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Practice update: Tuesday, Oct. 10

Guerry Smith

Moderator
Moderator
Jun 20, 2001
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Willie Fritz' biggest task this week is going to involve one of his biggest strengths, which is to get his team to treat each opponent the same and not have ups and downs emotionally. Tulane's destruction of Tulsa was not totally surprising because the Wave was coming off the high of a dramatic comeback win against Army and had two weeks to prepare when coaches could point to a boatload of mistakes against the Black Knights to keep the players focused. No one went out on the field Saturday thinking Tulane had played great against Army.

After scoring seven touchdowns in seven possessions against Tulsa, the staff has to guard against complacency entering a trip to lightly regarded FIU for a non-conference game. It's human nature, even for teams that have experienced little success in the past, to get big heads after a shellacking like that.

Beating FIU is paramount and will allow Tulane to really start thinking big heading into back-to-back games against 18th-ranked USF and AAC contender Memphis. A loss would kill all the momentum and make reaching a bowl game difficult. Tulane is favored by double digits (-13.5) on the road for the first time since traveling to Army as a 16-point favorite in 2003 (the Wave won 50-33) and needs to take care of business.

The coaches were on the players hard today at practice. At one point, defensive coordinator Jack Curtis criticized someone for making the same mistake three times against the scout team, yelled about the importance of practice habits and made the defense redo the play.

Jabril Clewis looks like a different player than in preseason practice and the first few games, when he did not impress me at all. He's starting to resemble the big target with good hands Tulane appeared to be getting in the spring, and he made some nice plays in practice today.

Tulane integrated Devin Glenn into the offense a bit on Saturday, even running a "Jet" sweep with him, but today, he dropped a pass while wide open over the middle. He has ability but he has to cut those mistakes out of his game. The Wave was lucky it recovered his fumbled kickoff near the sideline against Tulsa.

I did not see Chris Johnson on the practice field, but Darnell Mooney, who I thought I saw leaving the field accompanied by a trainer in the second half against Tulsa, practiced. Mooney did not have good game, stopping on a deep route early when he thought he could not catch the ball instead of trying to finish the play.

Freshman Jaetavian Toles got a lot of reps today with the receivers. He also was the very last player to leave the field, spending about 20 minutes of extra time working with a coach after the end of practice.
 
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