After getting only two hours of sleep Saturday night at the end of a well-worth it trip to West Point to watch Tulane thump Army, I have caught up on rest and regained my equilibrium (I headed straight to the Saints game and more work when I got back to New Orleans Sunday morning). The Green Wave has a breather this week against awful UConn, but then the schedule is tough the rest of the way with five games against teams either ranked or receiving votes, including all four on the road.
That said, I really believe Tulane is better than every remaining opponent and running the table is possible. The gap is not large enough to guarantee anything, and the schedule is tough, but this team's talent level is not recognized nationally or even locally.
From top to bottom, I divide the league into three categories. Cincinnati, Tulane and UCF are in tier 1 in no particular order. I picked Cincinnati to win the East before the season because the Bearcats got UCF at home, but I'm not sure they are better than the Knights.
South Florida, East Carolina and UConn are in tier 3 in descending order. UConn is one of the worst teams in modern college football history, although slightly improved from last year's debacle.
Tier 2 encompasses the other six teams, and I don't know what the pecking order is. We'll find out in the next two months.
Memphis, in my view, is overrated. The Tigers are suspect defensively, and Brady White is an immobile, inconsistent passer. They are loaded at the other skill positions, though, which gives them a shot. We'll learn a lot about that team this Saturday at Temple.
SMU is 6-0 but easily could end up 8-4 or 7-5. The Mustangs have a good quarterback and excellent wide receivers, but the rest of the roster is sketchy.
Temple always seems to play well in conference games with a top-notch defense and limited offense, year after year, but I can't see the Owls beating Cincy or UCF.
Navy appears to be back on track after a disastrous 2018, and if the Midshipmen can get by Tulsa this week (in what is basically a pick 'em game according to the oddsmakers), they will be 5-1 when they play host to Tulane on Oct. 26 with UConn, a home game with SMU and a trip to Houston left on the docket. In other words, they could be a real contender in the West.
Houston may go in the tank lot of lot of people believe, but the talent level on offense is still high without D'Eriq King. Let's see what the Cougars can do this Saturday against Cincinnati, which is bound to have a letdown after its huge win against UCF.
Tulsa probably is the fourth-worst team in the league. but it led SMU 30-9 on the road in the fourth quarter and would have won if its kicker were competent. If it beats Navy this week, it will stay afloat in the West for a while.
I'm sticking with my Tulane-Cincinnati conference championship game prediction from the preseason and feel more confident about it now than I did then, but the Wave still has a lot of work to do.
As for practice, Jeffery Johnson returned today. He received second-team reps rather than first-team reps, but he will play Saturday against UConn. The temptation to rest him is superceded by getting him in the flow so he will be sharp in the vital game at Memphis the following week.
"He'll be able to play this week," coach Willie Fritz said. "He could have played last week. He was about 85 percent or something like that. I don't know how the heck I came up with that number, but somewhere around there, but he's ready to go. In that game, you've got to be able to push off both ways, and it's so important for those defensive linemen to have quick movement. He'll be good to go this week."
Alfred Thomas did not practice today. I got criticized on another message board for not addressing his status in The Advocate last week, but I don't consider him as important as other people do. He may turn out to be an excellent player, but he had only seven tackles in seven games last year and three in three games this year. I knew he was not going to play against Army and wrote as much here, but I never thought his availability would make much of a difference compared to Jamiran James or Mike Hinton, who has six tackles in five games.
Tyler Johnson, who has missed four consecutive games since getting hurt in practice in the week of Auburn, did not practice today. Barring an injury to one of the starters, I believe he will be a backup the rest of the year even when he is healthy. The line is playing very well right now in its current set-up, and he just has not been able to get back to 100 percent. I was watching when the injury happened, and it did not appear that serious at the time, but it clearly turned out worse than expected.
Chris Joyce did not practice, with freshman Jacquez Norman getting his reps. Whether Joyce returns or not this week, Tulane should be fine there with Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe and Willie Langham.
Fritz talked for nearly 14 minutes at the media session today, and I will pass his quotes along when the SID office transcribes them. He was not asked a single question about UConn, which is a 34.5-point underdog in the biggest spread of the week. Fear The Wave listed Tulane's game against ULL in 1998 as the only one on record with a bigger spread (35.5). I don't have access to spreads from before 2000, but it makes sense considering ULL finished 2-9 that season and the game was in the second half of the year.
Amare Jones came in before Fritz, and I had a one-on-one with Ben Knutson, who has started the last four games at right guard since the three-position switch that occurred after Tyler Johnson's injury. I will post Knutson's interview later today.
JONES
Can you talk about the season you are having so far?
"From my perspective we are kind of just getting started. I'm going to speak for the offensive half, not the defense because they control everything over there. But as an offense I feel like we haven't even found our true identity yet. We're still putting pieces together to see what we're going to call our bread and butter, and we're kind of just going with it and it seems to be working right now. Once we find the bread and butter and we mix in everything else, it's going to be unstoppable."
How much have the expectations changed just because of the way y'all started?
"I wouldn't say the expectations came from the coaches. We kind of hold ourselves accountable. Starting in the summer we've kind of all have been pressing each other and talking about it. We know what we want to do here. We know that we want to change what's gone on around here, so either we're going to put in the work to do it or we just are going to lay down."
What were your goals coming into the season?
"Well it was just to get off to a good start--1-0, 2-0--but as the season started to progress, we realized this team could do big things and so we all had a talk and were like, we want the conference championship."
Because of your size, do you have to play with a little bit of an attitude?
"Yeah. For sure. When everybody else is bigger than you, they kind of look at you like you're weak or something like that. Me being this size, I like to prove to them that I'm just as good if not better than you."
Who do you model your game off?
"Growing up it used to be LeDainian Tomlinson. I used to always watch him and was always telling my dad I want to be like him when I grow up. He's always been that role model for me, just seeing how he played and how he ran hard every play and practiced hard. I wanted to model that so that I could set an example for my teammates around me so that I could bring them to be great, too."
Are you familiar with Tony Converse and Mewelde Moore?
"We've had a couple of talks with Mewelde and he's been in a couple of film sessions with us. When he comes and talks to us, he tells us if you want to be a pro you have to practice like it. You can't just give minimum effort and expect to be great."
Can you talk about Justin McMillan's ball fakes. Some quarterbacks have a knack for it and he really does. How important to the offense is it?
"Yeah, it's kind of just as important as the person that has the ball. If you can decoy yourself and give the illusion that you have the ball and make it seem like you're a threat, then that opens up a lot of other stuff for the person with the ball."
I had to watch the fake kneel down about 10 times to see him hand the ball to you. Have you played with a quarterback who is as good as he is with deception (Ed's note: that was my question, but since Jones was a QB in high school, he hasn't played with many QBs).
"No, I haven't. When Justin first got here he kind of took me under his wing and taught me a lot, not just about the game but about coverages and just the little things that could help progress my game just a little bit more to where I could help myself out."
That said, I really believe Tulane is better than every remaining opponent and running the table is possible. The gap is not large enough to guarantee anything, and the schedule is tough, but this team's talent level is not recognized nationally or even locally.
From top to bottom, I divide the league into three categories. Cincinnati, Tulane and UCF are in tier 1 in no particular order. I picked Cincinnati to win the East before the season because the Bearcats got UCF at home, but I'm not sure they are better than the Knights.
South Florida, East Carolina and UConn are in tier 3 in descending order. UConn is one of the worst teams in modern college football history, although slightly improved from last year's debacle.
Tier 2 encompasses the other six teams, and I don't know what the pecking order is. We'll find out in the next two months.
Memphis, in my view, is overrated. The Tigers are suspect defensively, and Brady White is an immobile, inconsistent passer. They are loaded at the other skill positions, though, which gives them a shot. We'll learn a lot about that team this Saturday at Temple.
SMU is 6-0 but easily could end up 8-4 or 7-5. The Mustangs have a good quarterback and excellent wide receivers, but the rest of the roster is sketchy.
Temple always seems to play well in conference games with a top-notch defense and limited offense, year after year, but I can't see the Owls beating Cincy or UCF.
Navy appears to be back on track after a disastrous 2018, and if the Midshipmen can get by Tulsa this week (in what is basically a pick 'em game according to the oddsmakers), they will be 5-1 when they play host to Tulane on Oct. 26 with UConn, a home game with SMU and a trip to Houston left on the docket. In other words, they could be a real contender in the West.
Houston may go in the tank lot of lot of people believe, but the talent level on offense is still high without D'Eriq King. Let's see what the Cougars can do this Saturday against Cincinnati, which is bound to have a letdown after its huge win against UCF.
Tulsa probably is the fourth-worst team in the league. but it led SMU 30-9 on the road in the fourth quarter and would have won if its kicker were competent. If it beats Navy this week, it will stay afloat in the West for a while.
I'm sticking with my Tulane-Cincinnati conference championship game prediction from the preseason and feel more confident about it now than I did then, but the Wave still has a lot of work to do.
As for practice, Jeffery Johnson returned today. He received second-team reps rather than first-team reps, but he will play Saturday against UConn. The temptation to rest him is superceded by getting him in the flow so he will be sharp in the vital game at Memphis the following week.
"He'll be able to play this week," coach Willie Fritz said. "He could have played last week. He was about 85 percent or something like that. I don't know how the heck I came up with that number, but somewhere around there, but he's ready to go. In that game, you've got to be able to push off both ways, and it's so important for those defensive linemen to have quick movement. He'll be good to go this week."
Alfred Thomas did not practice today. I got criticized on another message board for not addressing his status in The Advocate last week, but I don't consider him as important as other people do. He may turn out to be an excellent player, but he had only seven tackles in seven games last year and three in three games this year. I knew he was not going to play against Army and wrote as much here, but I never thought his availability would make much of a difference compared to Jamiran James or Mike Hinton, who has six tackles in five games.
Tyler Johnson, who has missed four consecutive games since getting hurt in practice in the week of Auburn, did not practice today. Barring an injury to one of the starters, I believe he will be a backup the rest of the year even when he is healthy. The line is playing very well right now in its current set-up, and he just has not been able to get back to 100 percent. I was watching when the injury happened, and it did not appear that serious at the time, but it clearly turned out worse than expected.
Chris Joyce did not practice, with freshman Jacquez Norman getting his reps. Whether Joyce returns or not this week, Tulane should be fine there with Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe and Willie Langham.
Fritz talked for nearly 14 minutes at the media session today, and I will pass his quotes along when the SID office transcribes them. He was not asked a single question about UConn, which is a 34.5-point underdog in the biggest spread of the week. Fear The Wave listed Tulane's game against ULL in 1998 as the only one on record with a bigger spread (35.5). I don't have access to spreads from before 2000, but it makes sense considering ULL finished 2-9 that season and the game was in the second half of the year.
Amare Jones came in before Fritz, and I had a one-on-one with Ben Knutson, who has started the last four games at right guard since the three-position switch that occurred after Tyler Johnson's injury. I will post Knutson's interview later today.
JONES
Can you talk about the season you are having so far?
"From my perspective we are kind of just getting started. I'm going to speak for the offensive half, not the defense because they control everything over there. But as an offense I feel like we haven't even found our true identity yet. We're still putting pieces together to see what we're going to call our bread and butter, and we're kind of just going with it and it seems to be working right now. Once we find the bread and butter and we mix in everything else, it's going to be unstoppable."
How much have the expectations changed just because of the way y'all started?
"I wouldn't say the expectations came from the coaches. We kind of hold ourselves accountable. Starting in the summer we've kind of all have been pressing each other and talking about it. We know what we want to do here. We know that we want to change what's gone on around here, so either we're going to put in the work to do it or we just are going to lay down."
What were your goals coming into the season?
"Well it was just to get off to a good start--1-0, 2-0--but as the season started to progress, we realized this team could do big things and so we all had a talk and were like, we want the conference championship."
Because of your size, do you have to play with a little bit of an attitude?
"Yeah. For sure. When everybody else is bigger than you, they kind of look at you like you're weak or something like that. Me being this size, I like to prove to them that I'm just as good if not better than you."
Who do you model your game off?
"Growing up it used to be LeDainian Tomlinson. I used to always watch him and was always telling my dad I want to be like him when I grow up. He's always been that role model for me, just seeing how he played and how he ran hard every play and practiced hard. I wanted to model that so that I could set an example for my teammates around me so that I could bring them to be great, too."
Are you familiar with Tony Converse and Mewelde Moore?
"We've had a couple of talks with Mewelde and he's been in a couple of film sessions with us. When he comes and talks to us, he tells us if you want to be a pro you have to practice like it. You can't just give minimum effort and expect to be great."
Can you talk about Justin McMillan's ball fakes. Some quarterbacks have a knack for it and he really does. How important to the offense is it?
"Yeah, it's kind of just as important as the person that has the ball. If you can decoy yourself and give the illusion that you have the ball and make it seem like you're a threat, then that opens up a lot of other stuff for the person with the ball."
I had to watch the fake kneel down about 10 times to see him hand the ball to you. Have you played with a quarterback who is as good as he is with deception (Ed's note: that was my question, but since Jones was a QB in high school, he hasn't played with many QBs).
"No, I haven't. When Justin first got here he kind of took me under his wing and taught me a lot, not just about the game but about coverages and just the little things that could help progress my game just a little bit more to where I could help myself out."