As one sage put it, Tulane opened up a can of whoop-ass on SMU last night. It was redemptive for all the heartbreak the Mustangs had inflicted on the Wave and its fans over the past seven years. Tulane came out with a ton of energy, and SMU simply was not prepared to match it as road teams fell to 1-6 in AAC Thursday night games following Saturday games since the start of 2020.
Tulane was terrific. SMU was terrible. And that's how you get the second-biggest butt kicking by the Wave in series history, trailing a 43-7 win in 1990 when SMU was in its second year back from suspending its program for three seasons and basically had a freshman and sophomore roster.
Tulane is as prepared as it possibly can be to go in and end Cincinnati's 32-game win streak next Friday. It will not be easy by any stretch, but this team is playing better than the Bearcats and should be in great shape if it handles the huge moment properly.
Tyjae Spears participated in Senior Day ceremonies along with Nick Anderson, Larry Brooks, Cam Carroll, Macon Clark, Joey Claybrook, Carlos Hatcher, Sincere Haynesworth, Tyrick James, Tylo Phillip, Alfred Thomas, Will Wallace, Dorian Williams, Duece Watts, Phat Watts Shae Wyatt, Lummie Young, Nik Hogan and Kanyon Walker, who received a medical DQ more than a year ago. Hogan was a late addition, choosing to leave with one year of eligibility left because he never has graduated from the scout team. Phat Watts has a year left but clearly does not want to play without his twin brother. Hatcher has two years of eligibility left but is coming off a serious knee injury and must have decided he wants to move on in life. Carroll is eligible for a redshirt this year but already had let it be known this was his final season.
Willie Fritz, Michael Pratt, Nick Anderson and Shae Wyatt talked last night.
FRITZ
"It was a terrific win. We've had some tough games during my tenure here against SMU, so I'm excited about the win. We played well in all three phases and had pretty good field position for most of the game for our offense, some big plays on special teams. Lawrence Keys had a couple big returns. We recovered the fumbled punt and ran the ball effectively, threw the ball well. I don't know if Michael mentioned it, but Tyjae Spears has been selected to play in the Senior Bowl. We are excited about that. We honored him after the game. I believe it's the first time Tulane's ever had two guys get chosen to play in the Senior Bowl in one year. Dorian Williams was picked a couple of weeks ago."
On knowing this would be Spears' last year:
"Yeah. He and I talked about it before the season began. He's graduating here in December. He's an outstanding student. I know I've mentioned that many times before. He kind of asked me what to do, and I said, 'hey, man, if you have a good year, you need to go ahead (and turn pro). That window to play at that next level is very small. I think he's got an opportunity to do it. Playing in the Senior Bowl, the top all-star game in the country, is a heck of an honor for him."
On Spears having 85 or more rushing yards in the first quarter of three straight games:
"It's great. He's just a hard running dude. He's got great speed and lateral movement, and you're not going to arm tackle him. When he can run effectively, it opens everything up in the passing game. We want to be able to do both, and we've done that most of the season."
On Pratt's performance:
"He played well. He did a good job with decisions. In the first series or two he didn't pull the ball a couple times on some inside-zone reads. He did it a little bit later and had some big runs for us. I don't know how many yards he had (70 on 10 carries). When the quarterback runs it effectively, now you're playing 11 on 11 football, so a really nice job by Michael."
On shutting down Rashee Rice (nation's leading receiver had six catches for 41 yards with long of 11, although he dropped long would-be TD pass):
"Coach Hampton and the defensive staff, you know, we had a bye week a few weeks ago and we really worked hard as a coaching staff on SMU because we knew we were going to have a short week. Coach Hamp put together a heck of a game plan, and we mixed it up with different zones, some three deeps, some two deeps, man under, different guys dropping at different spots, changing up three-man rush, four-man rush. That's a very explosive offense. They put up 77 points on Houston a few weeks ago, so an excellent game plan and obviously the guys went out and executed the heck out of it."
On forcing four fumbles:
"You know, just a good job with leverage and gang tackling. A very good by those guys. A couple of picks. We were plus-four (in turnover margin)."
On great response to Saturday's loss to UCF:
"Yeah it was. But they all know that we have a heck of an opponent coming up here in Cincinnati. Defending conference champs, going to their place, so we are going to have to play like this here in a few days."
On Keys kickoff returns:
"We did a good job getting bodies on bodies and Lawrence really does a nice job of when he sees that crease, hitting it. He made a couple of people miss on the back end. He's a really explosive player."
On what happened when honored Spears in locker room:
"It was great. We grabbed his parents and had them come in, too, in the locker room. It's a heck of an honor to get chosen to play in that All-Star game. We're very excited for him."
