It does not look like Amare Jones will play against UCF. I did not ask about him because Fritz shies away from talking about injuries, but he was wearing a brace on his right leg today for the first time and did not have his helmet at practice. Ygenio Booker, who has played sparingly to this point in his career, figures to have a stepped up role Saturday.

Although Fritz did not close the door on Josh Remetich or Joey Claybrook playing against UCF, neither of them has practiced this week, so look for Caleb Thomas and Ben Knutson in starting roles for the second straight game. I asked Fritz about the decision to use Knutson at left tackle instead of other options, knowing Cameron Jackel nor Jaylen Miller did not play well when they replaced him in the Houston game, Knutson moved to left tackle from backup right guard in the first practice after that loss.

"He'd started a little bit at tackle at Virginia," Fritz said. "We are always trying to put the best five out there. Center is a unique position, but otherwise if you give a guy a week's preparation when you move him from right guard to left tackle, that's usually enough. Obviously some guys are tailor made for tackle and some guys for guard, but the main objective for us is to get the best five out there on the field."

Stephon Huderson will be a pivotal player for Tulane on Saturday. He is coming off a career-best game against SMU and needs to have an even better day to give the Wave a chance to beat UCF, keeping the Knights' offense off the field as much as possible with a ball-control offense. Huderson, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown against UCF last year, may be the primary returner again considering Jones' status.

"He's a good all-around athlete," Fritz said. "He's a really good athlete. He's just a little vertically challenged (5-9) rather than a tall guy. He's got great movement, good speed, he's tough inside and hard to arm tackle. Pound for pound, he's probably pretty close to being our strongest guy. He does a real squat, top of the thigh breaking parallel to the knee, 550, 570 pounds, something like that. He power cleans 330, 340. He's a very strong guy. If he were 6-0, he'd probably weight 235, 240, It's just hard to get a good, clean shot on him."

Freshman safety Cornelius Dyson got plenty of reps today. He will not start against UCF but figures to play more than in any other game. He has three tackles in three games after missing the first two due to coronavirus contract tracing issues.

"I'm really impressed with him," Fritz said. "He played linebacker, a little bit of corner, tight end, running back, wide receiver in high school, but never played any safety really. We recruited him really based on projecting him through his athletic ability and what we saw on film that he could be a safety. You worry, but he understands the game. He's picked it up faster. Most of the time the freshmen that play for you, it really isn't because of their athletic ability. It's that they pick the game up the and difference of the complexity of college football compared to high school football. We thought there would be a learning curve for him, and there hasn't been. He's going to play more and more. He rolled last week and he's going to roll this week. He plays in the kicking game, is very competitive and has an excellent demeanor for practice and for games. His dad was a real good player and signed with LSU out of high school and played at Southeastern Louisiana and played Arena Football when Lafayette had that team a few years back, so he's been around the game."

Tight end Tyrick James made a nice catch on the sideline on a deep out from Michael Pratt today. Tulane sure could use that in a game because James, who had worked his way into a significant role in the passing game during the preseason, has been shaky with six catches for 88 yards and a few drops through five games. As Pratt continues to get better, the development of the receivers will be pivotal the rest of the season because he will give them the opportunity to make big plays. Mykel Jones showed flashes against SMU and needs to show up against UCF. Of Tulane's five grad transfers this year, only one--linebacker Kevin Henry--is producing at a high level. Kyle Meyers, Ajani Kerr, Jaylon Miller and Jones all were starting at some point in the preseason or the beginning of the season and are in reserve roles now.

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

Central Florida (-19.5) Tulane
Navy (+14) Houston
SMU (-2.5) Cincinnati
Memphis (-13.5) Temple
LSU (-7) South Carolina
Oklahoma State (-3.5) Iowa State
Pittsburgh (+10.5) Notre Dame
Minnesota (+3) Michigan

Two games were postponed, but GretnaGreen had an almost perfect week in the six games that were played.

WEEK 5 RESULTS

6

GretnaGreen

5

MNAlum
buck2481
ny oscar
paliii

4

Guerry
diverdo
chigoyboy
WaveON
DrBox

3

winwave
Wavetime

2

charlamange8

1

LSU Law Greenie


OVERALL STANDINGS

24.5

paliii

22.5

ny oscar

21.5

Guerry

20.5

diverdo
buck2481

19.5

MNAlum
winwave
chigoyboy
DrBox

18.5

Wavetime
WaveON

17.5

charlamange8
GretnaGreen

12

LSU Law Greenie (missed 1 week)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 12 of 14
BYU 3
Alabama 8
Memphis 6
Navy 11
Arkansas 3

I resurrected my old favorite feature for the first time in a couple of years.

By the Numbers

Amare Jones returned to practice today but did not participate in a majority of the drills that I saw. Jacob Robertson remained out, but Sorrell Brown practiced and Jaylon Monroe returned to his spot as first-team cornerback opposite Willie Langham. Josh Remetich and Joey Claybrook continued to sit out, leaving Caleb Thomas and Ben Knutson as likely starters for the second week in a row. Knutson gave up a sack on the opening possession against SMU when he was too slow-footed but played OK the rest of the way. Thomas graded out pretty well. Two of SMU's sacks came on blitzes where nobody touched the blitzer, although right tackle Trey Tuggle got knocked to the ground on the first one, allowing early pressure.

UCF has been a better running team than people realize, averaging well over 200 yards on the ground the past two years and close to 200 this season, but after watching Tulane in the first five games, everyone knows the Wave will have to play better pass defense to give itself a shot on Saturday. Tulane did a good job against UCF in last season's 34-31 loss, holding the Knights to 5.4 yards per play, their second lowest total of the season. They always pile up plenty of yards because they operate at hyper speed offensively, but they failed to run for 4.0 yards per carry and had a relatively low completion percentage. Duplicating that performance will be incredibly difficult because UCF is on an NCAA-record pace for yards through four games, Tulane's defense is not playing as well as last season , the game is on the road and the Knights are hopping mad about blowing their game against Memphis on Saturday despite gaining 798 yards, a mind-blowing fact I cannot wrap my brain around.

It (the UCF game from 2019) is a good film for us to watch, but it's also a good film for them to watch," Willie Fritz said. "They are a very unique offense. You talk about stretching the field horizontally and vertically. A lot of team do that with plays. They do it with alignments where they are out there real wide outside the numbers. They'll throw it deep at any given movement. They have a very dynamic passing attack, but they run the ball. Coach (Art) Briles when he was running this offense, they ran the ball well, but this is a little bit different. This is coach (Josh) Huepel's stamp on it. (Fritz is wrong there--Baylor put up ridiculous rushing totals at the end of Briles' last season after losing all of its top QBs to injuries). He is going to run more than maybe some teams with this particular style of offense (that part is accurate)."

Asked what the biggest challenge was to slow down UCF, Fritz mentioned tackling.

"They are going to complete balls," he said. "You have to tackle them after they complete a ball. If they throw underneath or to the back or on a crossing route, you've got to make that, if it's caught at 7-yard gain. That's the issue and the problem. With all the man we play, we are going to be chasing some guys. We've just got to get them down and tackle them. That's the most athletic thing in sports right now in my opinion is tackling a guy with great movement in the open field, and we are going to have to do that on Saturday."

Clearly, Tulane struggled with exactly that against SMU's version of the spread. Fritz reiterated what he said yesterday and added a little bit when asked what the Wave needed to do differently to improve its open-field tackling against UCF.

"Number one it's just maintain leverage and not let the ball cross your face," he said. "That's the number one no-no in not allowing a play to become a big play. We have some vets who lost leverage last week, and then they have to replicate that in practice with receivers trying to cross the guys' face. We did some open-field drills and things like that, but that's number one. And then number two, you've got to get close enough to be able to get two arms around two legs or two arms around torso. Sometimes guys try to throw a little bit too early, and I've been taught and that's how I coach it, any open-field tackle is a good tackle. You get them down, it's a good tackle, and a lot of that is knowing where the help's at. We have to do a great job of that on Saturday."

UCF's pace is a problem for opponents, who have a hard time getting set up defensively before the snap. Again, Tulane did pretty well in that department a year ago but will need to be just as good or better on Saturday.

"Our offense does it as well on occasion. We kind of change tempos, but I believe they are the second fastest pace in play team in the country right now. You've got to get lined up and ready to go, and if you have a bad last play, you've got have amnesia and get ready for the next one. See the call, play the call, do the call, all those things."

Monroe had a rough game against SMU, but in fairness to him, some of the throws and catches were spectacular. Opponents and Tulane fans alike have picked on him this year, but he is the Wave's best cover corner and has had his share of good moments. I wondered in my write-up previewing the game for the SMU Rivals website why opponents went after him more than the other corners, and then SMU took advantage of his height big time. He needs to bounce back and win those neutral balls on Saturday because UCF figures to target him as well. Safety play is a bigger issue and harder to fix in my view, and Fritz agreed about Monroe being up for the challenge.

"Heck, one of them they caught right in front of me," Fritz said. "He was all over the guy. That happens sometimes when there's a great throw and a great catch and you're right there and you just have to win your share of the battles. Most of the games he's been winning his share of the battles."

I went over all of SMU's big pass plays and here's what went wrong for Tulane.

1) tight end Kylen Granson gets 42 yards after a 12-yard pass.

What went wrong: Nickelback Macon Clark was slow to react after the catch and safety Larry Brooks lost leverage, allowing Granson to accelerate past them to the inside. Both of them looked slow in pursuit, and Chase Kuerschen made a diving tackle to prevent it being an even bigger gain.

2) 31-yard reception by WR Danny Gray on a fly pattern

What went wrong: Monroe had perfect coverage, but it was a gorgeous pass and great extension by Gray to pull it in. I don't think Lorenzo Doss, Parry Nickerson or Thakarius Keyes would have defended that pass, either.

3) 23-yard gain by Gray on pass that went 8 yards.

What went wrong: Kevaris Hall missed the open-field tackle even though it should have been an easy play because Gray was stationary when he caught it, Dorian Williams pushed him out of bounds.

4) a 41-yard gain by Tyler Page on a third-and-11 pass that traveled 9 yards.

What went wrong: Shane Buechele had a clean pocket, and Page beat nickelback Ajani Kerr to the inside. Kerr missed the diving tackle, and Page cut inside of Brooks before freshman safety Cornelius Dyson finally finished him off.

5) 37-yard gain by WR Rashee Rice on a deep post

What went wrong: Poor coverage by Monroe, who was beaten by a yard and never looked for the ball. Willie Langham made the tackle right after the catch.

6) 55-yard gain by Rice on on reverse pass by Page.

What went wrong: No one stayed home. Rice went into motion from the right side, slowed down as the reverse happened and then took off with no one anywhere near him as Page lofted a 17-yard pass. Langham, who had run deep with a clear-out receiver, missed a diving tackle at midfield, allowing him another 30 yards before Brooks pushed him out of bounds. Kerr came up to play the run and covered no one. It likely was his responsibility.

7) 61-yard gain by Gray on a third-and-21 underneath pass.

What went wrong: This was a good play design against a man defense. Hall got picked, legally, by the tight end because the pass was one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Kerr had a chance to stop him from getting the first down but did not run hard enough, a recurring problem in the secondary this year. He thought Gray was going to continue running away from him to the outside and would have been in position to stop him when he cut inside if he had been running hard. Gray cut inside of Langham and Kuerschen, who made a flailing, off-balance tackle attempt after losing leverage. Monroe finally pushed him out of bounds after he crossed the field to the SMU sideline.

8) 22-yard gain by Rice on third-and-8.

What went wrong: Langham had good coverage down the sideline. Rice held him with one hand and caught the ball with the other hand. It could have been flagged for offensive interference, but that call is rarely if ever made.

9) Page 40-yard catch on pass that traveled 12 yards on third-and-11

What went wrong: Page beat Clark with an inside move that guaranteed a first down. Kuerschen should have tackled him at the SMU 40 but let him cut past him to the outside, barely laying a hand on him despite being in a good position a second earlier, allowing him to run for another 22 yards. Ultimately it did not hurt Tulane because SMU missed a field goal, but the free safety needs to make that play.

Every defensive back who played significant downs had a rough night. The same guys are going to have to play better Saturday. Maybe Kyle Meyers, who did not play at all, and Dyson, who played infrequently, will have bigger roles, too, but I'm not sure that would solve anything.

Amare Jones, Jaetavian Toles and Sorrell Brown were held out of practice Tuesday morning, watching the reps from the sideline. Brown continues to struggle with his knee after having two ACL surgeries and is rested some every week. The issues for Jones and Toles did not appear serious. Both of them walked around fine with no braces or casts apparent.

Jones' absence allowed Ygenio Booker to get more practice time. I expected Bookerto play a role in the offense this year as a receiver out of the backfield, but it has not materialized yet. Today, he dropped an easy pass against the scout-team defense, which will not help his case. A few plays later, Stephon Huderson got open in the back of the end zone and dropped a rainbow from Michael Pratt, punching the padding on the wall behind the end zone in frustration.

Neither injured offensive lineman returned,but at least Josh Remetich was on the field today to observe along with Joey Claybrook. Ben Knutson took all the reps with the first unit at left tackle, and Caleb Thomas was the starting right guard again. They acquitted themselves pretty well against SMU after the offensive line got off to a slow start as a group.

UCF is not the team you want to play after missing a lot of tackles in the secondary the previous week because the Knights make teams pay big time for mistakes in the secondary. With them leading the nation in offense by a wide margin, Tulane's offense needs to be on point so the Green Wave can keep up. Michael Pratt was not always sharp today, underthrowing Mykel Jones on a deep post that forced Jones to make a sliding catch and throwing a simple flat pass behind Cameron Carroll, forcing him to stop while juggling it, but he also made some nice passes. He found tight end Will Wallace in a very tight window over the middle (Wallace dropped it) and has nice touch on his long throws, something no Tulane quarterback has possessed in a long time.

On defense, Willie Langham continued to start at one cornerback spot, but Kevaris Hall manned the other one today. I did not see Jaylon Mornoe on the first or second unit in 7 on 7 drills or scout-team work, and he was out there, but he has been held out of earlier practices this year, too. Kyle Meyer and Kiland Harrison, who has been no factor this year, were on the second team. Langham got upset with himself when he slipped as he started to break on the ball on one play, allowing a completoin to Phat Watts. Freshman safety Cornelius Dyson was on the second unit with fellow freshman Ton'Quez Ball. It will be interesting to see if the coaches trust Dyson to play a big role against UCF after he replaced Chase Kuerschen at times against SMU. Really, all of the safeties struggled in that game, taking turns missing tackles, although the black jerseys Tulane wore made it very difficult to pick out the number even when I watched the game again on ESPN.

Alfred Thomas joined the usual list of defensive linemen not practicing. He has been in and out this year and did not play against SMU.

I will post quotes shortly.

Another tough one. Tulane gave up nearly 200 more yards to SMU than it gained, but neither team trailed by more than 7 in a game destined to go down to the final play. Once again, Tulane could not come up with that finishing play, falling to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the ACC while losing its eighth league game out of the the last nine.

Here is what Willie Fritz and three players had to say. I was on deadline for my Advocate coverage and could not ask many questions to the players.

FRITZ

"It's disappointing. They are a good ball club, 17th-ranked team in the country. We went blow for blow with them, but unfortunately they got the last one in. I saw a lot of good things from our guys and really was impressed with the way we battled and fought back through the ebbs and flows of the game. Our guys made some big plays when we needed to have them. We were one big play short."

How frustrating was it to have nothing go right in the overtime possession after making a lot of plays to get to that point?

"Yeah, it was an awful series for us. Our offensive line did a good job. They were battling their tails off. They had a tough time with protection at times. Our freshman quarterback did a very good job. I was very impressed with his poise throughout the game. I'll have to go back and look to see exactly what happened with the interception there. I think we ran into a little bit of traffic. I'll need to check and see about the protection, the depth of the route and all those kinds of things, but it wasn't a great way to start overtime."

The defense gave up a lot of big pass plays, a recurring them this season. What did you see?

"Well there were a lot of 50-50 balls and they won a bunch of them, particularly in the first half and one down there late at the end of the game. The disappointing thing was we missed some tackles. We needed to make some tackles in the open field. That was difficult as well. We are playing man coverage and we have to do a good job of getting some pressure, and we did get some pressure at times tonight, but there were times he sat back and patted the ball a little bit on a long-developing routes, and that makes it tough on the secondary."

What is your message to the team when you keep coming so close and just are unable to get over the hump?

"I just told the guys we have to hang together. It's very important we do that right now. There's still a lot of football left to be played. I really appreciate the effort playing the 17th-ranked team in the country, but we're at the point in our program when we want to win those games. We just have to play a little bit better in order to do that."

You mentioned Michael Pratt already, but how did you feel overall about his performance?

"I thought he did an excellent job for his second start of his career. There were probably only three or four balls that we'd like to have back. Otherwise he did a very commendable job."

All four times you scored touchdowns, SMU scored touchdowns on its next drive. Did you feel like you never could give yourself a margin?

"Without question. We started the second half off great and then they had a reverse pass that got them down there and answered very quickly as well. When you get up, you've got to get a stop. We just weren't able to do that."

STEPHON HUDERSON

What was working well for you tonight (he had a career-high 132 yards) and how tough was it to not have it translate into a win?

"Coach Fobbes always tells me to run with speed and make the first guy miss. We knew their safeties were going to be in the box all game and play the run pretty hard, so make the first guy miss and other than that, it's just you. Players make plays, and they put me in position to make plays tonight. To play so well and lose, it sucks. It just shows you that we still have more work to do. Me having a good game doesn't translate to everybody having a good game. It's nothing if we're all not on the same page or all not clicking, so this one we are going to feel for a while."

What did you see from them defensively and how did you figure out a way through that?

"I'm just looking at ourselves. We are a good team and just have to get over the hump. Hats off to those guys. They came out on top, but we will come back to work. That's what we need to be."

KEVIN HENRY

How tough is it lose another one like this?

"We have to stay positive about the season. It's a long season. We'll learn from it."

The defense gave up a lot of big plays. What was going wrong on all those big pass plays?

"Nothing was going wrong. SMU has a great quarterback and he threw the ball real well tonight and just capitalized on those small technique issues that we missed out on."

How confident did you feel going into overtime?

"We felt great. We felt like it was our game to win. We didn't count ourselves out if that's what you're asking me. We gave all we had."

PATRICK JOHNSON

How tough is it to take another loss when you were right there and could not finish the deal?

"Yeah, that one right there was tough. I've been through a lot of hard losses here, but we really battled back and played tough. The coaches called a really great game. We just had some plays that didn't go our way that we have to make. We just have to bounce back from this one. It was a tough one, though. It's never easy."

Are there things you can walk away with as a positive to take into next week?

"Yeah, of course. We'll most definitely get in on Sunday and watch the film. After every single loss, you always can learn from it, see what the mistakes were and just bounce back. That's what we're going to have to do and it's the only thing we can really do."

Every time the offense scored a touchdown, the defense gave up a touchdown on the next series. How disappointing was that?

"It's tough. They are a good offense. You've got a guy that's up their as a Heisman candidate at quarterback. I know he lost a couple, but they have several players that stepped up. That's a good team. They are ranked 17th in the country for a reason. They came in here and they battled. You've got to give them props for what they did. We just have to bounce back. It's never easy. Obviously as y'all can tell, I'm pretty upset about it, but we'll bounce back from it. We've got 24 hours to get it off our mind."

I'm late on this, but here are the results from last week, with all 14 of us getting the Tulane pick wrong and the Texas A&M v. Florida pick wrong. Paliii got every other game right to take over first place in the overall contest.

WEEK 4 RESULTS

6

paliii

5

charlamange8
LSU Law Greenie
diverdo

4

GretnaGreen

3

Guerry
WaveON
DrBox
buck2481
ny oscar

2

MNAlum
winwave
chigoyboy
Wavetime

OVERALL STANDINGS

19.5

paliii

17.5

Guerry
ny oscar

16.5

winwave
diverdo

15.5

Wavetime
chigoyboy
DrBox
buck2481
charlamange8

14.5

MNAlum
WaveON

11.5

GretnaGreen

11

LSU Law Greenie (missed 1 week)

7

Golfer81 (missed 2 weeks)

GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Houston 0 of 14
Clemson 6
Georgia 10
Oklahoma 12
Texas A&M 0
Missouri 7
Kentucky 5
North Carolina 8

Lots of good games to choose from this week. As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first and point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus:

Tulane (+6.5) SMU
Houston (+5) BYU
Alabama (-6) Georgia
Florida (-13) LSU
Tulsa (+3) Cincinnati
Memphis (+3.5) Central Florida
East Carolina (+2) Navy
Arkansas (+3) Ole Miss

There was no difference at practice today. Joey Claybrook continued to observe practice but did not get any reps, while Josh Remetich (unspecified injury) was nowhere in evidence. Willie Fritz said both of them would be game time decisions, and if they cannot go, Ben Knutson will start at left tackle and Caleb Thomas will start at right guard. I'm eager to see what Thomas can do because he could become a full-time starter next year with Corey Dublin departing (though Rashad Green figures to provide stiff competition). But Knutson at left tackle? Not looking forward to that so much.

Willie Langham is in line to start his second consecutive game at cornerback opposite Jaylon Monroe. Langham has practiced with the first unit all week after playing OK against Houston, with Kyle Meyers and Kevaris Hall the top backups.

Michael Pratt has thrown the ball well in practice this week, but with the offense not getting any work against anything but the scout-team defense in the portions I saw, it is hard to gauge his level. If he gets time to throw, he can do some good things against an SMU secondary that struggled a year ago (opponents completed 34 touchdown passes with only nine interceptions) and has been tested only once this year, holding up OK in a 34-31 victory against Memphis. The Mustangs led the AAC by a wide margin in sacks a year ago with 51 but lost their two best pass rushers, so they might not be as tough this time, They sacked Memphis's Brady White three times and are second to Tulane in the AAC with 11 sacks through four games, but their other opponents were Texas State, North Texas and Stephen F. Austin, so it is hard to glean much there. The good news is they do not have a dominant end. Nose guard Elijah Chapman has a team-high three sacks and Tulane is sturdier on the middle of the offensive line than on the outside. The guy who appears to be SMU's best outside pass rusher, Junior Aho, does not even start.

The receivers have to help Pratt out this week. The wide receivers are subpar, but they cannot afford to drop balls and it would be nice if someone made a difficult catch. The running backs absolutely cannot afford to drop anything because they should be the best receivers on the roster. Jacob Robertson missed practice today, so the Wave could be down one of its few experienced wideouts, but Sorrell Brown is due to return after missing the last two games with knee issues. I've mentioned it many times before, but in last year's game, SMU's secondary receivers made two touchdown grabs Tulane's current players only dream of making. Those plays can be the difference between winning and losing. Tulane has been in position to win all four of its meetings with SMU under Fritz but has not gotten it done for varying reasons (coverage breakdowns in 2016 and 18, bad luck ini 2017 and an failed fourth-down gamble in 2019). This time, the matchup is unfavorable because SMU's biggest strength (Shane Buechele and the passing game) goes against Tulane's biggest weakness (leaky pass coverage), but the Wave will not be overwhelmed by SMU's talent level and should not be at a disadvantage on special teams after getting killed in that department by Houston.

As has been well documented, Tulane has not beaten a ranked team since 1984, an impossibly long stretch. A win Friday against the No. 17 Mustangs would change the narrative quickly.

Here is the full list of 42 losses since a 1984 27-23 victory at No. 19 Vandy (source: Tulane media guide)

At No. 15 FSU 27-6 1984
No. 19 FSU 38-12 1985
No. 13 Mississippi State 34-27 1986
at No. 4 FSU 73-14 1987
No. 6 FSU 48-28 1988
No. 2 FSU 31-13 1990
at No. 1 FSU 38-11 1991
at No. 25 Mississippi State 48-0 1991
At No. 19 Alabama 62-0 1991
No. 6 Alabama 37-0 1992
No. 11 Boston College 17-13 1992
at No. 5 FSU 70-7 1992
at No. 2 Alabama 31-17 1993
at No. 16 North Carolina 49-0 1994
at No. 10 Alabama 20-10 1994
No. 24 USM 31-28 1996
No.24 Syracuse 31-7 1996
At No.18 LSU 35-17 1996
at No. 19 Syracuse 47-17 1999
At No.25 Ole Miss 20-13 1999
At No. 20 East Carolina 52-7 1999
At No. 18 Ole Miss 49-20 2000
No. 16 USM 56-24 2000
at No. 14 LSU 48-17 2001
No. 3 Texas 49-0 2002
No. 25 TCU 38-35 2003
at No. 14 Texas 63-18 2003
No. 7 Louisville 55-7 2004
at No. 10 LSU 49-7 2006
at No. 8 Auburn 38-13 2006
No. 2 LSU 34-9 2007
at No. 13 Alabama 20-6 2008
No. 14 East Carolina 28-24 2008
No. 23 Houston 44-16 2009
at No. 9 LSU 42-0 2009
No. 11 Houston 73-17 2011
at No. 15 Georgia Tech 65-10 2015
No. 24 Houston 42-7 2015
at No. 16 Memphis 41-13 2015
at No. 2 Oklahoma 56-14 2017
No. 16 USF 34-28 2017
at No. 24 Memphis 31-14 2017
At No. 4 Ohio State 49-6 2018
At No. 10 Auburn 24-6 2019

EDIT: Tulane's media guide does not have Alabama or East Carolina ranked in 2008, but both were in the top 25, so make that 44 straight losses.

I talked to the redshirt freshman from California about his likely first career start after practice on Monday.

How did you put yourself in this position after not practicing last year because of injury?

"I've been just trying to stay healthy really since I had the season-ending injury last year. I knew coming into this year I was just trying to prove myself and stay healthy. Like (offensive line) coach (Cody Kennedy) says, availability is the best ability, so with some guys going down this year I had the chance to step up. He had me running at center with the 2 team, but that right guard spot opened up with the 1s and I took it and am just going to run with it as long as I can."

What was your injury last year?

"I actually slipped a disc in my lower back. It happened early before fall camp even started. I eventually got surgery in November, so I was sidelined and didn't even get a single practice until spring ball and then we all had to go home because of COVID. This past fall camp was my first one and I've just been practicing, trying to stay healthy, trying to stay in the training room and keep myself available."

Coach Fritz talked about your being a good basketball player even though your body (6-2, 275) didn't suggest hoops and how that athleticism made you attractive as a recruit. How good are you at basketball, and how much does that athletic ability help you on the football field?

"I'm not going to brag on myself at all, but I did like to play a little bit of hoops in high school, I'm not going to lie. I played a little bit of D-line and tight end in high school as well, which helped my athleticism. I stayed moving around, and I feel like my athleticism helps me translate a lot to the offensive line because while I'm pulling I get to move around and hit people. My footwork can help me get in position to make better blocks, so it helps me a lot."

They were not sure you would play offense or defense when they signed you. When did you know?

"The first day I got here, I started working out with the offense. When one of the coaches made that decision, I was just going to run with it and try my hardest and do my best to be the best offensive lineman I can for this team."

Did you play more defense in high school?

"I didn't play offensive line until my senior year. I broke my thumb, so I had a cast protector on about like week 4 and that's when I transitioned from tight end to O-line. I still played D-line with the pass protector, but that's when I made the transition and they must have seen that O-line tape, and that's how I ended up here."

How did you end up here from California?

"I believe it was coach Fritz's son (recruiting coordinator Wesley Fritz), he hit me with the email and asked if I was interested. I had to do some research on the school because not a lot of people in my area know much about the school, but I was psyched when I heard the news and made the flight over here, so I'm pretty excited."

What other schools did you consider?

"I had a few local schools like Cal Poly, I had San Jose State. I could have gone to UNLV and played a little tight end, but after my visit here at Tulane I knew this was the spot."

Was it attractive for you to go a long way away for college?

"Yeah, that was one of the main reasons I chose Tulane, trying to get the farthest away from home as I could and just try to live my own life and do my own thing and make new experiences on my own."

There's a big difference between being second-team center behind ironman Sincere Haynesworth and first-team guard. How big of an opportunity is this for you?

"It's the biggest opportunity I've gotten since I've been here and I'm going to prepare every day for it and get my cardio up as well for these live-game snaps I haven't really gotten before. I know Sincere has prepared me all through fall camp. I've been lining up behind him, getting reps after him and he's been coaching me up, so I give a lot of credit to him now that I get this chance to step up and play a big role for my team. It will be a lot of good things hopefully."

How comfortable are you at guard?

"Most of my reps had come at center, but coach told me when I came into fall camp that he wanted me to know all three positions, so that was mindset in the film room, trying to know all three while focusing on center. I would say coming out of high school right guard is probably my most comfortable because I had never snapped a ball before I came here. I had to learn center. I had always been wanting to play guard, so now that my chance has finally come, I'm happy to step up and do something for this team."

Interestingly, Tulane's practices the last two days have resembled the Florida ones I used to watch in the 1990s before they closed workouts to everyone soon after Urban Meyer arrived as coach in 2005. Instead of ending with a good-on-good session, as Willie Fritz likes to call them, they are staying with the scout teams for the last 30 minutes of practice before calling it a day. I used to scoff when a Florida offensive lineman under Steve Spurrier was asked about going against a particular All-American defensive end every day in practice and how much it made him better because once preseason camp ended, they rarely lined up against anyone but the scout teams in 11-on-11 work. At Tulane, though, and particularly under Fritz, the starters normally go against the starters a lot. In his first couple of years he did not have enough depth to feel like he could have full scout teams and get much out of it, but as depth increased, he has gone to them more often.

This week, the lack of good-on-good is by design because with an extra day to prepare for SMU, Fritz decided not to overwork his guys so he could keep them as fresh as possible for the game. He did not say it specifically, but the way the defense and offense tailed off in the second half against Navy and SMU may have played a factor in his reasoning.

"We weren't in pads today and that (good versus good) is the most taxing part of practice," Fritz said. "When you get into unit, you are registering a lot less movement than when you go good on good or seven on seven or one-on-one. That's when guys are opening up and running full speed. We'll do a little bit of it tomorrow. When you get a little longer week playing on a Thursday and then on a Friday, the tendency is to maybe do more than what you normally do so we've made a concerted effort to just cut back a little bit this week so our guys are fresh and ready to go," Fritz said. "We changed up our practice regimen a little bit. Something that's kind of interesting is we use this GPS system called catapult that tells you how much guys run and gives you all this information about movement and then you base your practices if you're doing too much or not enough or just right based on the results of that. We cut back a little bit today. We're going to go tomorrow. Because of last week we were able to take a couple of days off physically and then jump back into it. You don't get opportunities like that during the season very often."

The defensive line has all of its starters available but is hurting for depth. Alfred Thomas was not there today, at least for the last 30 minutes, and Angelo Anderson, Armoni Dixon, Davon Wright and Brandon Brown have been out with injuries for a while. Fritz said Wright was getting looked at today to determine how soon he can return. He said Dixon was probably a month away, and Anderson, recovering from knee surgery, is probably a month to two months away.

"There are two or three guys we'd like to get out there and see what they could do and then it gives guys some rest," Fritz said. "One of the things we try to do a good job of is grading these guys on effort and breaking it down first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. You even try to look for tendencies if it's a 10-play drive, how effective were they. Were their minuses coming in the latter part of the drive or the beginning, and often that tells you there is a fatigue factor going on. Like Cam Sample for instance, he has shown us that he can play with great effort for a long period of time, so therefore when you get a guy like that, he can play more. There are some other guys, if you play them a lot, their productivity diminishes greatly and so you have to spell them on occasion even though you're sitting there and you look over and a guy's sitting next to you that you wish was out on the field. Some guys can play a whole bunch and stay effective. Some guys when you play them too much, they have some mental and physical problems with fatigue."

Fritz did not name names, but Jeffery Johnson is at the top of the list of guys whose productivity declines when they are on the field for several consecutive plays. The backup defensive linemen today were Adonis Friloux and Eric Hick inside and Darius Hodges and Carlos Hatcher outside, with Noah Seiden rotating in for Friloux at times. I did not see anyone else gets reps versus the scout-team offense.

On offense, Joey Claybrook looked no closer to practicing then he did yesterday. It is unclear when he will be ready, but if he is anywhere near 100 percent by Friday at 5 p.m., he would be a better option at left tackle than any of the other candidates even if he has not taken a single rep before then. The starting line today was the same as yesterday, with Ben Knuson occupying Claybrook's spot and Caleb Thomas taking over for the injured Josh Remetich. Claybrook was very involved as he watched practice, clapping a few times.

I was incorrect in writing yesterday that Dane Ledford was practicing with the scout team. There were two No. 83s at wide receiver today, with one of them practicing with the scout team and Ledford practicing with the regular offense. He was not there at the end of practice yesterday.

Nothing good has come from the season-ending injuries to running backs Corey Dauphine (summer) and Tyjae Spears (Southern Miss), but Stephon Huderson has a bounce in his step during practice. He has paid his dues for three years and likely would not have played a significant role as a senior if both of those guys were healthy, but he will get plenty of opportunities the rest of the way. He was the Wave's best back against Houston, showing nice vision to cut back when a hole developed behind the play. When he scored against the scout-team defense today, he hollered to someone on the sideline, "Are you not entertained?"

I watched much of the LSU-Mississippi State game and am glad we didn't have to play the latter this year. It would have given us a great deal of experience in preparation for throwing teams in our conference but the experience would have been very discouraging for our guys. I don't think Leach's team will go undefeated against a very tough schedule but no-one should overlook them. Should be interesting when they play Alabama, Auburn, etc.

Roll Wave!!!

My computer issues are not solved yet, but some life issues that were getting in the way the past week or so have resolved themselves, so I can get back to my normal schedule here. Look for the first edition of Engaging the Enemy later this week in what I hope will be a regular feature the rest of the year.

Injuries have caused a significant change in Tulane's offensive line, although Willie Fritz said he was hopeful the two players who got hurt against Houston--starting left tackle Joey Claybrook and starting right guard Josh Remetich, as well as backup utility man Tim Shafter, who has been out a week with an injured hand--would be available for Friday's game against SMU. Claybrook watched practice and took mental reps with his left leg in some sort of wrapping that did not look too serious. I did not see Remetich or Shafter.

The first-team line today had Ben Knutson at left tackle and Caleb Thomas at right guard along with the three normal starters at the other spots. Clearly, the experiment with Cameron Jackel as Claybrook's first replacement did not work out Thursday against Houston, and Jaylen Miller struggled, too, as the third guy at that spot. Knutson has played primarily guard in his two years at Tulane, and that's where he started two games at Virginia before becoming a graduate transfer. Whether or not he can handle left tackle remains to be seen, but at least the coaches are trying something different after seeing what did not work against Houston.

The second-team line had Jackel at left tackle, Stephen Lewerenz at left guard, Michael Remondet at center, Rashad Green at right guard (a promotion from scout team) and Miller at right tackle.

The scout-team line was Michael Lombardi at left tackle, Colby Orgeron at left guard, walk-on Ethan Marcus at center, Joseph Solomon at right guard and Nik Hogan at right tackle. Orgeron and Hogan were wearing green defense jerseys since they were shifted to the defensive line a few weeks ago--Fritz said the moves were experimental due to injury issues there but might be permanent when I asked him about it last Wednesday in an interview I never transcribed--but now the pressing depth issue is on the offensive line. Jackson Fort , the only scholarship player I have not mentioned, was nowhere in evidence at practice today. I am not sure what his status is.

The bottom line is Tulane needs Claybrook back pronto. Remetich, though talented, is not as big a deal because Thomas has been impressive as a second-string player from the start of preseason camp after not practicing once as a true freshman due to a slipped disc he sustained in the summer of 2019. He said today the injury required surgery in November, so his first action was during the truncated spring drills. Backing up iron-man center Sincere Haynesworth from the start of drills this year, he said the move to guard was natural because that's where he played in high school as a senior.

The other spot Tulane remains thin is the defensive line. Davon Wright and Angelo Anderson continue to be unavailable with injuries, although both attended practice today, and Brandon Brown is out, too. Maybe one of the reasons Tulane got good pressure on Houston early and none late is the lack of depth up front, with the starting four of Cameron Sample, De'Andre Williams, Jeffery Johnson and Patrick Johnson having to play a ton of snaps because of the drop-off behind them. It's certainly not the only factor, but it is a significant one. Carlos Hatcher, Eric Hicks, Alfred Thomas, Darius Hodges, Noah Seiden and Adonis Friloux, the six reserves who get playing time, have combined for 22 tackles through four games with none having more than five.

Wide receiver Sorrell Brown, whom offensive coordinator Will Hall said was his No. 1 receiver in preseason camp (not in my view), returned to practice today. He dropped a touchdown pass against the scout team but later caught one. Dane Ledford, who had a decent stretch in preseason camp just like he did in practice last season after being moved from quarterback, has not translated that practice skill to games in either year. He lined up with the scout team today.

Pratt took a heavy majority of the reps against the scout team today. That may have been the case since he took over the starting job two weeks ago, but it seemed more skewed today.

Larry Brooks made a nice interception against the scout team, getting over to the sideline to snag a pass. Tulane needs more of that in games from its safeties. Other than Macon Clark's nice pick six against Houston on the opening possession last Thursday, the safeties have been late a lot in coverage.

Again, I apologize for the inconsistent posting the last few days. My computer's internal charger died and I am on a backup Mac that is six years old and has trouble getting WIFI, including the motel I am staying at in Houston, where it is impossible. I went on a mad search for a place to post my stories to The Advocate yesterday evening and after Starbucks and McDonald's failed, I found a Burger King parking lot where it worked. It was almost enough to make me go in the Burger King and buy something. Almost.

The good news is I'm on WIFI at TDECU Stadium and will post the travel roster when I get it.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, home teams are listed first, neutral-site games are designated as such and the spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus:

Houston (-6.5) Tulane
Clemson (-14) Miami
Georgia (-12.5) Tennessee
Oklahoma (-2) Texas (Dallas)
Texas A&M (+6.5) Florida
LSU (-20.5) Missouri
Kentucky (-2.5) Mississippi State
North Carolina (-5.5) Virginia Tech

Tulane won big and so did all but one of us, with winwave having a near perfect week marred only by the push in the Cincinnati-Army game. The Tulsa-Arkansas State game was not played.

WEEK 3 RESULTS

7.5

winwave

6.5

chigoyboy
buck2481
WaveON

5.5

MNAlum
charlamange8
Guerry
ny oscar
paliii
DrBox
Wavetime
diverdo

2.5

GretnaGreen

OVERALL STANDINGS

14.5

Guerry
ny oscar
winwave

13.5

paliii
Wavetime
chigoyboy

12.5

DrBox
buck2481
MNAlum

11.5

WaveON
diverdo

10.5

charlamange8

7.5

GretnaGreen

7.0

Golfer81 (missed 1 week)

6

LSU Law Greenie (missed one week)

GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 12 of 13
Miss St. 4
Florida 10
Auburn 8
Tennessee 10
Miami 11
Cincy 11/Army 2

Just a reminder that Tulane plays Thursday . Also still waiting on the results from the last one. Thanks.

Michael Pratt surprisingly was put off limits today for interviews. Clearly, the coaches want his single-minded focus to be on the must-win game against Houston Thursday and do not believe he has done enough to warrant the full feature treatment yet. A lot of schools place freshmen off limits the entire year.

Tulane looked healthy as it completed its last big practice in preparation for the game--Monday is equivalent to Wednesday on a normal week--with defensive backs Jaylon Monroe, Willie Langham and Ajani Kerr all out there today after not being there for the last hour of Thursday's workout. They were the first-team guys at cornerback and nickelback, respectively, although I have a feeling Kyle Meyers will play quite a bit in place of Langham.

Noah Seiden, who I am writing a feature on today, continues to get significant reps with the second-team defense. It's a tribute to his work ethic after being a preferred walk-on in 2018 and the reality of Tulane not having much depth at defensive tackle. Davon Wright did not practice again today, so the backups inside are Alfred Thomas (10 career tackles), Eric Hicks (a redshirt freshman with four tackles this year), true freshman Adonis Friloux (one tackle, which was a sack, against USM after returning from injury) and Seiden. The Wave is not very deep on the outside either, with Carlos Hatcher (three tackles) and Darius Hodges (two) the only relevant backups at this point. Seiden, who played almost exclusively at defensive end for St. Paul's High in Covington, gives up a lot of pounds inside but makes up for it with effort and technique (I will post the full interview when I transcribe it).

Starters Patrick Johnson, Cam Sample, De'Andre Williams and Jeffery Johnson are going to have to play a lot of downs this year (Johnson got gassed in the second half against Navy and had to take extended breaks). How they hold up will go a long way in determining whether Tulane is successful.

Keon Howard threw a beautiful fade to Jha'Quan Jackson against air near the end of practice today. If he could only make plays like that in games, his story would have played out differently. He hit Jackson in stride running full speed in the back of the end zone, resembling what Pratt did live against Southern Miss. Pratt, by the way, was home schooled until ninth grade. I compared him to Danny Wuerffel, the Heisman-winning Florida quarterback I covered in the mid-1990s, when I called for him to start in a column two weeks ago, but maybe I should have compared him to Tim Tebow, the Florida quarterback I covered who was home-schooled all the way through high school. It will be an interesting story when Pratt is made available for interviews midweek at some point this year.

Apologies for posting this so late, but my charger on my computer stopped working for several hours today before magically fixing itself after a more than hour wait on hold with Mac tech support. The Apple story at Lakeside Mall is useless during the pandemic, having no available appointments for the next week, so fingers crossed this machine holds up on my trip to Houston next week. The keyboard also is giving me problems, with one shift key not working at all and certain common letters like E and T being difficult at times, too. It's not a good feeling.

As expected, Tyjae Spears is out for the year after having surgery for a torn ACL this morning. I could get no one to confirm it ahead of time, but that's what I had been told off the record a couple days ago. Willie Fritz runs a tight ship with injury news, not wanting to give opponents an edge.

Someone actually asked Fritz who the starting quarterback was in the Zoom call after practice today. It's obviously Michael Pratt. The pecking order at practice was Pratt 1, Keon Howard 2 and Justin ibieta 3. Howard threw a beautiful pass to Ygenio Booker on a wheel route that Booker may or not have gotten his foot inbounds on, but those are the type of throws totally absent from Howard in games. He clearly struggled to calm himself down during his three starts, unable to translate anything he did in practice.

Pratt is just the opposite. He played better against Southern Miss than he had in practice in the preseason. The concern is whether some of the questionable decisions he made in practice will carry over to future games because he was very inconsistent in August. I love his mindset and his confidence, but he still has to prove he can do it under pressure against a better opponent than he faced Saturday. Cam Carroll had a great quote today about how Pratt needed to be humbled after he arrived on campus very sure of himself in the spring and how his struggles in the latter few spring practices and at times in the preseason had done just that, giving him a much better perspective on what it takes to be successful in college.

Ibieta's issue is he throws too many flutter balls. I do not recall him doing that as much in August, but his longer passes lack the zip of Pratt. I was curious to see if he had been elevated to second string, but that's not the case.

Tight end Will Wallace, who made his season debut against Southern miss, sat out practice today with a wrapping on his left wrist. He joined Angelo Anderson (left knee injury), Davon Wright (unspecified), Armoni Dixon (lefft arm), Noah Taliancich, Willie Langham (did not see him) and Ajani Kerr (did not see him) as unavailable, at least in the last hour of practice. Cornerback Jaylon Monroe and defensive tackle De'Andre Williams were on the field but did not practice in the portion I watched, most likely getting needed rest. Williams continues to wear a brace on his hand, but he has played through that injury and maintained a high level.

Drops were a problem in 11-on-11 work today, a recurring theme. In quick succession, tight end Tyrick James, Booker and tight end Keitha Jones mishandled throws. I'll say this about Jones, though. I was skeptical when he moved to tight end from linebacker last year, but he has potential. He had a nice gain on a pass from Ibieta today.

A wide receiver who has been missing in action, Oklahoma grad transfer Mykal Jones, ran a sharp slant for a big play from Howard. Jones has too good a body to be invisible on a team that needs more wideouts to step up. He has one catch for 21 yards.

With Monroe out, the first-team corners were Kyle Meyers and freshman Kevaris Hall. I have not watched the tape of the full game yet, but I believe Meyers was benched for the rest of the day after getting burned on the long touchdown pass that gave USM a 14-0 lead, first getting beaten and then missing the tackle. There still is plenty of season left, but I may have been more wrong about him than anyone. I thought he had an outstanding camp, but when I brought him up to Fritz and defensive coordinator Jack Curtis, they were reserved in their praise at the time, pointing out he had missed spring practice at FSU and was not in optimal shape when he arrived. He did have an interception today, picking off a poorly thrown Pratt deep ball into traffic. Macon Clark was the starting nickelback in the absence of Kerr and Langham. Noah Seiden was the starting tackle in place of De'Andre Williams. In one of the biggest surprises on the team, Seiden has three tackles and has played significant downs in all three games. Did not see that coming.

The wide receivers who were on the opening play of 11-on-11 with Pratt were the Watts twins and Jacob Robertson, who must do the unheralded things right like blocking. He has two catches for 14 yards and a lower ceiling in my opinion than several other receivers. He has started all three games while Jha'Quan Jackson, who has five catches for 92 yards including a pretty 42-yard score from Pratt against USM, has yet to start. It doesn't really matter, though, since the receivers shuttle in and out. Jaetavian Toles, by the way, has one catch for 15 yards in his last seven games dating to the end of 2019. It will be interesting to see what these guys do with Pratt as the starter.

While the right side of Tulane's offensive line has a rotation of four, the other three guys play almost every significant down. Backup left tackle Cameron Jackel, backup left guard Stephen Lewerenz and backup center Caleb Thomas have played in one game each. Third-string freshmen Rashad Green and Joseph Solomon have not played at all.

Carroll leads the nation with eight touchdowns. Tulane is third behind Army and Virginia Tech with 299.3 rushing yards per game. The school record of 272.6 was set in 1931. The next highest total was 237.5 in 2017.

Thursday was the only day practice was open this week. Tulane is practicing today in what would typically be a Monday practice and tomorrow in what would normally be a Tuesday practice in preparation for Houston, but the next availability will be Monday.

I am going to the Houston game.

Here in an excerpt of the quotes from Thursday. Fritz started by saying Spears had a torn ACL and had surgery Thursday morning.

FRITZ

On Pratt's performance v. USM:

He showed a lot of poise. He really showed accuracy. He ran the ball better than I expected and did a very good job. He knows how to get north-south. We are going to have to get him to run out of bounds a little bit more than what he did on Saturday, but for a true freshman playing his first Division I game in the circumstances he came in on, with us being behind, he did an excellent job."

On if he knew Pratt had feel for game before that performance:

"I do think he does have that. He's very calm during the game. He played a high level of high school football in Florida. He played for the state championship (he actually lost in the Class 8A semifinals at Deerfield Beach to eventual champion Columbus). He played a lot on traveling teams with some big-time players, so he's been around the game all his life. The tough part for us is having the quarterback live in preseason camp. That's the only position that if you lose that guy, it's hard. I can move a strong safety to corner or a right tackle to left guard, but I can't do that at quarterback, so we don't do many things live. Our style of defense, it's hard to have big windows for guys to throw in. We may not play as much zone as other people, so sometimes it's difficult to evaluate, but we wanted to get him in there and see how he handled things. He handled it well when he came in and did a very nice job."

On Pratt transferring to Deerfield Beach from Boca Raton High even though Deerfield Beach had USM commit as returning starter:

"He has a lot of confidence. He ended up beating him out and leading them to the state championship (semifinals). He knew a lot of those kids that were on that high school team from travel ball."

On preparing for Houston:

'We didn't play well two weeks ago, particularly in the second half, and we are going to have to play great. Houston is playing at home. They are going to be fired up with playing their first home game. They've got a lot of new players that sat out last year. I think they've got 33 transfer guys from junior college and Division I schools. There's always that indecision about exactly who's going to play and what they are doing and if they are changing things. We have a template to work off from what they did last year and what their coordinators have done in the past, but there's always going to be some new wrinkles based on personnel and what they want to try to accomplish. It will be a feeling out process early."

On Houston playing first game and Tulane it's fourth:

"It's very unusual. They've had some tough luck with different schools not being able to field a team, so I feel for them. I know that's difficult."

On Stephon Huderson:

"It was a big game for him. He's from right there next to Southern Miss and wasn't recruited by them coming out of high school, so I know he had a little chip on his shoulder going into the game, but he just does everything well. He had a couple of nice blocks on kick returns for Amare (Jones). He does a lot of stuff that's not publicized. He does a lot of dirty work. He had a nice catch, had some nice blocks and obviously had some great runs. He's got excellent vision for a running back. One time we ran a stretch play outside zone and he hit it in the backside A gap. You have to have great vision in order to do that."

On Thursday games:

"It's good coming off a bye. Being on national TV is a great opportunity for us to highlight our program."

On teams having tape on Pratt now:

"Oh, we're going to run our offense. Running the offense with different quarterbacks is not that different. Every once in a while you have one guy who's a much better runner than another guy. There are going to be different wrinkles, but it's not going to be totally different in any way, shape or form.'

AMARE JONES

On Huderson:

"I'm confident in him. He's always been one of the leaders of the group and he's taken everybody under his wing and helped us prepare to be the best that we can, so it's our job to make sure he does the same."

Where could be better and does he have more in him:

"I definitely do, but it's not really bout me. It's more so about the team. I'm just here to help the team win."

On Carroll:

"He's a big piece of the offense. We know any time we give it to him, he's going to bruise for 15 to 20 yards or maybe even go for a touchdown."

On Pratt:

"It definitely looked like he's ready. It was a long time coming. He's been practicing since last spring and he's had his head on tight. I knew when he had the chance, he was going to make the best of it."

On Pratt demeanor before stepped on field:

"Ever since he stepped on campus he's kind of had this little swagger to him. When he touches the field, he's just bouncing around. He always keeps the guys up. It's always a good day."

HUDERSON

On USM game:

"It meant a lot. I had my whole family there and some of my high school teammates. It felt like I was home again. It was a big day for me playing against a school thad didn't recruit me before Tulane offered me. .They actually offered me after Tulane."

Increased workload:

"We all just live by this next man up attitude, so whether it's Cam, me, Amare or YG, we all are capable of getting the job done. We kill ourselves in practice to get ready for situations like this. We are all prepared for the opportunity. We just have to go out there and get it."

Waited for this chance:

"I've definitely been waiting for this opportunity. I'm sad that it happened this way. Tyjae is a great player, but I'm definitely getting ready for the opportunity and whatever coach asks me to do, I'm prepared to do it."

CARROLL

Lead nation in TDs

"It's definitely exciting. I've never had such a high accomplishment, but I'm proud not only for me but for my teammates because without them I can't do anything on my own. I can't score touchdowns without my O-linemen, without my quarterback and without my wide receivers and without the coaches making a great plan. It's a great accomplishment. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm completely confident in my coaches and my teammates that this is going to stay a trend."

On Pratt:

"When he came in in the spring, my first thought of him was he's a freshman, he just got out of high school, so he's going to be cocky. I was right, but at the same time he worked his butt off. I knew something was different about him by the way he carried himself. You know how coaches say you can kind of tell that swagger about somebody. He definitely has it. He had it when he first came in and he continued to have it throughout summer and fall camp. When he got in a game, I was completely confident in him. I had no doubt in my mind that all the hard work that he's been doing was going to pay off, and it did. I'm happy for him."

on Pratt needing to run out of bounds:

"At the quarterback position I'd definitely say so because I feel he's going to be a very valuable asset to the team, but along with that he made some big plays for us in the fact that he didn't run out of bounds. I feel like yes. he should, but at the same time he's trying to make a play for the team, so it's hard to argue with that. But I definitely agree a quarterback should try to get out of bounds a little better."

Big shot early did not faze Pratt:

"He's a tough kid. I can give him that. He's very hard on himself and he has that grit to him. He's very team-oriented. He's tough, smart. I can't say enough about him."

Pratt humbled in spring practice:

"Most definitely. For anyone coming from high school to college, you're going to have an ego because you were the guy in high school and you think you are going to come in and do this and do that, but it has to come to a point to where you have to humble yourself in your surroundings and realize you might not be the guy now but you can't let that deter you from what you want to be at the end of the day, and you have to keep working. I definitely feel like the defense humbled him because he came in and he was hot. He had an ego, but as time went on he became more and more humble. Once he started doing that, that's when his game started to elevate because the defense saw they could pick at his attitude and they used it as a weakness. Once he figured out that, he was able to elevate his game, and as you can see, he's showing off his humbleness."

Guerry, do you have any info as to the extent of his injury? Odd that it is now 5 days later, and not a word has come out.

Year No. 2 of the Ron Hunter era will begin around Thanksgiving this year, and a last-place AAC finish in his first season has not hurt his confidence.

I had a one-on-one Zoom call with him about Tulane hoops on Monday. Here is what he said:

The last time we talked was the day before you went to Texas for an AAC basketball tournament that never happened. How has the pandemic affected you, and where do you think you are right now?

"It's funny. The last time the NCAA tournament played, I was coaching Georgia State, and it just seems like from that day it's just been a whirlwind. You know, for me personally and for the program, I don't want to ever say a pandemic's good, but I think we've really handled this in the correct play, and I've been prepared for this because I've been places where not everything's been perfect. If you have been in a job where things are usually not perfect, you kind of get used to things like this. I like where we are. The kids we were able to recruit, I don't think a couple of those kids would be here to be honest with you if it wasn't for the pandemic because there are no official visits and recruiting has completely changed, and so in a weird way it's helped my program. I'm closer to my players. They've been here since the last week of June, and it's just been us kind of living in the bubble together. We haven't been able to go out, go to dinner or do anything, so we have spent a lot of time in this gym together. I think that has helped us in a way that normally it wouldn't because generally kids go home for the weekend or whatever it might be, so in a way there have been more positives for us than negative. I don't want to have this because there is a pandemic, but I do think because of it we really handled it in a good way."

How do you like your team? The only three players who got significant time last year are Jordan Walker, Nobal Days and R.G. McGee.

"I really like it because I do think the guys we're bringing back are going to be key parts of what we do. Last year at this time no one understood what we were doing. To be honest with you, I didn't even understand anything about the league, so we're a little bit more familiar with the league, the program. I feel much better about my team. Last year I had to make a decision whether to play with a team that wasn't mine or just start this whole thing over and try to rebuild from there, and I'm glad we made that decision. Last year we probably lost three or four games we should have won, but we didn't win those games because there was no chemistry to what we were doing, and that's wasn't the kids' fault. When you bring in a lot of grad transfers, you expect that to happen, but I did that purposely. I didn't take grad transfers at the job I was at before at Georgia State. I felt I wanted to do that just to kind of get that first year out of our system. If you look at our team now, we had one (Ryan Murphy, who played from Pittsburgh), but he went back to California. I really like our team. We are extremely young. Eleven of our 14 guys are freshmen or sophomores, but we are really talented. What will help this group jell is we've had nothing but time to spend with each other. I would be a little more concerned if it was a regular year where I was going on the road recruiting or trying to do all that, but really since June 28, every day it's just been us, so the chemistry's been a lot better. They understand me a little bit more. They understand what's expected, but I really like this team because we're talented. As I told the freshmen the other day, I will be really disappointed if you guys don't get to two or three NCAA tournaments. I think they are that talented. We've got to have some things come together, but the oldest guy really in our program is Jelly (Walker), he and (Buay) Koka. I like them. They're talented and fun to be around. We have a lot of fun days together."

Jaylen Forbes was very highly rated coming out of high school when he signed with Alabama last year. What is his game like?

"Man, he's really talented. He really is. He can really shoot the ball. He has a great basketball I.Q. He's a big-time defender. He kind of fits what I said about Christian Thompson (who did it all for Tulane as a grad transfer last season), that I wished I had him for a few years. Well I've got Jaylen for three years. He's really talented, unselfish, has my personality in that regard. I love him. He's a flat-out stud. He and a couple other guys we got together fit perfectly. We don't know what position he is, but he can flat-out shoot the ball, and that's what I really like about this team because they can really shoot it."

Gabe Watson led USM in scoring last year and also had a game with 11 assists. What do you like about him?

"His toughness, and again, we talk about inexperience, but he's an experienced guy. He started every game last year and went through a coaching game and some of those deals, but you look at his best production, it was games on the road, so I like that because now I have some experience of a guard that has a lot of toughness. He's probably our best athlete and can handle the ball. Again, we didn't have any ball-handlers last year, so now with Jelly, we've got some different guys that can handle the ball. But I love his toughness. I really love his toughness. He's another guy that was recruited by a lot of different people. A lot of guys wanted him coming out, and we were able to get him also. We just didn't have a lot of toughness last year. When you go on the road and get that big lead, you've got to hold on to it."

Kevin Cross is 6-8, 240 pounds. What does he add to the team after playing a lot for Nebraska?

"We didn't get many rebounds last year. Our defense was really good but we couldn't get that rebound. Between he and T.Y. (redshirt freshman Tylan Pope), we've got two guys on that frontline who are over 240, so we are not going to get pushed out as much. Last year we were really thin at that position, and I wanted to add some beef. We were able to do it and we were able to do it with some young guys. Both of those guys, one's a freshman and the other's a sophomore, so you can see being able to build it with these young guys into the system. And again, Kevin Cross is another young man we probably don't get if it's not for the pandemic because of the people that were recruiting him at that time."

You loved Sion James when he signed. Is he as good as you thought he would be now that you've seen him up close and personal?

"Yeah, he's as good as advertised--a 6-5 point guard, another big, strong kid. It's crazy because he's 6-5, maybe 220, and he's a point guard and he's still 17. He hasn't turned 18 yet. He turns 18 in December and I absolutely love the kid. I'm trying to make sure that we set him up for success. If we don't have to start him early, that would be great, but he's going to play 20 to 25 minutes. He's just a talented player with a high basketball I.Q. and he's just starting to grow into his body, which is funny at 6-5, 220."

How good overall do you feel about your backcourt?

"We've got some depth in the backcourt. I love our front court also, but I love the experience of Jelly having played big minutes and Gabe's played big minutes and Jaylen was in the SEC last year. We don't have experience with each other, but we have some experience and guys are playing with a chip on their shoulder, so I really like this group. If you look at T.Y., he's playing great basketball. I think we would have won three or four more games if T.Y. was eligible for us right away, but he's just a monster right now. The best thing we did was redshirt him. We got him in shape, really cut down some of the weight. Just athletically, what he's doing on the glass, it's a different program. I feel like this is my team, where last year I was just trying to talk about the culture and get a culture established, I feel like this is my group."