Tulane is just bad right now, following the pattern of years past and wearing down physically and mentally in the second half of the season. Why that's the case for Tulane more than other teams, I'm not sure.
Obviously Tulane should have won at the end. It should have picked up the first down on third-and-2, allowing it to either score a TD or run out the clock for a chip shot field goal on the final play. I agreed with Fritz' decision to go for it on fourth down if the defensive setup called for it--the moment figured to be too big for Merek Glover, and Cincy still would have had time to kick its own field goal--but the false start on Dublin was a killer. I believe those five yards turned what would have been a 50-50 kick into a 30-70 kick.
Tulane did not deserve to win. Cincinnati outplayed Tulane for most of the game and won the battle at the line of scrimmage. But that wouldn't have mattered if the Wave had found a way to win anyway. Next up is a match-up with defensively horrendous but passing prolific East Carolina for a team that gives up far too many big passing plays and has completely forgotten how to sack a quarterback. That's a bad combo.
Here are the quotes from after the game:
FRITZ
"Obviously a disappointing loss. They converted a bunch of third downs, particularly early in the ball game, and we had some opportunities to get some touchdowns instead of field goals and we didn't do that throughout the game. I'm disappointed with the end of the game. We were trying to cold call it and see what they were in up front. Unfortunate we jumped, and that put us into a fourth-and-6 and made us have to kick the field goal. If we wouldn't have gotten the look we wanted (we would have called a) quick timeout. But it was all for naught. We jumped immediately on the play, so that was difficult. It put us in fourth-and-6, and I thought that was our only chance. He was 3 for 3 prior to that. We had to go ahead and kick the field, but we didn't make it.
"It's disappointing. If I had to do it over again, when we ran out there on the field, if it didn't look like we were lined up properly, we would have called a timeout, but we thought we had a nice opportunity to see what they were in and either go with the play or make a decision then as to whether or not we wanted to kick the field goal or go for it on fourth-and-1. Working situations with young guys, we've just got to continue to keep doing a good job with everybody on that so we're on the same page."
What did you see on the field goal?
"I don't know. Somebody said they thought the snap and the hold (were bad). I thought it looked OK. I thought he might have mishit it."
So there definitely was an option to go for it on fourth-and-1? You weren't just trying to draw them offside?
"If they gave us the shade we wanted, we would have just run the inside zone play and convert on it, and if it didn't look real good, call a timeout, but we didn't execute it. Hindsight's 20-20. I could have called timeout and not had the confusion."
Cincinnati broke the big run on the next play, and if you had let them score a touchdown, it still would have been a one-score deficit, but the defense ran the guy down and effectively ended any chance of winning.
"We had three timeouts. We could have called them boom, boom, boom. At the very end we thought our only chance was to let them score and get an extra point. We tackled once when we shouldn't have, and then they figured it out. The guy made a smart decision and fell on the ground."
You struggled to get much space again in the running game. How did that affect what you were trying to do?
"When we can't run it effectively, we've got to throw the football. We started running it well enough in the second half where they had to defend it and open up some passing lanes. (Darnell) Mooney had a really good game, made some big-time catches."
Were you surprised at some of the pass plays they were able to make?
"Early in the game in particular we gave up some easy plays. One time we had a third-and close to 20 and we just didn't execute very well."
It's the fourth straight loss. Where do you go from here?
"It's tough. We just have to regroup and go. It's disappointing. I told our guys we've had our share of adversity, and there are two choices. Quit or start pushing and preparing as well as you can and playing as well as you can. That's our choice and it's what we're going to do."
How did you feel Banks played today?
"He did some good things. It's a tough position, quarterback. You've got to be right on every play, and the guy's getting better. We have to find the things that he can do. He does some really good things out there."
On third-and-goal from the 7 right before you kicked a field goal to pull within 17-16, he handed off to Hilliard. Was that the play call, or was it just his read on his play?
"It was just a zone read."
Obviously Tulane should have won at the end. It should have picked up the first down on third-and-2, allowing it to either score a TD or run out the clock for a chip shot field goal on the final play. I agreed with Fritz' decision to go for it on fourth down if the defensive setup called for it--the moment figured to be too big for Merek Glover, and Cincy still would have had time to kick its own field goal--but the false start on Dublin was a killer. I believe those five yards turned what would have been a 50-50 kick into a 30-70 kick.
Tulane did not deserve to win. Cincinnati outplayed Tulane for most of the game and won the battle at the line of scrimmage. But that wouldn't have mattered if the Wave had found a way to win anyway. Next up is a match-up with defensively horrendous but passing prolific East Carolina for a team that gives up far too many big passing plays and has completely forgotten how to sack a quarterback. That's a bad combo.
Here are the quotes from after the game:
FRITZ
"Obviously a disappointing loss. They converted a bunch of third downs, particularly early in the ball game, and we had some opportunities to get some touchdowns instead of field goals and we didn't do that throughout the game. I'm disappointed with the end of the game. We were trying to cold call it and see what they were in up front. Unfortunate we jumped, and that put us into a fourth-and-6 and made us have to kick the field goal. If we wouldn't have gotten the look we wanted (we would have called a) quick timeout. But it was all for naught. We jumped immediately on the play, so that was difficult. It put us in fourth-and-6, and I thought that was our only chance. He was 3 for 3 prior to that. We had to go ahead and kick the field, but we didn't make it.
"It's disappointing. If I had to do it over again, when we ran out there on the field, if it didn't look like we were lined up properly, we would have called a timeout, but we thought we had a nice opportunity to see what they were in and either go with the play or make a decision then as to whether or not we wanted to kick the field goal or go for it on fourth-and-1. Working situations with young guys, we've just got to continue to keep doing a good job with everybody on that so we're on the same page."
What did you see on the field goal?
"I don't know. Somebody said they thought the snap and the hold (were bad). I thought it looked OK. I thought he might have mishit it."
So there definitely was an option to go for it on fourth-and-1? You weren't just trying to draw them offside?
"If they gave us the shade we wanted, we would have just run the inside zone play and convert on it, and if it didn't look real good, call a timeout, but we didn't execute it. Hindsight's 20-20. I could have called timeout and not had the confusion."
Cincinnati broke the big run on the next play, and if you had let them score a touchdown, it still would have been a one-score deficit, but the defense ran the guy down and effectively ended any chance of winning.
"We had three timeouts. We could have called them boom, boom, boom. At the very end we thought our only chance was to let them score and get an extra point. We tackled once when we shouldn't have, and then they figured it out. The guy made a smart decision and fell on the ground."
You struggled to get much space again in the running game. How did that affect what you were trying to do?
"When we can't run it effectively, we've got to throw the football. We started running it well enough in the second half where they had to defend it and open up some passing lanes. (Darnell) Mooney had a really good game, made some big-time catches."
Were you surprised at some of the pass plays they were able to make?
"Early in the game in particular we gave up some easy plays. One time we had a third-and close to 20 and we just didn't execute very well."
It's the fourth straight loss. Where do you go from here?
"It's tough. We just have to regroup and go. It's disappointing. I told our guys we've had our share of adversity, and there are two choices. Quit or start pushing and preparing as well as you can and playing as well as you can. That's our choice and it's what we're going to do."
How did you feel Banks played today?
"He did some good things. It's a tough position, quarterback. You've got to be right on every play, and the guy's getting better. We have to find the things that he can do. He does some really good things out there."
On third-and-goal from the 7 right before you kicked a field goal to pull within 17-16, he handed off to Hilliard. Was that the play call, or was it just his read on his play?
"It was just a zone read."
