The conservative game plan worked tonight because UConn is inept offensively, but it won't work against anyone else on the schedule. Tulane will have to open up the offense against UCF no matter who starts at QB. I still prefer a healthy Tanner Lee to Nick Montana, but obviously he would need to play better than he did for stretches of the first four games.

Montana made one great play tonight, getting out of a sack to keep a play alive and finding Justyn Shackleford for a third-down conversion to keep a drive alive that ended in Andrew DiRocco's clinching field goal. Montana also made a couple of nice passes on the opening touchdown drive, but the offense was painful to watch in between. The four holding penalties in a three-possession stretch in the second quarter would have been killers against a better team.

The key for Tulane rebounding from its 2-4 start is the defensive front. Those guys dominated UConn and SLU, and they need to continue to play well against better competition. UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, East Carolina and Temple are a lot more dynamic than UConn, but Tulane's secondary is good enough to hold its own against anyone if the Wave controls the line of scrimmage. The Wave almost certainly will be underdogs in every one of those games and needs a run like it had against North Texas, East Carolina and Tulsa as an underdog last season.

UCF is beatable. Again, there's no way I'm predicting a Tulane win on the road against a decent team until after it actually happens, but the Knights have an inconsistent QB and offense in general. If the Wave plays well next Saturday, it can hang with UCF, which easily could have lost to Houston and BYU the last two weeks and could be emotionally flat after getting by BYU in overtime on Thursday.

The most encouraging thing tonight was the special teams. A team can't be functional if it can't make field goals, and DiRocco hitting that 38-yarder was a boost for the entire team. CJ said everyone was jumping up and down like they'd won the World Series when that kick went through the uprights. And Peter Picerelli has an outstanding game, leaping to catch three bad snaps from Matt Marfisi (who ever would have thought we'd say Lizanich can't come back soon enough) and pinning UConn inside its 10 twice. The punt that went to the 1 was one of the five most important plays of the game, leading to the safety that made the score 9-3. But I still can't understand why Dontrell Hilliard is returning kickoffs. He doesn't make anyone miss, ever.

UCF swept the awards despite a shaky overtime win at home against a BYU team that had lost its star QB for the year a week earlier--hey, the league likes to promote its rare non-conference wins against big-name opponents--but Monroe made the honorable mention list on defense for his six tackles, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble in Tulane's dominant defensive effort against UConn.

With Monroe, Scofield, Doss and Nickerson, Tulane's secondary figures to play very well the rest of the year.

ESPN's cameras followed the Tulane football team last Tuesday.

The 30-minute All-Access show on ESPNU will air at 5 p.m. and again at 10.30 tomorrow.

Great job, Guerry. Some interesting names he dropped. He sounds excited and "in charge." I like it.

Thanks.

This post was edited on 10/10 1:56 PM by WaveON

Getting it up earlier this week because I'm going to be swamped the next two days. As always, the point spreads are from VegasInsider.com, home teams are listed first and the Tulane game counts double.

Tulane (-3.5) Connecticut
Temple (-10) Tulsa
Memphis (-9) Houston
Georgia Tech (-4) Duke
Florida (+1.5) LSU
Mississippi State (+3) Auburn
Texas A&M (-2) Ole Miss
Baylor (-10) TCU

...keep in mind that it's our Fall Break this weekend, so the student section is going to look much like it did at the Dome, I would think. Only about 10-12% of our undergrads are from Louisiana.

I guess we couldn't push the conference to give us an away game or bye week during Fall Break (or Voodoo weekend, for that matter) when we were so determined to get a conference road game in week 1 after we had to move SELA from 8/31 to 9/13 because of the Yulman construction schedule. So, don't jump to the conclusion that the students have given up on the program/stadium so soon, they have not.

This post was edited on 10/9 12:42 PM by jjstock2005

Really nice job Guerry. Thanks

Guerry- You've been doing a great job following the football team this year. With the "bye week" and fewer practices, is there any chance you could slip over to Turchin and see what's going on? With the publication of an upgraded baseball schedule, our team needs to be much better than last year.

Thanks

Although Tanner Lee did not practice again today in the hour that I was there, CJ did not close the door on him playing, at lead publicly.

The reality is Lee won't play except in an emergency, but clearly CJ does not want UConn to know for sure. Montana will get the call --he's had an extra bounce in his step all week long--and Powell will be ready if needed.

CJ's telling quote came about a minute after he refused to rule Lee out:

"Tanner has to show me that he can throw it enough to run this offense, and I've seen a couple of plays and nothing to indicate he can run this thing like we want him to."

Offensive coordinator Eric Price toed the party line and professed a little more optimism about Lee, who did not get a single rep in any of the three practices I watched this week. Again, I've never seen a college team that played a quarterback who got zero reps in practice during the week.

"I think Tanner's feeling a lot better," Price said. "He'll be back soon."

Price praised Montana and Powell's performance in practice and said the offense would not change with either of them at the helm.

"We'll tweak the offense a little bit each week based on who we're playing anyway," he said. "The run game and some of the screen game stuff has really helped us this year. It took some pressure off Tanner originally, but it will not necessarily change for any specific quarterback."

Montana and Powell certainly should be ready for UConn. They've gotten all the reps any No. 1 or No. 2 QB get before a game, with the reps divided a little more evenly between them than they were between Lee and Powell in weeks past.

"It's pretty common throughout the country--if the starting quarterback gets hurt, next man up," Price said. "We have a plan. We had a plan before that happened. They've had a good two weeks of practice, so it's kind of business as usual right now."

Powell threw a pretty deep touchdown pass to Xavier Rush against the scout team defense, and Montana threw a nice fade to Devon Breaux for a score a little later on. Montana was good on the fade passes early last year before hurting his throwing shoulder. He was effective at times in the red zone, throwing 14 touchdown passes.

He's raring to go.

"I didn't get any reps before the last two weeks," he said. "I just come out and play and try to do my best and let the cards fall where they are going to fall. I'm trying to make up for lost time as quickly as I can."

In other news, CJ said long snapper Mike Lizanich likely will not play Saturday. That was one significant hamstring pull he had in warm-ups against Duke, and although CJ said replacement snapper Matt Marfisi was getting better every day, I saw at least five terrible field goal snaps on Tuesday and Wednesday, all of which bounced to holder Peter Picerelli.

Nick Montana continue to get most of the reps with the first-team offense Wednesday while Tanner remained an observer, making it even more likely that Montana will start against Connecticut on Saturday. CJ was non-committal after practice, but there's no reason for him tip his plans to the Huskies with Tulane desperately needing a victory against a fellow 1-4 team.

Montana did not have as good a day as he did Tuesday, and Devin Powell looked better than he did Tuesday, but it would be a major shock if Powell got the call over Montana presuming Lee can't go. The coaches appeared very frustrated with Powell at the end of his final possession in relief of Lee during Tulane's 31-6 loss to Rutgers, and they liked the way Montana got rid of the ball on his lone series.

The kicking battle appears clear, too, although, again, CJ was non-committal after practice. Andrew DiRocco had his best day that I have observed, nailing field goals from 35 and 40 yards at the end of a drill while Steven Broccoli was wide right from 35 yards and hit the right upright from 40 yards. After DiRocco's 40-yard kick, defensive backs and special teams coach Jason Rollins shouted words of encouragement, telling him the kick would have been good from 50.

DiRocco said he benefitted from the presence of former Tulane kicker Cairo Santos Tuesday and Wednesday and was in a better place mentally after going home to Florida over the weekend during the Wave's bye week.

"Having Cairo here was a great benefit to our performance in the future," he said. "He was really outstanding with (telling us) the same situations he has been through, most kickers have been through. It's a rough time but he's really just helping keep positive. Letting you know that I am here for a reason.Over the bye week I went home, talked to some old coaches, really got back in touch with being myself the same way I did. It really just helped.

Whatever the reason, his kicks looked a lot better Wednesday after getting

"I showed myself and obviously I can do it because that's how I got here --which I never doubted but it's just nice to hear that from somebody else so I just have to play like I deserve it and I do," he said.

Neither kicker made 42-yard attempts during a 2-minute drill a little later, but both snaps were terrible. DiRocco sent his attempt wide right after Matt Marfisi's snap bounced to holder Peter Picerelli, and Broccoli missed left after an even worse snap bounced to Picerelli. Until Tulane cleans up its snapping operation, the kickers have no shot, and regular snapper Michael Lizanich was unavailable again Wednesday. He hurt his leg in warmups against Duke and has not played since then.

Sam Scofield and Taurean Nixon had interceptions against the scout-team offense for a secondary that wants to atone for a dismal performance against Rutgers. An anemic pass rush did not help, but Scofield, Darion Monroe and Lorenzo Doss (more than once in his case) were flat out beaten for long gains. UConn, though, does not have a quarterback like Gary Nova, who is making up for a previously mediocre career by torching secondaries this year for Rutgers. He threw for 402 yards in a win over Michigan the week after beating Tulane.

"We're excited," Scofield said. "We've been watching a lot of film and running hard at practice. We're definitely ready to get back on the field and show people who we are."

LB Robert Kennedy of the scout team defense wore a red jersey to simulate UConn LB Marquise Vann, who has 16 more tackles than any of his teammates (52). The coaches want to make sure the offense is aware of Vann at all times.

Freshman tight end Tre Scott, who can get open but has yet to catch a pass this year because of shaky hands, dropped a touchdown in 11-on-11 drills that turned into an interception off his deflection. Either he has started letting his drops in games affect his confidence or he just doesn't have good hands.

For all of CJ's quotes after practice, check the Q&A on the front page.

I wrote it last week and feel even stronger now that Nick Montana will get his first start of the season Saturday against Connecticut. He took most of the reps with the first team today in practice, and Tanner Lee did not get any during seven-on-seven or 11-on-11 drills. Devin Powell got about a third of the reps with the first team.

CJ said he would not make a decision until Wednesday or Thursday, but unlike before the Southeastern Louisiana game, when he was adamant that Lee would play if ready, his word choice has been different this week. I think they know Lee will not be ready but don't want to tip off Connecticut, although nothing is official there.

CJ confirmed Tuesday that freshman LB Zachery Harris is out for the year after having knee surgery last week. Don't believe what you read if you access the depth charts at the Tulane website--it has Harris as the starting strong side linebacker this Saturday.

Freshman linebacker Rae Juan Marbley stood in the corner of the field by himself for the entire practice, but he was not being disciplined for breaking a rule. CJ said he had pink eye and they wanted to make sure no one else got infected. The running backs had the same issue in preseason camp.

ESPN cameras were at practice today because Tulane is participating in an ESPN All-Access feature that likely will air next Tuesday. CJ was miked up for the entire practice. Asked if he had to be careful what he said, he pointed out he never curses anyway so he was OK there.

Cairo Santos attended practice and actually worked with the kickers extensively when they moved to the practice field outside of the stadium to do individual work. I caught up with him after practice and will post the full interview later today.

Here was the full interview we conducted with Montana after practice:

How did practice go?

"It was good. It was good to get back to normal-week preparation. We're obviously pushing tempo and getting guys moving, so it was good."

Is it a blessing that you had two weeks to get ready for UConn?

"Yes, definitely. We're coming off a tough game versus Rutgers, and having a bye week always helps preparation for everyone mentally and physically."

Do you expect to play Saturday?

"I hope so. It's out of my hands, so I'm just always preparing like I am playing but you just never know."

How tough was it to go from starter to third string, and how did you manage to keep a positive attitude?

"No one wants to be in that situation, but you just have to keep playing. You can only control what you can control, so we just have to keep going and keep going every day with the mindset that you might get a shot. I'm just really excited to get the opportunity."

When you get in there and you're playing with the first string, is it like getting back on the horse?

"Yeah, for sure. It's more just excitement. When I got in against Rutgers I was just really excited to be in. I felt good."

You played a lot of games with a damaged shoulder last year. How good does it feel to be back at full strength?

"It definitely gives you a lot more confidence knowing you can make throws now, so I'm just thankful for that."

How tough was it for you last year when you couldn't make all the throws but had to keep playing?

"It's difficult when you're seeing things and just can't get it there all the time. You're trying harder and harder and it's just getting worse and worse."

When did you set up your offseason workouts with Phil Simms, and how did that go?

"Right after spring. I just completely changed my motion. I don't have that long delivery anymore, and compacted it and made everything quicker and smoother."

Usually that's a tough transition. Was it easy for you?

"It was difficult at first, but if you keep doing reps and keep pushing it, it just comes naturally."

Where does the new throwing motion help you the most?

"Definitely on longer balls towards the sideline and down the field. It feels completely different."

How many times did you work with him?

"About three or four times probably. We got after it when I was there (in New Jersey), but a lot of it was just on my own, too, just taking what he had shown me. It was just me and him out there. He was like, try this, try that."

Did you think you would get another chance?

"Well, you see every week unfortunate injuries to people. It's college football. You never know what's going to happen, so you just keep a positive mindset and just keep pushing."

Will you get rid of the ball quicker based on your experience last year?

"Yes. I definitely want to get it out of my hands and not take as many sacks and hits as I did last year."

Cairo Santos was at practice today and was working with the kickers. How much can that help a struggling freshman like Andrew DiRocco?

It's got to be great for Andrew. He's got to soak it up like a sponge hopefully. Hopefully Cairo will work some magic."

This was probably the worst week ever for us as a group, starting with Tulane's disappointing showing at Rutgers. Aside from Temple over Connecticut, the majority was wrong on every game. Ole Miss beat Memphis by 21, hitting the point spread. Everybody gets credit for a half-point there but I'm not listing it in the standings here (have in my official spread sheet in case it matters at the end).

No pick 'em this week with Tulane off.

GretnaGreen 6
dew99 6

LSU Law Greenie 4
Guerry Smith 4
Golfer81 4

winwave 3
DrBox 3
Rcnut 3

MNAlum 2
ny oscar 2
St. Amant Wave 2
captcrown1 2

jjstock2005 1
buck2481 1
p8kpev 1
Wavetime 1

WaveOn 0


OVERALL STANDINGS

dew99 28

GretnaGreen 26

DrBox 23

p8kpev 22

jjstock2005 21
buck2481 21

Golfer81 20 (missed 1 week)

LSU Law Greenie 18
captcrown1 18
winwave 17
Guerry Smith 17
Wavetime 17

WaveOn 15
St. Amant Wave 15

MNAlum 13 (missed 1 week)

Rcnut 11
ny oscar 11 (missed 1 week)

OUG 10 (missed 1 week)

Ressinge 9 (missed 2 weeks)

Let's start by pointing out the horrendous announcing. Somehow, Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway never commented or noticed Tulane getting a holding penalty on the opening kickoff that moved the ball from outside the Tulane 30 to the Tulane 9. I mean, they never noticed it while talking about Rutgers playing without its starting RB. I've never seen anything like it, but Mowins did manage to call Tulane "Temple" in the exchange.

Other points

1) The trend for the day was set on the first play, when Lazedrick Thompson was met by about four red shirts at the 11. Tulane actually ran better than I expected, but aside from Sherman Badie's spectacular 87-yard TD run, the Wave lost the battle at the line of scrimmage most of the time. It was a bad opening possession. A screen on second down had no chance, and a draw to Thompson on third down showed the coaches did not trust the offense. Not saying it was a bad call, but it was a conservative call.

2) Tulane's defense should have stopped Rutgers on its opening drive. Ater stuffing a run on the first play, the Wave got victimized by a dump-off to a running back when Nico Marley lost his balance going for a sack and Eric Thomas had to cover two receivers in the flat. He chose the tight end and ignored the RB, allowing him to gain 18 yards. After another first down run went nowhere, Royce LaFrance got pushed out of the way on an 7-yard run to set up a third-and-1. Marley had terrific penetration to bust up the third-down play. The Wave had the fourth-down play stuffed, too, but Parry Nickerson bounced off a tackle after knifing through, allowing Rutgers to pick up the first down. A nice throw and catch on a comeback route on Lorenzo Doss moved the ball to the 10, where Marley blew up another play to create a second-and-13, but Ade Aruna and Edward Williams were blocked effectively on a sweep that gained 10 yards, setting up third-and-goal at the 3. Doss should have been in position to stop the third-down pass, but he moved forward, apparently hoping for an interception, and watched the ball sail over his head for a touchdown.

Analysis: at the time I thought Tulane's D was going to have a good day. It gave up a few plays but was getting good penetration and blew an opportunity to stop Rutgers on fourth-and-1 and blew another opportunity to force a field goal when Doss made his mistake. Boy, was I wrong.

3) Thompson picked up a first down with a nice hard run on third-and-short on Tulane's second series. A screen to Badie would have picked up more if Colton Hanson had not inexplicably stopped to block an inside guy instead of continuing to run outside. Chris Taylor then got beat badly for a sack, killing that possession. Badie then almost converted a first down on a short dump off, but as he tends to do at times, he made himself too easy to tackle after making two guys miss. He needed to gather himself and lunge forward. The thing is, no one else would have come even close to getting the first down.

Analysis: It had the potential for a good drive, but Taylor's whiff ruined it.

4) Tulane's defense began to break down quirky. After a 9-yard run on 1st down, Rutgers beat Darion Monroe deep down the sideline when he took a poor angle and did not have as much speed as the guy he was covering. Nothing much else needs to be said. Monroe just misplayed it. On the next snap, Sam Scofield let a guy get past him when he played to shallow and could not catch up to him as Gary Nova made a nice throw on the run for a touchdown. Too easy.

Analysis: This wasn't youth. Monroe and Scofield got beaten on consecutive plays, and Tulane already was in T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

5) On Tulane's next snap, two Rutgers linemen were virtually untouched to blow up first down. No idea what happened there. Lee was pressured into a throwaway incompletion before throwing a gorgeous rope down the middle of the field to Teddy Veal, who broke three tackles before being dragged down at the Rutgers 39. This was Lee at his best, making a throw few recent Tulane QBs could make while under heavy duress. Hanson pulled and made a nice block to spring Thompson for 5 yards. Veal then was called for an illegal block in the back that was 1 yard past the line of scrimmage before Badie gained 12 on a screen, stepping out of bounds a yard short of the first down as the first quarter ended. A Rutgers DT then split Hanson and Nathan Shienle to stuff Thompson on third down before Sean Donnelly drove his guy to the ground on fourth down, clearing the way for Thompson to get a first down. Lee hit James for 13 yards, moving the ball to the 12 before another flag hurt Tulane. Matt Marfisi and Veal were called for a chop block away from the ball on a Badie run to the 5, moving the ball all the way back to the 24. A pass into coverage in the end zone wasn't close, and Lee held the ball far too long on third down, taking a sack all the way back at the 36. Still not sure exactly when Lee got hurt.

Analysis: Another penalty killed Tulane. Without that chop block, it would have been third-and-3 at the 5 with a real chance for a touchdown. Instead, the Wave had to punt.

6) After a Peter Picerelli punt was downed at the 1, Tulane stuffed the first play and had Rutgers in third-and-4 before the play that ended the day, with Doss letting a receiver get inside of him and then making little effort to tackle him at the 22. Good-bye. Everyone in the Tulane secondary was clearly slower than Andrew Turzilli, the receiver, who created more separation with each step on his way to a 93-yard TD.

Analysis: Another DB got beaten inside, but then Doss made an even bigger mistake, flailing with one arm instead of going for the tackle. A preseason All-America candidate can't make a mistake like that.

When Devin Powell went out on the field for an injured Lee on the next series, the rest of the game became irrelevant. Tulane had no chance, but immediately, Shienle was called for a snap infraction.

7) On Rutgers' next possession, which started at the Tulane 41, the defense finally came up with a stop. Doss busted up a screen for a loss. Nico Marley then made a nice open-field tackle to force a punt.

Analysis: The defense was playing pretty well, except of course, when it wasn't on the three huge pass plays in a row that created TDs No. 2 and 3. That's what made this performance even more frustrating. Tulane's reputed strength became its weakness.

8) Let's pause for a moment to recognize Badie's awesomeness in the open field. Taking a simple handoff from the 14, he cut outside and was gone by the time he got past a defender at the Tulane 30. No one was catching him as he accelerated past everyone with ease. Then, of course, Andrew DiRocco banged the extra point off the left upright despite a good snap and hold.

Analysis: Badie received good blocks from fullback Dante Butler, guard Chris Taylor and Donnelly to spring him.

9) Rutgers ran well early on its next drive, but Scofield timed a blitz perfectly to get a sack and Nico Marley blew up a short pass unblocked. Nova then threw a pass after going two yards past the line of scrimmage. That set up a Tulane 2-minute drill that featured by far the best run of Powell's career, a 23-yarder that was 13 yards longer than his previous career best, prompting an unintentionally humorous comment from Galloway that Powell provided a running threat unlike Lee. Well, on that play he did.

Analysis: When I say that DiRocco saps the energy of everyone around him, this is what I'm talking about. Tulane should have been down 21-10 at the half, but instead the score was 21-6 after his missed extra point and his terrible 36-yard field goal attempt right before the half. Mowins called him DiRicco before the field goal. His kick was at least five yards wide left and never had a chance, so Tulane entered the locker room disappointed rather than happy.

The second half was uneventful, except for Powell maybe playing himself out of the backup role, which will be significant if Lee is not ready to play against UConn. Nick Montana may not be done yet. The defense wore down a little earlier than you'd like to see but did not break down, allowing 10 points while the offense never picked up two first downs on the same drive after the break.



















This post was edited on 10/1 4:41 PM by Guerry Smith

Nola.com broke this story last night, with RB Nigel Anderson of East St. John committing to Tulane. Anderson (6-0, 202) had offers from Arizona State, East Carolina, ULL and La Tech among others and will join former East St. John players Darion Monroe, Daren Williams and Leonard Davis at Tulane. He is rated the No. 50 RB in the country by Rivals.com. Of the players on the roster, only Darion Monroe (23), Edward Williams (27), Kenneth Santa Marina (34), Chris Taylor (38) and Rae Juan Marbley (43) were rated higher at their position when they signed with Tulane.

Anderson had 18 carries for 187 yards in a 50-19 win over South Lafourche last Friday, including an 85-yard TD run. He also rushed for 105 yards and the winning TD in a 15-14 victory over Scotlandville while also getting action at QB in that game due to an injury to the starter. East St. John is 2-2, but its losses came to the top-ranked team in Class 3A, John Curtis, and the top-ranked team in Class 5A, Rummel. Anderson had 62 yards on 15 carries in the 39-0 loss to Rummel, which has a stout defense.



This post was edited on 10/2 3:12 PM by Guerry Smith

This post was edited on 10/2 3:18 PM by Guerry Smith

With Tulane off, this is a good weekend to sit in front of the television and watch what is easily the best weekend of college football so far. Whether the wife and kid actually let me do that is another story entirely, but here's my quick take on the biggest games.

1) LSU-Auburn

I like Auburn because LSU's defense is suspect against the run, but I will say this--no one has defended Gus Malzahn's spread option better than LSU's staff. LSU beat Auburn fairly comfortably last year and its only loss in recent years was to the unstoppable Cam Newton national champion. One other thing. While I agree with the consensus the SEC West is loaded like no division in recent memory, it's still conjecture at this point. The best non-conference wins from those seven teams are LSU over Wisconsin, Alabama over West Virginia and Auburn over Kansas State. They haven't played a truly elite team.

2) Mississippi State-Texas A&M

I like Mississippi State but I'm not sure whether either of these teams are legit West contenders despite their impressive starts. Texas A&M is better defensively but still mediocre and can't possibly be as good offensively without Johnny Football. The Aggies should have lost to Arkansas at home last Saturday. Mississippi State was very impressive at LSU, but that was a rare big skin for coach Dan Mullen. I've always been skeptical of his Bulldog teams, and this would be a good time for him to shut me up.

3) Ole Miss-Alabama

I like 'Bama but am not convinced about this one. Even though Ole Miss has been erratic offensively, I think the Rebels are better than Mississippi State and Texas A&M, with more speed on both sides of the ball. The Rebels D is nasty. Alabama put up awesome number against Florida but this will be a much better test for the new QB.

4) Notre Dame-Stanford

I'm glad I'm not doing an official pick 'em this week because all of these game are hard. I guess I like Notre Dame because of Golston at QB, but Stanford is more talented from top to bottom and has an outstanding D. I've always felt the Stanford coach was far too conservative, keeping teams in games that the Cardinal should beat easily, and when in doubt, I usually go with the more dynamic offense. That's Notre Dame, but I wouldn't be surprised if Stanford won like 24-9, either.

5) Oklahoma-TCU

If TCU is legitimately good, I think it shocks Oklahoma tomorrow. The Sooners survived a tough road game at West Virginia and now have another on, I think. It's hard to gauge TCU considering its levee of competition, but if the defense is back to what it was a few years ago, Oklahoma's offense will have issues.

6) Arizona-Oregon

I have a hunch the Wildcats will win, something like 31-24. Oregon has two tackles out with injuries and the lousy Pac-10 refs will find a way to hurt the Ducks even though its contrary to the conference's interests, giving RichRod his second consecutive win over the league's top program.

This isn't coming from CJ or Montana or any source.

It's coming from my eyes and common sense. While Tanner Lee sat out practice today with the shoulder injury he sustained against Rutgers (CJ would not reveal the extent of the injury, specifically saying he wants UConn to be uncertain what will happen), Montana took almost all of the reps with the first-team offense today while Devin Powell worked with the scout team.

Although CJ and QB coach Aaron Price were non-committal, CJ did say Montana graded out better than Powell against Rutgers in his one series at the end of the game and Price heaped praise on Montana for his improved arm strength since the start of spring practice.

Reading between the lines, which is pretty easy to do after observing practice, Montana will start if Lee is not ready, and I don't think Lee will be ready.

We're on the verge of cracking this list.



http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=11619393&sr

Read the sports info story on the front page for the details, but here's Tulane's 2015 baseball schedule.

Link

It's Taron Oliver, a 6-9, 250-pound center who is rated three stars by ESPN but has not been assigned any stars by Rivals.com yet. He plays AAU ball for Team Takeover in Maryland. One of his teammates, Franklin Howard, is a 4-star commit to Syracuse. Another, Justin Jenifer, is a 3-star commit to Cincinnati. South Florida offered all five starters scholarships more than a year ago.

EDIT Oliver played for three high schools. As a freshman he was at Bell Multicultural in Maryland before transferring to private school Montrose Christian for his sophomore year, then moving on to Riverdale Baptist as a junior. Rivals has him listed at Montverde Academy in Florida for his senior year, but that's wrong and I will try to get it corrected. His dad says he is back at Montrose Christian.

He averaged 13.4 points as a freshman. His dad says he averaged 9.5 points or so as a junior.

The fall signing period is from Nov. 12 to Nov. 19.

Here's an interesting link to a Washington Post story about his high-powered AAU coach.


This post was edited on 9/30 12:50 PM by Guerry Smith

This post was edited on 10/3 10:03 AM by Guerry Smith

This post was edited on 10/3 10:04 AM by Guerry Smith

Link

Brace yourselves for a 2-10 season, if we get lucky in a game. We will lose to UCF, Cincinnati, Houston & ECU. We may have a chance against UConn, Memphis & Temple, but don't hold your breath. TU is a poorly coached, listless, & uninspired football team that embarrasses itself and TU every time it takes the field. This coaching staff has done little to correct the mistakes and it is necessary to make some sweeping changes to this staff @ the end of the season. Special teams are a complete fiasco and need to be completely retooled @ season's end with scholarships being
pulled and certain people being sent on their way. CJ had better quit trying to be a nice guy and get tough on the coaches and especially players. Wonder what any future recruits think about TU @ this time? If this keeps up, in 2 years, Yulman will be too large.

I still believe in Tulane's potential to have a good year despite its 1-3 start, but here are a few concerns that have arisen this week other than the obvious nightmare in the kicking game:

1) Kansas rushed for 204 yards against Duke the week before Tulane gained 231 yards on the ground against the Blue Devils.

A lot of us are hanging our hat on Tulane's drastic offensive line improvement from last year. While there's no doubt the group is better, it's also clear that Duke stinks at stopping the run. Rutgers is very good against the run, having held Navy to 171 yards a few weeks after the Middies rolled through Ohio State for 370 yards on the ground. If there are no holes tomorrow, Tanner Lee will be in a lot of second-and-long situations, which isn't good. I love his ability and self-belief, but his confidence has to be shaken a little bit by what has happened the past few weeks.

2) On a related note, when I asked CJ about Lazedrick Thompson establishing himself as a big-time back against Duke, he was less than glowing in his response. Granted, coaches don't always give an honest answer, nor should they. They have to consider how the particular player reacts to getting a lot of love and respond accordingly, but here was CJ's entire response:

"I'm pretty confident with him as a player, but sometimes we get in these games where it's just not his game. He's a runner, he's a battering ram, he's the hold-the-clock, keep-the-possession fo the ball and bleed the clock, and sometimes we're playing from behind. I always felt he was one of those guys in the right situation. The Tulsa game everything was so open, it was Sherman's game. Each of those guys will have games. I just like what the running backs are doing. David's doing a great job with them."

That's right out of the Sean Payton spread-the-wealthy playbook when it comes to running backs, but I'm trying to figure out if there ever has been a game in history that did not call for a guy who could explode between the tackles with authority and run people over. Plus, Tulane was behind for almost the entire game Saturday and still used Thompson heavily. Seems to me he needs the ball at least 10 times every single game and probably more.

3) Darion Monroe was really, really good when he talked to us at the Tuesday luncheon. You can see most of his Q&A on the Nola.com website because Tammy posted it. In fact, if I were to draw up a model of the perfect student-athlete, Monroe would be that guy. He's a good player, he's smart, he gets it, he cares and he keeps everything in the right perspective. But when I asked him about Duke's 50-yard run on its opening drive when it inserted its wildcat QB, here's what he said:

"(The QB) made a good play. The play was where the guards pull and Nico was reading this guard and I was also reading the guard, if the guard pulls, we go to the guard and there was a hole that opened up on the backside and instead of going to the hole and following his back, he went to the backside and he found a hoel and it was open. He made a great play. But we all were where we were supposed to be, that was our guys."

I don't know. I saw three guys (Monroe, Marley and defensive end Tyler Gilbert) get suckered inside by a good play fake from a guy they had to know was probably going to keep the ball, the sole reason he was in the game. Monroe showed excellent effort to run him down to keep the play from going all the way, but good defenses should never give up that long a run on the opening possession if everyone is playing his assignment correctly, as Monroe asserted. This Tulane defense simply is not as stout as last year's.

4) Southeastern Louisiana lost to SE Missouri State last Saturday. Relying on comparative scores is unreliable because teams do not play the same way each week, and the Lions had to have some of their confidence taken away from them when Tulane absolutely stuffed their read option, but still. SE Missouri State had lost to Southern Illinois 50-23 a week earlier before driving the length of a field for a late TD to edge SLU 24-23. I knew the talk about SLU being the most talented team Tulane would face was hogwash, but it was easier to call that a good win before the Lions fell flat on their face against SE Missouri St. Using even sillier comparative scores, we could point out SLU beat McNeese State 41-7 last year and McNeese State nearly took Nebraska to OT earlier this year. There's a chance SLU is average this year, even at its own level.

If Tulane plays relatively mistake-free football tomorrow, we'll get a much better read on the Green Wave's status. I'm just not confident that will happen.

What are your thoughts? Are you confident? Concerned? Pessimistic?

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

Rutgers (-12) Tulane
Connecticut (+6) Temple
South Carolina (--5) Missouri
Texas A&M (-9.5) Arkansas
Miami (-7) Duke
Ohio State (-17) Cincinnati
Ole Miss (-21) Memphis
Georgia (-17) Tennessee

Congrats to buck2481 for getting eight points a week when most of us got four. Also, a couple of you missed picking a game. Make sure you have eight picks each week.

buck2481 8
GretnaGreen 6
dew99 6
Wavetime 6
DrBox 5
Golfer81 5
MNAlum 4
WaveON 4
jjstock 2005 4
winwave 4
OUG 4
St. Amant Wave 4
p8kpev 4
captcrown1 4
Ressinge 3
LSU Law Greenie 3
Guerry Smith 3
Rcnut 3


OVERALL STANDINGS

Dew99 22

p8kpev 21

jjstock 2005 20
buck2481 20
Gretna Green 20
DrBox 20

captcrown1 16
Wavetime 16
Golfer81 16 (missed 1 week)

WaveOn 15

LSU Law Greenie 14
winwave 14

St. Amant Wave 13
Guerry Smith 13

MNAlum 11 (missed 1 week)

OUG 10

Ressinge 9 (missed 1 week)
ny oscar 9 (missed 1 week)

Rcnut 8

This one will be short because I got a call from my 4-year-old's school this morning that he was sick and had to be picked up. Couldn't find any relatives to take him on short notice, so he got a tour of Yulman Stadium during practice and was in my arms during the CJ interview. Special thanks to Carlos Wilson, who before leaving practice a few minutes early to go to class handed a football to my son and played "catch" with him for a minute, then let him keep the football for the rest of the practice. Wilson is a class guy.

It is amazing to me how many played have to to leave practice early for classes. CJ insists it is not an issue, and the players have said the same thing. Today, Ed Williams left about 20 minutes early for a test. So did Nick Montana, Tristan Cooper and Wilson, but at least that trio is not slated to play.

Look for a joint feature with the Rutgers site tomorrow with us answering about six questions apiece previewing the game with a prediction.

Here's the transcript of the interview Tammy and I had with CJ:

How was practice today and overall this week?

"I thought it was really good. We had another good week of practice. I really liked yesterday. On Tuesday I didn't think we hustled as much on the offensive line and different positions. Yesterday and today I thought we really hustled, we really played and practiced well, we caught the ball well. These freshmen are catching it well. (Terren) Encalade and Leondre (James) are doing a great job. Ed Williams had another good week of practice."

How much more comfortable do you feel now than you did when coached your first game here against Rutgers?

"I feel a lot more comfortable with what we are doing. That was the first game ever. I didn't know half the players' names back the, so this is a little bit different."

Last year you had a rough fourth game against Syracuse where a lot of self-inflicted errors distorted the score just like on Saturday against Duke. You then won four in a row. Are there some parallels there?

"Here's the difference with last year's team and this year's team. Last year's team was a little bit older and more mature. You had (Chris) Davenport and (Julius) Warmsley and guys that had been in the program. Even Jordan Sullen had been in the program for a long time. You had a bunch of guys that were in the program, so you had some strong leadership. One of our best leaders now, (Darion) Monroe, is a young kid, (Nico) Marley is a young kid. You have to say Tanner is a leader, he's the quarterback, very, very young kid, not only on the field but young kid as a player, so we have a bunch of young kids that are trying to do something major."

Charles Jones has not had a catch the past two games. What is happening with him?

"The last game wasn't his game. I thought he did outstanding blocking. He's one guy that you want to do play-action and do stuff like that, but when you fall behind and have one-tight personnel or no tight ends, it was just one of those games where it wasn't his call."

Does Rene Fleury have a minor injury?

"He had a little hamstring. He ran down on special teams and pulled a hamstring on the first kickoff, so he's probably out this one."

Can you experiment with tempo a little bit on offense and go faster?

"No, I thought it was good. I thought the tempo was great today. I don't want to give my game plan out, but I thought the tempo was really, really good. We had to run a couple of plays over because the defense wasn't set where we wanted, but the tempo has been good all week."

Your receivers have done a good job in packages getting on and off the field. Can you talk about that?

"They are playing well, especially these young kids are starting to understand their role. Encalade and Leondre James are really catching the ball well for us. They are doing a great job getting in and out and they are blocking very well, too, so I like what these young kids are doing."

Who are some Rutgers players to watch?

"Look, the two defensive ends for sure. Both of those guys, they are sack leaders. This No. 3 (linebacker Steve Longa) is an outstanding player. This little back is a pretty good player. The receivers are good. The quarterback is going to manage the game and he's very accurate. Defensively, if you look at the two defensive ends and the linebacker, they are a great team."

How did Tanner look?

"He looked good. He looked real good."

Special teams?

"Looked pretty good. We didn't miss a kick today. The operation was really good. Matt (Marfisi) snapped well. (Mike) Lizanich didn't snap with the team, but hopefully we can see if he can do something tomorrow. If not, then it will be Matt."

... wishing for a speedy and complete recovery

This post was edited on 9/9 9:26 PM by DaveyButtons