As Tulane continued to prepare for Army, Jeffery Johnson continued to watch without getting any reps on Wednesday morning, but he has not been ruled out of Saturday's game and it likely will be a game-time decision. The thing is, with all the cut blocks the service academies do, it might be advisable to see what happens without him and have him ready to play if needed.
In one change from yesterday, Davon Wright practiced with the first unit in Johnson's place after Mike HInton was there Tuesday. Hinton was on the second unit today, but both of them will play significant roles if Johnson is unable to go. De'Andre Williams likely would slide over some to play the nose, too, but the good news is the weather, which should be in the upper 50s to low 60s for the game. It is hard not to get gassed against Army the way it controls the ball, but it will take longer with comfortable weather than it did two years ago on a hot, humid day at Yulman Stadium, when defensive coordinator Jack Curtis admitted his guys were spent in the second half.
It's hard to get a good read on Army, which scored only 14 points in a 14-7 opening victory against still-winless Rice and trailed lousy Morgan State 14-7 at the end of the first quarter two weeks ago. The Black Knights appear to play to the level of competition and reached extraordinary heights at Oklahoma last year, outgaining the Sooners before losing in double overtime. They would have beaten Michigan in their second game this year if not for a false start on senior fullback Connor Slomka on second-and-goal from the 1 as they tried to punch it in for a 21-7 lead. The mistake led to an interception, a tying touchdown drive by Michigan and another double-overtime loss.
The upshot: Army is capable of playing at a very high level even though it does not reach that level consistently.
Army has not lost a home game since November of 2016, but it is about the most unimpressive 15-game win streak you'll ever see. Not one of its beaten opponents finished with fewer than six losses other than Colgate of the FCS last year. Five of the victims were from the FCS, and only one, Duke in 2017, was from a power five conference. Eight of the 10 wins against FBS teams were one-score games, and the other two were a 14-point win against 0-12 UTEP and a win against Liberty.
The complete list with scores and final or current record of its opponents:
2019
Rice 0-5 (14-7)
Morgan State 0-4 (52-21)
2018
Liberty 6-6 (38-14)
Hawaii 8-6 (28-21)
Miami (Ohio) 6-6 (31-30 2OT)
Air Force 5-7 (17-14)
Lafayette 3-8 (31-13)
Colgate 10-2 (28-14)
2017
Fordham 4-7 (64-6)
Buffalo 6-6 (21-17)
UTEP 0-12 (35-21)
Eastern Michigan 5-7 (28-27)
Temple 7-6 (31-28 OT)
Duke 7-6 (21-16)
2016
Morgan State 3-8 (60-3)
Tulane is the better team, but winning on the road in a non-conference game against a good opponents is far from a given. This one will say a lot about the winning culture Fritz is developing.
FRITZ
How has practice been this week?
"Good. It's awfully humid out here. It's unbelievable. I told our guys the weather is going to be like the Navy game last year. It's going to be low 60s and probably zero humidity. They'll think they died and went to heaven, so it's good to practice in this so we can fight through it and still get some conditioning work in."
How pivotal is first down in this game?
"Big. It's big on both sides of the ball. We're doing a heck of a job in the red zone and we're doing a heck of a job on fourth down, but third down percentage isn't as high because we've had some pre-snap penalties. I'll bet you our third-down conversion rate on drives or series when we don't have a penalty is very high, so we have to work on that."
(ED's note: I just looked it up, and Tulane is only 10 of 27 on third-down conversions when it did not have a penalty. Take out the 0 of 8 performance against Auburn, however, and it is 10 for 19, plus three of those conversions came up a yard short and Tulane converted the fourth down)
When Army struggles on first down, it struggles to move the ball. Is that the key down on the series against them defensively?
"It's big. Every down is key for these guys. There are going to be a couple of reverses. We've got to do a good job playing them. It's either going to be a big play for them or us. Hopefully it's us. Now it's second-and-14. You have to tackle. You have to knock people back. We can't have then leaning forward for three more yards because second-and-6 is good for them. It's got to be second-and-9."
I asked Fritz about Torri Singletary and Nik Hogan. He said both were still on the team and that Hogan had been injured but was back at practice today. I did not see him, but I was watching the defense against the scout-team offense. Singletary is not injured. He's just not in the rotation. He may have been practicing on he scout-team defense.
In one change from yesterday, Davon Wright practiced with the first unit in Johnson's place after Mike HInton was there Tuesday. Hinton was on the second unit today, but both of them will play significant roles if Johnson is unable to go. De'Andre Williams likely would slide over some to play the nose, too, but the good news is the weather, which should be in the upper 50s to low 60s for the game. It is hard not to get gassed against Army the way it controls the ball, but it will take longer with comfortable weather than it did two years ago on a hot, humid day at Yulman Stadium, when defensive coordinator Jack Curtis admitted his guys were spent in the second half.
It's hard to get a good read on Army, which scored only 14 points in a 14-7 opening victory against still-winless Rice and trailed lousy Morgan State 14-7 at the end of the first quarter two weeks ago. The Black Knights appear to play to the level of competition and reached extraordinary heights at Oklahoma last year, outgaining the Sooners before losing in double overtime. They would have beaten Michigan in their second game this year if not for a false start on senior fullback Connor Slomka on second-and-goal from the 1 as they tried to punch it in for a 21-7 lead. The mistake led to an interception, a tying touchdown drive by Michigan and another double-overtime loss.
The upshot: Army is capable of playing at a very high level even though it does not reach that level consistently.
Army has not lost a home game since November of 2016, but it is about the most unimpressive 15-game win streak you'll ever see. Not one of its beaten opponents finished with fewer than six losses other than Colgate of the FCS last year. Five of the victims were from the FCS, and only one, Duke in 2017, was from a power five conference. Eight of the 10 wins against FBS teams were one-score games, and the other two were a 14-point win against 0-12 UTEP and a win against Liberty.
The complete list with scores and final or current record of its opponents:
2019
Rice 0-5 (14-7)
Morgan State 0-4 (52-21)
2018
Liberty 6-6 (38-14)
Hawaii 8-6 (28-21)
Miami (Ohio) 6-6 (31-30 2OT)
Air Force 5-7 (17-14)
Lafayette 3-8 (31-13)
Colgate 10-2 (28-14)
2017
Fordham 4-7 (64-6)
Buffalo 6-6 (21-17)
UTEP 0-12 (35-21)
Eastern Michigan 5-7 (28-27)
Temple 7-6 (31-28 OT)
Duke 7-6 (21-16)
2016
Morgan State 3-8 (60-3)
Tulane is the better team, but winning on the road in a non-conference game against a good opponents is far from a given. This one will say a lot about the winning culture Fritz is developing.
FRITZ
How has practice been this week?
"Good. It's awfully humid out here. It's unbelievable. I told our guys the weather is going to be like the Navy game last year. It's going to be low 60s and probably zero humidity. They'll think they died and went to heaven, so it's good to practice in this so we can fight through it and still get some conditioning work in."
How pivotal is first down in this game?
"Big. It's big on both sides of the ball. We're doing a heck of a job in the red zone and we're doing a heck of a job on fourth down, but third down percentage isn't as high because we've had some pre-snap penalties. I'll bet you our third-down conversion rate on drives or series when we don't have a penalty is very high, so we have to work on that."
(ED's note: I just looked it up, and Tulane is only 10 of 27 on third-down conversions when it did not have a penalty. Take out the 0 of 8 performance against Auburn, however, and it is 10 for 19, plus three of those conversions came up a yard short and Tulane converted the fourth down)
When Army struggles on first down, it struggles to move the ball. Is that the key down on the series against them defensively?
"It's big. Every down is key for these guys. There are going to be a couple of reverses. We've got to do a good job playing them. It's either going to be a big play for them or us. Hopefully it's us. Now it's second-and-14. You have to tackle. You have to knock people back. We can't have then leaning forward for three more yards because second-and-6 is good for them. It's got to be second-and-9."
I asked Fritz about Torri Singletary and Nik Hogan. He said both were still on the team and that Hogan had been injured but was back at practice today. I did not see him, but I was watching the defense against the scout-team offense. Singletary is not injured. He's just not in the rotation. He may have been practicing on he scout-team defense.