I'm not going to go too in-depth here because the opponent was Maine, which did not have the depth of talent to hang with Tulane, but here are a few observations about an overall solid performance that had a few issues.
1) The most concerning part of the game was the play of the offensive line. Lazedrick Thompson did not have much room to run in the first half, gaining 44 yards on 11 carries, well below his average from last year, and Tulane rarely blew Maine off the line of scrimmage with the exception of Dontrell Hilliard's 85-yard TD run. A first-and-5 run on Tulane's opening possession illustrated a recurring problem. Left tackle Arturis Uzdavinis blocked no one, going inside while a blitzed ran right around the edge and hit Thompson before he got back to the line of scrimmage. On Tulane's last series of the first half, two linebackers blitzed. One of them went in untouched to sack Lee. The other beat a late block by Sherman Badie to get in, too.In the second half, another blitzed got to Lee after Badie made a diving block attempt trying to get in the way of him. Either there's confusion or the plays weren't schemed right.
Every team the Wave faces the rest of the way should be tougher up front than Maine. Will Lee and the running backs have enough room to execute?
2) Dontrell Hilliard was back to his old self after two mediocre games. What I like the best about him is his explosive first step after he catches a pass, which he exhibited on Tulane's first touchdown drive to get by a defender and turn a short completion into a medium gain. He also made a beautiful 21-yard run for a touchdown right after that catch, but it was nullified by a holding penalty, so he could have had three scores, not two. He's not as fast or as elusive as Badie and not as powerful as Thompson, but his all-around ability is impressive. He always gets overlooked by announcers, with the color commentator calling for a steady diet of Badie and Thompson at the start of the second half. Badie was awesome, but he needs to do it against better defenses than Maine.
3) With the exception of a couple of plays, Lee played excellent. He threw a horrible pass at the end of Tulane's second series, never seeing a linebacker as he tried to hit Devon Breaux in the middle of the field. The linebacker dropped the interception. Lee also saw a phantom pass rush on one play, running forward and into a sack when no one has broken through to touch him. Other than that, though, he was sharp. I loved his third down completion to Rickey Preson on a drag route, setting up Tulane's second TD. As the color commentator said, if he had been a tad off, it could have been a pick six. Instead, he led Preston perfectly. The deep throw Veal dropped also was perfect. If Lee had under thrown it , it would have been a touchdown, but he did not know Veal would be that open, so he hit him in stride where he needed to make a nice grab, something a receiver of Veal's caliber should be able to do and will do in the future.
4) Veal is easily Tulane's best wide receiver, as he showed all throughout preseason camp. He can go over the middle, run a streak, run a good out, and he sold the Maine DB beautifully on his down and out and up for Tulane's third TD. The chemistry between Lee and Veal is excellent. The next step for Veal is becoming a little more fundamentally solid, and he will have a huge year.
5) Tulane's best defenders were at fault for the Maine's opening TD drive. On the first three plays alone, Parry Nickerson missed a tackle on the edge, Nico Marley overran a play and Darion Monroe looked out of position. But the D settled down the rest of the way, containing a very good running back. Since Maine was weaponless other than the RB, I don't put much stock in the defensive performance, but I have to take issue with the color commentator who said Maine would have scored a TD o a pass when a receiver was open if the QB had made an accurate throw. It would have been a 20 or 25-yard gain, but nothing more. Tulane's front four took control of the game after the opening possession, but again, that doesn't prove a whole lot. Tanzel Smart, Royce LaFrance and Ade Aruna need to be playmakers against UCF to prove they can do it against a team with a pulse.
6) I know I'm in the minority, but I don't see any way the ref could have overruled the call for a TD on Maine's opening possession. There was no camera at the goal line, and although one of the angles made it look clear the QB did not score, camera angles can be very deceiving. Watching it live from the press box, I thought the QB stuck the ball over the plane just before he got hit. The replays made it look like I was probably wrong, but they were in no way conclusive. I also don't think they should have overruled the call that the punt returner did not touch the ball on the "muff" Tulane recovered right before the half. In this case, it sure looked like the ball glanced off the returner's left hand, and his initial reaction was to go back and get the ball. He stopped himself pretty quickly and acted like he had not touched it, which was a good acting job, but the first reaction was telling. Regardless, the replay was inconclusive. When the official missed the call on the field, it could not be overturned.
7) My favorite announcer moment was when Lee almost connected with Breaux deep, and the play-by-play guy said he was covered by linebacker Nico Marley. It took him nearly a minute to correct himself, seeing as how Marley plays for the wrong team and there's no scheme anywhere that would put a linebacker on Breaux running a streak pattern. That mistake topped "Tanner Hill."
1) The most concerning part of the game was the play of the offensive line. Lazedrick Thompson did not have much room to run in the first half, gaining 44 yards on 11 carries, well below his average from last year, and Tulane rarely blew Maine off the line of scrimmage with the exception of Dontrell Hilliard's 85-yard TD run. A first-and-5 run on Tulane's opening possession illustrated a recurring problem. Left tackle Arturis Uzdavinis blocked no one, going inside while a blitzed ran right around the edge and hit Thompson before he got back to the line of scrimmage. On Tulane's last series of the first half, two linebackers blitzed. One of them went in untouched to sack Lee. The other beat a late block by Sherman Badie to get in, too.In the second half, another blitzed got to Lee after Badie made a diving block attempt trying to get in the way of him. Either there's confusion or the plays weren't schemed right.
Every team the Wave faces the rest of the way should be tougher up front than Maine. Will Lee and the running backs have enough room to execute?
2) Dontrell Hilliard was back to his old self after two mediocre games. What I like the best about him is his explosive first step after he catches a pass, which he exhibited on Tulane's first touchdown drive to get by a defender and turn a short completion into a medium gain. He also made a beautiful 21-yard run for a touchdown right after that catch, but it was nullified by a holding penalty, so he could have had three scores, not two. He's not as fast or as elusive as Badie and not as powerful as Thompson, but his all-around ability is impressive. He always gets overlooked by announcers, with the color commentator calling for a steady diet of Badie and Thompson at the start of the second half. Badie was awesome, but he needs to do it against better defenses than Maine.
3) With the exception of a couple of plays, Lee played excellent. He threw a horrible pass at the end of Tulane's second series, never seeing a linebacker as he tried to hit Devon Breaux in the middle of the field. The linebacker dropped the interception. Lee also saw a phantom pass rush on one play, running forward and into a sack when no one has broken through to touch him. Other than that, though, he was sharp. I loved his third down completion to Rickey Preson on a drag route, setting up Tulane's second TD. As the color commentator said, if he had been a tad off, it could have been a pick six. Instead, he led Preston perfectly. The deep throw Veal dropped also was perfect. If Lee had under thrown it , it would have been a touchdown, but he did not know Veal would be that open, so he hit him in stride where he needed to make a nice grab, something a receiver of Veal's caliber should be able to do and will do in the future.
4) Veal is easily Tulane's best wide receiver, as he showed all throughout preseason camp. He can go over the middle, run a streak, run a good out, and he sold the Maine DB beautifully on his down and out and up for Tulane's third TD. The chemistry between Lee and Veal is excellent. The next step for Veal is becoming a little more fundamentally solid, and he will have a huge year.
5) Tulane's best defenders were at fault for the Maine's opening TD drive. On the first three plays alone, Parry Nickerson missed a tackle on the edge, Nico Marley overran a play and Darion Monroe looked out of position. But the D settled down the rest of the way, containing a very good running back. Since Maine was weaponless other than the RB, I don't put much stock in the defensive performance, but I have to take issue with the color commentator who said Maine would have scored a TD o a pass when a receiver was open if the QB had made an accurate throw. It would have been a 20 or 25-yard gain, but nothing more. Tulane's front four took control of the game after the opening possession, but again, that doesn't prove a whole lot. Tanzel Smart, Royce LaFrance and Ade Aruna need to be playmakers against UCF to prove they can do it against a team with a pulse.
6) I know I'm in the minority, but I don't see any way the ref could have overruled the call for a TD on Maine's opening possession. There was no camera at the goal line, and although one of the angles made it look clear the QB did not score, camera angles can be very deceiving. Watching it live from the press box, I thought the QB stuck the ball over the plane just before he got hit. The replays made it look like I was probably wrong, but they were in no way conclusive. I also don't think they should have overruled the call that the punt returner did not touch the ball on the "muff" Tulane recovered right before the half. In this case, it sure looked like the ball glanced off the returner's left hand, and his initial reaction was to go back and get the ball. He stopped himself pretty quickly and acted like he had not touched it, which was a good acting job, but the first reaction was telling. Regardless, the replay was inconclusive. When the official missed the call on the field, it could not be overturned.
7) My favorite announcer moment was when Lee almost connected with Breaux deep, and the play-by-play guy said he was covered by linebacker Nico Marley. It took him nearly a minute to correct himself, seeing as how Marley plays for the wrong team and there's no scheme anywhere that would put a linebacker on Breaux running a streak pattern. That mistake topped "Tanner Hill."