Using the same defensive game plan Shiel Wood had against UTSA when he coached at Troy last year, Tulane made quarterback Frank Harris look very average tonight, containing him on the ground and making him prove he could beat the Wave with his arm, which he could not do.

The offense consisted of Makhi Hughes, Chris Brazzell and nothing else, but it was good enough for Tulane to ride five turnovers to a comfortable 29-16 win against the mistake-prone Roadrunners, who were not up to the challenge of defeating a top-level AAC team after feating on the bottom half of the league in their first seven games.

SMU is next, and while Tulane will need more production in the passing game, it will have an advantage up front on both sides of the ball in my opinion, and that's where most games are won. Preston Stone will throw a lot better than Harris did, but I like Tulane's chances playing at home.

Willie Fritz, Makhi Hughes, Chris Brazzell and Tyler Grubbs spoke after the big win.

FRITZ

"Really proud of the guys. Just got done telling them we did an excellent job of complementary football. Great coverage with the kickoff team. They finally quit trying to take them out. I think we got them on 13- and the 15-yard line (actually the 14 on the first one) and made them go long fields. Defensively we bent a little bit but we didn't break. We made some big plays when we had to. The other big play in the kicking game obviously was the onside kick recovery (by Kam Pedescleaux) that iced the game. Offensively we weren't in synch all the time but made the plays when we needed to. I don't know what time of possession was, but I assume we had pretty good time of possession (Actually, UTSA had the ball for 31:42 to Tulane's 28:18). That's a really dangerous quarterback. He's a really good player. I think he's thrown for over 11,000 yards or something like that (11,660 entering this game). We did a nice job minimizing his effectiveness. He didn't rush for very many yards and for the most part we kept him in the pocket, so a really good job by the defense, offense and kicking game and we're on to next week, so we're very happy about it."

On Shiel Wood making Frank Harris look average twice in 12 months at two different schools:

"I talked to him about a couple of days ago. I didn't watch last year's game (between Troy and UTSA in the Cure Bowl). You get to this point in the season and you have 11 games to watch I said how similar are they to what they did last year in the bowl game against you, and he said exactly the same. We changed some stuff up, but we didn't change a whole lot. We ran a lot of the same concepts he did a year ago, and he did a great job of preparing our guys."

On Makhi Hughes season high:

"He's just a great back. He breaks a lot of tackles. Sometimes what isn't noticed is when he gets back to the line of scrimmage. They get some penetration and we don't get a hat on a hat and it could have been a loss of 3 and all of the sudden it's second-and-10. That's a big play. He also made a couple of tough 1- or 2-yard gains when there wasn't a whole lot blocked. Everybody always remembers the big ones, but he also does a good job of getting the tough yards and making it second-and-8 when he gets 4 or 5. Now you're in a situation where you probably can go for it twice, so an excellent job by Makhi."

On significance of back-to-back championship games:

"Well they are very excited about it. This is a goal of ours obviously when the season begins to be conference champs, and we're in a position to play next week for that opportunity. We've talked earlier in the year about goals we have and then we just throw it away and worry about the task at hand and go 1-0 each week. They've done a very good job of really focusing each week and not worrying about the end game. If we didn't have this outcome tonight, we wouldn't be playing next week. Great job by the guys. The moment wasn't too big for them. We just talked about keep playing. There was a series last week where FAU went 19 plays and got no points and the guys just kept fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and finally finished it, and that's how you have to play the game. We did that in all three phases."

On keeping Harris from running:

"I don't know what we had yardage wise (13 carries for 28 yards; 10 carries for 51 yards factoring out sacks), but we did a nice job of hemming it up. He pulled it a couple of times and got a couple of big plays (longest gain: 10 yards), but when we collapsed the pocket, it made it tough on him. We had good, tight coverage downfield whether it was zone or man, and we did an excellent job of collapsing the pocket, and for the most part we did a good job of keeping him inside the pocket. The defensive line, and the linebackers when they were blitzing did an excellent job."

On answering failed fake punt by UTSA with successful one on next series:

"Really nice job by Chris Brazzell. They saw it. They subbed late, which was smart, and they saw that we had Kai (Horton) in there and Chris, but he did a really nice job of running a disciplined route, and the guy held the dog out of him and we ended up getting 3 points out of it."

On if Tulane embodies the Bill Parcells line about confidence being born out of demonstrated ability:

"We've got some clutch guys. There were a couple of times we needed plays by the offense, and they did it. The same thing with defense. That was a big stop down there at the end when they were inside the 20 and we got the stop, which was huge for us a couple of times."

On how that tips the balance:

"Well, I've heard coaches say it's a whole lot of nothing when they drive a long time and don't get any points out of it. It's big when you get a turnover on downs or you make them punt or you get a takeaway. I think we were plus-2 tonight on turnover/takeaway (actually plus-4). In my career as a coach I think I've won like 92 percent of my games when we were plus-1 or better. In that situation you've got a very good chance of winning."

On field goal at end of first half instead of running play on third-and-1 from 5 with 10 seconds left:

"We had a problem with that a couple of weeks ago (at ECU when the clock ran out after Pratt extended a play before Jha'Quan Jackson dropped a pass; a replay review restored a second) and I just wanted to take 3. We went a little long and threw it and got lucky and fortunate, so I just said hey, let's go ahead and let that be the last play of the half and get a field goal out of it and go on in. I didn't want to be too cute."

On if ever talk about going for repeat championship and making history:

"Sometimes we do talk about that. I make little jokes about it. Last year I talked about how USC was trying to get revenge against us for the '39 Rose Bowl. It's a very significant accomplishment by us, but we've got to win next week."





"

A big week for everyone who picked Tulane. The majority got seven of the eight games right, and the exception was 8 out of 17.

WEEK 11 RESULTS

8

roll wave
DrBox
ForeverTU

7

WaveON
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie
chigoyboy
winwave
Wavetime
paliii

6

diverdo
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
tacklethemanwiththefootball
Kettrade1

5

GretnaGreen

4

Guerry
3

charlamange8


OVERALL STANDINGS

54.5

chigoyboy
winwave

52.5

Wavetime

51.5

ForeverTU

50.5

paliii

49.5

charlamange8
2DatWuzAGoodDay2

48.5

WaveON
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie
roll wave
tacklethemanwiththefootball
Kettrade1

46.5

DrBox

44.5

Guerry

39.5

MNAlum (missed 1 week)

36.5

diverdo (missed 2 weeks)

33.5

GretnaGreen (missed 1 week)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane over FAU (13 of 17)
Memphis over SMU 13
Georgia over Tennessee 15
Clemson over North Carolina 11
Washington over Oregon State 11
Texas over Iowa State 14
UCLA over USC 8
Kansas over Kansas State 11

These were the players honored for Senior Day. Sincere Haynesworth chose not to participate since he walked last year.

Valentino Ambrosio
Tahir Annoor
Chris Carter
Casey Glover
AJ Hampton
Jha'Quan Jackson
Shedro Louis
Lawrence Keys
Ethan Marcus
Jarius Monroe
Kam Pedescleaux
Prince Pines
Michael Pratt
Lance Robinson
Reed Rutkowski
Darius Swanson
Noah Taliancich (chronic injury that won't get better)
Andrew Wilks
Cam Wire

Javion White and Armani Cargo, who already committed to Tulane, will be at the game along with one other player.

Trae Davis, 3-star, 6-1, 171-pound WR from Troup, Texas.

Skinny: He was committed to Washington State until last week and visited UTSA last weekend. Listed at athlete by Rivals but Tulane is recruiting him at wideout, where he made a lot of big plays this year.

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We're less than a month to early signing day and visitors at this time might actually mean something.

Roll Wave!!!

I've seen a few people mention that UTSA has some people out too. I haven't been able to find anything to confirm that. Anyone know if they do have some players out and if so, who they are? Thanks.

Man, I felt like crap today, so this update is late and short. Nothing new to report on the injury front. I do not think Rashad Green will play Friday, but I'm not certain. Angelo Anderson remains out along with Adonis Friloux on the defensive line, but the two big absences will be Lawrence Keys and Jha'Quan Jackson unless Jackson is declared ready Friday.

FRITZ

On David Harris as new AD:

"We're excited about David. I had a chance to visit with him this morning and have heard a lot of great things about him. He's a Louisiana native and he's going to be here at the game on Friday, so I want to welcome him in to Tulane."

On being prepared for anything Friday:

"Sometimes you just don't know the path to victory. I've had games where I thought it was going to be a high scoring and it was low scoring, and I've had games where I thought it was going to be low scoring and it was high scoring, so you just never know. Sometimes the game dictates your pace offensively. It does for your opponent as well. You never know."

On second in country in run D:

"It's big. Our defensive staff has done an excellent job of preparing our guys. We're taking advantage of what our guys do well. We've got really athletic defensive linemen, and they're moving a lot. It creates a lot of minus plays, and we're a good tackling team. We've done a great job with our run defense."

On onside kick:

"We defended it the right way. The first guy just didn't make the play. We always talk about rallying to the ball with our hands team all the time. The first guy's got to go get it."

On UTSA having extra time to prepare:

"Oh, that's the power of TV."

I also got transcribed the audio from UTSA coach Jeff Traylor's press conference. He was borderline hostile at first before coming around.

JEFF TRAYLOR

On mood of team:

It’s good. We’re excited. We got to practice in the rain a little bit this morning, the sun, the clouds. We had a little bit of everything out there today, so good work.

On mentality of game with championship stakes:

"We’ve got another football game we’re going to play Friday at 2:30. Nothing changes."

On him pushing the underdog mentality:

"Are we the underdog? I guess we’re the underdog."

On being 7-0 for third straight year and competing for title in AAC after doing it in CUSA:

"We don’t think about it. Whoever’s on the schedule, we line up and play them."

On Tulane as defending champion and getting to knock off throne:

"We don’t look at it that way. We’ve got a lot of respect for Willie Fritz and personally I do just from knowing him for a very long time, his historical climb in the coaching ranks and how he’s done it at every level. His team’s always looked the same. They’ve got really good players. They’ve got a very good quarterback who’s a championship leader and a really good tailback. Their line’s very well coached, good players. The receivers are very good. Defensively they are as good as anybody in the country—top 25 and No. 2 in rush defense—and they are very sound in special teams. They know how to win, so that’s the way we look at it."

On never having beaten ranked opponent:

"We wouldn’t even discuss it. We would just hopefully get to play the next week if we win."

On Frank Harris running big vs. South Florida when Bulls contained the running backs:

"That’s why you have a read on all those plays. When they over-commit to that, you pull it and you run for a long time."

On why Tulane’s D is good against run:

"Really good players. Their D-line looks like our D-line. They are big. They are physical. They are very well coached. They do a lot of things with their defense. They fit up correctly. They tackle very well. They’ve got a championship pedigree, and they are really good. It’s going to be a little dogfight. Every inch is going to seem like you’re fighting for your life Friday."

On running backs' shaky health:

"They are running backs. They are all banged up, but I’m sure Willie’s are, too. It’s just that time of year. Healthy teams don’t win championships. Tough ones do. We have to find a way to go out there and figure it out. Whoever’s ready, we’ll put them out there. We’ll play them."

On Harris running making offense tougher to stop:

"It’s a totally different element because you have to defend all the plus-one runs. I have a feeling everybody knew it was coming. They were just hoping it wasn’t last week. He’s getting healthier and healthier and healthier, and Pratt’s battled through, too. He’s played through some injuries as well. I can tell by the way he’s carried himself, but that’s two really tough quarterbacks that will lay it on the line for their team. It’s going to be a wonderful game with two great quarterbacks."

On advantage of having extra day to prepare than Tulane

"I don’t really know. Who knows? I’ll let you Friday about 6."

On Texas A&M interest being something to balance:

There’s nothing to balance. It’s about Frank Harris and the Roadrunners. That’s all there is to balance."

On if he interviewed with A&M:

"We play Friday at 2:30."

On getting school-record 643 yards against USF not being a surprise:

"I think I told y’all we were going to. If you go back and watch when y’all thought I was being a smart aleck and I was just telling y’all the truth."

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

Tulane (-3.5) UTSA
Oregon (-13.5) Oregon State
Michigan (-3.5) Ohio State
LSU (-11.5) Texas A&M
Auburn (+14.5) Alabama
Washington (-16.5) Washington State
Florida (+6.5) Florida State
North Carolina State (+3) North Carolina

Big game Guerry. Are you going to have one of those articles for this game?

That seems odd and will be a huge issue if Willie takes a job somewhere else. Dannen was out the door ASAP once he was named the new AD at Washington. We need Harris here this week and shaking hands and meeting folks at the game Friday.

Lawrence Keys and Jha'Quan Jackson did not practice today, and Willie Fritz ruled out Keys from playing against UTSA while saying Jackson still had a chance to be available. I would not count on it, though, meaning Tulane likely will face the Roadrunners with the same cast of characters as it had against FAU, making the task a little more diffcult but certainly surmountable.

Fritz, Shiel Wood, Michael Pratt and Makhi Hughes talked after practice today. It was a Tuesday after a win, and I chose cherry as my snoball flavor while waiting for the interviews to start.

FRITZ

"We've gone the last two years without losing a road game, and that's hard to do. We've won 10 in a row, and that's a heck of an accomplishment, and I didn't know until I came in the locker room and somebody told me about it. We won then all last year and now we've won them all this year, so that's a heck of an accomplishment for our program. Obviously a big game Friday against UTSA. I'm hoping we get a fantatic crowd out here. There are some similarities between the two programs in regards to the quarterback position. They've got a seventh-year guy, Frank Harris, who just had a phenomenal career at UTSA. He's thrown for over 10,000 yards, rushed for a bunch of yards. They didn't have him early in the year kind of like how we didn't have Michael early in the year, and they had some tough games, but they are on a roll, and so are we, so hopefully people come out and see two quality football teams play on Friday at 2:30."

On if he sees difference in team this year having been through big games last year:

"It might be some. It just seems like when somebody needs to make a play, we are getting someone to step up and make a play whether it's offense, defense or kicking game. We really try to put pressure on them at practice and stress them at practice. Sometimes that makes the games a little bit easier. We always talk about situational football, so the guys have been through all those different situations before. You see that come to life during games sometimes if guys do the things you talk about in meetings or work drills as a team in practice. We're not just running plays. Every play that we run out there has a down and distance and a field zone and a hash mark. We also talk about what the score of the game is. That's the other indicator of what you should be doing. We have some veteran guys who have been through the wars."

On if Keys and Jackson will be out this week:

"Lawrence is. I'm hoping Jha'Quan's going to be able to play."

On Shiel Wood having coached in bowl game against UTSA last year helping prep work:

"I think it does a little bit. I think their offensive coordinator was not with them when they played in the bowl game (last year's offensive coordinator had left; this year's offensive coordinator was in that role for the first time), so that makes things a little bit different, but Shiel went against them last year in the bowl game, so he does have some experience breaking down UTSA from last year to this year."

On needing to win to keep pace in conference with three undefeated teams:

"Yeah, it's been very competitive up at the top of the conference this year. It hasn't always been that way. There's been a little break in between two teams, sometimes one team, so yeah, there's a lot going on this last weekend."

On ability to maintain poise and edge in pressure situations:

"It helps us out. AFter we get done with the game, we move on to the next opponent and show them the things we did good and bad the week before and move on to the next team. I had a coach I worked for, and you have to take one day off and he said I take off Sunday and I asked him why and he said if you've won, you don't need to see it, and if you've lost, you don't want to see it. He's probably right, so he takes Sunday off and they come back on Monday and watch highlights of the game. But then the last half of the meeting is prepping for the opponent. We go out and review some mistakes we made in the game, install new plays for the upcoming opponent and move on."

On if 24 points would be good enough to win Friday:

"I don't know. You just never know. Our goal is to score one more than them."

On what makes Frank Harris special:

"Well, he's got excellent movement. He's a lefty, which is a little bit different. He's got very good movement, throws on the run well. There's not a whole lot you are going to throw at him that he hasn't seen a million times. He's a dual-threat guy. Sometimes you face a real good quarterback and he's more of a throw guy or he's more of a run guy. This guy can do it all. He's really talented."

On Chris Carter stepping up Saturday:

"Yeah, he really did. He's meant a lot. He transferred in here from South Florida. We recruited him a little bit coming out of high school and didn't know a whole lot about him. We needed some guys at that position, either a depth guy or a guy that could step up and play a bunch, and he's really learned what we're doing. It's taken him a little bit longer because our system is totally different than what he was used to at South Florida, but he's picked it up and been a very valuable player for us."

On reaction to new AD:

"I have not heard anything definitive about it, so I'm not going to comment until I all the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted. I've done this a few times, too, where I thought something was happening but it wasn't, so I'm going to wait until we get it all finished and welcome the guy with open arms or she, whoever it ends up being. I'm sure it's going to happen pretty quickly."

On if he knows David Harris:

"No."

On if having endorsed someone else makes this uncomfortable:

"No, it doesn't. I was asked a question while I was in here and I answered it. Heck, I think I put in my answer there that I don't make the decisions for the athletic department. I only do it for the football program. and we're excited about it. Anytime you get somebody new coming in here to your athletic department or university or whatever the case may be, you want to do a great job helping them make the adjustment."

On if it is easy for him to not get distracted when name comes up for other jobs:

"Yeah, it really is. I guess it's a blessing that it's happened to me a lot of times in different places over the years, and you hope you're in the conversation and people are noticing what you're doing good, but I stay away from all that and focus on the task at hand. It's easy for me. It's always been simple for me just to worry about what's going on and not worry about stuff that's imagined."

"

Finally, a comfortable victory. I don't have time to write anything else as a preamble to the quotes today, but we now know it will a play-in game to the AAC Championship Game next Friday against UTSA. Assuming SMU does. not leapfrog Tulane in Tuesday's college football playoff rankings--and I don't see that happening--Tulane will guarantee itself the host spot by beating UTSA. If it loses, it will be out of the championship game altogether unless SMU somehow loses at home to Navy. As a result, Tulane is in the exact same position it was in last year when it traveled to Cincinnati on Black Friday.

Fritz, Pratt and Chris Carter talked after the game.

FRITZ

On comfortable win:

"For us, it was a blowout. At the end it got a little hairy and scary, but we had a lot of guys that hadn't played a whole lot this season that made big plays for us and guys that played 50 snaps that might not play 10 snaps (normally). And when you hold somebody to 8 points, you are doing an excellent job. Coach (Shiel) Wood and his defensive staff really prepared the guys. This morning we did a walkthrough in the parking lot and the offense is on one side and the defense is on the other and boy, everybody was dialed in doing an excellent job with their final preparation before the game begins. We tackled well for the most part. We had five sacks, which is good. We had a good pass rush. We knew we were going to have to do that, it was going to be a big part of the game. Offensively different guys made big plays for us. Chris Brazzell dominated a drive for a touchdown and Chris Carter had two touchdown catches that were huge for us. Michael was really accurate. He didn't practice three days this week. He was hurt, so we didn't know up until this morning he was going to play, but he's a tough joker. He gets out there and he plays. We were down some receivers and a few offensive linemen, and the guys that were backing them up stepped in and played really well."

On Pratt's issue:

"He got hit and sprained his knee a little bit. He was having a hard time running around, but he's all right. Obviously."

On UTSA:

"They played almost everybody we played, so I'm going to watch the tape. They've got a good team. Jeff Traylor has done an excellent job over there. Very talented. They have a very experienced quarterback, a seventh-year guy. That's a long time playing, so they are really talented. We've done some advanced scouting on them, but we'll really dig into on the plane home and then tomorrow."

On whether he is optimistic about Lawerence Keys and Jha'Quan Jackson returning:

"We'll see. I'm obviously not a doctor, so they will tell us if they can go or not. I don't know. Both of them were here today and really into it. That's indicative of the kind of young men we have here. Even when they are injured, they are pulling for their teammates. Sometimes you don't get that. Guys get hurt and pout like a baby. Those two guys are real men."

On Pratt's leadership:

"He's really a servant leader. He was raised in a family that were missionaries. He was home schooled because they were traveling around so much until he got to high school. They are a really neat family and a really good young man, an excellent student who takes care of his business. You tell him to do something once, he does it. He's a good guy to have as your quarterback."

On team overcoming injuries:

"They've done a good job fighting through adversity. We've had guys get banged up, we haven't played well the whole time and we've found a different way to win with controlling the clock and doing some things like that. Every week they buy into what we're selling, and if the players do that, you have an opportunity to be successful."

On Pratt's experience helping him big time after missing a ton of practice time:

"It really helps out a bunch. I tried to get him not to practice at all. He tried to come out there, and I told him you're going to be fine. You've been there and done that, there's nothing they can throw at you you haven't seen 100 times. He would not have been able to play this week if he didn't have all the experience he's got."

On having a whole week to plan around injuries instead of having them happen early in the game like last week:

"It's good when you know ahead of time who's going to play and who isn't. The only guy we thought might have a chance to play and were waiting for warm-ups to see was Yulkeith Brown, and he felt pretty good. He was full speed this week and made a huge catch for us."

On experience of being in this position last year, too:

"You've just got to do it. I don't know if that helps you from last year or not, but we always talk about 1-0 and doing your very best every single day. We are going to have prepare for a really good UTSA game. I won't talk about it, but our kids understand if we win this game Friday, we get to play another one and you get to play it at home. We just want to go 1-0 this week."

On Jarius Monroe tackle that kept FAU from scoring on what turned into 19-play drive:

"I'm really proud of Jarius. He has become a very efficient tackler, and that was a big tackle and a nice job with good tight coverage and keeping him in the pocket and making him throw out of rhythm (on fourth down) and we got out of there with the offense when we had to start at the 4-yard line."

On Pratt setting all-time passing record in hometown:

"He had 300, 400 people at the game here watching him. He knows about every third person down in this neck of the woods. He's the greatest quarterback in Tulane history. He really is, and we've had great quarterbacks here. I'm not trying to diminish that, but when you put in his statistics plus the wins that he's gotten, he's done a tremendous job. We've been blessed to have him."

MICHAEL PRATT

On playing in Boca Raton:

"It was just a good atmosphere coming into it knowing I was going to be home and have a lot of people here watching, so to go out and execute and do some things well is really exciting. I'm just happy to be back home and put a little show on for my people."

On Chris Carter:

"The 13 personnel was more of our game plan this week because we had a couple of guys down, so just taking advantage of those opportunities. He did a really good job of creating separation, making great catches and getting into the end zone."

On entire experience in Boca:

"It's always nice to be home, to be able to spend some time with my mom last night at the hotel. One of my high school buddies, he's in the army and he got to come down for this game, so really nice just to be able to spend some time with them and people I don't get to spend a lot of time with."

On Fritz:

"We have a really good relationship. Great communication. He's done a really good job with developing me and helping me out with a lot of different things. He's always been there for me in times of need, and the culture he's built here speaks to the kind of person he is and the values that are important to him. The success is because of him, so I'm certainly thankful for him."

On being career passing leader:

"It's pretty cool, but it means more to me to be 1-0 today and come out with the W. That's what matters."

On name of niece he held in postgame interview:

"That's Aria. That's my brother's daughter."

Mentality going into UTSA game:

"It's a 1-0 mentality. We talk about that all year. We gotta fix up some little things from this week and get in there and dissect it on film tomorrow and get in the training room and get feeling good. It's going to come down to preparation. We'll prepare and be ready for it."

On Brazzell:

"He's done a phenomenal job. That all started in the offseason with him just coming and being more locked in and intentional in everything that he did, putting some weight on, getting more physical and really diving into his playbook and doing the little things right. It's something we talked about all through the offseason, that he was fixing to have a breakout year. He's just continued to get better throughout the weeks. I'm super proud of that guy."

On no sweat at end:

"That was nice."

On rolling into UTSA game:

"It's super important when you're going against a tough opponent that does really well in all three phases of the game. The grit and the focus that we 've had and being able to execute the big plays when we really need them the most fires us up. We have to come out and do the little things right and take advantage of our opportunities."








"

Guerry, thanks for your work and I understand you are a 1 man band as opposed to the marching 100 that cover LSU. However, I have a question about the postgame coverage in the print edition on Saturday. It featured a giant picture of the Memphis head coach and a smaller but still large picture of the Memphis QB. Both pictures were credited to the AP (no surprise there). There were no pictures of Tulane players/coaches, even in the background of the two that were printed. Did the AP not take any pictures of Tulane or at least of the actual game where both teams are visible (seems farfetched)? Does whoever is in charge of putting those pictures in the layout (I recognize that is not you) not realize which team the TP readers are likely to be more interested in seeing? Blatant/intentional disrespect/trolling? I understand deadlines, and that it's a BR/Mobile paper, but don't understand how that could lead to getting these specific pictures from the AP. Note that the pics in the Sunday edition did not prominently/exclusively feature Auburn.

When I got to practice today, Michael Pratt was nowhere to be found. Turns out he had a class responsibility and missed the back third of the workout, something SEC schools never have to deal with.

On the injury list, Willie Fritz does not expect Lawrence Keys to play Saturday but remains hopeful Jha'Quan Jackson and Yulkeith Brown will be available. Keys is the Wave's best all-around receiver, but the availability of the other two would be huge because their speed is needed.

On the offensive line, Josh Remetich should be ready to return Saturday. He did not practice while I was there today, with the same five guys at the same five spots as in the Tulsa game, but Fritz expects him to play. He may not start because Shadre Hurst has been solid as a starter at both guard spots, but he will be in the rotation. Normally, the same five guys play all game unless someone gets hurt, but this should be an exception. Rashad Green is still questionable, but Fritz said Trey Tuggle graded out as the offensive lineman of the week against Tulsa whlle making his first start at tackle since his freshman year.

Shadre Hurst took reps as the first-team right guard today and the second-team right tackle. If Green cannot go, Hurts would be next up if anything happened to Cam Wire or Tuggle.

I do not anticipate Shaadie Clayton-Johnson being back this Saturday, so Shedro Louis will get the bulk of the backup work again behind Mahki Hughes. And Chris Carter will be back as a rotational tight end after missing the Tulsa game to attend a funeral in Florida.

Elijah Champaigne has a cast on his right hand, so both he and Kam Hamilton are encumbered a bit with protection on their hand.

It rained pretty hard early in practice after a forecast of no rain in the morning led them to work out at Yulman Stadium instead of going to the Superdome on the Saints indoor facility. By the time, I got there, it was light drizzle at most that tapered off into nothing.

I talked to Fritz and defensive end Keith Cooper after practice today. I will get to Cooper's quotes later.

FRITZ

"We got rain for about an hour and the kids seemed to enjoy it."

On Remetich:

"He's going to play a bunch but we'll probably rotate some guys."

On Tuggle:

"He was the offensive lineman of the week. He played well last week. He really did. He's really start, and we've been playing him on the right side and the left side. We're doing that with some more guys because we're getting a little thin right now, but it's not as easy as people think. It's like playing free safety and then playing strong safety. There's a lot of different checks and calls and alignments. It's the same thing with the offensive line."

On feeling at Georgia Southern when could not go to bowl as transitional FBS member in 2014 when team went 8-0 in Sun Belt (9-3 overall):

"We were disappointed. We wished we could have done it, but the NCAA stuck to their guns and didn't allow us. I believe we were the first team in the history of the NCAA to make the move from the 1-AA to Division I and were undefeated conference champions. James Madison has a chance to do that (in their second year of FBS), so it is a great, but we would have loved to play in a bowl game."

On if they appealed decision to NCAA like undefeated James Madison is :

"Oh yeah, we tried like crazy. We appealed. We tried. We did everything we could, and the NCAA said no. What they don't want is people, hey all of a sudden we have a good team and we're going to transition up and get all the rewards that you get, so that's the reason. They just don't want people bouncing back and forth, so they set these rules up that it's a transition process. Scholarship wise, going from 63 to 85, I think that year we used 68 scholarships. But yeah, we would have loved to have played in a bowl game. That would have been great."

On if he has any sympathy for James Madison?

"Yeah, but I'm going to send a letter to the NCAA if something happens, I'm going to say, hey, what happened to us? Why not us? They sure were rigid with us. We tried everything we could, but that's just how they handled it."

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

Florida Atlantic (+9.5) Tulane
Memphis (+8) SMU
Tennessee (+10.5) Georgia
Clemson (-7) North Carolina
Oregon State (-2.5) Washington
Iowa State (+7.5) Texas
USC (-6.5) UCLA
Kansas (+8) Kansas State

Welcome to the contest, Greenyalie256, a first-time entrant in the 10th week. You'll do better than the 1 point you received if you keep at at. Charlamange8 got the Tulane game plus five others right to win the week.

WEEK 10 RESULTS

7

charlamange8

6

roll wave

5

Guerry
Wavetime
ForeverTU
Kettrade1

4

WaveON
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie
chigoyboy
diverdo
tacklethemanwiththefootball
winwave

3
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
GretnaGreen
paliii

2

DrBox

1

MNAlum
Greenyalie256


OVERALL STANDINGS

47.5

chigoyboy
winwave

46.5

charlamange8

45.5

wavetime

43.5

2DatWuzAGoodDay2
paliii
ForeverTU

42.5

tacklethemanwiththefootball
Kettrade1

41.5

WaveOn
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie

40.5

roll wave
Guerry

39.5

MNAlum

38.5

DrBox

30.5

diverdo (missed 2 weeks)

28.5

GretnaGreen (missed 1 week)

1

Greenyalie256 (missed 9 weeks)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulsa over. Tulane 3 of 19
Alabama over Kentucky 16
Michigan over Penn State 10
Miami over FSU 4
Utah over Washington 9
Missouri over Tennessee 11
Georgia over Ole Miss 9
LSU over Florida 9

I have heard conflicting things on the AD search. One, that the choice of the committee is Kortne Gosha and the recommendation is on Mike Fitts' desk. Two, that Brian White will be interviewed today (which he contradicted in a tweet by Pete Thamel) and could be in the running.

I think that's what it has come down to. Barring a late entry by White, the job is Gosha's. If White is saying all these things to protect himself against a potentially angry FAU administration but is actually interested, the process might not be over. I'm also hearing the decision could be official by Monday or it could drag on until after Thanksgiving, but it would make more sense to do it quickly in my book. It has been 46 days since Dannen was hired by Washington. That's enough time.

On the injury front, Lawrence Keys, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Angelo Anderson and Adonis Friloux are out for sure. Fritz said they had hoped Friloux would be back for this game but now it might be a few more weeks. He definitely will be back for the bowl game and maybe a potential conference championship game. Jha'Quan Jackson and Yulkeith Brown will travel and warm-up, when a decision will be made on them. Rashad Green is kind of in the same boat, but I get the feeling his chance to be ready is slim. Fritz already has said Josh Remetich definitely will play.

James Madison, which is 10-0 in its second year of FBS play, lost it appeal for a waiver to be bowl-eligible yesterday, so the coast is clear for Tulane to get the New Year's Six bowl bid if it wins out.

"We were very disappointed at Georgia Southern when that happened (in 2014 Georgia Southern went 9-3 overall and 8-0 in the Sun Belt) because we thought we were very deserving to be able to play in a bowl," Fritz said. "I guess that's a rule they are very firm with. They were firm with it a few years back and they are firm with it now. I thought our guys deserved to play in a bowl game and I'm sure James Madison feels like they deserve to play in a bowl game. I understand that."

James Madison actually will play in a bowl game because there is no way there will be 82 eligible teams with .500 or better records, and NCAA rules allow teams that have not been FBS for three years to fill in one of those spots. But James Madison will not be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference championship game or the New Years's Six bowl.

At least we won't get to hear Willie rumored for this job.

Of course reporters immediately named him as a candidate for the Miss St job two days ago

Here is the clip of his interview.

Jim Rome interview

Sorry for getting this up later than normal. It was a rough week 9 for all of us, with no one getting more than four games right plus the push with Ole Miss-Texas A&M.

WEEK 9 RESULTS

4.5

MNAlum
charlamange8
tacklethemanwiththefootball
Guerry

3.5

WaveON
p8kpev
winwave
Wavetime
paliii
DrBox
ForeverTU

2.5

roll wave
chigoyboy
diverdo
Gretna Green
Kettrade1

1.5

LSU Law Greenie
2DatWuzAGoodDay2


OVERALL STANDINGS

43.5

chigoyboy
winwave

40.5

2DatWuzAGoodDay2
Wavetime
pallii

39.5

charlamange8

38.5

MNAlum
tacklethemanwiththefootball
ForeverTU

37.5

WaveOn
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie
Kettrade1

36.5

DrBox

35.5

Guerry

34.5

roll wave

26.5

diverdo (missed 2 weeks)

25.5

Gretna Green (missed 1 week)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane over ECU 1 of 18
Alabama over LSU 16
Ole Miss-Texas A&M push (17/1)
Clemson over Notre Dame 0
Kansas State over Texas 6
Oklahoma State over Oklahoma 5
Missouri over Georgia 8
Washington over USC 12

Tulane practiced indoors at the Superdome today because of the rain in the area, so I did not get to watch practice, but Willie Fritz offered some updates on injured players in his press conference. He said they hope to have Lawrence Keys and Yulkeith Brown back for the FAU game. When Keys injured his ankle is a mystery to me because I rewatched the first quarter and he was on the field when Shedro Louis dropped a third-down pass to force a 3-and-out, but when Tulsa punted on its next possession, Dontae Fleming was the return man and Keys never played again, showing up next being fitted for a walking boot.

Here's what Fritz said:

WILLIE FRITZ

On if he is going to get some injured players back this week:

"I hope. We're going to see. We've got defensive guys banged up. I think Angelo Anderson is going to be out this week. I'm hoping our receivers will have a chance to be back for this week."

On Keys:

"He just kind of sprained the foot, but hopefully he's going to be fine. One positive about it is they are all veteran guys who know what we're doing. If a freshman gets hurt, if he doesn't get the reps, especially if it's earlier in the year, you've got a lot of problems, but these guys are veteran players. They can coach the position almost."

On Jha'Quan Jackson and Yulkeith Brown:

"I think they are going to be good."

On offensive line:

"I think Josh Remetich is going to be back this week. He's been banged up, and I think he's going to be able to play for us this week. Hopefully Rashad Green will be able to practice Thursday."

On if injuries have caught up to team:

"They have, but everybody's banged up. It's late in the season, we've played a bunch of physical games. Thank goodness we've got some depth that we can cope with it."

On getting guys experience as silver lining to injuries:

"You're exactly right. Trey Tuggle played every snap at right guard two weeks ago and last week he started at right tackle and played every snap, and he mostly had been playing on the left side. That is a sliver lining, getting guys experience to play. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson didn't play last week and Shedro Louis got a lot of reps, so he's got a lot more experience now than he had a week ago."

On rotation:

"We like playing a lot of guys if we can. Now if there's a big difference between the first-team guy and the second-team guy we're not going to do that, but if there's similar talent and assignment knowledge, we'll play a couple of different guys there if we can. It helps your team and helps in these kind of situations when guys get hurt and banged up. If you put a guy in there with zero experience, usually it's a little tougher for him to do it."

On self-scouting:

"We do a bunch of that. One of the things I meet with our guys on Sunday is seeing what we've been doing well and what we haven't been doing well and why haven't we been doing it well, and then also you've got to make sure you've got the Jimmies and the Joes doing the right thing. Sometimes guys are stuck in their ways and they want to do this and the guy you've got coming for this guy, that's not part of his strengths, so you' have to change it and do something different."

On if teams are on to what Tulane is doing:

"Oh, I don't know. Some of it's execution, and then the tough part is when things happen during the game, adjusting. That's another tough part. Sometimes you put this game plan together and all of a sudden you've got two or three dudes highlighted and those two or three dudes aren't there (because of injury)."

On Tom Herman:

"I've known Tom a long time. Tom is a former Sam Houston State coach. One of my college coaches was the head coach there and comes to almost every game, and Tom coached for coach (Ron) Randleman (as wide receivers coach from 2001-04). He does a really nice job. Offensively, they like throwing the ball around and spreading it out. They've got a really dangerous receiver in (LaJohntay Wester). I think he's been targeted 126 times this season and he has 93 catches (an NCAA high). He's a fantastic punt returner, too, so we have to know where he is on every single snap because that's a big, big part of their offense. He's one of the top receivers in the country. And then defensively, I think they are No. 7 in the nation in minus plays (actually sixth, UTSA is seventh), so they do a good job with penetration, bringing an extra guy. They've got the same number of sacks as us. I think we're tied for 14th in the nation out of 133 teams in sacks (actually tied for 33rd with 25). They have a very disruptive front, and I think their linebackers lead the country in disruptive plays."

On why games have been so much closer this year:

"I don't know. It's a really good league and a very competitive league. We're doing a good job. We still feel like we haven't played our best game yet. We want to improve and get better, no doubt about it. We want to be one of those teams thats ascending at the end of the year and not descending, and probably 90 percent of the teams in America don't get better week after week. They'll get worse. We want to keep improving and learn our lessons from Ws. Thats always a good thing."

On pass rush numbers being down from D-line and needing improvement there:

"Oh yeah. We feel like we've got some talented rushers with Devean Deal and Darius Hodges and Keith Cooper and Patrick Jenkins. We've got some good depth up there and then also bringing an extra guy. You've got to play some man coverage on occasion.I think we got both of our sacks when we played man coverage last week (by Tyler Grubbs and Jarius Monroe), so you need to mix it up and you've got to also get pressure from a four-man rush. We need to do a better job of that."

"We talked in our team meeting yesterday about being an in-season hero. Some guys play their best football, and it drives me insane, I don't tell the kids this because I want them to pump iron and run and do a good job in spring ball and the summer and all this other stuff, but they do their best work January through August. We need our best work now. You've got to really be mentally tough. It's tough on the coaches, the support staff, the strength coach, the athletic trainer during the season, but it's really tough on the players because they've got the physical grind, not just the mental grind. I challenged them. I said I'm not going to get everybody on the same page. No coach does that, but we've got to have more than that. We've got to have more tough guys mentally and physically during the season. In February I'll walk in the weight room and guys will be screaming and yelling and going off. I'll say great job, but I need it in September, October, November and December. That's when. you play these games. You've got Michael (Pratt) coming up here in a second, and I'm guessing he probably works 350 days a year and maybe more than that on his craft. You only get 12 of these opportunities guaranteed. We've got to put everything into it. I try to brainwash our guys on this. I think a lot of them are buying it and doing it. The more the merrier."

On the key to winning high-stakes games:

"We've got some veteran players making some clutch plays when we need it, both defensively and offensively. You give up a touchdown at the end, hey, you've got to suck it up for the 2-point play. On a third-and-9, you've got to get the first down and get 10, 11 yards on the play. We need a big run and someone who's smart enough to get down, and we get that. We have some smart players and a lot of guys that have been though it. I know Makhi Hughes didn't play last year, but man, he's played a lot of ball up until now. He's a veteran back."

On his paying attention to search for an AD:

"Not a whole lot. I'm aware of what's going on. I've talked to the powers that be. They've asked me my opinion. I've given it to them. Hopefully this will come to a conclusion pretty quick. My opinion's pretty well known. He's a dude (Kortne Gosha) that's around here all the time. I'm not the guy that makes that decision, so I give them my opinion of what I'd like to see. Tulane's going to make their decision. That's how it works at universities."

On ready to go to next level if everything fell into place:

"I think we're poised. Everybody has seen what this does for the university and the city as well. We want to keep getting better and better with the football program and the university."

Hi Guerry, is there a chance you could maybe ask CWF a couple of questions regarding the drop off in production of our defensive line. They are supposed to be the strength of the defense and they were through the 1st 6 weeks or so of the season with 18 sacks by the dline, but in the last 4 games the entire defensive line has 1 sack and every team we have played has passed the ball at least 18 times (ECU).

UNT 51 att. 1 sack (T. Grubbs LB)
Rice 29 pass att. 1 sack (D. Deal DL)
ECU 18 pass attempts 1 sack (J. Small LB)
Tulsa 41 pass attempts 2 sacks (J. Monroe CB, T. Grubbs LB)

Is this due to a schematic change by us, blitzing more?

Are our opponents trying to get rid of the ball quicker?

Are injuries taking a toll?


I think they are holding up well against the run, but I'm sure everyone here has noticed the opposing team's qb the last few weeks has been unmolested.