What a huge road win! So much to say and I don’t know where to start so I’ll just use bullet points of various thoughts/observations I had:

- I noticed our defensive line was playing a yard off the line of scrimmage, which seemed odd until my brother mentioned that it might be a strategy to avoid chop blocks.

- no Jeffrey Johnson, no problem. Great day limiting their rushing attack. Will be even better when he’s back at 100%

- Jamiran James mauled the Army center in the 4th quarter on 3 plays in a row. It’s worth looking for the video if you have it recorded.

- Amare Jones reminds me of Kamara, he’s superb and everything seems so easy and natural for him. Made some outstanding catches that few could have made, among other things

- Patrick Johnson moves at a different speed and looks like a guy who could be drafted if he wanted to leave after this year. I hope he stays

- We spotted them 2 touchdowns from McMillan’s fumbles, although the second one was probably down by contact. The first one was excruciating. He seems good for one inexplicable mistake per game and then he clicks and plays well. Hopefully he moves past that

- Cam Carroll made a freakish move for a guy his size on his long TD run. Watch the video if you can find it. We aren’t going to lose much when Bradwell/Dauphine graduate between Spears/Carroll and Hudderson

- Our OL is so different with Montano at center and Knutson at RG. Allowing Dublin to shift back to LG and the play of the grad transfers has been immense for us. Light years better than last year

- I’d be amazed if we weren’t in the top 25 next week. UCF, Mich St, Ok St all lost and SMU will lose barring a miracle in the final 10 minutes of this game. That only matters to me as far as recruiting is concerned. I can’t wait to see Fritz recruit as a conference champion (hopefully)

This was a butt-kicking, with Tulane's dominance not reflected in the final score. It likely would have been a blowout if Jeffery Johnson had played. As it was, a series of inexplicable mistakes made Tulane sweat out a 2-point conversion that never should have been attempted, regardless of what the analytics nerds say.

They brought in Willie Fritz, Amare Jones, Justin McMillan, Patrick Johnson and Lawrence Graham. As a gang of one, I asked every question. If you're wondering why I did not ask about injuries, Fritz rarely answers those questions with any substance, particularly after games. It's his philosophy.

FRITZ

"I'm really proud of the guys. We didn't start the game off very well. We had the fumble early, they got great field position, we're down 7-0 and that's right in their wheelhouse when they get a lead. Our guys just kept fighting and fighting and fighting and defensively we were within a whisker two or three times of shutting them down in the first half and we either missed a tackle or got a penalty or something. We did a good job with halftime adjustments and played extremely well defensively in the third quarter. And then we didn't finish them off. It got sloppy down there at the end. We're so fast on offense that milking (the clock) is a great learning experience. We made a couple of big stops on 2-point conversions to make it a two-score game there at the very end. That was huge. A big fumble recovery by Chase Kuerschen on the onside kick. We fumbled it, and most of the time when that happens, the other team gets it. A great job by Chase being over there getting on top of the ball. He came up with a bloody nose and the football, which is good.

"We have a lot to clean up, but a huge win for us. They'd won 15 in a row here at home, hadn't been beaten since 2016, so this was big for us without question. They are a good team, very well coached. I have a lot of respect for those guys, so we're excited about the win. Any time you go on the road and walk away with a win, especially against a quality program like Army, you feel good about it."

With the fourth game out of five with more than 500 yards of offense, what can you say about the job Will Hall is doing?

"Will did a great job executing. I like the fact he was a little disappointing at how things got at the end of the game. I told our guys, a lot of them were disappointed and we just won a game on the road against a very good team. We are going to clean this stuff up, but it's a whole lot better to lean lessons with a W than an L. Will and coach Kennedy and Fobbes and coach Conway and Coach Nagel, all the guys on offensive side of the ball are doing a sensational job. Our kids are believing in what we're doing. We've got a lot of weapons, both throwing and running. It all starts up front with our offensive line. I thought they created a lot of big holes today, so yeah, we had 330 yards rushing or something like that. It's hard to outrush them and we almost doubled them up. At one time we were."

What can you say about Amare Jones' performance?

"He's just a player. One time they punted the ball and the sun was in his eyes and he had to let it go. If he caught that one, he had about 30 yards. He's a guy you have to get the ball to. Coach Hal is doing a good job of finding and creating ways to get him the ball out in space."

Did you feel the defense held up pretty well with Jeffery Johnson?

"I thought they did. It's a physical game when you play those guys. You've got to tackle, and there were some parts of the game we really tackled well and there were some parts of the game we didn't tackle well. You have to be on point with that all he time."

Army tied it at 21 after it looked you had the game in control. You responded with 21 straight points. What does that say about the mental toughness of the team?

"We've got some tough kids and the coaches really do a good job of motivating these guys. They demand we practice at a high level every single week, but it doesn't mean anything if the players don't have that mindset."

It's the first time since the program has been 4-1 since the undefeated season of 1998. Do you feel like you're on the cusp of something special?

"Oh, we have to clean some things up. We have to learn how to finish and execute. There's a lot of things we need to clean up. I know I sound like a broken record in the four wins we have won and said that, but we certainly have a lot of things to fix."

What was it like meeting Jim Calhoun last night?

'Oh, it was awesome. Christian (Montano), I read that article you wrote on him and his mom had a quote in there that he's an old soul, and I had just talked about that a few weeks ago. He's 23 going on 50. He is very mature. I think our kids understand how important it is playing with a guy who saved a guy's life. It's a neat story, and Jim seems like a super guy. We had dinner with him and his wife last night. They are good people."

I questioned you on how you could use all of your running backs at the beginning of the year, but you used a ton of them today and they all produced.

"We have a bunch of backs. How about Cam Carroll coming in there at the end of the game and having that big (41-yard touchdown) run. He's been practicing extremely hard. It's good when a guy gets rewarded with success. Sometimes guys work hard for two or three weeks and start falling off a little bit when they don't have that success. He's been doing it every day this whole season, and he comes out and has a big run for us.

"Corey Dauphine had some big runs. Darius Bradwell ran the ball well. Obviously Amare. Stephon Huderson had some big runs. We did it by committee."

They moved the workout to the Saints indoor facility, so I did not see it. Willie Fritz talked when they returned to the Wilson Center.

Was it about avoiding the heat today?

"Part of it. All of our guys have been fresh working on these guys for a while. I heard yesterday was the hottest day on record (for Oct. 2) in the history of New Orleans, and they were talking about this was going to beat it today. So we went out and had a really good workout. I think it's 72 (degrees) inside there and we're going to playing in about 60 or so (at Army)."

How do you feel about the prep work?

"Well, we've been prepping for a couple of weeks. They have a great team. I'm sure they are going to do some things a little bit different. We are going to do a few things different. It's going to come down, a big part of it all, defensively is playing blocks, tackling, leverage, the basics of the game. it's going to be tough-guy football. I've been telling these guys that a bunch, and we've got to get some of our fast guys the ball in space. They do a good job of not allowing you to do that."

Will Jeffery Johnson be a game-time decision for you?

"Yeah. He practiced today. Hopefully he'll be able to go."

This is the longest in-season break Tulane has had between games since 1983 when there was a 19-day gap before the finale against LSU. Is that any cause for concern or not?

"Well, I might have thought something if they didn't have a bye also. Both teams are kind of playing under the same situation. I've done it every way. I've had bye weeks and come back and played great. There are times when the other team had a bye and we didn't and we played great. It's just preparation and then you have to go out and execute."

This story on a mythical Group of Five playoff has Tulane with only an 8 percent chance to reach it because the Wave simply is not as good as the better teams in the AAC, according to the author.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-teams-reach-group-5-college-football-playoff

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

Army (+3) Tulane
Cincinnati (+4.5) Central Florida
Florida (+3) Auburn
Michigan (-4.5) Iowa
Kansas State (-2) Baylor
Navy (+2.5) Air Force
Ohio State (-20.5) Michigan State
Oregon (-18) California

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I know the Army West Point fan base is looking forward to Army-Tulane game and I hope that the Tulane fans base will be well represented at Michie Stadium on Saturday.

As Tulane continued to prepare for Army, Jeffery Johnson continued to watch without getting any reps on Wednesday morning, but he has not been ruled out of Saturday's game and it likely will be a game-time decision. The thing is, with all the cut blocks the service academies do, it might be advisable to see what happens without him and have him ready to play if needed.

In one change from yesterday, Davon Wright practiced with the first unit in Johnson's place after Mike HInton was there Tuesday. Hinton was on the second unit today, but both of them will play significant roles if Johnson is unable to go. De'Andre Williams likely would slide over some to play the nose, too, but the good news is the weather, which should be in the upper 50s to low 60s for the game. It is hard not to get gassed against Army the way it controls the ball, but it will take longer with comfortable weather than it did two years ago on a hot, humid day at Yulman Stadium, when defensive coordinator Jack Curtis admitted his guys were spent in the second half.

It's hard to get a good read on Army, which scored only 14 points in a 14-7 opening victory against still-winless Rice and trailed lousy Morgan State 14-7 at the end of the first quarter two weeks ago. The Black Knights appear to play to the level of competition and reached extraordinary heights at Oklahoma last year, outgaining the Sooners before losing in double overtime. They would have beaten Michigan in their second game this year if not for a false start on senior fullback Connor Slomka on second-and-goal from the 1 as they tried to punch it in for a 21-7 lead. The mistake led to an interception, a tying touchdown drive by Michigan and another double-overtime loss.

The upshot: Army is capable of playing at a very high level even though it does not reach that level consistently.

Army has not lost a home game since November of 2016, but it is about the most unimpressive 15-game win streak you'll ever see. Not one of its beaten opponents finished with fewer than six losses other than Colgate of the FCS last year. Five of the victims were from the FCS, and only one, Duke in 2017, was from a power five conference. Eight of the 10 wins against FBS teams were one-score games, and the other two were a 14-point win against 0-12 UTEP and a win against Liberty.

The complete list with scores and final or current record of its opponents:

2019

Rice 0-5 (14-7)
Morgan State 0-4 (52-21)

2018

Liberty 6-6 (38-14)
Hawaii 8-6 (28-21)
Miami (Ohio) 6-6 (31-30 2OT)
Air Force 5-7 (17-14)
Lafayette 3-8 (31-13)
Colgate 10-2 (28-14)

2017

Fordham 4-7 (64-6)
Buffalo 6-6 (21-17)
UTEP 0-12 (35-21)
Eastern Michigan 5-7 (28-27)
Temple 7-6 (31-28 OT)
Duke 7-6 (21-16)

2016

Morgan State 3-8 (60-3)

Tulane is the better team, but winning on the road in a non-conference game against a good opponents is far from a given. This one will say a lot about the winning culture Fritz is developing.

FRITZ

How has practice been this week?

"Good. It's awfully humid out here. It's unbelievable. I told our guys the weather is going to be like the Navy game last year. It's going to be low 60s and probably zero humidity. They'll think they died and went to heaven, so it's good to practice in this so we can fight through it and still get some conditioning work in."

How pivotal is first down in this game?

"Big. It's big on both sides of the ball. We're doing a heck of a job in the red zone and we're doing a heck of a job on fourth down, but third down percentage isn't as high because we've had some pre-snap penalties. I'll bet you our third-down conversion rate on drives or series when we don't have a penalty is very high, so we have to work on that."

(ED's note: I just looked it up, and Tulane is only 10 of 27 on third-down conversions when it did not have a penalty. Take out the 0 of 8 performance against Auburn, however, and it is 10 for 19, plus three of those conversions came up a yard short and Tulane converted the fourth down)

When Army struggles on first down, it struggles to move the ball. Is that the key down on the series against them defensively?

"It's big. Every down is key for these guys. There are going to be a couple of reverses. We've got to do a good job playing them. It's either going to be a big play for them or us. Hopefully it's us. Now it's second-and-14. You have to tackle. You have to knock people back. We can't have then leaning forward for three more yards because second-and-6 is good for them. It's got to be second-and-9."

I asked Fritz about Torri Singletary and Nik Hogan. He said both were still on the team and that Hogan had been injured but was back at practice today. I did not see him, but I was watching the defense against the scout-team offense. Singletary is not injured. He's just not in the rotation. He may have been practicing on he scout-team defense.

I'm always amused by the belief across the country that Tulane's offense is triple-option based and bears a broad resemblance to Navy and Army, but the notion persists even with Will Hall in charge.

That said, as analyses of games go, this is more insightful than most, and I learned some things about Army. The Tulane stuff, predictably, is more hit or miss.

https://www.asforfootball.com/2019/10/02/army-football-preview-tulane/

For what it is worth, CBS Sports Network had its four college football analysts predict games last night, and all four picked Tulane to win confidently, offering tremendous praise for Fritz along the way.

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Tulane will get a break from the unrelenting hot weather when it travels to New York to face Army this weekend, and a "cold" front finally will cool things down in New Orleans next Monday, but the start of October brought with the same stifling conditions for the Green Wave's Tuesday morning practice.

It was hot and humid when I arrived, and Jeffery Johnson did not practice again today along with Alfred Thomas. I don't expect Thomas to play Saturday, but Johnson's status will be determined by how he feels later in the week. Clearly, Tulane's depth would take a hit without Johnson, the quintessential nose tackle for defending the dive play. Mike Hinton, a graduate transfer from Columbia who made five of his six tackles against Missouri State, worked with the first team today and will need to step up if Johnson is not available. The coaches liked him a lot in preseason drills, and this is why they added him to a roster that appeared stacked along the defensive front. The rest of the starting unit is fine with the underrated De'Andre Williams, whose 15 tackles lead Tulane's linemen, manning the other tackle spot and ends Cameron Sample and Patrick Johnson doing their thing.

The second-team line today was Juan Monjarres, Davon Wright, Jamiran James and walk-on Noah Seiden. Seiden will not play against Army unless Tulane has a big lead, Depending on how the game goes early, Tulane could go with a rotation of three outside. Carlos Hatcher, who has played in two games, is another guy who did not practice today. I did not see Torri Singletary, who is listed as having played his first game against Houston. Caleb Thomas, by the way, is listed as having plaed against Houston, but I have a hard time believing it. I've never seen him practice. He had an injury when preseason camp started.

There were no changes on the offensive line. Tyler Johnson, who has been practicing since before the Houston game, remained with the second unit at left tackle while the starting unit was the same as in the last three weeks. Nik Hogan was nowhere in evidence, but today was not a good day to ask about the backup injured players since they brought Willie Fritz to the podium for his weekly Tuesday press conference and several TV reporters were asking questions, too.

I'm working on a story about the offense today for The Advocate, and here are some interesting nuggets. Through four games, Tulane is averaging 454.8 yards, which is on pace to be the second-highest average in school history behind the 507.1 in 1998. The Wave has gained more than 500 yards in three of its four games after doing it only twice in Willie Fritz's first three years. Yet, offensive coordinator Will Hall expects his group to get a lot better as the year goes along and he is not even close to satisfied with the production to this point. That's where people are sleeping on Tulane. With Amare Jones and Darius Bradwell and Corey Dauphine and Darnell Mooney and Jalen McCleskey and Justin McMillan, the playmaking ability is tremendous. If McMillan cleans up some of his throws and reads, there's no telling what the limit is for this group, which won't face a defense anything like Auburn's for the rest of the year.

A receiver who is not in the rotation, freshman Tyrek Presley, turned in the play of the day while working with the offensive scout team. Covered tightly on a pass down the sideline, he almost nonchalently hauled it it with one hand near his helmet. Tulane needs more plays like that in games from its receivers, who have dropped a few too many balls through four games.

Center Christian Montano, who will spend time this weekend with the man whose live he saved by donating his bone marrow, came in for interviews along with Jones and McMillan. Fritz talked, too, of course, but I will wait until Tulane sends out the transcript of his quotes tonight.

MONTANO

When you watch Army's defense, what are your thoughts?

"They have a great team and an excellent defense. We have to play our best in order to beat them, and we've shown that if we can play our best, we can play with anyone."

How would you grade yourself through four games?

"I can easily say that I would like to have played better. I don't really remember the good ones too much. I remember the bad ones. It's easy to sit there and smile when you're blocking someone, but when you look back at the quarterback and saying, my God, he's running because I missed someone or the running back only gets a 1-yard gain instead of what could have been a big one, those ones stick with me more. I wish I'd had some better blocks but I think I'm improving."

What has been the biggest adjustment for you?

"Just the level of athlete at this level. The teams we play, particularly in the American Athletic Conference, they are great athletes. There's a reason why they were recruited and there's a reason why they are going to college on scholarship. There are some great players in this league."

JONES

How much notoriety have you gotten since the play?

"I've gotten a lot. Everybody after the game was telling me that was an awesome play. I have to give the credit to coach Hall because he's the one who called it. We just executed it."

How much had you practiced it?

"We probably practiced it once or twice every two weeks. It's kind of just a play that's always going to be there. You don't have to practice it too much because either you know it or you don't."

When had you broken your nose in the game, and how much did it hurt?

"I broke my nose at the beginning of the third quarter. It was hurting real bad, but I felt like the team needed me. I feel like I bring something to the table that the team needs and those are my brothers and I couldn't let them down at the time."

How much more potential does this offense have for growth?

"This offense is still real young. We have a couple of seniors on offense, but we have a lot of opportunity to grow. We have a lot of sophomores and freshmen that don't play now, but they have the potential to be great. When they finally realize that and step up, that's when we'll start to grow as an offense."

This team has fed off the underdog role. Now everyone is saying how great you are. Is there a message coach Fritz gave you to get you back level-headed after the Houston game?

"1-0. That's really it. We take every game week by week and play that game one at a time. You can't really focus on what you have ahead of you because you still have to play in the present."

Do you feel underestimated at the college level?

"Yeah, I could say I've been underestimated. I don't know how else to put it. It just keeps me going. I like to prove people wrong. Whatever they say I can or can't do, I know I can do it, so I'm going to prove it to you."

What is the next thing people say you can't do that you're gonna do?

"Win a conference championship."

I thought I'd already done this, but clearly I haven't. Tulane-Houston and California-Ole Miss came down to the final play. If you were on the right side of those games, like I was, you did well.

WEEK 4 RESULTS

8

MNAlum
sscald

7

Guerry

6

ny oscar
LSU Law Greenie
buck2481
p8kpev
chigoyboy
winwave
GretnaGreen
DrBox
wavetime

5

St Amant Wave
WaveON

4

kettrade1
highwave
paliii
mono41
diverdo
Golfer81
Harahan Wave

2

charlamange8


OVERALL STANDINGS

26

p8kpev
MNAlum

25

Guerry
ssscald/aa013289

23

highwave
WaveON
ny oscar
LSU Law Greenie

22

winwave
wavetime

21

Harahan Wave
DrBox
chigoyboy

20

kettrade1
diverdo
Golfer81
charlamange8

18

paliii

17

St Amant Wave
GretnaGreen

16

buck2481

15

mono41 (missed 1 week)


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 19 of 22
USC 5
Notre Dame 12
Wisconsin 21
Pittsburgh 5
SMU 11
Auburn 11
California 14

What's the status of Tyler Johnson, Jeffery Johnson, and Alfred Thomas? Anyone else with injuries that could affect their playing this weekend? Big Game, as are they all from now on out.

Roll Wave!!!

I watched the entire game, and Navy, after an outstanding start, was done in by its lack of athleticism on defense and an injury to quarterback Malcolm Perry in the second quarter that rendered him ineffective in the second half.

This game was always going to be about Navy's ball control versus Memphis' playmaking ability with its superior speed. Memphis had only 15 snaps in the first half and trailed 20-7 when it returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to turn the tide. Navy missed a field goal that would have given it a two-score lead on the last play of the half, and Memphis took over after the break, dominating defensively as Perry was tentative as a runner and useless as a thrower due to his injury, which looked to be a pectoral issue. Memphis QB Brady White was awful for two-and-a-half quarters, but he hit a wide-open receiver on third-and-long on a post pattern to stretch the lead to 28-20 and made some nice throws on the clinching TD drive that made it 35-23.

My early take on what Tulane will need to do to beat both teams on the road:

1) Memphis

--White is immobile in the pocket, as Tulane proved last year by registering a preposterous 10 sacks in a 40-24 win that was more lopsided than the score indicated. Memphis has three new starters on the offensive line and Tulane returned just about everyone up front, so the same advantage will be there. The difference is it is harder to get pressure on the road than at home, but the Wave should be up to the task. Offensively, Memphis has good skill players but not as good as Houston's. If the Tulane defense plays with poise, it's advantage, Wave, and if the Tulane offense hits the big plays that will be available, the Wave will roll. I've just never been as sold on Memphis under Mike Norvell as others have. And without Darrell Henderson and Tony Pollard, the talent level is not as high this year as last.

2) Navy

--A healthy Perry makes a huge difference, but Navy's running backs are not difference-makers. Even more than in most years, Navy relies on its system rather than its players, and Tulane matches up very well with option teams. The big concern is the passing game. Navy's, though limited, is much more sophisticated than Army's, as we saw last year at Yulman Stadium. The Wave secondary will need to do a better job of not over-selling to stop the run and letting guys get behind it on surprise passes. Tulane almost beat Navy on the road two years ago, and Tulane is much better now than then.

September is not over yet, so it's too early to make concrete judgments on teams, but I have a feeling the AAC West race might come down to the finale between Tulane and SMU. The Mustangs match up better with the Wave in my opinion than Memphis or Navy do.

He is not a talker, but he's smart. I was supposed to talk to him two weeks ago but he texted me he could not talk because he was studying for a test. Then I got too busy before tracking him down this afternoon.

https://tulane.rivals.com/news/commitment-spotlight-reggie-neely

Jeffery Johnson sat out practice this morning, but he was not wearing a boot or a brace of any kind, which could be a good sign for Tulane 10 days away from its next game at Army. Obviously Johnson would be a huge factor in the middle against the triple option.

Running back Amare Jones (broken nose) and defensive tackle Alfred Thomas, who got hurt against Houston, too, did not practice, either, but there is no reason to put anyone out there who is not 100 percent with so much time left before the game. This was the second of three practices this week but the only one open to reporters, with Tulane taking tomorrow off to lift weights, returning to the field Friday and skipping the weekend before beginning normal game week prep on Monday.

Willie Fritz on Johnson: "We feel like he's going to be fine."

Fritz on Amare Jones: "A hand got underneath his face mask. He's going to be fine. He didn't have surgery, so he's good."

Tulane spent a lot of time at the end of practice today on scout teams. With the various guys missing or resting, Juan Monjarres, Cameron Sample, Mike Hinton and normal LB Malik Lawal got some reps as a unit. Patrick Johnson rotated in for Monjarres a little later, with Noah Seiden (who absolutely will not play against Army) and Jamiran James inside along with Hinton at the other end spot. There's nothing wrong with Davon Wright, who made a monster play on Houston's final series, or De'Andre Williams, but Tulane is getting as many players ready as possible for Army, where depth should play a huge factor.

"It's very important," Fritz said. "When they come off, you've got to be tough and firm and hold the point against these guys. We've got enough mass up there where we feel like we can do that. There's a lot of natural double teams that they have, not just the guard and the tackles and the centers and guards but also with the tackle and slotback. Getting some bigger guys and some mass helps you."

The offense line remained the same as the last three weeks. Tyler Johnson, who has not played since getting hurt in practice the week after the opener, practiced with the second unit today just like he did last week.

Tulane has been called for 16 false starts through four games, and it culminated with seven against Houston. The guilty parties were Ben Knutson four times, Joey Claybrook four times, Tyrick James three times and Jalen McCleskey, Jaetavian Toles, Will Wallace, Timothy Shafter and Keyshawn McLeod once. The Wave felt like Houston was simulating the snap count, and Army has a reputation of doing the same thing, but it is still is priority to get this issue fixed.

"That's what we thought (Houston was simulating snaps)," Fritz said. "We had some guys saying that they were yelling stuff down there. Who knows what was going on? We made a big point of emphasis in the fourth quarter to emphatically tell the refs to make sure they tell them (to stop simulating snaps) and it didn't happen after that, so I don't know. But we've got to do a better job of that. We just have to make sure we're going when we want to go, not when they're telling us to go."

When the schedule game out, Fritz noted the advantage of having 16 days to get ready for Army, but he's not developed any false sense of security with the extra prep time. Army has lost only three games since the start of 2018, and two of the defeats were in overtime at Oklahoma and Michigan (the third was at Duke in the '18 opener). The Black Knights have won nine in a row at home, though against the opposite of a murderers' row (Liberty, Hawaii, San Jose State, Miami Ohio, Air Force, Lafayette, Colgate, Rice and Morgan State).

"We are going to find out (how much of an advantage the long break in between games is)," Fritz said. "It sure is nice to have. What they do is just so unusual. You only have a few teams in college football that do it, so there's not a whole lot of carryover with what our offense does compared with what they do, so you've got to balance and maintain the speed of the games. We're still going to do a little bit against each other, but also we're really working on what they do and what's sort of unique about what they do.

"Second-and-7 is a good play for them. Last year I believe they were 31 of 36 on fourth downs. They led the nation with an 86.9-percent conversion rate. Most of the time you talk to your defense about three-and-out takeaway. These guys you got to talk about four-and-out takeaway. They are not scared to go for it on fourth-and-2, and when they do throw, they've got guys going all over the place."

Fritz preached keeping an even keel at all times, but it will be a challenge for this team coming off the tremendous high of the Houston comeback and going on the road for a non-conference game.

"One good thing is we had time off," he said. "We had three days off and then we came back on Monday, lifted and met, watched the video tape, put them (Houston) to bed and started on Tuesday, so that was good."

I have already written about the big defensive plays on Houston's final possession, but today I got to get Fritz's reaction to them. He was just as impressed with Chase Kuerschen's open-field tackle of D'Eriq King at the 4 as I was.

"Big tackle," Fritz said. "It was huge. He'd missed a few in the game when he led to early. It's all about strike timing--my distance from him, his distance from me, how fast he's running, how fast I'm running, all those different things. He really did a nice job of executing that tackle. It was one of the big plays of the game, and then on the next play, Davon Wright had a big play. There were a bunch of big plays on that final series defensively."

Safety Larry Brooks made two big plays in a row, carrying a receiver out of bounds before he could get a foot down to prevent one completion and breaking on a ball to deflect it at the last second on the next snap.

"Larry played well," Fritz said. "He did a good job. He's put together back-to-back really, really good games."

I will put the Houston game to bed myself after this thread but I had to ask about the fake kneel down against today since we barely got to talk to guys after the late Thursday game. I would not have written about the play obviously if I had seen Tulane practice it, but I definitely never saw it practiced. Fritz said Will Hall introduced it in the spring and they worked on it some more in preseason camp, adding he had seen it run 10 times and probably had been run more than that since he misses some of the offense while he splits time between offense and defense during unit periods.

Fritz confirmed Gus Malzahn's quote about Tulane calling a timeout to prevent Auburn from running a similar play near the end of the first half earlier this month.

"Will actually saw it," he said. "He said they might be running the kneel play, and shoot, we had three timeouts to burn, so we called a timeout and just talked to our guys, hey, we better be ready to play this play, they may run that play our offense does. Then they went to something else."

Fritz said the call was easy to make because there was no real danger even it it failed.

"Let's say that Amare gets tackled, if you take a knee down there, it's the same thing," Fritz said. "We just have to be firm with our protection and our guys did a good job with that. The best thing he did was get out of bounds. He got everything he could. If we had gone towards the middle of the field, we would have had to call a timeout and now you have to use the sidelines, you probably can't throw it to the end zone, you're probably not in field goal range, so really good work by him not getting everything that he could. A good job by Darius Bradwell not pushing the guy in the back who was chasing and running. It was just a smart football play getting out of bounds."

Here is the story I wrote for The Advocate:

https://www.nola.com/sports/tulane/article_ca35dd22-dfd5-11e9-b761-a7b87de41ef4.html

I talked to Hall, McMillan and Kuerschen today and will have those quotes tomorrow.

To revel in the current status of Tulane football...

The team is 3-1 and in 1st place in the AAC West!

We just beat perennial kicker of our butts UH with a soul-crushing 21-point comeback and a last second touchdown!

We out-coached the cougars, had more depth and executed better in crunch time!

Our only loss, a "good" loss to Auburn at Auburn...

We beat down FIU to open the season.

The team currently has 8 votes in the coaches poll and a single vote in the AP poll; last time that happened; 1998!

Currently the team has the #1 ranked recruiting class in the AAC and #47 in the nation, per 247sports.

Whilst Rivals has our recruiting class ranked 43rd in the nation and #1 in the AAC!

TODAY is a great day to be a GREENWAVE Letterman, Alumnus and a FAN!

Our baseball schedule has been published for 2020 and I, for one, am not happy. You never know what team will make a one year jump from a 200 RPI to a 25 or, for that matter, go in the other direction. But, in general, I believe teams perform pretty similarly from one year to another despite the occasional “wild card.” For example, no one thinks scheduling Cal Fullerton on the road is an effort to pick up a sure series win despite their 115 RPI last year. Historically, they are a good to great team. An RPI in the top 50 (if not better) is expected. That said, we are set to play 11 games out-of-conference against teams with RPI’s in 2019 at 200 or worse. One game against LSU (21), three against Dallas Baptist (26), one against Gonzaga (75) and two against SELA (84) comprise our seven OOC games against “top 100” teams. Our other 14 games are against teams with RPIs in 2019 between 100 and 199. Of course, our conference schedule is more difficult with all but two teams from the AAC finishing in the top 100 RPI-wise. (We finished at #98) Hopefully we can “clean up” out of conference and some of these opponents can move up significantly. Otherwise…another long year with no regional invitation.

Roll Wave!!!

Any word on his injuries?

Will sit out remainder of season and transfer. Houston may not win another game

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Guerry,

Maybe you already reported on this and I missed it but in its way the most disappointing and even bizarre thing (very unlike WF coached team) about the Houston game was the number of false start penalties. Any insights?

Tulane football is practicing today but there is no availability.

I will go tomorrow and have access.

Guerry-- I think we all really appreciate the great interviews you've been getting with players and coaches almost daily. Thanks.

Any chance during this off-week of contacting some of our commitments to see how they're doing? Also, I know you plan to re-interview Kyle Speer. Clearly our strength and conditioning has greatly improved under his leadership and getting his views would be valuable.

Again, thanks for what you're doing.

Roll Wave!!!

Tulane anticipates 17 unofficial visitors for the game tonight, including several big names who have committed to other schools. All of the visitors are from nearby since tomorrow is a school day. Here's the breakdown:

ALREADY COMMITTED

Angelo Anderson
Justin Ibieta
Noah Taliancich
Josh Remetich
Cornelius Dyson


COMMITTED ELSEWHERE

1) Donovan Johnson, a 3-star, 6-1, 180-pound LB from Helen Cox.

Skinny: committed to Virginia in June, offer from Oklahoma. Rated No. 29 overall S, 18 overall LA.

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2) Adonis Friloux, a 3-star, 6-2, 270-pound DT from Hahnville.

Skinny: Committed to Houston in June. This should be interesting. Rated No. 38 overall LA prospect

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3) Taiwan Berryhill, a 3-star, 6-2, 205-pound OLB from St. Augustine.

Skinny: Committed to Kansas in June. No. 49 LB in nation, No. 28 overall prospect in LA

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4) NIck Turner, a 3-star, 5-11, 185-pound safety from Brother Martin.

Skinny: Committed to Georgia Tech in June. No. 32 safety in nation, No. 21 overall prospect in LA

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5) Jordon Williams, a 3-star, 6-1, 225-pound strongside DE from Rummel.

Skinny: Committed to South Alabama in June, Cal, UCLA, Louisville offers, visited Tulane last Nov.

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UNCOMMITTED

1) Tyree Skipper, a no-star, 6-3, 185-pound safety from Sophie Wright.

Skinny: No confirmed offers to this point.

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2) Quinton Cage, a 3-star, 5-10, 185-pound safety from Rummel.

Skinny: Has offers from Liberty, Nicholls, NW St, Tulane.

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3) Will Sheppard, a no-star, 6-3, 185-pound WR from Mandeville.

Skinny: Biggest offers from Air Force and Army. Took official visit to West Virginia.

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2021 PROSPECTS

1) Caleb Spann, a 5-10, 180-pound ATH from John Curtis.

Skinny: Nephew of deceased former Tulane baseball star Tookie Spann; offers from Tulane, Kansas.

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2) Devon Tott, a 6-2, 170-pound dual-threat QB from Mandeville

Skinny: Not in Rivals database, in 247 database with an offer from Southern.

3) Jackie Marshall, a 6-3, 230-pound OLB from East St. John.

Skinny: Has offer from Nicholls State.

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4) Kolbe Fields, a 6-0 LB from Rummel

Skinny: He is not in any recruiting database but has a profile at MaxPreps.

5) Da'Veawn Armstead, a 6-0, 171-pound CB from Baton Rouge Central.

Skinny: He is making the longest trip for the game.

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