saw a lot of legitimate separation (more than a yard). Of course, ten of our 18 completions were to backs on swing passes, screen passes, and “check offs,” but they were well executed and proved very successful. I was surprised that Breaux wasn’t targeted more, but, as it turned out, he wasn’t needed. We also didn’t throw much to the tight end. Best I can recall, the one completion to Charles Jones was the only one that targeted a tight end. Again, it wasn’t necessary.

On defense, our line dominated the Bears. I don’t believe they made hardly anything between the tackles all night. However, on several occasions, we bottled up the play in the middle and they were able to outrun our ends, linebackers, and backs to the corner. We looked slow on several of those plays, but were able to make tackles that eliminated really “big” plays.

I didn’t think our pass coverage was very good and that’s disappointing. Maine was only 18 for 38 passing for 203 yards but that is very deceiving. Their QB missed several really wide open receivers and those same receivers dropped several passes. I lost track of the number and the “play by play” on our official website obviously wasn’t watching the same game I was, but I’d have sworn they dropped at least six.

Special teams weren’t that “special” but they were probably average or better, which is a long way from what we have come to expect. LeGlue didn’t roll back any snaps or fire any over everybody and into the end zone, so that’s a quantum leap forward. Picerrelli had punts of 34, 56, 48, and 44 and only one was returned and it for no yards. That’s excellent! Logan Hilton got a chance to punt late in the game, for his first career appearance, and, thanks to the roll, got off a 52 yarder to inside the 20. He’s a redshirt junior and probably won’t see any more action. So, that’s a pretty good career statistics- 52 yard punting average. DiRocco again made a short field goal and all five extra points, so, hopefully (and not prematurely), I don’t have my heart in my mouth on kicks of less than 30 yards. On kickoffs, Simms kicked three for touchbacks and didn’t hook any out of bounds, so that was also pretty good. Except for the one 44 yard return, our coverage was also fine. Our own return game continues to underperform. I suppose we don’t have anyone faster the Monroe who can actually be trusted to catch a punt, but, at least he has done that well. Anyway, special teams didn’t hurt, and the punting actually helped against Maine.

The other positive about the game is that a lot of kids got to play. On the offensive line, LeGlue, Godfrey, and Dias played the entire fourth quarter and some in the third. Devon Johnson also got some time late and may have played as much as the other three. Ricky Preston played a lot and Andrew Hicks also got a few snaps on offense. Ardoin also played a little more, but with Scott out, I was surprised Sydie London didn’t make an appearance. He hasn’t played since opening game and is probably either hurt or relegated to the Scout team as he was the last half of last season.

Obviously, all four QB’s got credit for appearing and, during the 4th quarter, Rounds and Wadleigh were in for several series. At that point, I thought CJ had made up his mind to redshirt “Jet” Glenn, but then he came in to run twice and catch a short pass in a “three and out.” I’m not sure I understood the rationale for “burning his redshirt” for that appearance. Of course, it’s only the third game and he may play a lot more, or, if he plays no more, have one of those “mysterious” injuries that allow a medical redshirt.

On defense, Eric Bell, Dedrick Shy, and Peter Woullard made their first appearances of the year. And several others like Taris Shenall, Malik Eugene, Roderick Teamer, Eldrick Washington, Luke Jackson, Quinlan Carroll, and Jason Stewart got to play more on defense than they have ever done before at Tulane.

Before the wholesale substitutions in the fourth quarter, Zach Harris and Ray Juan Marbley came in for Marley and Eric Thomas sometime in the third quarter. In fact, Harris led the team in tackles with five and Marbley added three more. Good experience for all of those guys. You never know when they might be needed.

Tristan Cooper apparently did not play and I don’t know why. Also, according to the official site, freshman DT, John Washington, played against Georgia Tech but not against Maine. That’s also odd unless he’s injured and will be taking a medical redshirt. But, that’s just conjecture on my part with no facts to back it up.

Two special team’s stalwarts the last couple of years, Sergio Medina, a junior, and Richard Carthon, a senior, have not seen the field this year. What’s up with that? I have no idea.

Anyway, even if it was against an FCS team, it’s a lot more pleasant to “nitpick” small mistakes that were meaningless to the outcome than to weigh which of the glaring problems were in the forefront of an embarrassing disaster. Let’s hope for continued success starting in two weeks against UCF.


Roll Wave!!!

Our opponents went 3-8 this week though, as a group, are still probably doing better than many expected prior to the season.

Duke- After taking a week off following the victory over Tulane, Duke lost to Northwestern of the Big 10, 19-10. They won the yardage battle, 327-258, but lost the turnover battle, 3-2.

Georgia Tech- Like Duke, Georgia Tech came back to earth against a legitimate opponent, Notre Dame, losing 30-22. The game wasn’t really that close as Georgia Tech scored two TD’s in the last 48 seconds of the game after trailing 30-7 into the final minute. Forced to pass, they only completed 8 of 24, though they completed passes for the two TD’s in the last minute of the game.

Maine- This week, Maine looked like the FCS team they are, giving up 497 yards to the Green Wave, losing 38-7.

Bye-

UCF – UCF continued its “freefall” this week with a 16-15 loss to FCS‘ Furman. Neither team moved the ball much with UCF gaining 269 yards and Furman gaining 270 yards. But, UCF had four turnovers to Furman’s one and were beaten by a field goal in the fourth quarter. It won’t get any easier facing South Carolina this weekend.

Temple- Following the return of a blocked extra point to pull within one point, Temple kicked a 32 yard field goal with 2 seconds to go in the game to defeat Massachusetts 25-23. It was a very close game in which Temple gained 458 yards to UMASS’s 438. Temple remains undefeated at 3-0.

Houston- Bye

Navy- Navy went to 2-0 after mashing East Carolina 45-21. Not surprisingly, Navy pounded out 415 yards on the ground and added 4 for 7 passing for a total of 456 yards. ECU gained 405 yards, mostly passing (325), but fell behind by two TD’s in the first half and never really threatened.

Memphis- Memphis went to 3-0 on the season by defeating a tough Bowling Green team, who beat Maryland last week 48-27. As the score would suggest, this was a wild one in which Memphis rolled up 541 yards to Bowling Green’s 583.

UCONN- Connecticut lost a tough defensive battle with Missouri of the SEC, 9-6. Bryant Shirreffs, the UCONN QB, was held in check, gaining only 29 yards on the ground in 14 rushes (including three sacks). He was 17 for 26 passing but for only 156 yards and no TDs or INTs. In the last minute of the game with a 4th and 4 at the Missouri 25 when a 42 yard field goal opportunity could tie the game, UCONN faked the field goal. A backup QB threw an interception to seal the defeat.

Army- Army lost on a last second field goal to P5 Wake Forest. Army only threw three passes in the game and were held in check on the ground all game (54 rushes for 176 yards, 3.3 yds/carry) but stayed alive thanks to three Wake turnovers.

SMU- SMU battled TCU, only trailing 42-37 late in the 4th quarter, before falling 56-37 on two late TCU TD’s. The “Ponies” ran up 508 yards against the #3 team in the nation, but could not slow down the TCU offense which amassed 720 yards.

Tulsa – Tulsa was run over by Oklahoma, 52-38, but Tulsa can move the ball. They were down 31-24 at half and 38-31 with a minute to go in the 3rd quarter before succumbing to a much more talented team. Tulsa showed a lot of offense with 597 yards (421 passing) but allowed a near unbelievable 764 yards.

Obviously our opponents had a pretty tough week with only three wins. Those wins, however, left Memphis, Temple, and Navy undefeated and in contention for the G5 slot for a major bowl. Duke and Georgia Tech came back down to earth and while losing to very strong P5 programs, both SMU and Tulsa, with their new coaches, showed an ability to score against very good teams.

During our recent stretch of futility, most people have focused on our unbelievably awful special teams and our unimaginative, impotent offense—with good reason!

But, somehow, people seem to be giving our defense a pass. I don’t understand it. Since CJ came to Tulane he has insisted on two co-defensive coordinators. Of the 32 NFL teams and 128 BCS College teams, are there any others choosing to organize their defensive staff in this manner? It would take more research than I’m willing to conduct, but I don’t think many if any. It may be my Air Force background or years in business, but I think someone (one person) needs to be in charge, responsible and accountable for the defense. That said, let’s take a look at what we have.

In the Duke game, the excuse for allowing all those points was that we were tired in the second half. There’s certainly a ring of truth to that since Duke ran 93 plays to our 65. We were only down 16-0 early in the 4th quarter when our snapper pulled a “Lizinich” and gave them the ball on the 19 yard line. After their TD, we scored one and the special teams then immediately allowed a Kickoff return for a TD. Although our defense stiffened to force a punt on Duke’s next possession, they drove 75 yards in 11 plays for the game’s final TD before “sitting on the ball” to close out the contest.

All in all, that doesn’t sound too bad for the defense. We allowed a 19 yard and 75 yard drive for TD’s in the fourth quarter when we were “tired.” But, on further review, we allowed 268 yards in the first half and 262 in the second half. Duke averaged 5.5 yds/snap in the first half and 4.6 yds/snap in the second, so “tired” may not have been the big problem on defense. We held them to a TD and two field goals in the first half and without the special teams breakdowns in the second half, might have held them to a similar number. But they still gained 530 yards despite losing an offensive series to a Kickoff return for a TD and having a very short field after the bad snap. Our defense did not excel by any stretch of the imagination. And, as many have noted, our tackling was terrible.

In the Georgia Tech game, it is said that our “young players” got discouraged in the second half and some even suggest they “quit.” Having played a lot of sports, I don’t like to make that latter judgement about others, but, there is no doubt, after pouring through us for 28 points in the first half, they really unloaded in the second half for 37 more. Had we only allowed 28 points in each half, I doubt anyone would be very thrilled.

And, “tired” shouldn’t have been an issue as each team ran 66 plays during the game. They scored TD’s on four of six drives in the first half, fumbling away a pitch and being forced to punt on the other one. They then scored TD’s on five straight drives in the second half before running out the clock on the final drive. All of their scoring was accomplished by half-way through the fourth quarter. Very little of it was against our “scrubs,” though much of the damage was done by Georgia Tech reserves. They gained 365 yards of their 571 yards after half-time. Other than the fumbled pitch out in the first quarter, we only stopped Georgia Tech once the entire game.

Overall, 1100 yards in two games is a tremendous number and, even with improvements in our offense and special teams, our defense also needs “tightening up.”

Maine had less than 100 yards against Boston College, so our chance to shine on “D” could be just around the corner. Let’s hope so.

Roll Wave!!

There is no official spread on the Tulane game since it is playing an FCS opponent, so I set my own line. The rest, as always, are from VegasInsider.com consensus, with home teams listed first.

Tulane (-12.5) Maine
Navy (-4) East Carolina
Bowling Green (+3) Memphis
LSU (-7) Auburn
Alabama (-7) Ole Miss
Notre Dame (+2.5) Georgia Tech
Duke (-3.5) Northwestern
Miami (-3.5) Nebraska

I had one of my best weeks ever, nailing all four games involving AAC teams, getting lucky with Oklahoma and beating the field by two points or more. Never happened before.

WEEK 2

7

Guerry

5

winwave
MNAlum
Wavetime
Dew99

4

nyoscar
Kettrade1
Golfer81
Dr Box

3

p8kpev

2

LSU Law Greenie
jjstock2005
Rcnut

1

WaveON

GEORGIA TECH 6 (out of 14)
TEMPLE 7
HOUSTON 5
ARMY 2
MISS ST 8
OKLAHOMA 13
OREGON 2
STANFORD 4

OVERALL STANDINGS

11

Guerry

9

MNAlum
Dr Box

8

Kettrade1
Wavetime

7

Dew99

6

nyoscar
winwave
Golfer81
Rcnut

5

p8kpev

4

WaveON
Charlamange8 (missed 1 week)
Paliii (missed 1 week)

3

LSU Law Greenie
jjstock2005

Poorly coached, poorly conditioned and undisciplined.

Tulane's practices have been more enthusiastic this week than the previous two weeks. Whether that's forced or natural remains to be seen, but Darion Monroe in particular has been incredibly vocal every day. Yesterday, he said he had burned more energy talking than practicing, and he was not implying he had taken it easy in practice.

Today, a red zone drill between the offense and defense was very competitive, with the defensive players on the sideline jawing with the offense (in a friendly manner) every time a pass did not work. When Parry Nickerson knocked down a pass in the end zone for Rickey Preston in a battle of hair, the defense was all over Preston for never having a chance. Another time Nickerson knocked down a pass in the corner of the end zone, then kicked the ball against a wall.

When the offense scored a touchdown on a pass to Larry Dace in the back of the end zone, wide receivers coach Carter Sheridan ran into the end zone and did a jump bump with Dace.

Does any of that excitement mean anything? We'll find out Saturday, but I have not noticed any moping or disinterest this week Tuesday, Wednesday or today.

Devin Glenn did not play against Georgia Tech, so I was totally wrong at least twice when I swore I saw him. I guess I mistook him for Badie, but that's weak on my part because Glenn is much shorter and the number 7 does not look like 3.

A few other notes:

--A Tampa Bay Bucs scout attended practice today after a couple of NFL scouts were at Wednesday's workout.

--Robert Kennedy is practicing. He went down with an injury in the fourth quarter against Georgia Tech and had to be helped off the field, but he is fine.

--Teddy Veal did not practice in the last hour today. CJ said it was precautionary and he would be ready for Maine.

--Ade Aruna and Arturo Uzdavinis came up limping after knocking knees on one play, but Uzdavinis did not miss a rep and Aruna returned in a few minutes. I"m not sure Uzdavinis is 100 percent after hurting his leg twice against Georgia Tech.

--Royce LaFrance got yanked for a couple of snaps after jumping offside.

Some quotes from CJ:

"It was good emotion. I love it. I know a lot of people are leaving us for dead, but the one thing we do have is emotion. We have hustle, we are running around and we are competitive, and as long as we do that we'll be fine."

"With Monroe coming back and challenging guys, I know he wants to win, and Tanner wanted to do a better job. I'm glad because if it wasn't going to be (them) I was going to be emotional."

On Breaux

"He's doing outstanding. The one thing he's gotten is a lot of confidence. I love what he's doing."

On Veal

"He's going to be fine. I held him out because he stretched for a ball and I was like, look, you don't need this, just relax and be ready to play."

On Glenn

"No, we didn't put him on (the field). I'm waiting and debating on his status right now. I just don't want to burn his year for three or four plays."

On the Georgia Tech TD when Tulane had nine men on the field

"We were putting the young kids in and taking all our old kids out. I didn't want anybody to get hurt. Two of those young kids were on the kickoff team (Tulane had just kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 51-10) and they just didn't go on the field. They were waiting for somebody to tell them, but we told them (prior to the kickoff). That's my bad. That's on me. I'll make sure that won't ever happen again. It was young kids."

In the Massey rankings (http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm ), Tulane’s loss to Georgia Tech dropped the Wave from #114 to #117, three spaces.

After an 8-2 week, one would expect our opponents to move up in the Massey rankings, and they did. Last week, our opponents, not counting Maine from the FCS, had an average position of 72.36. Now, it’s down to 67.36, an improvement of five places.

Below, I’ve shown each team’s ranking last week, this week, and the change. For example, Duke’s line would look like this:

Duke 37, 34, +3 Last week they were #37. This week, they are #34, and they’ve improved (+3) slots.

The others in order of our schedule:

Georgia Tech 11, 10, +1.

Maine (FCS) 51, 45, +6

UCF 74, 82, -8

Temple 51, 44, +7

Houston 65, 51, +14

Navy 61, 63, -2

Memphis 39, 32, +7

UCONN 10, 105, +5

Army 123, 124, -1

SMU 120, 109, +11

Tulsa 105, 87, +18


UCF again fell the most in the rankings, followed by the Wave. Houston, SMU and Tulsa moved up by double digits with Tulsa gaining 18 spaces. The AAC passed the Mountain West as the best of the worst (G5) conferences with an average ranking of 75.35, an improvement of almost three places on average. The Mountain West had a terrible week and fell seven spaces to 84.92. We’re still, on average, about 28 places behind the Big 10, the lowest ranked P5 conference.

As Guerry pointed out earlier in the week, on a neutral field we’d probably be underdogs to everyone remaining on our schedule save Maine and probably Army. We need to start changing that this weekend.


Roll Wave!!

With Tulane fall ball starting Tuesday, I talked to David Pierce on Monday and posted the Q&A on the front page. He is expecting a lot out of a group of transfers that will supplement the returning talent after the Green Wave went 35-25 and reached a regional for the first time since 2008 in the spring.

Here is the history of the transfers:

1) Infielder/catcher Shea Pierce (Pierce's son)

--Pierce played in 28 games and started 20 as a freshman in 2012, batting .203. Opponents were 16 of 16 stealing bases on him when he caught.

--Pierce played in 22 games and started 13 as a sophomore in 2013, batting .245. Opponents were 5 of 7 stealing bases.

--Pierce played in 52 games with 45 starts as a junior in 2014, batting .199. Opponents were 5 of 8 stealing bases.

--He missed all of 2015 with an injury, which is why he has a year of eligibility left. He will pursue a master's degree at Tulane as a graduate student.

2) Junior outfielder Jarret DeHart, an LSU transfer who had a stop at Howard Junior College in between the Tigers and Tulane

--He played in 10 games, starting two, in 2014, going 3 for 15 with eight strikeouts.

--He was part of a Howard JC team that went 43-15 last year, but I can't find any stats. He was not one of the three players from the team who received named All-America honors.

3) Redshirt sophomore Matt Rowland, who signed with Louisville and then played for Scottsdale CC

--He never played at Louisville, but he started as a utility infielder for Scottsdale last season. Can't find any stats, but he went 3 for 4 in their final game at the JC College Wold Series.

4) Redshirt senior pitcher Evan Rutter, a Rice transfer

--In 2012, he pitched in six games covering 7 1/3 innings and did not allow a run.

--in 2013, he pitched in 11 games covering 14 innings and had an ERA of 3.86.

--In 2014, he pitched twice, throwing 2 2/3 innings against Purdue at the beginning of the year and striking out four without allowing a hit before being sidelined by an injury. He returned for the final game of the season in an NCAA regional against Texas A&M and pitched 1 1/3 innings without allowing a run, including a scoreless 9th in a tie game the Owls eventually lost.

5) Redshirt sophomore pitcher Chris Oakley, who signed with North Carolina before playing at Florence Darlington Tech

--He pitched 37 innings at Darlington Tech in 2015, allowing 28 hits and 20 earned runs while walking 35 and striking out 36 in 11 appearances, 10 of them starts. He went 4-2. The team went 36-14.

--He pitched in summer ball this year, throwing 14 1/3 innings and giving up 12 hits and six earned runs with 11 walks and 15 strikeouts in 12 appearances for the Baltimore Redbirds of the Cal Ripken League.

6) Senior pitcher Christian Colletti, a left-hander who played for UConn and then Indian River State.

--In 2013, he appeared in 11 games with nine starts. His ERA was 5.86 in 43 innings, and he struck out 29 while walking 20. His record was 3-2.

--In 2014, he appeared in three games with one start for UConn, going 7 2/3 innings while allowing zero earned runs before being sidelined by a shoulder injury.

--I can't find stats for him at Indian River, and he did not play summer ball.

7) Redshirt freshman infielder Chris Hohlstein, an original Davidson signee who will not be eligible to play until next year.

8) Redshirt junior Jeremy Montalbano, a Texas transfer who sat out 2015 but is eligible now.

--In 2013, he played in 25 games with 22 starts, hitting .247 with two doubles and two home runs.

--In 2014, he played in 26 games with 23 starts, hitting .171 with six doubles and no home runs.

9) Redshirt senior pitcher Trevor Simms, who has played at Rice and West Virginia before landing on the football team as a kickoff specialist and will be eligible to play baseball this year.

--In 2012, he pitched two innings and gave up five runs in three appearances for Rice.

--In 2013, he played at Weatherford College, but the school's website makes you sign up for something to look at stats and I didn't bother.

--In 2014, he pitched 8 1/3 innings and gave up seven earned runs for West Virginia. He also was a position player in 28 games with four starts, getting one hit in 20 at-bats.

Guerry, any comments from Coach Pierce on his freshmen recruits?r

Uzdavinis practiced today, and CJ said he looked good. That means Tulane's starting lineup will be the exact same as in the opener against Duke on both sides of the ball aside from Terren Encalade exiting due to his ankle injury and Sean Wilson missing his second straight game due to a ankle injury.

Lazedrick Thompson should get at least 20 carries against Maine. That doesn't mean he will get 20 carries. CJ said this week he will be the featured back, but Tulane's actions often have not matched CJ's words.

Here are a couple of comments from Wednesday's practice:

"It was a much more spirited practice," CJ said. "We are finally over our (Georgia Tech hangover). I like how those guys flew around. They ran around good."

On Thompson:

"He's a battering ram. I've always wanted to get him the ball, but when you are down you gotta throw it and that's not what his forte is. He can just hit them and hit them and hit them, and he makes them force their hand on defense and then you can throw it."

I don't have much to add because the previous posts have been very informative and it's hard to get much out of a massive blowout anyway, but here are a few items.

1) Georgia Tech scored its second to last touchdown when Tulane had nine men on the field. That harkens back to CJ's first year, when the defense was incredibly disorganized and had 10 men on the field for multiple plays of the same drive at ULL. This time, one DB ran off the field right before the snap (I couldn't catch his number) when a DB should have been running on the field. Not sure I've ever seen a team have only nine men on the field and not at least call a timeout. The easy TD that resulted was a virtual lock. I ripped the effort level of the defense on twitter, and I was not mistaken, but effort level didn't matter when there were only nine men on the field.

2) Just about all of the freshmen on defense did not play hard enough, which was probably a result of not knowing what they were supposed to be doing. Roderic Teamer in particular ran around with no clear idea of what he was doing, looking very tentative. The cornerbacks did not play with enough force, and they got burned when Georgia Tech threw. I saw that part coming because Ga Tech did nothing in the air against Tulane last year and players and coaches almost discounted the Yellow Jackets' passing game when I talked to them last week. Justin Thomas threw 18 touchdown passes last year, which is a ton for an option team. The game at Yulman Stadium was an anomaly.

3) Those plays on offense where a running back goes in motion right before the snap or right after the snap and makes a beeline for the sideline while running parallel to the line of scrimmage have been a staple of the offense for four years, and I have no idea what the purpose is. It never works. Devin Glenn did it a few times against Ga Tech, and if Tanner Lee had thrown to him, it would have gone for a 5-yard loss because he was not open and had no blocking. Those swing passes to the running backs with no blockers in front of them rarely work, either, usually getting stuffed for a minimal gain, as one to Rob Kelley for 2 yards illustrated. Not sure what the plan is there. It's hard to catch a ball running sideways and then make guys miss. Plus, Tulane runs those type of patterns so often that when it ran a nifty misdirection screen to Kelley, it fooled no one. Since most Tulane plays end up with the backs in patterns near the line of scrimmage, why would it have fooled anyone?

4) Royce LaFrance really struggled against the option near the goal line, getting sealed inside repeatedly as the play went to his side. But LaFrance was better than Ade Aruna, another predictable result since Aruna is green against the run and never had played an option team before. He looked lost.

5) Kelley's nice run actually was a poor run that he turned into a good play with outstanding individual effort. He stopped and changed direction for no real reason, which almost always results in a negative play, but he made it work.

6) Even Jarrod Franklin, who played with effort from start to finish, had plenty of rough plays where he got blocked or ran to the wrong area or missed a tackle. No one played well on defense, to my eyes.

7) I loved Dontrell Hilliard going into the season while others preferred Lazedrick Thompson. Score one for the others. Hilliard has looked sluggish in the first two games. With the exception of a nice run to convert a third-and-1 against Georgia Tech, he does not appear to be moving at full speed. He also ran an aimless pattern near the goal line before Tulane settled for a field goal in the second half, and this guy has been money in practice as a receiver. When CJ talks about confidence, Hilliard is a prime example. Thompson, meanwhile, ran hard every time he touched the ball and has earned the right to be the featured back against Maine. I don't know how players graded out against Georgia Tech, but I suspect Thompson and Devon Breaux may have been the only players to earn a passing grade.

8) I still can't get a clear picture on what happened with the miscommunication between Lee and Breaux on the interception, but Lee blamed himself when I talked to him yesterday, saying they were not on the same page but it was his fault.

9) Everyone in the stadium will be praying John Leglue snaps well against Maine because Mike Lizanich has made too many mistakes in three years to ever be trusted to ever fix his issues. Yes, I'm being Captain Obvious, but I can't understand why the coaches haven't found someone better. It makes zero sense that Tulane cannot execute a deep snap. It's insane.

10) With Terren Encalade out, Tulane absolutely, positively has to thrown down the field to its tight ends and running backs against Maine because the depth at wideout is nonexistent. Limit the sideways throws and get Hilliard 15 yards down the field like his touchdown against Houston and keep throwing the seam route to Trey Scott. He was not open often against Duke and Georgia Tech, but he will be against Maine.

Never mind. Double post.

Unfortunately you did miss the announcement. Rick was forced to move Saturday's game to the Superdome to accommodate the
overflow crowd that Yulman could not handle. The long-standing regional rivalry between these two exciting teams, each sporting unblemished records necessitated the move.

Of course Tulane's 0-2 record is deceptive. There is excitement among the Olive Green and Blue faithful given that we are leading the nation statistically in many categories, like "most points allowed," "fewest yards rushing" and that hallmark of all Tulane teams, "special teams miscues."

Understandably, Rick also needed to accommodate the many fans Maine is expected to bring in. He correctly surmised that most of them would prefer seeing the Superdome as opposed to actually watching the game itself. A smart move.

Locally, ticket sales are growing notwithstanding our poor performance against Georgia Tech. It seems that CJ's announcement yesterday at his weekly press
conference has fans convinced these silly mistakes will be corrected, just as he promised after Duke. There was a palpable shift in attitude among his audience when CJ said "we just need to play with a little more confidence." Who knew?
He also said, to the relief of everyone, that no lineup changes are planned other than at long-snapper. But greatest cause for optimism was when he announced that henceforth we will be "simplifying" our otherwise deceptive offense.
Few suspected this, believed missed blocks and stupid penalties had played the major role.

The Dome will be filled, so get there early if you hope to park anywhere within walking distance.

Roll Wave

Unfortunately you did miss the announcement. Rick was forced to move Saturday's game to the Superdome to accommodate the
overflow crowd that Yulman could not handle. The long-standing regional rivalry between these two exciting teams, each sporting unblemished records necessitated the move.

Of course Tulane's 0-2 record is deceptive. There is excitement among the Olive Green and Blue faithful given that we are leading the nation statistically in many categories, like "most points allowed," "fewest yards rushing" and that hallmark of all Tulane teams, "special teams miscues."

Understandably, Rick also needed to accommodate the many fans Maine is expected to bring in. He correctly surmised that most of them would prefer seeing the Superdome as opposed to actually watching the game itself. A smart move.

Locally, ticket sales are growing notwithstanding our poor performance against Georgia Tech. It seems that CJ's announcement yesterday at his weekly press
conference has fans convinced these silly mistakes will be corrected, just as he promised after Duke. There was a palpable shift in attitude among his audience when CJ said "we just need to play with a little more confidence." Who knew?
He also said, to the relief of everyone, that no lineup changes are planned other than at long-snapper. But greatest cause for optimism was when he announced that henceforth we will be "simplifying" our otherwise deceptive offense.
Few suspected this, believed missed blocks and stupid penalties had played the major role.

The Dome will be filled, so get there early if you hope to park anywhere within walking distance.

Roll Wave

Our opponents went 8 – 2 this week and, on the whole are looking better than most thought pre-season.

Duke- Duke overwhelmed FCS’ North Carolina Central, 55-0. This is their second straight “laugher” to start the season. It will be interesting when they start playing “real” teams.

Georgia Tech- Had a solid game against an overmatched, undermanned, poorly coached, listless squad that played with no “fire.”

Maine- Maine had a BYE and should be ready for us. Will we be ready?

Bye- Didn’t play, but still is our best chance for not losing on a weekend.

UCF – Central Florida lost to Stanford 31-7, only scoring thanks to a “garbage time” TD with a minute to go in the game. For the game, UCF averaged 2.8 yards a play and gained only 187 yards. Up until their final possession, they only had 131 yards and a 2.1 yard/play average. I can only assume (I don’t know) that that drive was against Stanford reserves. On defense, UCF was porous against a passing attack that gained 339 yards while also allowing 131 yards rushing.

Temple- Temple won their second straight, this time against conference mate, Cincinnati, 34-26. The score is somewhat deceiving as “the Bearcats” had 557 yards of offense to Temple’s 296. Four interceptions and a fumble did them in. At the same time, it must be noted that many of those yards and their final 14 points came in the 4th quarter after Temple built a 34-12 lead.

Houston- Houston had a big win over P5 Louisville, 34-31. Houston outgained “the Cardinals” and scored on a 100 yard kickoff return, but winning the turnover war, 3-1, was the real key. They look good.

Navy- Navy had a bye.

Memphis- Memphis rolled up 653 yards in pounding a hapless P5 Kansas team, 55-23. They completed an amazing 24 of 27 passes for 370 yards. Yet they averaged 5.3 yards per rush on 53 attempts for 283 rushing yards also. That could be very ugly in a few weeks. Of course, after the past two weeks, “ugly” could be a relative term.

UCONN- UCONN beat a bad Army team, 22-17. I saw much of this game and UCONN’s QB looked good. He’s mobile, hard to tackle and a pretty good passer. UCONN dominated the game, if not the score by running up 415 yards to 265, gaining 23 1st downs to nine, and winning time-of-possession, 39 minutes to 21 minutes.

Army- As noted above, Army lost to UCONN, 22-17. Army has only one weapon, their starting QB, Bradshaw. He can’t pass but he is very quick and mobile. He scored on one long TD run and had another 49 yard run called back due to a penalty. If we can control him, we can contain their offense. Once they fell behind by 12 points late, they brought in their “passer,” who hit a long TD pass, though bad defense by Connecticut contributed on that one. They didn’t show me much but, then again, neither have we.

SMU- SMU beat CUSA’s North Texas 31-21 with three TD’s in the fourth quarter to come back from a 21-10 deficit. They rolled up 444 yards to North Texas’ 240. Despite being behind for much of the game, they never gave up.

Tulsa – Another AAC “doormat,”Tulsa got off to a 2-0 start by routing New Mexico of the Sunbelt Conference, 40-21. They rolled up 600 yards in a balanced attack (321 passing and 289 rushing) that totally dominated the game after falling behind 14-10 in the first quarter.

Obviously our opponents had a good week with UCF again underperforming versus preseason hype and Army continuing to look bad. Memphis and Houston had big wins against P5 schools. Temple won again and the three other teams who were suspected of being our “peers” this year, UCONN, SMU, and Tulsa, all looked pretty decent. My five win season prediction is starting to look shaky .

Roll Wave!!!

Tulane elected to practice on Monday and skip Tuesday instead of taking Monday off and practicing Tuesday, its regular schedule during the season when it plays Saturday games. There are no time limits on holiday practices like there are when class is in session. It was a hot morning, which could help prepare the Green Wave for an afternoon game in Atlanta, although the initial weather forecast is for a 75 percent chance of rain.

Sean Wilson, as expected, is not dressed. He is standing on the field with a brace on his left knee watching a drill between the offensive and defensive lines. Everyone else is accounted for. Corey Redwine, who had two tackles against Duke but also succumbed to cramps for a stretch, is replacing Wilson with the first-team defense. Every other player is the same on both sides of the ball.

CJ is riding the receivers hard. Tanner Lee got plenty of criticism for the offense's failures against Duke, but a huge issue was the lack of separation and play-making ability of the receivers in that game. Devon Breaux just beat Parry Nickerson deep, and Lee threw a catchable ball that was a shade too long. Instead of running through the catch, Breaux tried to one-hand it. CJ screamed for another receiver to replace him, called him over and gave him a tongue-lashing, saying it was a perfect throw and he had to get two hands on the ball. One caveat on the receivers: Duke's strength going into the year unquestionable was its secondary. Tulane may not face a group of DBs as good as that for the rest of the season.

It is a feisty practice. Charles Jones just caught a pass in 11-on-11 drills with a lot of room to run. He then ran into Jarrod Franklin pretty hard in what was supposed to be a no-tackling drill, drawing Nico Marley's ire. Marley went up to Jones and shoved him and had some choice words for him, prompting CJ to throw Marley out of the drill. At the end of the possession, the drive stalled at the 30, so Trevor Simms tried a 47-yard field goal and duck hooked into the Student Section words at the back of the end zone about 20 yards left of the upright. Folks, I can't make this stuff up. The drive was very crisp right up until the kick.

Jeremie Francis is practicing with the second unit at cornerback, so it looks like they don't expect Dedrick Shy to be eligible against Georgia Tech. Stephon Lofton is working as the second-team nickel. The linebackers are Rae Juan Marbley and Zach Harris. The safeties are Tristan Cooper and Roderic Teamer, so it's pretty much the status quo.

The second-team offensive line is John Leglue, Leeward Brown, Junior Diaz, Brandon Godfrey and Devon Johnson, so there are no changes up front offensively. It was a poor performance by the OL against Duke, but the starters proved themselves as better than their backups during preseason camp. I don't think a personnel change will help.

At the end of the two-minute drive matching the second units, Steven DiRocco hit a 39-yard field goal. If he can do that in a game, Tulane will be in better shape than a year ago. It appears the Wave will have to get to the 25-yard line to have a realistic chance of making a field goal or even attempt one.

Michael Lizanich continues to be the first-team long snapper on punts. HIs snaps were OK in the punting drill today, but we saw what happened against Duke. John Leglue, the second-team long snapper, was perfect on his snaps today. The first team punter is Peter and the second team punter is Picerelli. In other words, there is no possibility of a change there--he is by far the best punter on the roster at this point, which says something.

In the field goal drills, DiRocco made from 29 yards, 37 yards, missed short and right from 37 yards (I kid you not), Simms nailed one from 43 yards and missed wide left from 48 yards, all from the left hash. Trying from the right hash, Simms was wide left from 47 yards. Then DiRocco tried a 37-yarder and hit it. None of the snaps was terrible, but few were perfect.

I am a Lee supporter, but he does need to improve his accuracy. He is a tad off on several of his throws. One forced open tight end Kendall Ardoin to make a diving catch near the line of scrimmage in what would have gone for a first down if he had hit him in stride.

One of the most crucial plays in the Duke game was the offside when the Blue Devils punted from deep in their territory in the first half. Well, today, Lee just got the defense to jump offside twice in a span of a minute with a hard count. That's a different problem than what happened Thursday, but it's still concerning.

If Ade Aruna can get past the physical ailment that affected him in the first half against Duke, he will live up to his hype. He just knocked down pass by Devin Powell, using his length.

Braynon Edwards is in uniform, but he's not getting any reps. Jason Stewart just went in ahead of him. Eswards is standing next to Edward Williams, who is suspended for the year, on the sideline.

Devin Glenn's nickname of Jet is accurate. If the Wave can get him the ball in space, he can do serious damage. The problem is opponents probably will ID him the second he enters the game and make sure to limit the space.

Sherman Badie just dropped an easy pass. The coaches keep saying he is an excellent receiver despite mediocre numbers in that department from a year ago, but he needs to prove it on the field.

Taris Shenall made a nice interception of Powell near the end of practice. Tulane got very little from its true freshman class against Duke, but Shenall is going to be a good player.

Leonard Townsend started at linebacker against Georgia Tech last year because of his ability to run and his tackling, then did not have another tackle the rest of the year while playing sparingly. Don't look for a resurgence this Saturday. He practiced exclusively with the scout team defense today when they divided up into scout teams.

Charles Jones left the field near the end of practice, accompanied by a trainer. He appeared to be fine, though, and CJ confirmed it in the quotes below.

Here are CJ's quotes from today:

On practicing Monday instead of Tuesday

"We have another day, so we got more time with them today. It was good. I thought we ran around well. The defense looked good. We had some good throws and some nice plays."

On hot weather

"I'm glad. I hope it is warm in Atlanta. I can't get the weather straight. Last year I didn't want it to be warm. Now this year I want it to be. I hear it is (supposed to rain). We have to do the wet ball drill. But hey, look, you gotta play in some elements, and I think it will rain this weekend."

On Wilson status

"I don't think we're going to have him for this week and maybe the next week. You see him, he's on the bike and just walking around. It's just a knee sprain. We have a couple of guys limited right, but for the most part we'll be healthy."

On Trey Scott making one catch, dropping tough chance that turned into INT v. Duke

"Some of it was him and some of it was not being targeted. I think what happened to a bunch of our guys is, we we were all excited, we get hyped and we go three-and-out and three-and-out, and then all of a sudden they kind of go in the tank a little bit. We have to get past some of those immaturity things."

On defending option

"You just gotta defend it. We've been practicing since last spring. The best thing you have to do, you gotta play assignment football and be very, very disciplined. This quarterback is a handful, the backs look good and the line's pretty mature, so this is a tough team for us."

On reaching out to outer schools for help

"We have done high schools and colleges also, teams that played well against the option teams. We've done extensive high school research, so yes, we do that."

On helpful to have played Georgia Tech last year

"They know what they are doing. They are so-high powered. They got it going. That's one thing about Paul Johnson. He knows the answers to the questions, so we just have to hang on, try to get some turnovers and hope we can slow those guys down."

On Glenn

"He's going to play. He's definitely going to play. Last year he was out with the shoulder, but this week we have some plays in for him. I want to piece mail him in a little bit. I don't want to just whole-heartedly substitute him."

On long snappers

"We've started speeding some things up a little bit with the long snapper and the kicker. The long snapper, he's just got to get it back a little bit. Pete (Picerelli) did a great job getting some of those errant snaps down."

Is Charles Jones OK?

"He's fine. He got hot."

On Shy

"I don't know about Shy. He's got to get some stuff cleared. I wish he was available. He's a big, physical DB, and our DBs definitely are going to have to tackle this week."

On Marley being too aggressive in practice at times

"I have to calm him down. I don't want him to get kicked out of the game. All of a sudden, we've got the muscle man penalty, we've got this, but he's a player now. He plays his heart out."

It never ends:

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2015/09/tulane_suspends_senior_ss_dari.html#incart_river