All of the key players practiced today in the last full workout before Thursday's big game with Houston. Whether that means they are 100-percent healthy remains to be seen, but Tyler Johnson, Joey Claybrook and Lawrence Graham all received reps in the last 30 minutes.
The first-team offensive line was Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Christian Montano at C, Ben Knutson at RG and Keyshawn McLeod at RT, the same lineup Tulane has used in the last two games.
The second-team line was Tyler Johnson at LT, Stephen Lewerenz at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Knutson at RG and Cameron Jackel at RT.
Nick Anderson received plenty of reps with the first-team defense at LB along with Marvin Moody, but Graham got some, too. Malik Lawal was on the second unit.
The second-tam line D-line was Juan Monjarres, Davon Wright, Jamiran James and Mike Hinton. James almost accidentally caused a Drew Brees-like injury to scout-team QB Josh Holl when Hall hit James' arm hard on a follow-through and dropped to the ground in pain. It turned out to be a momentary issue and Holl did not miss a rep after shaking his arm.
Before the Houston game last year, I looked up all of the AAC Thursday games that had followed Saturday games and listed the results, which counterintuitively did not favor the home teams. Then Tulane went to Houston and got waxed, with the home team having the clear advantage you would expect in a game when both teams had a short week.
Today, I've expanded the list to include teams that played on a Friday and then the following Thursday. Houston is doing it after losing at home to Washington State last Friday, and although Tulane played Saturday, it was the equivalent of a Friday game since the starters played only one half.
In a short-week scenario, the home team is 7-5 straight up and 3-6-3 versus the point spread.
The full list:
1) 2018: Temple (home) 31, Tulsa 17 (Temple was favored by 7.5)
Comment: Temple is at least two TDs better than Tulsa anyway, so it does not appear like the short rest for the road team made a difference.
2) 2017: Memphis 42, Houston (home) 38
Comment: Houston was a 2-point favorite and lost, so again, no advantage for the home team.
3) 2017: USF (home) 43, Temple 7 (USF was favored by 19
Comment: both teams ended up in bowls, but USF was lethal offensively and routed the Owls on the way to a 11-2 season. This was one of the Friday to Thursday games rather than Saturday to Thursday.
4) 2016: Houston 40, Cincinnati (home) 16 (Houston was favored by 7)
Comment: Cincinnati actually was winning at the start of the fourth quarter. I remember the game well because I had fallen hard for Houston as a legitimate playoff contender after it beat Oklahoma in its opener, and I defended the Cougars against critics who dismissed them for struggling for three quarters against Cincy. I was wrong. The more I watched Houston that year, the more I realized that team was nothing special with an offensive scheme under Tom Herman I did not like. They ended up losing three AAC games. But I digress. For the purposes of this post, it was the home team that wilted late rather than the road team.
5) 2016: Navy 66, East Carolina (home) 31 (Navy was favored by 8)
Comment: Once again, the road team had no issues. The oddsmakers still had not come to grips with how bad ECU was. This was a mismatch. Navy would have won on 4 days rest if ECU had had two weeks to prepare.
6) 2016: Memphis (home) 34, Temple 27 (Memphis was favored by 10)
Comment: Again, the road team covered, although Temple turned out to be better than Memphis and ended up winning the AAC. That was the only conference game the Owls lost.
7) 2016: Houston (home) 42, UConn 14 (Houston was favored by 28)
Comment: Nothing to see here. Another mismatch that played out just as expected.
8) 2015: Memphis (home) 53, Cincinnati 46 (Memphis was favored by 7)
Comment: Again, the home team won by the exact amount it was supposed to win. Memphis turned out to be significantly better than Cincy that year.
9) 2015: Temple 24, ECU (home) 14 (ECU was favored by 3)
Comment: The Owls were a ranked underdog agains a team that finished with a losing record, and the Owls took care of business.
10) 2014: Houston (home) 49, SMU 28 (Houston was favored by 21)
Comment: The Cougars were really good that year, finishing 13-1. This game was another push.
11) 2014: UCF (away) 34, ECU 32 (ECU was favored by 7)
Comment: This regular-season ender between 8-3 UCF and 8-3 ECU, played on a Thursday after both teams had Friday games the week before, could have gone either way. The Pirates rallied from a 26-9 fourth-quarter deficit to go ahead 30-26 but had horrible clock management at the end and gave up a 51-yard Hail Mary TD on the final play.
Willie Fritz, Justin McMillan, P.J. Hall and Cam Sample talked at the Tuesday press conference. I will have their quotes in about an hour.
The first-team offensive line was Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Christian Montano at C, Ben Knutson at RG and Keyshawn McLeod at RT, the same lineup Tulane has used in the last two games.
The second-team line was Tyler Johnson at LT, Stephen Lewerenz at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Knutson at RG and Cameron Jackel at RT.
Nick Anderson received plenty of reps with the first-team defense at LB along with Marvin Moody, but Graham got some, too. Malik Lawal was on the second unit.
The second-tam line D-line was Juan Monjarres, Davon Wright, Jamiran James and Mike Hinton. James almost accidentally caused a Drew Brees-like injury to scout-team QB Josh Holl when Hall hit James' arm hard on a follow-through and dropped to the ground in pain. It turned out to be a momentary issue and Holl did not miss a rep after shaking his arm.
Before the Houston game last year, I looked up all of the AAC Thursday games that had followed Saturday games and listed the results, which counterintuitively did not favor the home teams. Then Tulane went to Houston and got waxed, with the home team having the clear advantage you would expect in a game when both teams had a short week.
Today, I've expanded the list to include teams that played on a Friday and then the following Thursday. Houston is doing it after losing at home to Washington State last Friday, and although Tulane played Saturday, it was the equivalent of a Friday game since the starters played only one half.
In a short-week scenario, the home team is 7-5 straight up and 3-6-3 versus the point spread.
The full list:
1) 2018: Temple (home) 31, Tulsa 17 (Temple was favored by 7.5)
Comment: Temple is at least two TDs better than Tulsa anyway, so it does not appear like the short rest for the road team made a difference.
2) 2017: Memphis 42, Houston (home) 38
Comment: Houston was a 2-point favorite and lost, so again, no advantage for the home team.
3) 2017: USF (home) 43, Temple 7 (USF was favored by 19
Comment: both teams ended up in bowls, but USF was lethal offensively and routed the Owls on the way to a 11-2 season. This was one of the Friday to Thursday games rather than Saturday to Thursday.
4) 2016: Houston 40, Cincinnati (home) 16 (Houston was favored by 7)
Comment: Cincinnati actually was winning at the start of the fourth quarter. I remember the game well because I had fallen hard for Houston as a legitimate playoff contender after it beat Oklahoma in its opener, and I defended the Cougars against critics who dismissed them for struggling for three quarters against Cincy. I was wrong. The more I watched Houston that year, the more I realized that team was nothing special with an offensive scheme under Tom Herman I did not like. They ended up losing three AAC games. But I digress. For the purposes of this post, it was the home team that wilted late rather than the road team.
5) 2016: Navy 66, East Carolina (home) 31 (Navy was favored by 8)
Comment: Once again, the road team had no issues. The oddsmakers still had not come to grips with how bad ECU was. This was a mismatch. Navy would have won on 4 days rest if ECU had had two weeks to prepare.
6) 2016: Memphis (home) 34, Temple 27 (Memphis was favored by 10)
Comment: Again, the road team covered, although Temple turned out to be better than Memphis and ended up winning the AAC. That was the only conference game the Owls lost.
7) 2016: Houston (home) 42, UConn 14 (Houston was favored by 28)
Comment: Nothing to see here. Another mismatch that played out just as expected.
8) 2015: Memphis (home) 53, Cincinnati 46 (Memphis was favored by 7)
Comment: Again, the home team won by the exact amount it was supposed to win. Memphis turned out to be significantly better than Cincy that year.
9) 2015: Temple 24, ECU (home) 14 (ECU was favored by 3)
Comment: The Owls were a ranked underdog agains a team that finished with a losing record, and the Owls took care of business.
10) 2014: Houston (home) 49, SMU 28 (Houston was favored by 21)
Comment: The Cougars were really good that year, finishing 13-1. This game was another push.
11) 2014: UCF (away) 34, ECU 32 (ECU was favored by 7)
Comment: This regular-season ender between 8-3 UCF and 8-3 ECU, played on a Thursday after both teams had Friday games the week before, could have gone either way. The Pirates rallied from a 26-9 fourth-quarter deficit to go ahead 30-26 but had horrible clock management at the end and gave up a 51-yard Hail Mary TD on the final play.
Willie Fritz, Justin McMillan, P.J. Hall and Cam Sample talked at the Tuesday press conference. I will have their quotes in about an hour.
