It looks like Prince Pines will be a game-time decision for Tulane against North Texas, but I see no reason to play him until his knee is healthier because Shadre Hurst has acquitted himself well in Pines' absence. Everyone else should be ready to go on offense.

On defense, Tulane is down some linemen but should benefit from having better depth there than anywhere else. Adonis Friloux and Angelo Anderson will not play, opening up an opportunity for Elijah Champaigne and Parker Peterson inside and possibly true freshman Matthew Fobbs-White outside. Fobbs-White was very productive in a preseason scrimmage but has not been needed during the season. Champaigne was working with the scout-team offense as a blocker at one point, so this is big for him and a long time coming. He was supposed to be a member of Tulane's 2020 class but had to sit out a year after suffering a serious knee injury in his senior year of high school, and he had not played much in three years with the Wave. before getting in for five plays in the fourth quarter against Memphis and drawing praise from Willie Fritz for his energy. Good players have a hard time getting on the field because of Tulane's talent up front.

Noah Taliancich has been in uniform this week but I have not seen him take many reps. His role has been limited to special teams since he returned from a recurring hernia issue three games ago.

"Luckily those guys have all played some--some of them a lot and some of them a little," Fritz said. "But we still want to role guys. We still have depth there."

Tulane should be able to do whatever it wants offensively against North Texas, which is last in the FBS in rushing defense. The Tulane defense will be challenged a bit and will need a good pass rush to make sure North Texas quarterback Chandler Rogers, a ULM transfer, does not get in a good rhythm. He put up pretty good numbers for ULM last year and has completed 63.9 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and one interception this year, the same number as Michael Pratt. North Texas runs pretty well, too, but Tulane gives up very little on the ground to anyone.

After winning at Memphis for the first time in nine tries, Tulane hosts North Texas this Saturday in what should be the first of four consecutive games as a double-digit favorite (at Rice, at East Carolina and Tulsa follow). The Wave has to be careful about not relaxing or getting overconfident, but Willie Fritz, Michael Pratt and the other team leaders are very strong in that department. North Texas has put up prolific yardage totals this year, ranking 16th in total offense (477.5 yards per game), 20th in rushing offense (195.3) and 30th in passing offense (282.2). Those numbers have translated into 35.2 points per game, the 22nd best total in the FBS, so Tulane's defense will be challenged Saturday.

On the other hand, North Texas is 120th in scoring defense (35.5), ranking ahead of only 10 FBS teams, 127th in total defense (461.2) and dead last in rushing defense (256.7), so Tulane's offense should be dominant. The Mean Green has been decent against the pass, ranking 51st in pass efficiency defense, but they will have to sell out to slow the running game, opening up all kinds of opportunities for Michael Pratt and the fast foursome of Lawrence Keys, Jha'Quan Jackson, Yulkeith Brown and Chris Brazzell in the air.

Tulane will be without defensive end Angelo Anderson, who showed up for practice on crutches today but appeared to be in a good mood, but the Wave can afford to lose a guy on its deep defensive front. I do not know yet whether Prince Pines will be back, but Shadre Hurst has played well in his absence.

At practice today, Lance Robinson dropped one of the easiest interceptions I've seen, which is pretty funny since he's caught everything in games and has four picks, one behind the nation's co-leaders.

Fritz, Pratt and Kam Pedescleaux, who was named Louisiana Sports Writers defensive player of the week (I have a vote on that and certainly picked him), talked today. I am including everything but most of Fritz's opening statement, when he basically repeated what he said after the game.

FRITZ

"I'm excited about homecoming this weekend. North Texas has got a very explosive offense. They run the ball extremely well. Sometimes in these type offenses you think they just throw the ball around. Their quarterback is a dual-threat guy. Defensively they have a lot of takeaways (they rank tied for 45th with 10, Tulane is tied for 14th with 13). We are just going to have to come out and continue to keep improving and hopefully finish the second quarter better than we did the other night."

On setting record for most games coached at Tulane this Saturday:

"It means I'm old. No, any time you get a chance to stay some place in this occupation, that's pretty darn good. In coaching you don't always get to do that. I wasn't aware until you said that. It's a good thing. It beats the alternative, and it is rare. I'm proud of it. That's a good accomplishment."

On looking for team to put the pedal to the metal:

"We want improvement. We don't think we've played our best game yet. I don't know if we've been close to playing our best game yet. We've played really well in spurts. In the third quarter and on we played really well and there have been some other games we played well a quarter or two here and there, but we haven't put one together and would love to do that. We always want to play that complete game. You're always chasing perfection. Last year at Memphis the first half we played about as well as we could play, but not the second half. It's hard to put four quarters together because you're playing against quality competition, but that's what we're trying to get."

On Kam Pedescleaux:

"He's done a great job. He's a very valuable player for us. He plays a position where you have to do a lot of things.You have to play zone coverage. You have to play man. You have to blitz. You’re in space a lot. He also contributes in the kicking game, so he was a heck of a pickup for us.

On Pedescleaux adjusting to Tulane quickly:

“The guys that came to us from other schools have really fit in well and helped our culture. You’ve got to be careful on that, and we’ve tried to make sure we found guys who fit in here at Tulane, and boy, they all have. Sometimes it takes guys a couple of years to fit in. It took him a couple of weeks. He’s been excellent to deal with on and off the field. He’s great with his teammates."

On if he thought Tulane would ever get over the hump under his watch:

"Oh yeah. You know those three years we were just so close in so many games. That was tough. That was really tough because we had a bunch of games we lost on the last play and had some misfortune. We were close to winning eight, nine, 10, maybe even 11 games and didn't get it done. Instead of it making me feel upset about it, it gave me a little hope that hey, we can do it, we just have to get a little bit better, do a little better job in recruiting, picked up some guys and have done an excellent job of evaluating guys we can get and then developing them into players. I was watching Snday night and the Buffalo Bills were playing, and Dorian Williams was out there. I see a couple of our young linebackers, and those guys can be like him. We hit on a bunch of those guys. That's what you've got to do. We're not going to get a 5-star guy. It's not going to happen, but we have to develop 2-and 3-star guys into 5-star guys. I think our coaches have done a good job of that."

On losing AD in middle of season:

"We just moved on. We're lucky we have a lot of good people around the department. I just kind of go through them just like I would if Troy was here, so that hasn't been a distraction at all for me and the team. We wish him well, but we've moved on."

On if he takes pride in his (Fritz's) success allowing Dannen to get what he wanted:

"Well, I'm just happy for him if that's what he wants. I'm happy for that opportunity that he's gotten, but there's a lot of things that factor into it. It wasn't just football success."

On if Dannen leaving is irrelevant to his players:

"No, I just told those guys I thought he was taking another job because our guys got to know Troy well. He's been here the whole time all these guys have been here, but that was really about it."

On how much having a running back like Makhi Hughes helps:

"Great. He's had two excellent games. I think we've got a bunch of really good backs. I've talked to those guys about keeping their chin up because they are going to have an opportunity at some point in time to show what they can do. We've got some really good backs. Makhi certainly has played well the last two weeks."

On what Hughes does best:

"He runs behind his pads. He's always falling forward. There was a play the other day where it was first-and-10 and he got hit probably a yard behind the line of scrimmage, and the next thing you know it was second-and-7. He keeps driving his feet, he finishes runs. A lot of times you put your foot in the ground and get vertical through a crease or a crack and explode through two would-be tacklers, and he does that a bunch where other guys try to bounce outside. He does an excellent job of staying vertical."

On Brazzell:

"He does a great job. He's really talented. He's got great height, excellent speed. For a tall guy, he gets in and out of his breaks extremely well. He's a threat. Those 50-50 balls, he wins his share of them. He wins 75 percent. He's done a great job and he's only getting better."

On Hughes and Brazzell excelling as redshirt freshmen:

"Yeah, that's great. They got there differently. Makhi had an ACL injury last year prior to the season and came back from it. Chris played a little bit early and got banged up. He probably would have played quite a bit for us last year, but he hurt his shoulder and we decided it would be beneficial to go ahead and redshirt him. We're probably one of the few programs that still does that. A lot of people don't do it because of that portal thing, but we'll go ahead and redshirt some guys. I've got seven, eight, nine guys that are really good players we're going to redshirt this year. I do think the development part is so important. You see that with some of the guys who have gone on to a fourth or fifth year for me like Sincere Haynesworth."

On if Brazzell pushed off on TD that was called back for offensive pass interference:

"I just thought it was tough for him to see it from that angle. That's what they called. I thought it was a pretty darn good play. A really good finish with the run."

On playing nine defensive linemen:

"That's hard to do. It's difficult to find nine guys that can play top notch Division I football. We've done a really nice job of recruiting the right guys and getting them into a rotation, and they've been unselfish. There's a bunch of them that play for us. That's big time. It's hard to get in there and battle (play after play for a defensive lineman). It's interesting. Towards the end of the game we put in Elijah Champaigne, and he played five plays and looked really quick because he hadn't played. Those were his only five plays, so playing fresh guys really helps you out."

First Ron Hunter talked, then Jaylen Forbes, Kevin Cross, Kolby King and Sion James were on the podium at the same time.

HUNTER

"We're excited to get started here in a week and a half or so. We're still pumped up with what's going on with the football program and what we've got going on here. It's a great time at Tulane. I'm really excited about it. I want to make sure we continue to go upwards."

On early practices:

"They've done a good job. We've had a long summer when you add on China and the things that we've done. In 30 years I haven't had to prepare like I prepared this summer, so we have to be real careful not to do too much. I don't want to get to January and hit a wall, and that's one of the reasons I was real hesitant about taking that challenge and going to China this summer to play in the World (University Games) basketball championship because I know what it can do to you, so my whole thought process once we got back was making sure we don't peak too soon and don't hit that wall in January and February. All the other coaches I talked to that did this had that same problem, so we want to make sure that's not an issue for us, so we're just kind of easing ourself getting ready for the season."

On if he has any predictions:

"I can predict this. I will not be the athletic director at Tulane this year. I guarantee you that. I have turned down the job, I've turned it up, I've turned it sideways. I called Willie, and Willie said he would quit the first day if I was his boss, so we're done with that."

On if this is a year where he has to make giant leap forward:

"I don't look at it that way. When we took over this job, we just wanted to make sure every year and every day and everything we do, we get better. We always talk about stacking days and stacking wins and that kind of thing. We have a really good team. I'm not going to hide that. We're real talented. We've got depth. You've got to get lucky on some things that happen, but this is a really good team. I learned a lot about us this summer. That was really tough what we had to go through because we weren't quite prepared--I wasn't quite prepared for some of the things we had to go through, and I really think it helped. I can see it in practice right now, but we have to go play the games. These guys are eager to play. They have a bunch of wins under their belt. They've been together for a long time, and when this group of seniors leave--this is the last of what I call my COVID recruits who kind of built the program. I don't think there's a team on our schedule we can't beat. There have been times in the past I said we've got to play perfect to win this game or this game. I don't believe there's any game on our schedule we have to play perfect to win, and that's how I know the program has really gotten to the point now we can win every game. That doesn't mean we are going to win every game, but every team on the schedule we can beat."

On if offense will be point guard driven:

"Kevin Cross has led us in assists the past two years (actually, he's come close but Jalen Cook had one more assist last year and Sion James had four more assists two years ago) and Sion James has been second, so our point guards are really back, and then we added Kolby. The point guard position for us is not a big deal because the guys that create our offense are still here in the program."

On China helping physical nature of play:

"Yeah, the physical, but the mental grind was harder than the physical. I thought we would have more control on what we could do inside of the country, and we didn't. To be there for 17 days and not be able to do the things we were accustomed to doing took a lot out of us, but I love how we prepared. We were excited for games. The off days were harder for us. The games were physical. We were an underdog every game we played because we were the visiting team. Everybody loves to cheer against the United States, and I have never felt that before. It's the first time as a coach that I felt that. You always worry about the other team, but we represented a country that most people didn't want us to win. 15,000 every night screaming at us. I don't know what they were screaming. I thought they were screaming, 'I love Ron Hunter,' but someone told me on the plane that's not what they were saying."

On days off:

"Generally I would say, hey, let's go the mall, let's go to this restaurant and eat. Those were things we couldn't do. We had to have prior approval and couldn't get that prior approval. It was just different. Usually when you take those types of trips you can go sight seeing and take the tours. We had none of that. We just kind of hung out with each other and talked to each other, and it was tough. It was weird because we couldn't even really break down film because they controlled the film that was coming in and out. The things we would normally do, we couldn't, but our guys bonded. A lot of times we could have gotten upset about it, but we knew this was what we were doing and no one got mad. We kind of laughed, and we still laugh about it. We had the officials speak to us at our clinic the other day, and one of our guys said you guys can't be any worse than what we saw this summer, so I'm going to be nice to the officials. Even I'm going to be nice to officials after some of the calls we got."

On if he felt like he was being watched:

"Yeah, here's when I felt like we were being watched. The very first time we were in a crowd, and people were staring at me and they were chanting and I thought they were excited to see me because we were the United States, and I had five people ask me if I was Charles Barkley. So that right there, I didn't even know what to say. A little kid gave me something to sign, so I signed Charles Barkley, so that little kid is probably going to think he met Charles Barkley, and five people called me that and they were running up to me. That's as much as we were being watched when they thought I was Charles Barkley. So Chuck, congratulations, someone thinks you look nice."

On what the resemblance was:

"I don't know because I've lost the weight. Chuck, it's not the weight. It's not even that. Charles is a good friend of mine, but it's not that. I went to my room and didn't even want to coach the next game. I've never been called Charles Barkley. I've been called a lot, but I've never been called Charles Barkley. That was a highlight for me and a lowlight at the same time."

On not being able to break down film in China:

"Well, the guys liked it because I couldn't prove anything. It was so loud that sometimes I couldn't even coach in the games. The timeouts were, the whole experience, and our guys were able to lead on the floor. We had to keep our composure. A couple of times it got a little rough and we had to keep our composure, and they did a great job. They even kept my composure down. I felt like I was trying to get calls and they weren't understanding what I was saying anyone, but I thought our leadership did a tremendous job on that trip."

On what he is looking for from seniors:

"Just lead these guys. You are going to have good days and bad days. Never get too high or get too low. That's one thing we talk about. You are playing basketball, you are very fortunate and be appreciative of that and they are. We have a lot of new guys that are younger that may not have played a lot, and they (the seniors) have been through that before. That's what's great about the culture of our program. The culture of our program started with Kevin, Sion and Forbes were here. That tradition has kind of gone down, so when they depart, we'll have these young guys to take their place, and that's what I'm really appreciative of what these guys have done."

On AAC:

"It's weird. I was a head coach when I was 30, and conference championships used to be exciting. You knew everybody in the conference and you knew the players. With all the realignment, it just doesn't have the same feel. If you put me to a test to name all the teams in the league, I probably couldn't, and so I worry about my team. I worry about who we play next, and I think it's going to be that way the rest of my career because the way things change and you start building for one thing, when I first got here I thought, boy, you gotta catch Houston. Now Houston's out of the league. I did the same thing when I was at Georgia State. I thought you gotta catch VCU, and then VCU wasn't in the league a year or two later, so I've burned trying to do that. Now I just focus on my team and who we play next and worry about them. That's what college athletics is coming to now."

On saying in last interview he had been really impressed with Percy Daniels' improvement in China:

"By far the most improved player in our program over the summer was Percy. I thought he did a tremendous job. He didn't play last year with his injuries and some of the things he had, and I wasn't expecting him to play very. much in China. I wanted to go with the veterans, but we needed his physicality, and he was tremendous. We came out of there really excited because having a big body like that who's athletic and just how he handled himself. He was our most physical player during that time and we needed that. That will be something we hope to carry over this year."

Massive win. Tulane took a huge gut punch and punched right back, putting itself in great position to return to the AAC Championship Game while exorcizing some demons from its terrible recent history in Memphis.

Willie Fritz, Yulkeith Brown, Makhi Hughes and Kam Pedescleaux talked after the impressive comeback victory.

FRITZ

"Great overall effort by our guys. I thought we played fantastic complementary football. Did a super job in the kicking game. Will Karoll, I think he pinned them inside the 10 at least twice, and then he had another big punt to kind of turn the field, a 49-yard net punt, so he really played great. We did a good job with the coverage units. We had one kickoff return we missed a tackle on, but other than that they had to go the long field and we had a nice kick return by Shedro Louis, got it out to the 50-yard line, started a short field for us when we needed a bigger return at that point in time. We were down 21-10. We had some timely sacks. I guess Darius Hodges is now top five all-time sacks in Tulane history. He had two sacks tonight, and they were big ones on third down plays that went to fourth-and-real long. Offensively we did a super job. Slade Nagle, and Shiel Wood on defense but Slade Nagle on offense, coach (Greg) McMahon with the kicking game, I thought they called a fantastic game. Slade did a really nice job mixing up run and pass. We controlled the clock. In the first half we had the ball for over 20 minutes and they had it for nine-something, but it didn't equate to points. In the second half it did equate to points, so we dominated time of possession.

"It was just a really good overall game. Chris Brazzell had some big catches for us. Chris Carter, that's the best game he's played since he's been here. Mike overthrew him for a little bit on the little out and up play down near the goal line and he made a sensational catch to get the ball on the 1-yard line for us. We had to play a lot of guys on the offensive line. We probably played seven or eight guys, and they all did a really nice job. On Yulkeith's (touchdown), you never know, sometimes you get a bunch of targets and sometimes you don't, but Yulkeith's touchdown was just a really tremendous block by Lawrence Keys that kind of sprung him loose. There's times when Yulkeith has to do the same thing for Lawrence. A lot of unselfish play by our guys."

On responding to gut punch of three straight TD drives by Memphis:

"We just weren't finishing drives in the first half. I think we had 200-some-odd yards, but a lot of it was between the 20s. I went for one we didn't get, but I told them at halftime this is a 12-round fight with about six rounds and you have six rounds to go. You have to keep going and the guys did it. It's a good game to build off of as far as toughness is concerned. I thought they did a good job."

On Makhi Hughes draw to pick up third-and-9 when trailing 21-10:

"He does a nice job. We call that sequencing when we already know we are going to go for it and let's get some of it. You run it and often times against a three-man front they are thinking pass and the down schemes are really good against it, but if they get into something a little bit different, we have the ability to throw it out of that as well, so a good job by Slade with the call and our guys executing the play."

On being set up going forward with win:

"The last time that Tulane won here was 1998. How old were you in '98 (directed toward Yulkeith Brown, who says he wasn't born yet)? I knew that. Tulane won twice that year. You can't carry over one year to the next. I say that all the time. You can't revel in past successes or you're not going to be as good as you want to be, and you can't pout if you don't play as well as you're capable of playing because you won't be good that next week. We'll move on and go 1-0 and get ready for the next practice. That's easy for me to do. Sometimes it's tough for the guys, but they've really bought into it. That helps you. This is one game, and we've got another big one. We're taking tomorrow off, which is good. I told my coaches I don't want to see them in the office tomorrow. Last week we had a bye week but we worked recruiting the whole time. The kids had a few days off, but we busted our tails, so we're going to take it easy tomorrow and then jump into North Texas on Sunday."

On having grown a lot as a program to make this win happen:

"Yeah, you know, I always liked our fight whenever we played at home or away. We always competed. We have better Jimmies and Joes right now. That's helping us with the playing. We've had a lot of close ones on the road against some real quality opponents, but we've got some weapons on offense. This is the first time I've had four guys on offense that can all run speed sweeps and run it effectively. Usually we've had one guy. It's pretty easy to figure out who that guy is and all those kind of things, but we have a bunch of guys who can do it and a bunch of guys we can go to like Chris Carter. He stepped in, and a lot of times those balls were going to Alex Bauman, but Chris stepped in and played extremely well. We've got more weapons and good depth on defense. We rolled nine defensive linemen tonight, and then we had a couple of guys get hurt in the secondary. Lance Robinson was down a little bit. A.J. Hampton stepped up. DJ Douglas got hurt, and Kentrell Webb, who hasn't played that much this season., probably played 30 snaps. That's the first defensive action he's had this year, so we've got more depth than we've had in the past."

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

Memphis (+4.5) Tulane
Washington (-3) Oregon
Notre Dame (-2.5) USC
Tennessee (-3.5) Texas A&M
LSU (-11) Auburn
Kentucky (-2.5) Missouri
North Carolina (-3.5) Miami
UTSA (-10) UAB

Guerry, et al,
Whose seen enough of Memphis to make any predications?

To answer a question from yesterday, I do not know whether Prince Pines will play Saturday or not. He likely will be a game-time decision, but Shadre Hurst graded out well against UAB after getting two penalties early (a false start and what Willie Fritz thought was a bogus holding call). Hurst was the best of the Wave's non-starters and should fill in well as long as needed, although I would anticipate Pines being ready no later than next Saturday if he cannot go this Friday.

Tulane practiced at the Saints indoor facility today for what I believe is the first time this year (they practiced at the Superdome on multiple occasions) because of predicted heavy rain in the morning that never arrived, although there were some sprinkles uptown while they practiced in Metairie. Those workouts have been off limits to reporters since the COVID pandemic, so I did not get to see anything. When they returned to the Wilson Center, I talked to Fritz, DJ Douglas and Yulkeith Brown. This was the last opportunity to talk to anyone before I drive up to Memphis Friday for the game.

FRITZ

On Yulkeith Brown coming on:

"He's a smart player. He really is. This is a different system (from what Brown was used to at Texas A&M), but he's got tremendous speed and movement and I just think he's feeling more and more comfortable with what we're doing it."

On jet sweet TD by Yulkeith Brown:

"He did an excellent job. We're very fortunate we've got three or four guys who can run that play. Most teams have one."

On Memphis RB Blake Watson, an Old Dominion transfer:

"He's tough. I don't even know how big he is. I think he's 200 or something like that (he is listed at 5-9, 195), but man, he runs with power. He runs behind his pads. He's a really good player. He's very impressive. He has a run against Boise (State) that's just a tremendous, big-time run, so we have to be very aware of him. They picked up a good guy."

DOUGLAS

On his tackling skills:

"Really coach (Shiel) Wood, coach (Josh) C-Y (Christian-Young), coach JJ (McCleskey) and coach (Rob) Greene really just drill tackling, taking the right leverage angles, just exploding through the ball carrier and just keep your eyes locked in on your near hip. I Just have to give credit to them because they've been helping me a lot."

On interception against UAB:

"It was like, oh my gosh. I had to take my half, I was backing up and I broke on the ball just playing football and I realized it was overthrown and it came into my hands. I used to play receiver in like 9th grade, and it just felt like that again. It was great to really catch it."

On keys against Memphis:

"Memphis is a good team. They are 4-1. They are coming off a bye week just like us. Really we just have to hold everything together and focus on what we have planned and make sure we tighten up the little things. They have a great back. They have a great quarterback. He's a four-year starter. We have to focus on everything that we have going on."

On ending losing streak at Memphis that dates to 1998:

"I look at that like it's a chip on your shoulder, and I love having a chip on my shoulder. It always gives you something to work hard for. It doesn't have anything to do with me, but it has everything to do with me because I've got Tulane on my logo and I go to school here. We just have to work hard, not focus on anything like that and take it step by step."

On no road losses since start of 2022:

"I didn't even notice that. I really have to give credit to our coaches. They really have prepared. We always have extra meetings even outside of our meeting time with coaches, and we all get together and watch film by ourselves just to build the chemistry with each other. We're a great team."

YULKEITH BROWN

On really stepping up lately:

"Honestly what really clicked was just bonding more to the program and really understanding why this play is called and really knowing what the drive is and really taking it one day at a time, just grinding and not letting anything stop me from knowing who I am. I have the ability. It's just knowing what you have to do and when you have to be there. That's what took my game up more."

On toughest adjustment:

"Really getting back in shape and getting my routes back together, making them more perfect and then really just locking in on myself and becoming the man who I know I was. I came with a slow start a little bit."

On frustration at start:

"I'm not going to lie. It was kind of frustrating, but I just didn't let it stop me from knowing what I was trying to be. God showed me just keep the faith and keep going and it's going to come."

On jet sweep TD:

"I wasn't even in the play before. I thought Jha'Quan (Jackson) was going to score, and once we got near the goal line, I thought this play might come up. Coach Nagle called it, and I thought this might be a touchdown and then as soon as I saw the defense, they were already out-leveraged from the jump, and once I got the ball I hit the corner and didn't see anybody over there. I knew it was a touchdown."

On practice for that play:

"We run that play every day, different forms just knowing like if we hit the edge with speed we can always out-leverage the defense and just knowing that, we practice it a lot. When it came to life it went good."

On feeling he is close to first TD reception:

"Yes sir. Like I said, just knowing and trusting, I feel like everything is going to come when it's supposed to do. I'm just sitting back waiting."

Best strength:

"My speed. Just knowing if it's a go ball or any vertical, I'm going to run past this guy no matter what. Once I'm in that zone, I don't feel like anybody can catch me."

On receiver speed as a group:

"It's the whole room. Just having that speed, we come into every game knowing the opponent is going to be good but we know nobody in this country can run with us head to head with every receiver in the room. That speed gives us a plus. It's a great thing."

On best yet to come for offense:

"I'm not going to lie. I feel like this offense is going to be putting up a lot of numbers. We're averaging 35 points right now but that's going to keep going up because Pratt had a late start and we're still trying to find our offense. We're smoothing things out and are going to get rolling."

On not having beaten Memphis since 1998:

"Honestly we take every game seriously. I know this is bigger than just the game, and we're going to get back where Tulane needs to be."

Willie Fritz offered a quick but positive comment about Troy Dannen after Tulane's practice today, but answering those types of questions has never been what he was interested in during a game week. One of his best assets is his laser focus on creating the same routine week after week after week, and reflecting on Dannen would qualify as a potential distraction.

"I want to congratulate him," Fritz said. "That's great for Troy. He's done a super job here and we wish him nothing but the best. I've talked to him, and obviously this is part of athletics. It's just part of it. We wish him and his family the very, very best."

Against my better judgment, I asked a follow-up question I knew he would not really answer about what he hoped to see in the next hire:

"Luckily we've got President Fitts in charge of that. He'll do a fantastic job of finding Troy's predecessor."

That was the end of that. It was back to Friday's big game against Memphis from there. The best news on that front was Tyler Grubbs practiced today in a full-contact jersey, and so did Josh Remetich, who got hurt in the second half against UAB (( don't know whether he went back in or not). Michael Pratt, who has been willing himself to play his normal game despite a significant knee injury, will benefit tremendously from a week off, too and should be closer to 100 percent on Friday, although his whatever percent was pretty good against UAB, when he ripped off a 26-yard run that was the third longest of his career. Look for fewer misfires than he had the past two games, which probably had something to do with the knee or rustiness, although, again, he still leads the nation in passing efficiency, so it's not like he fell off a lot. He does not officially qualify for the NCAA stats because he needs to play in 75 percent of his team's games (something that will not happen until game No. 8), but he is one point better than Caleb Williams, just like he was on the Cotton Bowl scoreboard.

The only injury I noticed was to freshman offensive lineman Darion Reed, who is being redshirted anway. He was walking around without a helmet.

Fritz, Pratt and cornerback Lance Robinson, who is having a tremendous year (shutting my head up because I thought A.J. Hampton would beat him out), talked today.

FRITZ

"We've had a couple of weeks to prepare for the Memphis Tigers. I told my guys in my wildest dreams I never thought in 1983 when I was the sophomore B coach at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School that I would be coaching a game on ESPN. It's because ESPN wasn't invented then. We're excited about it. It's a good opportunity for us to go out and play a really good opponent. I've got a lot of respect for coach (Ryan Silverfield) and what they do over there in Memphis. They've been good year in and year out. It's a tough place to play. They've got one of the highest winning (percentages) as far as home games are concerned in the country. I know we haven't had very good luck there, so we need to play great Friday night."

On why games have gotten away from Tulane at Memphis (the 2017 and 2019 ones were blowouts, and the Wave lost in 2021 despite Tyjae Spears running wild):

"Well they've been pretty good. Really good. They've got good players. One year I think they had quite a few guys drafted in the first three rounds. Good players, good coaches. They do a good job."

On first impressions of Memphis:

'Defensively they have a really good front. They've played a tough schedule. They had Missouri up until the end of the game. Offensively they've got a great quarterback. He's a dual threat kind of guy. A good running game. The transfer running back from ODU is a really good player and a really nice stable of receiver. They've got a good return game. Just a very good overall team."

On last time beat Memphis at Memphis:

"I already heard. Somebody told me 1998. Twice. Liberty Bowl that year. Once Memphis and once BYU. That's a long time. It is. They've done a great job with their program and had some excellent coaches there over the years, and it's no different this year."

On drawing from experience to take into Friday night:

"Oh, you just have to prepare for the team that you're getting ready to play. That's so important. Somebody had a book, 'Every Week's a Season.' That's really kind of what it is. You have to shift gears each week to the opponent you're going to play and how you're going to prepare for them because everybody's a little bit different, but I really believe if you just sit back and revel in past successes, you're not going to be as good as you can be, and if you sit around and pout over past failures, you're not going to be as good as you can be, so we try as best as we can to live in the present."

On if did anything different in bye week this time:

"No, I haven't done anything different. It probably means I've been coaching a long time, but we really try to keep our schedule consistent, the same as much as we can, either at home or on the road. I had a coach the other day call me and they were getting ready to play Saturday and he said he wanted to see our schedule because we win a bunch of games on the road. My only answer to him was we do the same thing. It's how we prepare each and every week."

On if coaching is more important in game following bye week:

"I don't know. That's a good question. I'm not sure. The thing I've learned over the years is you can overdo the bye week and do too much stuff. Last week we lifted and watched the game on Monday, practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, gave the guys off Friday and Saturday and then started up again on Sunday. You've just got to be careful of doing too much, and earlier in my career I probably did that. I thought it was better to practice three hours than two hours two days out. I learned my lesson."

On how week off helped Pratt:

"It's been good. He feels great and looked good today in everything that we did. It was good for him. That was part of the bye week process was getting him and about six or seven other guys about as healthy as we could get them."

On having Pratt healthy for stretch run:

"It's real important. He's a really good player, one of the best quarterbacks in the country. We certainly want him feeling fresh and frisky."

On Tulane and Memphis being top two reams in league making him put more emphasis on this game:

"I place a lot of emphasis on every single game. I just got done telling those guys we're guaranteed to play 12 of these and that's it and you need to put everything into it you possibly can, but certainly they are a very strong contender for the AAC title. They have a good squad."

On Memphis RB Blake Watson (an Old Dominion transfer who rushed for 2,133 yards the previous two years and has 455 rushing yards and 233 receiving yards this year):

"He's a good player. He really runs with power and good speed. He had a run against Boise that was just outstanding near the goal line. He went for over 1,000 yards last year (actually 2021) with a really high yard per carry average (5.9 at Memphis), so he's one of the top backs in our conference."

On what makes Tulane-Memphis matchup special:

"I don't know. We've been playing a long time I guess. That's probably one thing. We have a long history of playing against each other and the cities aren't too far apart."

On Arnold Barnes getting out of doghouse after fumble:

"He's going to get another oppotunity. All of the guys are going to get an opportunity sooner or later. I was just talking to a young man about this this morning. He wants his role expanded. I told him my best advice for you is to keep practicing as hard as you can and you're going to get an opportunity and we'll see if you're ready or not. You have to work on it. No one wants to fumble, but it's my job to try to press the guys as much as I can during practice as much as I can. Texas got beat by Oklahoma and they had three turnovers and Oklahoma had none. If they were plus-3, they probably would have won by two touchdowns. It's the No. 1 stat in football."

Only two people picked more than half the games right, with tacklthemanwiththefootball going 5-3 and winning the week by a point by going against Tulane and the hefty 21.5-point spread. I was the only other person to pick against Tulane and I still got only three points in what has been a dreadful start for me.

WEEK 5 RESULTS

6

tacklethemanwiththefootball

5

diverdo

4

MNAlum
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
GretnaGreen
wavetime
paliii

3

WaveON
p8kpev
LSU Law Greenie
roll wave
chigoyboy
winwave
Guerry
DrBox
ForeverTU

2

charlamange8
Kettrade1


OVERALL STANDINGS

28.5

chigoyboy

25.5

LSU Law Greenie
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
wavetime
paliii

24.5

charlamange8
ForeverTU

23.5

tacklethemanwiththefootball

22.5

p8kpev
winwave
Kettrade1

21.5

MNAlum
roll wave
DrBox

20.5

WaveON


17.5

diverdo (missed 1 week)
Guerry

15.5

GretnaGreen


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

UAB 2 of 18
Clemson 14
Kentucky 10
Colorado 4
Auburn 1
Texas 9
Ole Miss 5
Notre Dame 15

Guerry in your article for tomorrow you said, after talking about Pratt's knee needing the bye week to heal, that Pratt shook his leg late in the game.He did but it was his right leg that he continuously kept shaking not his left.

Interestingly, Tulane will get slightly better exposure than last year, with at least four games on ESPN2 and four games on ESPNU and 11 total on one of ESPN's main three options. The Memphis home game will be on either ESPN or ESPN2, the Memphis road game will be on either ESPN2 or ESPNU and the FAU road game will be on either ESPN2 or ESPNU, so in the best-case scenario, there will be one game on ESPN, six on ESPN2 and four on ESPNU.

The other seven will be on ESPN+.

Last year the breakdown was one on ESPN, one on ESPN2, eight on ESPNU and eight on ESPN+.

Full schedule

Tulane practiced today and putting the UAB game to bed Monday with video review and will go again tomorrow and Thursday before taking Friday and Saturday off and returning Sunday to begin normal game-week preparations for its pivotal Friday game at Memphis. Fall break starts Thursday at Tulane, with classes resuming Monday. This was the only opportunity to talk to Willie Fritz and players this week. Fritz, Devean Deal and Sincere Haynesworth were made available.

I'm not crazy about numbers taken from a player's game stats and contrived to fit the profile, but it is still impressive that Devean Deal became the first Tulane player this century with at least eight tackles, four tackles for loss and at least one sack in the same game against an FBS opponent. Antonio Harris did it against Southeastern Louisiana in 2007. There were some questions about Deal starting in front of Darius Hodges this season, but he answered them Saturday while Hodges remained productive off the bench in a pretty equal rotation.

Haynesworth was part of a rushing attack that gained 264 yards after Tulane failed to surpass 250 in its first four games. The Wave never has averaged fewer than 164.2 rushing yards in a season under Fritz and has been well over 200 in every season but the 2-10 debacle in 2021, so the turnaround figured to come sooner rather than later. Makhi Hughes finally won the starting job with his performance, Fritz confirmed today.

FRITZ

On philosophy during bye week:

"We want to back off this week. We've got six, seven or eight guys who are banged up, injured, and this is kind of the last go-around to get them fully healthy for the stretch run. We're very mindful of what we're doing with some of the guys this week in making sure that they get healthy, but it's also a chance for us to work with some of our young guys, develop them, but the primary objective is to prepare for Memphis."

On Memphis:

"I just started digging into it yesterday a little bit, but they are very athletic. They've got a great quarterback. He's a dual-threat guy. They had Missouri on the ropes. I'm sure they would like to play them again. They had them kind of dead to rights there for a long portion of the game. Good receivers, good running attack, defensively if they're not the leading team in the nation, they're one of the tops in third-down defense (actually fifth at 23.8 percent; Tulane is 22nd at 31.8 percent), so they make a lot of big plays in that area. They've always had a big return game. I'm sure they'll have a big crowd there on Friday on national TV. Every year since I've been here they've had an excellent team."

On Memphis QB Seth Henigan:

"Very accurate. He's a coach's kid. He's been around the game all his life and has a good understanding of when to tuck it and run it, when to go ahead and buy a little bit more time and keep his eyes down the field and throw it. He's got a lot of experience, too. I think he's got 20-some-odd starts under his belt, so that helps big time when you've been there, seen that and done that. He's an excellent quarterback."

On running game clicking Saturday and what changed:

"We did a good job with running a lot of inside zone, a power play without the pulling guard. Then a lot of it was Makhi just running behind his pads. We ran a little bit with Michael (Pratt). We did a good job of stretching the perimeter with some of our receivers (on reverses and jet sweeps), so it allowed us to utilize the whole field both vertically straight at them and also horizontally with some plays. The more you do that, the tougher it is to defend."

On being confident running game would improve:

"We just felt like would get it. We were so close, and there were a bunch of plays we were so close on and could have had even more rips (against UAB). It just opens up the play action pass. It was also excellent where we've been throwing the ball pretty good, and we ran six or seven plays in a row at the beginning of the second half to go down and score. We didn't throw on that drive, but we utilized the whole field sideline to sideline. We started with the reverse to 'Quan and Makhi got hot during that point."

On having multiple receivers who are effective on reverses and jet sweeps:

"It helps you big time. It's a throw out on the perimeter without having to throw it. 'Quan's got great speed and movement. Lawrence Keys does and Yulkeith Brown does. We've got some other guys we could utilize there. Speedy Rogers. Dontae Fleming and even (Chris) Brazzel could do it. We need to use that speed and they also all do a good job of getting their first in the ground and getting vertical."

On Jackson in open field:

"He's very good. He's excellent. He does a good job of sometimes giving ground to gain ground. He did it that one on the catch here and has done it numerous times in his career on punt returns. He's got confidence in his speed and has tremendous movement."

On Hughes going forward:

"He's going to be first-team back. He proved that last Saturday. He distinguished himself by having great ball security, getting tough yards and falling forward. He's not an easy guy to get down, and he has the ability to keep his feet moving and also protect the ball. He'll be starting for us this next game. He's separated himself a little bit and now it's his job to separate himself a little bit more and those guys' job to bypass him."

On his strengths:

"When it's not blocked properly, he's still getting 3 yards. That's a big deal. When they block it for 9, he gets 1 2 or 13. He's always falling forward. Some backs let up a little bit when it's contact area. He acclerates through it. He does an excellent job finishing runs."

On Pratt's health:

"Good. Our big goal is just getting him healthy. He's been banged up and this is a good time. We play the game a week from Friday and he should be 100 percent ready to go. I told him that today. We're going to be cautious with him this week, and then next week try to throw him back in the fray in practice and be ready to go. You don't have these opportunities to get guys healthy very often. We have it and want to use it."

On bye coming at right time:

"I think it was. Usually it seems like you have it early, which isn't bad because camp is so long and you've gone for a month and then maybe two or three more week and you have that little bye. Here we went a little bit longer--five games as opposed to two or three games, so it did come at a good time."

On self scouting:

"We did a whole bunch of that last week. We use Pro Football Focus to grade our players, grade our schemes, run/pass, special teams. Some of my coaches don't like it. I like it because it's a nameless, faceless person who is grading us that has no bias towards this player or that player or this or that, and it is consistent. Now I don't know if some of them know what a plus is from a minus. Every once in a while I'll see a plus on a terrible play, but it is consistent. We look at that and see which plays were plus plays and which plays were minus. The ones that were minus, can we fix it or do we need to not use it anymore. There are other ways to get to the same play. A lot of offense is window dressing, and it's turned into that on defense, too, where you get in one look and are really playing something else. What could we be tipping to our opponent defensively based on a stance, based on initial movement of a corner or an alignment of the defensive line? So a lot of self scout. Some of the coaches do an excellent job with that, and we've got some other guys--retired coaches--who we ask to grade us, watch us, what are you seeing? We'll do that as well."

On holding call on Shadre Hurst that nullified 44-yard catch-and-run by Shaadie Clayton-Johnson:

"I don't know. We turned it in and they felt like it was justified. I didn't think it was. I usually don't turn in very many unless I think we're going to get a favorable reply by them, but we did not get that. I thought it was OK. I didn't think it was much."

On if he wants to meet a Pro Football Focus grader:

"No. I've met with them in the past. They told us how they grade. They go to a little coaching school and grading school. It's former coaches for the most part and a lot of it's high school coaches who do it on Sundays for Saturday games and Monday for Sunday games. It's a very interesting concept. We're comparing grades from last season to grades five games through this year, seeing if guys are playing better or possibly worse. Are they pass protecting but not run blocking? Is there a reason for that? We've got to try to dig into it. It could be a practice plan from me. It could be drills that we're utilizing as a position coach. Could it be not running the plays enough during the week so the kids feel comfortable running it? We try to analyze all that stuff."

Aside from the defensive line, which is really impressive, it is hard to tell how good Tulane is after five games. South Alabama and Southern Miss, two of the Wave's victims, keep losing. Ole Miss beat LSU but gave up a gajillion yards in the process. Tulane struggled against UAB today as a three-touchdown favorite, although the Blazers are more talented than their 1-4 record suggests.

This much we know. Makhi Hughes is the Wave's bellwether back and should be the guy for the rest of the season. He's been better than anyone else on running plays all year and he carried the team as it rallied from a 20-7 deficit to go ahead.

This much I think: Michael Pratt's passing is affected by his balky knee, but he still has toughness and the abiiity to excel under pressure. With 13 days in between games, he should play better against Memphis in what is shaping up as the most pivotal contest for the rest of the regular season. His 26-yard run on the gimpy leg was the third longest of his career, and after missing Yulkeith Brown badly on a key third down one possession earlier, he dropped a dime to Lawrence Keys for the clinching TD in the final minute. That fourth-down pass was reminiscent of his three consecutive throws in the fourth quarter at Cincinnati last year after the Bearcats went ahead for the first time.

Tulane does not have to play great to win the AAC, but it will need to play better than it did today, and I certainly believe it will happen as Pratt gets healthier.

Willie Fritz, Hughes, Jared Small, Devean Deal and Pratt talked after the game.

WILLIE FRITZ

“We didn’t play real good in the first half. I was disappointed. We had some untimely turnovers, fumbles, and we had one in the second half as well. If we don’t do that, we probably are able to score a couple more touchdowns and put the game out of reach a heck of a lot earlier than we did.. We ran the ball successfully most of the game. Makai Hughes really ran the ball tough, hardnosed. We ran the clock out there at the end. It was fourth down and we had to get 10 yards and why not take a shot. We knew they were going to be pressing us. Mike threw a really nice ball to Lawrence Keys for the touchdown that put the game out of reach. Defensively we had a tough time early in the game. We didn’t tackle great and didn’t play with great leverage. They did a nice job of running a lot of mesh routes underneath, and it seemed like they were kind of one step ahead of us in the first half. If we were playing man or we were playing zone, they held the ball for a while until someone got open. They’ve got good players. I’ve said that all week. Coach Dilfer’s going to do a great job there.”

On not pooch punting instead of going for the TD:

“You’re only going to gain 11 yards. We thought we could take off at the very least 5, 6, 7 seconds, and you also have the opportunity for pass interference, too. I’ve seen that happen before. It’s one of those in between spots where if you punt it in the end zone, you gain 11 yards. At that point in time maybe 6, 7 seconds is better, but perfect throw and catch. Good protection.”

On Hughes:

“He did it today. He sure did. I was very impressed. In crunch time I wanted to make sure he was in the game.”

On confidence in Pratt for decisions like that:

“We have a lot of trust in him and a lot of guys on the team. There was a throw earlier that he wanted to get back, and I just thought it was a perfect throw in the back of the end zone. If he doesn’t catch that, the other guy’s not catching it. Great throw by Michael.”

On overcoming slow start:

“Well there was a big score at the end of the first half to make it 20-14 and then obviously we knew we were receiving the opening kickoff in the second half and had a great drive to go up 21-20, and it got everybody’s confidence up quite a bit then.”

On sticking to run on key drives:

“It just kept being successful. A lot of times coordinators want to get a little too cute, and Slade did an excellent job of staying with what was working.”

On why Hughes is good:

“When it’s not blocked, he still gets 2 or 3 yards, which is a big deal. Second-and-7 is a lot better play than second-and-10, and when it is blocked, he does an excellent job of running behind his pads. He doesn’t go down with the first tackle. He’s always falling forward. He’s probably a 200-pound guy but he’s really powerful and has good movement. He got to the second level a couple of times, and we talk about see two, split two when you’ve got two guys (defenders) stretching them, go between them, and he did that quite a ffew times today as well.”

On Hughes' 12-yard run to start clinching TD drive:

“He had three or four of those today where he got 12 or 13 yards and broke tackles. There’s got to be a crease in there. The offensive line has to do a good job of making something happen, the tight ends, receivers down the field blocking. The thing about Mahki is he did his ACL last year up before the first game, so he had a tough year rehabbing. A lot of guys give up, and he never gave up. He worked extremely hard, had a positive attitude and you like when good things happen to good people.”

On players getting upset at calls:

“We had a couple of breaks we didn’t get in the first half, but we had a couple of breaks in the second half. Right?”

On goal-line fumble:

“There was one of them right there. He jumped over the top (and lost the ball). Quarterback sneaks are tougher than you think. I’m sure he wishes he would have run behind his pads. When you jump over the top, a lot of times good things don’t happen. We got fortunate with 12 guys on the field (in the first half).”

On Shadre Hurst:

“He played well. They called a hold on him on a quick screen and we’ll have to come back and look at it. For his first start in Division I football, I thought he really handles himself well.”

On Keys TD:

“You’ve got to give yourself some room, and he stacked and Michael threw it over his outside shoulder. It was a really nice throw and catch. Those guys work on it all the time.”

On Tyler Grubbs:

“I watched him. He wanted to play so bad, and he just didn’t look like he was moving around very well. That’s going to be good this week to get him healthy because he’s a hell of a player, but Jared (Small) stepped in and got an opportunity and played his butt off.”

On open date:

“It’s coming at a good time for us. It will help Michael get a little more healthy. Prince Pines might be able to go. We talked about Tyler Grubbs. Those are three really good players there, and all of them will be a lot more healthy after a week off.”

I was asked to get a Willie Fritz quote on the freshmen in another thread, so I am going to repost his illuminating quote about this class at the end of August as Tulane got ready for its opener against South Alabama. Even though almost none of them are playing much if at all, he is really high on this group. It says something about the quality of the players in front of them.

"I really like our freshman class. I really do. At the dog position, outside linebacker, we signed some real quality players there. A lot of years those guys (Matthew Fobbs-White, Jahrie Garner and AJ Thomas) would be playing for us right now. All three of those guys can play for us. I love the three linebackers (Dickson Agu, Jean Claude Joseph, Makai Williams) that we signed. They are all really good players. The secondary, all those guys have got a chance to be really good players for us. Running back wise, I feel good about (Trey Cornist). The quarterback, Darian Mensah, has good movement. Offensive line, we got some big dudes. All of them have got a chance. A couple of them need to lose some weight, and that's the toughest position for a freshman to come in and play a lot for you. I think they all have a chance. Tight end, we really like Josh Goines. The receiver (Hunter Summers) is solid. Usually when you sign 25 guys, by the time you're done with camp, there's five guys you think are going to have a tough time playing for you or it might be a stretch. I really think every one of these guys has a legitimate chance to either be a starter or a backup for us some day."

More recently, he said he had some backup defensive linemen who weren't in the rotation who would have started for him in the past.

Tulane is a little banged up going into the UAB game but it looks like almost everyone will be able to play, including Tyler Grubbs, who has been in red no-contact jersey all week. Fritz said freshmen Makai Williams and Dickson Agu were next in line, but if Grubbs cannot go, they will try to get by with Jesus Machado and Jared Small as much as possible.

Saturday also might feature the season debut of Noah Taliancich, who has dealt with a ton of injuries in his career and currently has a recurring hernia problem that makes it difficult for him to be healthy. Tulane's depth is such on the defensive line that it doesn't really need him, but any time a good player is available, it helps, and Taliancich was a 3-start recruit who grew up a Wave fan and never wanted to play anywhere but Tulane. He has 19 tackles in a reserve role last season and was named to the AAC All-Academic team.

"He's got a hernia and it just sometimes gets real painful," Fritz said. "They gave him a shot the other day and it seems to be working. He's really good on special teams as a shield performer on punt. He's good as a backline guy on kickoff return. We'd use him on extra point and field goal as well, and he also has good movement and doesn't get knocked off the ball as a defensive lineman."

UAB's defensive coordinator was Trent Dilfer's defensive coordinator at Lipscomb Academy, a small Christian high school in Nashville. The Blazers haven't stopped anything since beating North Carolina A&T in their opener.

"They run mostly an even front," Fritz said. "They play a lot of zone, a lot of quarters and versions of three like a lot of teams do, but they are not an odd (front) team having the nose cover up the center."

Without question, UAB quarterback Jacob Zeno is the player Tulane is worried the most about. He has rushed for a touchdown in three straight games, put up incredible passing numbers in a loss to Georgia Southern and held his own against Georgia's vaunted defense.

"He'll tuck it and go," Fritz said. "He's a big, physical guy. I saw him trying to run over a couple of guys on the sideline last week and the week before. He's a physical guy."

It's a low number this week with an 11 a.m. game after almost everyone played Friday night.

1) Jamauri McClure, a 5-9, 185-pound 3-star RB from Goshen High in Troy, Alabama.

Skinny: He committed to South Alabama in June and has been spectacular this season, running for 708 on 53 carries for a preposterous 13.4 average while scoring 12 touchdowns. He also has a kickoff return for a score.

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2) Na'eem Offord, a 2025 4-star 6-2, 178-pound CB from Parker High in Birmingham who is rated the No. 17 overall national prospect, the fourth best player in the state and the No. 3 CB in the country. He has offers from everyone.

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3) Lamar Williams, a 2025 6-7, 280-pound DT from Gadsen County High in Havana, Fa. He has listed offers from Miami and FSU among others.

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Any recruits visiting this week?

Roll Wave!!!

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

Tulane (-21.5) UAB
Syracuse (+6.5) Clemson
Kentucky (-1) Florida
Colorado (+21.5) USC
Auburn (+14.5) Georgia
Texas (-16.5) Kansas
Ole Miss (+2.5) LSU
Duke (+5.5) Notre Dame

I had a miserable week and will be forever chapped about two games. Clemson was driving to go up on FSU by two scores when a sack-fumble was returned for a TD, and the Tigers ended up losing in OT. I was one of only four people who picked Clemson, and that was the right pick. Then, Ohio State pushed against Notre Dame on a TD and extra point with 1 second left. Many years ago--sometime in the 1990s-the only college game I ever bet through a bookie was Mississippi State-Auburn, and the Bulldogs scored in miraculous fashion to go ahead by 2 in the final seconds. I just needed them to convert the extra point to cover, but realizing a blocked extra point could be returned for 2 points, they took a knee instead and I pushed. Ohio State, favored by 3, kicked the extra point in the exact same situation to win by 3, costing seven of us a full point.

Of course, I can't explain away my losses with Colorado and Iowa. They were just lousy picks.

LSU Law Greenie won the week by 2 points over anyone else.

WEEK 4 RESULTS

7.5

LSU Law Greenie

5.5

chigoyboy
tacklethemanwiththefootball
paliii
ForeverTU

4.5

roll wave
charlamange8
diverdo
2DatWuzAGoodDay2
wavetime

3.5

p8kpev
winwave
kettrade1

2.5

WaveON
MNAlum
GretnaGreen
DrBox

1.5

Guerry


OVERALL STANDINGS

25.5

chigoyboy

22.5

LSU Law Greenie
charlamange8

21.5

2DatWuzAGoodDay2
wavetime
paliii
ForeverTU

20.5

Kettrade1

19.5

p8kpev
winwave

18.5

roll wave
DrBox

17.5

WaveOn
MNAlum
tacklethemanwiththefootball

14.5

Guerry

12.5

diverdo (missed 1 week)

11.5

GretnaGreen


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Nicholls 3 of 18
Arkansas 10
Notre Dame-Ohio State push
Alabama 7
FSU 14
Oregon 7
Penn State 10
Missouri 10

Tulane continued preparing for UAB on Wednesday with Beat The Blazers on the scoreboard, and Willie Fritz was very impressed with the attention to detail on a kickoff blocking drill. Although it is not as hot as it was a few weeks ago, it is still humid and it would be easy to go through the motions in yet another kickoff drill (Tulane works on this stuff a ton, getting ready for almost any conceivable situation), but the players were concentrating fully.

I was wrong when I wrote Tyler Grubbs did not practice yesterday. He did not practice in the team or unit drills in the last 45 minutes but was out there earlier in a no-contact jersey. Today he practiced all the way through in the same no-contact jersey, and his availability for the UAB game would be big. The Blazers have moved the ball pretty well this year, and his absence would force someone the coaches did not trust to play at all against Ole Miss and Southern Miss to take on a significant role.

Lawrence Keys, who was held out of kickoff return duties against Nicholls because of a niggling injury that limited him earlier in the week, returned kicks today. I'm not sure that means he will reclaim that role from Shedro Louis, but it is certainly possible. Keys is excellent in that role, although he is so valuable as a receiver, the risk of injury is a factor when he runs backs kickoffs. Reggie Bush refused to do it at UsC because of his concern about getting hurt, sticking with punt returning because it did not involve 10 guys running full speed for 55 yards looking for a collision.

Tulane definitely is more versatile defensively under new coordinator Shiel Wood than last year under Chris Hampton. The key is not doing too much, and Wood appears to have found the perfect balance. They are practicing some different alignments up front while preparing for UAB and it will be interesting to see if they use them. That's all I can reveal, but Wood is more opponent-specific in his game plans than Hampton was. Of course what Hampton did worked really well up until the Cotton Bowl, when it did not work at all but Tulane won anyway.

If you are wondering why Iverson Celestine is totally out of the running back rotation, as I was, Willie Fritz had a simple answer. Celestine did not dress out against Nicholls because he was sick. Otherwise, he was due to play, so the coaches have not filed him yet. Whether they find room for him against UAB remains to be seen, but it is not out of the question.

I talked to Fritz, Shadre Hurst and Makhi Hughes today. I am working on a feature about Kam Hamilton for the newspaper, and he told me Hughes was his best friend and Hurst is his roommate. They were worth talking to anyway, since Hughes has been Tulane's most effective runner through four games and Hurst in an injury away from starting at either guard spot. Hamilton, I believe, will be an All-Conference player as soon as next year. He is quick, strong and relentless and has that "it" factor on the field. Playing the same position as Patrick Jenkins, he cannot start, but he already would be a starter in most other years.

WILLIE FRITZ

On Kam Pedescleaux:

"He's just a really smart player with excellent movement. I was talking about pulling the trigger. Some guys know how to do that and some guys don't. It's go make a play instead of waiting for the play to come to you. He goes and gets it. He's just a really instinctive player and understands the playbook inside and out, can play multiple positions, is good in the kicking game. We're very fortunate to have him."

On what needs to pick up in running game:

"It's a combination of everything. When something is not going as well as you want it to, it's always a bunch of stuff like pass protection. It's the same thing in the run game. We've had it blocked sometimes and the backs have gotten impatient and wanted to bounce it outside instead of following their lead blocker, and there have been some other times where we blocked it incorrectly. Both things have to be in synch in order to have an efficient run game. All the guys have done a nice job at times, and they also have some minuses. That's why we're rolling it with these guys."

On Barnes still learning:

"The playbook in college is so much more detailed than high school. It's just so much that you do, and nowadays you've got to have guys that are good overall players. They've got to be able to pass protect and be able to block in the run on occasion and know how to line up and be able to run inside plays and outside plays. That's what we're always searching for. I was talking about recruiting with our coaches the other day, and you can't underestimate FBI--football intelligence. The game's so complicated, you've got to have smart guys."

On Kam Hamilton:

"He's going to be a great player for us. He's 290 pounds and when he got here he was like 260. He's got great movement and plays hard. He'll chase the ball. He's got what I call country strength. Sometimes he'll snatch a guy and thrown him to the ground, a bigger guy. He's going to be a very good player."

On Shaadie Clayton-Johnson:

"He's doing some good stuff. The thing Shaadie's doing a very good job of is pass protection. He knows who to get on and he gets on them. He does a good job with running routes, catching the ball. He's had a couple of nice catches that he's turned into 15, 20-yard gains. He's doing a very good job. All of them are doing a good job. We're looking for someone to do a great job and say this is the guy we should start and he should get 15 guys a game. We just haven't gotten to that point yet."

on Celestine and the difficulty of playing five backs:

"It's impossible. It really is. But he was sick all last week. He missed all last week's practice and didn't dress for the game. We were going to play him but he wasn't available."

SHADRE HURST

On rooming with Kam Hamilton:

"It's good. We've got a good relationship and we had a good relationship prior to moving in. Like the relationship we've got is chill. We hang out and eat and then on the football field it's to make each other to be better, like challenging each other. Recently we started betting because we do 1 on 1s every padded practice. We put a bet down that whoever loses has to buy dinner that night, so that's how we challenge each other to get better. I ended up winning that day, but we're back and forth. Somebody will end up buying dinner."

On his personality, which is reserved around media:

"You'd be surprised. Once Kam warms up to you, he's a real cool, good guy."

On hoping for his first start:

'It would mean a lot to me, my first college start. Just coming in, it was a lot to adjust to, just switching positions back and forth, it's a lot to learn compared to high school. I came in originally center and started getting the swing of it, and then I got moved to left guard and right guard and have been flopping back and forth training me to be ready to go in on both sides."

On if it has been hard to be patient:

"I wouldn't say it's really hard to be patient because I just think whenever your time comes, you've got to present yourself to be better. Just working with them, I'm getting better either way it goes. Starting or not starting, working with the older guys I'm always getting better."

On best strengths:

"I'd say just quickness, being able to stay low and work leverage. Those are my two main things. Also strength-wise, too."

On what needs to work on:

"I need to get my football I.Q. up, just learning the defenses and all that."

MAHKI HUGHES

On being best friends with Hamilton:

"We met in the summer (of 2022). I didn't even meet him on my official visit or talk to him for real, but in summer workouts me and him talked a lot. He was my roommate in Aron (dorm). Once we moved into Aaron we started talking a lot and hanging out. He's a cool guy. Sometimes we watched football games and talked about football and life."

On his hearing:

"It's a blessing for him. He can communicate even not hearing. Sometimes we use sign language, which is good. Me and him are taking sign language classes. When we moved to Aaron, I told him we needed to sign."

On Hamilton's football skills:

"He's a really good player. Smart, physical, he can do it all. He's a good guy, too, and a hard worker. He had a shoulder injury and a foot injury and worked hard in rehab to get back out there with his teammates. We were doing rehab together, too (last year) and doing our thing. I told him to keep up the good work."

On what is working for Hughes as a running back:

"All thanks to the O-line and all my teammates for motivating me. I didn't play last year after tearing my meniscus. I was very depressed, but thanks to my teammates and coaches for lifting me up and saying it's never over, so I worked hard during rehab."

On emerging in deep running back room:

"Really just being myself. We have a great running backs. All of us have confidence, and they build up my confidence pushing me, and I pushed them to keep going and get ready for the season."

On his strength:

"When I get the ball in my hands, I just think about running hard and try to get to the end zone. Great vision. I'm a strong runner. You can't let one man get you down."

On blitz pickups:

"When I missed that (blitz pickup that got Pratt clobbered against South Alabama) I was a little frustrated, but I didn't get too frustrated because we didn't lose the game. It was give it my all next play. You've just got to study film and I'll get better and better."

What’s going on here? We got whipped quite a bit last night. This is the same guys we had last year except for Wire. This group as a whole has been disappointing. No run game to talk about. Nicholls whips you in trenches and could have possibly put Pratt out for the season.

Is it the new coach? Are the schemes too complicated? Just makes zero sense to me given what we witnessed over the last five games in 2022. Just have to shake your head at what’s going on with this group. Two years ago this group was bad with the coaching fiasco. Last year, great improvement. This year, new coach and certainly see regression. This group better pick it up or we aren’t going anywhere.

I admit it. I get ornery around this type of game because I don't they should be played. This is nothing against Tulane because virtually everyone does it, but there's a reason the Wave played only two FCS opponents before this century--they should not be on the schedule in the first place. I prefer it to be an in-state opponent like Nicholls than Alcorn State, but nothing is gained in matchups like this. Tulane played poorly for the most part last night but still won 36-7, and I'm not going to read a whole lot into it. The run game (and blocking in general) has to get better, but Nicholls actually has been pretty good at stopping the run this year. We will see the full arsenal against UAB on Saturday, and that will give us a better indication of where this team is.

Willie Fritz, Michael Pratt, Lance Robinson (who is having an incredible year) and Lawrence Keys (such a smooth receiver) talked after the game.

FRITZ

"A good win for us. Coach (Tim) Rebowe and his staff do a fantastic job there at Nicholls. I have a ton of respect for those guys. We do a lot of camps and things with them. He's a good ball coach and runs his program the right way, so we'll take the win. Defensively we played really well. Four interceptions. One of them was at a crucial time when Jesus got the pick. Lance now has three interceptions, which is fantastic. Offensively we played well at times during the game. There are some times we didn't play as well as we're capable of and we're just going to have to fix some of those things going into conference play. But hey, I think some of the guys were disappointed down in the locker room, and I told them that's a win, man. You need to be happy every time you get a win."

On Pratt:

"He did some great stuff. He got hit too many times. I wish he wouldn't have gotten hit so many times. He did a good job getting down a few times where he didn't take hits. We're working on not sliding but kind of diving forward, but he was money. We're just proud of the fact he's the all-time touchdown leader in school history. I actually talked to Patrick Ramsey the other day, and he was going to try to come to the game but was unable to do it. That record has been here for a long time. Patrick Ramsey was a No. 1 draft pick (in 2002) in the NFL, and I think Michael is definitely a draft pick. I've never coached in the NFL, so I don't know real well, but he's a darn good quarterback and I'm proud of the fact that I was his head coach when he got this record."

On if the reason for him taking those hits was him being too aggressive or breakdowns in protection:

"Some of it was that and some of it was our protection, but it's not just the offensive line. It's the tight ends, it's the running backs, it's the receivers running the correct route. Sometimes you have to hold it when he doesn't. There's a lot of factors involved. Sometimes it is the quarterback holding it too long."

On Jha'Quan Jackson as punt returner:

"I'll tell you something else he did a great job of tonight is catching some tough punts backed up you'll see when the game is reviewed. He really had a couple of tough ones. The last one the guy kind of bumped into him a little bit when he was catching the ball. We do a ton of drills on it. He's dynamic. One of them we came real close. If we had gotten one block out on the perimeter, I think he would have made the corner and had a huge return on it, but yeah, he really does a great job and is a top-notch punt returner."

On if any concerns on offense:

"Oh, there's always concerns. We had two picks in the end zone. You don't want that to happen. Sometimes you get a notion of where you should go with the ball before the ball's snapped. That's why you've got to do a good job with your progression and all those kind of different things, but yeah, there's a lot of stuff to fix, but like I say, it's better to fix it when you win 36-7 than the other way."

On defense interceptions becoming a trend:

"We do a good job with picks. We work on takeaways all day, every day. Coach (Shiel) Wood, the kids believe in what we're doing defensively. A guy gets an interception, it's not just the guy getting the interception. It's the pressure. Maybe there's another guy in the zone and he kind of carried the guy into the next zone. There's a lot of parts into getting the interception."

PRATT

on breaking the record for career TD passes:

'Pretty cool. We've talked about it before getting close to it, and to finally do it, it's a pretty cool experience just to be known as that, but we're just focused on trying to do whatever we can to win games and whatever we can do to help the team."

On how close he was to playing last week:

"I think we were pretty close. The training staff's been doing a really good job with rehab and trying to get me back. Coaches are not trying to put me in position to make anything worse, so I think it was a smart move. Kai (Horton) did a really good job the past two weeks, so we just took it day by day."

On always being aggressive:

"Yeah. That's just kind of the nature of it."

On diving forward instead of sliding:

"Normally I'll slide more like a baseball slide, but with my knee I didn't want it to feel weird, so this week was more of a head-first slide, so I've got to get used to that."

On if first down, get down is resonating for him a little bit more (not my question because he ran just as aggressively as ever):

"Yeah. It just kind of comes with experience. I've got to be a little better with that and not try to do too much with the ball and just take what they give me and be able to get down better."

On looking forward to start of conference play:

"We're fired up. We did a lot of things really good tonight and there are a lot of things we've really got to work on moving forward, but we're going to get back in here, watch the film, pick up on our keys and see what we have to do better and we're fired up to get into conference play next week."

ROBINSON

On turf monster getting him on interception return:

"Yeah, a little bit. My eyes got a little too big, but the turf monster got me for sure."

On three interceptions and what's been clicking:

"I would have to say my preparation. My preparation is top notch. It's my sixth year. If I haven't seen every coverage, every concept, every receiver, that's on me, but I feel like it's my confidence level and my preparation, and we believe in coach Woods. He does a great job, so if we keep riding with him, we are going to go to the promised land."

On looking forward to AAC action:

"For us on the defensive end it starts with the big guys. If the big guys stop the run, we feel like we will be good with anybody. Of course we're fired up for conference play. Let's get to it."

KEYS

On coming into his own as traditional receiver:

"Just preparation. Just finding that connection with Pratt and the other quarterbacks and really just putting that work in and working on our timing. It's starting to pay off where preparation meets performance."

On being the guy who caught Pratt's record-breaking TD pass:

"It's a fun fact. I didn't even know I broke it until we got in the locker room and coach Fritz announced it. It's an honor doing something like that in my hometown also, it meant a lot. I have bragging rights now. I can talk about this forever, so it feels good."

On having things to fix but still winning comfortable:

"There's always room for improvement. We weren't happy how we performed, but at the end of the day our objective and goal is to go 1-0. We can say we won, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done and now we get ready for conference play."

On excitement about getting to league action:

"It's really exciting. It's just time to turn it up a notch and just go hard every day at practice and know what we have on the line."

After tweeting Sunday "I see you up there testing me if I really love this s..t," Tyler Grubbs did not practice today, but Willie Fritz said he would be fine. Tulane had Mandel Eugene and Makai Williams taking second-team linebacker reps today, with Jean Claude Joseph getting a look, too. The Green Wave entered the season with four very strong linebackers in Corey Platt, Jesus Machado, Grubbs and Jared Small but lost Platt in the opener to a torn Achilles. Getting by with three has been no problem because they all rotated, with Machado doubling up on positions while Grubbs and Small played the spot they were most comfortable with, but it would be more challenging if Grubbs is out for any period of time. Someone whom the coaches did not trust to play at all against Ole Miss or Southern Miss would have to step up. and maybe one of the young guys is ready for the challenge. I have been told Grubbs entered the medical tent in the second quarter against Nicholls--I missed it entirely--before returning. His last action was the first play of the fourth quarter when DeVean Deal sacked the quarterback on fourth-and-goal, but he was not noticeably hampered then and I assumed he did not play the rest of the way because of the score. I don't believe Jesus Machado, who is fine, played after that either.

UAB has struggled mightily on defense, giving up at least 41 points in all three of its games against FBS foes, and has not gotten much from its running backs, but quarterback Jacob Zeno, a Baylor transfer in his second year with the Blazers and fifth overall, has done some damage. He is completing 75.1 percent of his passes and was 32 of 51 for 250 yards and two touchdowns with one interception against Georgia on Saturday while rushing for another score.

Tulane, meanwhile, ranks only 91st out of 130 FBS teams in rushing with 132.8 yards per game and called only 14 runs for its scholarship backs (five for Makhi Hughes, four for Arnold Barnes, three for Shaadie Clayton-Johnson and two for Shedro Louis) against a team loaded to stop the run and force the pass. UAB has struggled to stop the run, ranking 114th while giving up a 5.34 yards per carry. Only six teams are allowing more per attempt, so this will be a good litmus test for the Wave running game. If it cannot get untracked Saturday, the concerns will be real. Fritz said he still was not sure who deserved to be getting the most carries--I see Hughes as the clear No. 1 but must be missing something--so it will continue to be a rotation as they look for one or two trustworthy guys. Clayton-Johnson in particular needs to up his game in my view. He played well last year when he got the chance but has been ineffective in my view to this point, although he appears to be the most reliable of the bunch in terms of blocking in the backfield, receiving and knowing his assignment. I expect either him or Barnes to join Hughes as the guys counted on the most in AAC play--Louis has not looked good running between the tackles--but it looks like they all will continue to get a chance. Iverson Celestine has not played since the opener, when he lost a fumble, but I'm not sure the staff has filed him yet, either.

Fritz, Michael Pratt and Machado talked after practice today.

FRITZ

"Good game last Saturday. I've got a lot of respect for coach Rebowe and Nicholls. They played extremely hard. We had some opportunities to put a few more points on the board. I think it's the first time in my career I had two interceptions in the end zone with our offense. Hopefully we learned our lesson on that, and I got a chance to play a lot of guys. We played 89 guys in the game, which is good. These guys work their tails off and deserve that opportunity to go out and play in a game on Saturday night in front of their folks. UAB won seven games last season and won a bowl game. Out of the six games they lost, five of them were one touchdown or less, so they had an opportunity to have a heck of a year. Coach Dilfer is doing a really nice job over there. I've gotten to know him a little bit. This is big for us. It's a conference game and we need to play a better game than we did last Saturday to have the outcome we want."

On UAB QB Jacob Zeno leading AAC in completion percentage:

"He played at Baylor coming out of high school. Where he really gets you is he can run, too. I think he's their leading rusher (incorrect, RB Isaiah Jacobs has 154 yards to Zeno's 116) also. Those dual-threat quarterbacks are tough sometimes because you do everything right on the back end and he finds a little crease and takes off and runs for 10. We've got to do a good job on our pass rush lanes and obviously coverage as well."

On defense:

"They've done a very good job. Coach Wood and the defensive staff have done a good job of game planning. We threw a whole lot at them in the spring, summer and preseason camp and have pared it down a little bit here over the last few weeks, and they're really grasping what we're teaching them and doing a nice job of not busting. That's a big part of any success in any phase, having 11 guys doing the right thing."

On getting up to speed on UAB;

"You study everybody in the summer and do a preliminary game plan in the summer, but they were really difficult because they had three new coordinators. They'd never played a game before. This is the first year with their offensive coordinator. The defensive coordinator has worked a little bit with Dilfer in the past. The special teams guy was at Middle Tennessee last year, so we looked at where they were, but thank goodness this isn't week one. We'd really have had no clue as to what they were doing."

On relationship with Dilfer:

"We met at the conference meetings at of all places, Vail, Colorado, so I met him out there and then we met at the (AAC) media day in Dallas, so that's the only time I've really met him. Seen him on TV a bunch. I don't really know him real well, but I've heard great things about him."

On Tulane not repeating as conference champion since 1930-31:

"That was a couple years ago. That's a big deal but I don't really get into that. We're trying to go 1-0 and play our best every week. When you look too far ahead or you worry about things that happened in the past, you're not going to do your best. We're just focusing on the day and getting better. I know that's not a good answer, but it's what we're trying to do."

On going from targeting to being the target:

"I don't. know. I think that motivation lasts as long as you come out of the locker room. Then you have to go out and play the game. We're worried about preparation. I thought we had a great week of preparation last week. I don't think we flipped the switch on game day last week. We didn't lock in and play as well as we needed to for those three-and-a-half hours. We did the first part well but you've got to do both to win a bunch of games."

On if he thought eight years ago he would be having conversation about repeating as conference champion:

"Yeah, I'm always thinking positively. This is the stuff you think about in the offseason and you work towards it every single day, but when I took the job I was standing right up there (interviews today were at the Glazer Family Club because the air conditioning was not working in the room right next to the field) and said Tulane has had great teams in the past and great players and just hasn't done it consistently. Like I've said many times, we came real close for three years there. We had a bunch of games we lost on the last play, which is hard to do, but we always had this goal."

Do you pronounce your first name “Gary” or “Jerry”?

I’ve got the Smith pronunciation down though.

A huge Congrats to Gemma! She was on the victorious European Solheim Cup Team (Ladies version of the Ryder Cup). Although I was pulling for the Americans, I just couldn’t help but cheer for her.

She represented Tulane and the European side very well.