1) First, when I said Banks woefully underthrew a wide open Encalade on Tulane's last offensive play of regulation, I was getting it confused with an earlier throw to Mooney from the same side of the field. On the last play, Encalade really wasn't open. Banks would have needed to lead him perfectly to the sideline to complete the pass. Since I have very high expectations for Banks, I still think he should have made a better throw, and he did have time to set his feet before throwing. He chose not to, probably because of the accumulation of hits he had taken.
2) On the miss to Mooney, Corey Dublin whiffed on a block, forcing Banks to scramble to his left, but he was in the clear before he threw woefully short. That one really hurt. As I posted before, Banks made some sensational plays (both TD passes and his incredible fourth-down run) but I expect more out of him. He also missed Jacob Robertson with no pressure for what would have been a first down and another time he spun around and ran backward when he had no pressure whatsoever, wasting a down. He also rarely threw in rhythm. On one of the plays when had pressure, it looked like he could have thrown to two guys right away but could not pull the trigger. He has to get better at making the routine plays and throwing to secondary receivers, particularly the running backs. His worst play, as another poster pointed out, was the decision to hand off to Bradwell into a wall that resulted in a 5-yard loss. Banks might have scored if he had kept it, which was the proper read. He certainly would have run for a first down.
3) Tulane was really unlucky late in the fourth quarter when P.J. Hall broke up a pass that ricocheted back toward the line of scrimmage. Cameron Sample had a bead on it and likely would have gotten an interception deep in Wake territory, but Marvin Moody knocked it away diving for the ball. Moody did nothing wrong, but if he had not been there, the ball would have hit Sample in the hands. Sample showed great alertness, almost deflecting the pass and then turning around and following the ball when it bounced back to him.
4) Donnie Lewis had an outstanding game. He got beat for one first down on a short pass but had excellent coverage almost every time the ball was thrown his way. Plus, his interception was a great diving catch.
5) This is the biggest hitting Tulane defense I've seen since I started covering the team in 2010. Lawerence Graham delivered a couple of monster blows, as did Rod Teamer and Marvin Moody. One game is too early to make a confident assessment, but I like the potential for this defense. It plays faster than previous groups.
6) Just about everyone had a had in the blocking issues in pass protection. Tight ends Will Wallace and Kendall Ardoin were at fault once on plays I noticed.John Leglue was beaten on a spin move for a sack. Noah Fisher had the back-to-back awful plays in overtime, with the blatant face mask on one snap before getting beaten badly on the next one as Banks had to run for his life. Fisher also missed his block on Banks' sensational first-down scramble on fourth down. Fisher got tired. Pass blocking is his strength, so it was a very disappointing effort. Then there was the play Fritz referenced earlier this week where Dominique Briggs blocked no one, showing poor awareness. And Ive already mentioned the play where Dublin got beaten. All that said, the breakdowns were nowhere near as massive as during the CJ era. That's no cause for celebration, but the protection was good in the first half. I do not agree that Banks had no chance, except in OT. Still, every sane person is in agreement the line play has to be much better as a whole.
7) Thakarius Keyes was feast or famine, but I like his potential. He almost had an interception early when he showed excellent anticipation. He made a great tackle to prevent a likely TD on the early Wake drive that ended in a missed field goal. He broke up a pass that was going for a first down. Although it probably still should have been caught, it definitely would have been without his effort.
On the other hand, he had four bad plays, and three of them were costly. On the first touchdown, where he had no help, he got beaten by the initial inside move off the line, recovered and then got beaten again, although the receiver pushed off slightly. His technique was not good on that play. On the second touchdown he was fooled completely by a nifty fake by the receiver to the inside and could not recover when he went outside. The TV did not catch either of his hands to the face penalties, but Fritz did not complain about the calls. His second face mask penalty came right after he was beaten for a 42-yard gain on a scramble play. He has to clean that stuff up, but the tools are there.
8) I'm not as harsh on Stephon Huderson as most people were. Clearly, Corey Dauphine showed the most explosiveness of the three backs, but Huderson made a nice run for a first down the first time he touched the ball. He just did not have much room to run the rest of the night, but I do not think he was sluggish.
9) Let's credit Sam Hartman here. Wake's QB was terrific. That third-down play where he dumped it to the RB for a first down was an incredible piece of improvisation, and his throws were outstanding for most of the night. He looks to be the complete package.
10) P.J. Hall had a lot of tackles but I don't think he had a great game. He was solid, although he missed a tackle that turned a short gain into a 23-yard gain.
11) The refs missed two key calls that could have helped Tulane. The non-interference call on what would have been a third-down conversion to Clewis was unbelievable. The ref was in good position and swallowed his whistle even though the contact came well before the ball arrived. And they missed the blatant trip of Sample that should have drawn a flag and left him gimpy for a little while. But on the play when Taris Shenall broke up a pass at the goal line, the announcer was right. He should have been called for interference because he had his hand on the guy's back long before the ball got there. It still was a nice play for a guy who has not impressed me in the past. That's a sure TD if he does not knock it away.
12) That was a heck of a play by Robert Kennedy on the punt return, preventing what could have been a huge gain. That's a defensive lineman making an open-field tackle on a guy with a full head of steam.
13) As pointed out by another poster, Tirise Barge is a good blitzer. I was prepared to say he deserves to start, but Will Harper made a really nice tackle on Wake's first play of OT. They have different skill sets, although Harper went too far inside on the third-down conversion that ended any hope of Tulane winning. I see a situation rotation of those two guys tonight, and I still have no idea why Barge fell so far on the depth chart in preseason camp.
2) On the miss to Mooney, Corey Dublin whiffed on a block, forcing Banks to scramble to his left, but he was in the clear before he threw woefully short. That one really hurt. As I posted before, Banks made some sensational plays (both TD passes and his incredible fourth-down run) but I expect more out of him. He also missed Jacob Robertson with no pressure for what would have been a first down and another time he spun around and ran backward when he had no pressure whatsoever, wasting a down. He also rarely threw in rhythm. On one of the plays when had pressure, it looked like he could have thrown to two guys right away but could not pull the trigger. He has to get better at making the routine plays and throwing to secondary receivers, particularly the running backs. His worst play, as another poster pointed out, was the decision to hand off to Bradwell into a wall that resulted in a 5-yard loss. Banks might have scored if he had kept it, which was the proper read. He certainly would have run for a first down.
3) Tulane was really unlucky late in the fourth quarter when P.J. Hall broke up a pass that ricocheted back toward the line of scrimmage. Cameron Sample had a bead on it and likely would have gotten an interception deep in Wake territory, but Marvin Moody knocked it away diving for the ball. Moody did nothing wrong, but if he had not been there, the ball would have hit Sample in the hands. Sample showed great alertness, almost deflecting the pass and then turning around and following the ball when it bounced back to him.
4) Donnie Lewis had an outstanding game. He got beat for one first down on a short pass but had excellent coverage almost every time the ball was thrown his way. Plus, his interception was a great diving catch.
5) This is the biggest hitting Tulane defense I've seen since I started covering the team in 2010. Lawerence Graham delivered a couple of monster blows, as did Rod Teamer and Marvin Moody. One game is too early to make a confident assessment, but I like the potential for this defense. It plays faster than previous groups.
6) Just about everyone had a had in the blocking issues in pass protection. Tight ends Will Wallace and Kendall Ardoin were at fault once on plays I noticed.John Leglue was beaten on a spin move for a sack. Noah Fisher had the back-to-back awful plays in overtime, with the blatant face mask on one snap before getting beaten badly on the next one as Banks had to run for his life. Fisher also missed his block on Banks' sensational first-down scramble on fourth down. Fisher got tired. Pass blocking is his strength, so it was a very disappointing effort. Then there was the play Fritz referenced earlier this week where Dominique Briggs blocked no one, showing poor awareness. And Ive already mentioned the play where Dublin got beaten. All that said, the breakdowns were nowhere near as massive as during the CJ era. That's no cause for celebration, but the protection was good in the first half. I do not agree that Banks had no chance, except in OT. Still, every sane person is in agreement the line play has to be much better as a whole.
7) Thakarius Keyes was feast or famine, but I like his potential. He almost had an interception early when he showed excellent anticipation. He made a great tackle to prevent a likely TD on the early Wake drive that ended in a missed field goal. He broke up a pass that was going for a first down. Although it probably still should have been caught, it definitely would have been without his effort.
On the other hand, he had four bad plays, and three of them were costly. On the first touchdown, where he had no help, he got beaten by the initial inside move off the line, recovered and then got beaten again, although the receiver pushed off slightly. His technique was not good on that play. On the second touchdown he was fooled completely by a nifty fake by the receiver to the inside and could not recover when he went outside. The TV did not catch either of his hands to the face penalties, but Fritz did not complain about the calls. His second face mask penalty came right after he was beaten for a 42-yard gain on a scramble play. He has to clean that stuff up, but the tools are there.
8) I'm not as harsh on Stephon Huderson as most people were. Clearly, Corey Dauphine showed the most explosiveness of the three backs, but Huderson made a nice run for a first down the first time he touched the ball. He just did not have much room to run the rest of the night, but I do not think he was sluggish.
9) Let's credit Sam Hartman here. Wake's QB was terrific. That third-down play where he dumped it to the RB for a first down was an incredible piece of improvisation, and his throws were outstanding for most of the night. He looks to be the complete package.
10) P.J. Hall had a lot of tackles but I don't think he had a great game. He was solid, although he missed a tackle that turned a short gain into a 23-yard gain.
11) The refs missed two key calls that could have helped Tulane. The non-interference call on what would have been a third-down conversion to Clewis was unbelievable. The ref was in good position and swallowed his whistle even though the contact came well before the ball arrived. And they missed the blatant trip of Sample that should have drawn a flag and left him gimpy for a little while. But on the play when Taris Shenall broke up a pass at the goal line, the announcer was right. He should have been called for interference because he had his hand on the guy's back long before the ball got there. It still was a nice play for a guy who has not impressed me in the past. That's a sure TD if he does not knock it away.
12) That was a heck of a play by Robert Kennedy on the punt return, preventing what could have been a huge gain. That's a defensive lineman making an open-field tackle on a guy with a full head of steam.
13) As pointed out by another poster, Tirise Barge is a good blitzer. I was prepared to say he deserves to start, but Will Harper made a really nice tackle on Wake's first play of OT. They have different skill sets, although Harper went too far inside on the third-down conversion that ended any hope of Tulane winning. I see a situation rotation of those two guys tonight, and I still have no idea why Barge fell so far on the depth chart in preseason camp.