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.

I know getting info from Fritz is difficult, but can anyone give us status updates as known. Here is the list -

Green
Wire
Remetich
Shaadie
Carter
Pines
JJ
Keys - ankle, foot? Looked like something that may take several weeks or more.
Brown - concussion?
Taliancich
Monroe
Hicks
Swanson
Hamilton
Friloux - will he return this year?
Anderson
Platt - out for season

Anyone else?

Thanks for the updates.

As are most teams at this time of the year, Tulane is banged up entering its 10th game. The Green Wave is 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the AAC just like it was last year at this time, but instead of facing a talented UCF team that ended up beating it, the Wave is getting ready for Tulsa, which is 3-6 and has lost four games by more than 30 points, including 42-10 to Rice and 69-10 to SMU when it trailed 52-3 at halftime. Unlike East Carolina, which is strong defensively (but horrendous offensively), Tulsa does nothing well, ranking in the bottom half of the league in almost every statistical category and not being efficient in the few categories where it is in the top half. For example, the Golden Hurricane is third in rushing but ninth in average per carry, so this is a good week for Tulane to less than 100 percent and maybe heal up a bit before traveling to FAU and hosting UTSA in much tougher affairs.

Willie Fritz said wide receiver Jha'Quan Jackson, who hurt an ankle against East Carolina, might play this Saturday, but I would not count on it, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson might be out, too. Josh Remetich returned to practice, so he might be available on Saturday. Michael Pratt threw well, so the finger issue appears to be OK.

Nothing is guaranteed in sports, but as I've written before, the ridiculous negativity from the fan base makes me laugh. Tulane was the dregs of college football for the better part of 70 years with rare pockets of success. If you can't enjoy this, it makes me feel a little sad. Also, the idea Tulane should automatically dominate the league now that Cincinnati, Houston and UCF are gone is historically absurd. The East Carolina team Tulane beat 13-10 was essentially better than the Wave every year from 1999 to 2021. There's no doubt if Tulane makes the same mistakes it made Saturday, it will be in trouble down the road, but teams do not play the same way every week. If it had been Tulane losing to a bad team 23-3 like Air Force did to Army, there would have been a screaming legion of I told you sos from naysayers after the close calls in every AAC game. But Air Force had pummeled just about everyone it played, and those performances helped it out not one bit on Saturday.

Tulane has the AAC's leading rusher, its leader in passing efficiency, its best run defense, its third best passing efficency defense and maybe its best special teams. All of the evidence points to Tulane playing better, not worse, down the stretch, but I'm not guaranteeing anything because the sport is so unpredictable. We will find out in the last two games of November if Tulane is capable of playing its best when it matters most.

OK, sermon over. To make it clear, I'm not trying to tell anyone what to think. I'm just telling you what I think.

Fritz, Shiel Wood, Pratt and Sincere Haynesworth talked after practice today.

FRITZ

On if he cares about style points:

"Oh, we'd like to play our very best. I don't know if we played our very best, but like I told our guys, a win is big, especially at this time of year, and we'll take it. You work real hard, you want that outcome and it's a hell of a lot better than a pretty loss. We'll take it."

On what makes him feel better about the team than the close calls would indicate:

"It's always good when the offense finishes with the ball and you're ahead. That always helps. We had a couple of times when or offense did a sensational job of getting first downs and running the clock. We had the ball for 11 minutes and 31 seconds in the fourth quarter, and when. you have the ball offensively and you're playing great defense. We only defended 42 plays. That's probably the fewest I've defended in a long time. I'm sure it's the least I've defended since I've been here at Tulane. There's a lot of good things to get from it, but there are things we have to clean up. We talk about four-point plays all the time, defensively only allowing a field goal or getting a takeaway and offensively scoring touchdowns instead of field goals, so we have to take advantage when we're in the red zone getting touchdowns."

On if he has told his team they have to play a lot better to get where they want to go:

"We know that. There have been some times we played real well. There were some close games last year as well (Kansas State, Cincinnati, USC). When you get to this stage of the season, you gotta juggle doing some new things with also keeping guys healthy. We're like everybody in America right now. We're beat up, and we have to make sure we can get them to the dance. But yeah, if we want to accomplish the goals we want to accomplish, we have to play better in all three phases."

On being able to win in a lot of scenarios:

"It's good. It shows you that we're a veteran squad and have a lot of fantastic leadership and they believe that we're going to win. We were down 10-0 pretty quick last week, and the guys's resolve never wavered on the sideline or in the locker room. That's good. One of my buddies sent me a bunch of stuff about how we're not winning a bunch by enough. That's a good problem to have. I like that. When I first got here, I told the team I got patted on the back because we played hard and we were organized. We had the correct 11 out on the field all the time. That lasted about a year or two, and now we're not winning by enough, so that's good. We've gotten better. We've improved.'

On surviving and advancing:

"Oh, I don't know. There are a lot of teams in that situation right now. Every game's important. I'm glad all of our game are important right now. That's big for us."

On if clock rules designed to speed up the game are having a huge effect on the number of plays in the game:

"I think a lot of it was we didn't play at a very high tempo and they didn't either. The week before we didn't defend very many plays against Rice. I think we had eight possessions and ECU had seven possessions. The new clock rules had something to do with it, but it was just kind of a rare game a little bit. We got a whole bunch of three-and-outs. After the first quarter they had 47 yards of offense. Coach Wood and his defensive staff did a fabulous job, and obviously the players executed the game plan to perfection in the second, third and fourth quarter."

On if having the leading rusher, the most efficient passer, the best run defense, the third-best pass efficiency defense bodes well:

"Yeah, we're doing a lot of good things. I agree with you (Tulane has a complete team), but to do that we have to play well all four quarters, and that's what we're chasing."

On if team needs a blowout win:

"We'd love to have one, but we'll take (a victory) by 1. These things are hard to get. It beats the alternative, I know that. We're just trying to play better, and that's just part of parity right now in college athletics. Everybody does it a little different. We're more of a high school model, and other people are grabbing people from other places, so you can kind of get good in a hurry. I think we've got some good teams in the conference and some teams that are going to be really good over the next few years. It looked like there were a lot of close games in the conference last week."

On Jha'Quan Jackson status:

"I think he's going to be able to play. We're going to find out. That's another thing, too. You guys just got done interviewing Sincere, and we kind of backed off on him today. He's played over 4,000 college snaps, so that's a lot of games. And Quan's the same way. He's played a lot of college football, and he want him fresh and ready to go on Saturday.."

On his team's late-game steadiness:

"Well we've got some clutch guys. Pratt is clutch. He's played a ton of football, so there's not a whole lot you can throw at him that he hasn't seen before. We talked about Sincere, and that's kind of where it starts. It's like the pitcher and the catcher, with the center and the quarterback you want to be strong up the middle, and we're really strong up the middle. Those guys are really smart, and we talk a whole bunch about situational football. Every meeting we show something that somebody across the country has done that's real smart of real dumb, and we try to put them in those situations out at practice and really go over those things a bunch, and it's really good for me, too, because I've been in that situation before and I've coached it. I've seen how someone else did it correctly or incorrectly."

On if he's ever encountered someone trying to steal his signals:

"During the game it happens always where you're looking and you see some maybe the third or fourth quarter you see hand signs, you see stuff on the sidelines, but certainly I don't think anybody's seen it where it's been premeditated. I haven't heard of that. I'm sure it's occurred before, and we'll find out if it's occurred in this instance or not."

On battling injuries:

"Last year we had a bunch of injuries. We just don't sit and talk about it with our players because it doesn't accomplish anything. Next man up, let's go. That's why you rep a bunch of guys during the week. They have to come in and they have to be able to play. Everybody's getting reps. Our backups on our punt team get a bunch of reps. We could throw the whole second punt team in and we'd be able to operate. There have been some years I haven't had many injuries, but last year in particular we had a bunch."








"

It was a small group this weekend. Dominik Ball, who committed to Tulane in April, was there along with three others.

1) Rahji Dennis, a 3-star, 6-0, 167-pound WR from Karr who committed to Ole Miss in May.

Skinny: He also had offers from soon-to-be coachless Texas A&M and Miami before committing to Ole Miss. Was the runner-up in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at 5A championships in May.

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2) Tah'j Butler, a 3-star, 6-1, 200-pound ILB from Karr who committed to Georgia Tech in April.

Skinny: He missed most of his junior year with a hip injury. Coach said he was a steal for Georgia Tech as a result.

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3) Jayshon Ridgle, a 2-star, 200-pound ATH from Athens High (Ala.) who committed to South Alabama in July

Skinny: Has no other listed offers other than South Alabama. His team finished 8-3 with a 45-27 loss in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs on Friday, but he had a 68-yard TD catch on Athens' second offensive play and finished with nine catches for 145 yards and two scores. Tulane is recruiting him as WR.

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For the first time in six AAC games, Tulane was outgained today, and it was by 120 yards. Although the Wave could have lost any of its first five conference games, I felt it was the deserving winner in all of them. This time Tulane was fortunate to win, making just enough plays to hold of Tulsa while dealing with a slew of injuries on offense. The defense stopped a terrible 2-point play. The special teams had the touchdown return on the kickoff Willie Fritz had predicted during practice earlier in the week. The offense had the clutch pass from Michael Pratt to Chris Brazzell when it absolutely needed it on third-and-9. All of that was enough to survive against Tulsa, and it may be enough to survive an FAU team that gets more credit than it deserves because people respect Tom Herman. But the Wave will have to play better than this to beat UTSA or win the AAC title game. Assuming it gets some of the receivers back (Lawrence Keys, Jha'Quan Jackson and Yulkeith Brown), I believe it will, but the offense is much more limited without them.

Fritz, Shedro Louis, Makhi Hughes and Jarius Monroe talked after the game:

FRITZ

"I'm really happy with our guys fighting all throughout the game. There were some clutch plays that were made by our guys. A good way to start the second half. The momentum had kind of gone to their sideline and Shedro took one back for 100 yards. Big return by him. Good job by the kickoff return team. We had to play a lot of guys. We had a bunch of guys hurt coming into the game and we knew they might not be able to play, and we had a few more guys get hurt during the game. That's why you prepare all week. Thank goodness we have a little bit of depth. A few years ago this would have a disaster. We wouldn't have been able to put some guys out there that can play Division I football, but we've got much better depth and were able to go ahead and finish the game out. Huge catch by Chris Brazzell. Good call by coach (Slae) Nagle) and a good throw by Mike and a big, big catch by Chris, and then a good job by Makhi. We talk about situations all the time, and he could have gone in and kept running. At that stage of the game, he goes ahead and takes a knee, and the game was over. We just had to take a knee a few times and the game would be over. We put a tag in there to tell the guys to do it, and executed it to perfection."

On Tulsa QB Kirk Francis, a freshman walk-on who had a huge day:

"We went back and watched a little bit of his high school tape. He threw for a ton of yards (9000-plus). He did a nice job. When (Braylon Braxton) was in the game they were going to run the ball more and when (Francis) came in, he did run it a couple of times. He was smart running it. One time we did a bad job with the rush lines, and one time he pulled it and I don't think our guys were expecting him to do it, but he's very accurate and he did a nice job."

On defense giving up the first two 40-plus-yard plays it had allowed all year:

"You're always concerned about it, but when we needed to bow up a couple of times, we did that, too. Just a couple of busts on a few plays we have to fix."

On Hughes getting down:

"He's smart. He's a really good player. He's into it every day. He doesn't just get up for the games. He practices like it's a game Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday."

On guys making big plays at critical moments:

"They are. We'd rather not put ourselves in a situation, but if you've got to make a play, you've got to make a play. We've got a lot of vets that have played a lot of football, and they execute the play during stressful times."

On if it was tougher overcoming loss of offensive linemen or wide receivers:

"Both. We've got some fast guys out on the perimeter, and three of them weren't able to play today (Lawrence Keys and Yulkeith Brown got hurt in the first quarter, and Jha'Quan Jackson did not suit up), so hopefully we'll get a couple of them back or all three of them back. I don't know, but a big part of our offense is stretching the field horizontally and vertically with our speed. It's tough to do when those guys aren't in there, especially when you work all week with stuff for them in mind."

On early diagnosis for any of those injuries:

"No I don't."

On Hughes six 100-yard games in a row:

"He's a really good player. Three or four times they either blitzed the gap or penetrated the gap or we didn't block them, and he's back at the line of scrimmage. He does a great job of that, too. Instead of it being second-and-14, it's second-and-10. He probably did that three or four times today."

On why games are so close:

"Well, it's kind of our path to victory right now. When one side is playing well, maybe the other side is not playing as well. We're playing complementary football. Our special teams, offense and defense doing their job when they needed to, but looking at Tulsa, there are some games they played really well this season. My hat's off to some of the balls that we made with the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator based on guys out of the game. We had to switch some plays. That's one of the things I kept talking about--what can we do well right now with this guy, this guy and this guy out of the game. They did a good job. It beats the alternative. I'll take a half-point win any day."

On missing personnel hurting them on third down:

"Big time. It affects you on first and second down, too. You can't run your offense. You always want to highlight your best players, and when they're not out there, it makes it tough, so you've got to find another way to gain yards and get first downs."

SHEDRO LOUIS

On kickoff return:

"Man, we've been repping it all week multiple times with different scenarios, and he (Fritz) said we need one. We were overdue. We were always an inch from breaking one, but he said we need one, and I was like, "I got you, coach.' I did it for the team. Everybody blocked great. There was balance. We knew I was going to get at least one or two, and that was the one. The guys blocked great and we executed."

On confidence in pressure situations:

"It's a lot of confidence. We go into every week 1-0 no matter who we play. We treat every team the same, so we have the 1-0 mindset and do it for one another, do it for the man next to you and the one next to him, so no matter what it is, we are going to do whatever it is to go 1-0."

MAKHI HUGHES

On first freshman in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season:

"It feels great. It's a blessing, but all thanks to my O-line. They deserve it. We talk about let's get 100 for each game."

On confidence in pressure situations:

"Same what Shedro said. We just have to keep working each practice to prepare for the opponent we are playing, and that's our mindset."

On going down on last play:

"My plan was to get the first down and then go down. I think I made a smart decision."

On going from knee injury last year to 1,000 yards this year:

"It's a blessing. I have to thank God. I didn't play last season, and it was a long season, but I'm here now and I thank God. I just keep praying about it, and my teammates lifted me up the whole season."

We’re just a few weeks away from early signing.

Roll Wave!!!

Hey Guerry, has this been published yet? I’m starting to see a few ‘25’s announce they’ll be at the game tomorrow morning.

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

Tulane (-23) Tulsa
Kentucky (+10.5) Alabama
Penn State (+4.5) Michigan
Florida State (-14.5) Miami
Washington (-9.5) Utah
Missouri (+1) Tennessee
Georgia (-11) Ole Miss
LSU (-13.5) Florida

What a beautiful year!!!

Guerry, Since Tulane and SMU don’t play, it’s probable both contend for AAC CG with a couple of longer shots like USTA.

If I recall your analyses from 2022, if head-to-head results don’t break ties then it’s overall CFP rankings AND you have to win last week of season.

I can’t see SMU passing Tulane in CFP rankings if both teams finish 8-0. That AAC CG will be in Yulman.

However if two or three teams finish 7-1, any thoughts on likely scenarios? Too soon to speculate?

Willie Fritz singled out red zone production as the No. 1 area for needed improvement after Thursday's practice. Tulane ranks second-to-last in the AAC in touchdown percentage on red zone possessions, getting 20 in 40 tries for 50 percent. That percentage should be significantly higher considering the personnel and experience the Wave has on offense.

I broke down the 40 series, and three don't count because they ended with Tulane either taking a knee to run out the clock or Pratt throwing out of bounds to take as much time off the clock as possible at the end of successful game-clinching drives. Another is dicey because although Alex Bauman fumbled against South Alabama, Tulane got the ball back by forcing a fumble on the return and ended up scoring a touchdown.

Still, 20 for 36 is not particularly good, either. Tulane has settled for 11 field goals, missing two of them, lost two other fumbles (Shaadie Clayton-Johnson against UAB and Pratt against North Texas), thrown two interceptions (Pratt and Kai Horton against Nicholls, which weren't really costly) and turned it over on downs once (Southern Miss with Horton). The problem was exacerbated against East Carolina, when Tulane settled for three consecutive field goal attempts and missed one after scoring a TD in its first foray into the red zone. Score TDs in those situations against Tulsa, and it will be a blowout. More importantly, score TDs in those situations against FAU and UTSA and Tulane very likely will be playing host to the AAC Championship Game.

Tulane could have some changes on the offensive line Saturday. Prince Pines is returning as the starting left guard with Shadre Hurst shifting to right guard and Josh Remetich likely not starting as he recovers from an injury. Also, it is possible Trey Tuggle will start at right tackle for Rashad Green, who is banged up a bit. Tuggle, who started at right guard last week, practiced with the first unit at right tackle today.

Fritz said Jha'Quan Jackson would be a game-time decision. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, who has an ankle issue, will not play.

There should be plenty of action on Tulsa kickoffs. I am calling for a touchdown return by Lawerence Keys or Shedro Louis. Tulsa has had only seven touchbacks on 45 kickoffs, and Tulane worked returns hard this week. Louis almost broke one against ECU. But as Fritz points out in the quotes below, Tulsa has forced and recovered three fumbles on kickoffs. Something big is likely to happen one way or the other.

FRITZ from Wednesday and Thursday:

On Tulsa concerns:

"They get a lot of minus plays with their front, their DBs, their linebackers. Offensively they have a big, strong quarterback and three different guys who do three different things. They have a big running back with good speed. They have been very productive in the run game big time. And then I don't know how they do it, but their kickoff coverage team has forced three fumbles that they've recovered, which is really unusual. Usually teams might have one a year. They've gotten three."

On Tulane not having blocked a punt in five years:

"We go after it some. The thing is we're always trying to get pressure, so if there's a malfunction in the snapping, catching, kicking mechanism, we're there to get it. But one of the other good things is we've really done a good job of making sure that our offense gets out there in good field position. Offenses are so good now, you've got to be sure on things."

On returning punts:

"We've had some good returns over the last eight years. That's something we pride ourselves on. You've got to play smart because those are long plays, and you have to play smart through the whole play."

On penalty on Rishi Rattan that cost Tulane 32 yards on punt against ECU:

"The thing that happens with officials is when they see two guys go to the ground, sometimes they are not quite sure how they both arrived there. You've got to play error free, and thats one thing they've done is really not hesitated to throw a penalty on kick returns and punt returns. It happens quite frequently. We had two penalties on 18 plays of special teams (against ECU), and that's two too many."

On what needs to be better offensively this week:

"We have to play better in the red zone. We're pretty good converting on third down and pretty good converting on fourth down, but how I judge how our offense plays and how our defense plays is you look at a team and how many yards they give up and did you do better than that. If you get 20 yards more than that, that's plus 20, and we're plus on everybody, but there's those big times in the game, we call them 4-point plays, where you've got to get touchdowns instead of field goals. And we've missed some short field goals (one each against Rice and ECU), too. That's where we've got to improve."

On 20 TDs in 40 red zone series:

"The thing that's tough with red zone is I think we've kneeled down a few times (at the end of games) and those count, too. That kind of screws up the stats in that regard, but we know we've got to get better. And we have to get better defensively (in the red zone). We're not ranked real high in red zone defense."

Guerry can you please delve into this with your sources. I asked Dannen if we were getting the football ops. center at the Bowl game and he smiled and said we have something coming. Someone else posted that they saw Fitts on the local news saying we needed new football facilities.

Also, Pratt was seen wearing a boot on his foot a lot. What is the injury and will it require surgery?

Thanks.

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

Tulane (-23) Tulsa
Kentucky (+10.5) Alabama
Penn State (+4.5) Michigan
Florida State (-14.5) Miami
Washington (-9.5) Utah
Missouri (+1) Tennessee
Georgia (-11) Ole Miss
LSU (-13.5) Florida

The script was different until the final possession, but Tulane struggled once again to beat an inferior opponent today, making a ton of mistakes on offense that can cause you to lose and starting slowly on defense before dominating. But the Wave won--again--and nearly doubled ECU in yards, allowing only three first downs and less than 50 yards in the final three quarters.

This is a complete team that for whatever reason cannot come close to playing a complete game, but I still don't see much cause for alarm. Look at Air Force, which played several complete games this year before coming up totally empty today in a 23-3 loss to an Army team that had won only twice all year. But I still like Tulane over any team it faces in the AAC. SMU nearly lost to Rice tonight, so Tulane's struggles there were not a one off. UTSA has not been in any trouble in a conference game yet but lost to Army earlier this year and does not have the same potential on defense as Tulane. Memphis has a dynamite offense but a lousy defense and is much more one-dimensional than Tulane.

I covered a defensive back at Florida named Teako Brown who used to talk about how it was OK to make new mistakes but bad to make the same mistakes. Tulane fixed its second-half woes defensively today but had strange errors like Jha'Quan Jackson's drop in the end zone, Cam Wire's unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for a frustration shove, Willie Fritz's timeout with the intent to challenge a call that was clearly correct (which led to Ambrosio's missed chip shot) and a holding call on a punt that cost 36 yards. All of that stuff was uncharacteristic and correctable. Tulane will need to be better at FAU and particularly at home against UTSA, but there should be no doom and gloom about another close call. ECU is not good but is more talented than Temple, Navy, Charlotte or Tulsa and has no business being 1-8. That defense is the best Tulane has faced in conference play to this point. Tulane would have won by double digits without the unforced errors. I just can't get caught up in the negativity.

For anyone wondering, if Tulane were to lose its finale to UTSA and ended up in a three-way tie with Memphis and SMU (Memphis hosts SMU on Nov. 18) at 7-1 a game behind UTSA, Tulane would get the second spot in the championship as long as neither Memphis nor SMU were ranked in the Nov. 21 college football playoff ranking. The tiebreaker would be highest average computer ranking, and Tulane has a massive advantage there. But the rules say if one of the tied, ranked teams wins in the final weekend while the highest ranked team losses, the team that won would get the tiebreaker. I don't think either Memphis or SMU will ever crack the top 25, though.

Keep winning of course, and Tulane is guaranteed to host the championship game and get the New Year's Six bowl berth.

Willie Fritz, Jarius Monroe, Jesus Machado and Michael Pratt talked on Zoom after the game.

FRITZ

On the way the defense played after the first three quarters:

"We tackled great. Shiel Wood and the defensive staff had a tremendous game plan and the guys executed it. We started getting more pressure on the quarterback, did a good job of keeping him in the pocket, a good job of rush lanes and good tight coverage in the secondary. There were probably seven, eight or nine guys that had really nice plays, so just a great overall defensive effort without question. Sometimes you need that and then at the very end we needed the offense to finish it out and they did a great job finishing it out."

On if it was better complementary football:

"I'm going to quit worrying about playing a complete game and just be happy when we win. That was a big win. I've got a lot of respect for coach (MIke) Houston and his staff at ECU. He's one of the good guys in college coaching, and I had a year like this a few years ago where stuff just didn't go right. He's played a bunch of games like this, but to have a team that's 1-7 come out and show the fight that those guys did against a team that's ranked nationally, that says something about his staff and the character of his team."

On 88-yard drive for TD when down 10-0:

"We needed it at that time. We really did. It was great play calls by Slade Nagle, good execution again by the offensive line. Trey Tuggle started his first game (this year) and played the whole game and did a really good job. Josh Remetich wasn't able to go. I had to keep him off the field. He wanted to play even though he was hurt. Tough kid. Had a bunch of guys that made plays on that drive, so that really helped us out big time."

On Shaadie Clayton-Johnson injury:

"I think he's going to be OK. It was a little ankle. He could have gone back in again."

On Pratt's hand:

"I think he's OK."

On difference defensively after first two drives:

"Not really anything. We did a really good job of pocket pressure. Each defensive linemen or linebacker or whoever's that's blitzing has an aiming point on the quarterback. It's really difficult to throw accurately downfield when you've got a collapsing pocket. I just thought we calmed down a little bit. Shiel Wood and the defensive staff just did an excellent job of the game plan and play calls. We had much tighter coverage, particularly in the second half. We made some big plays, one by Lance (Robinson) and we had one by Bailey Despanie and one by Jarius Monroe that were really big plays. There was one at midfield on fourth-and-7 when we had really good coverage. It was a lot of things."

On timeout before Ambrosio's missed field goal:

"Yeah, that's the first time I've ever challenged one. We had a bunch of people who thought we were definitely inbounds, and we weren't, so I called timeout. I wish I hadn't. Valentino made the field goal and then he missed the second one, so I wished I hadn't called it. I won't be doing that again."

On long drive at end of game to run out clock:

"We work on this stuff all the time. That situation there at the end of the first half, we work on that all the time and we got fortunate. When the ball hit the ground, I looked at the clock and saw one second up there, so kudos to the refs for going back and looking at it. It could have been a touchdown but it wasn't. That was a big play for us obviously."

On the bottom line being winning, as Air Force loss showed today:

"It really is. Winning games is hard to do. I've been doing this a long time, and they are practicing all week, too. They've got some good looking athletes and good players. We play Tulsa and they are going to be all fired up to play on national TV. Hopefully we have a great crowd. I don't know why we wouldn't, so hopefully you can put something in there about having a great crowd this Saturday."