Massive win. Tulane took a huge gut punch and punched right back, putting itself in great position to return to the AAC Championship Game while exorcizing some demons from its terrible recent history in Memphis.
Willie Fritz, Yulkeith Brown, Makhi Hughes and Kam Pedescleaux talked after the impressive comeback victory.
FRITZ
"Great overall effort by our guys. I thought we played fantastic complementary football. Did a super job in the kicking game. Will Karoll, I think he pinned them inside the 10 at least twice, and then he had another big punt to kind of turn the field, a 49-yard net punt, so he really played great. We did a good job with the coverage units. We had one kickoff return we missed a tackle on, but other than that they had to go the long field and we had a nice kick return by Shedro Louis, got it out to the 50-yard line, started a short field for us when we needed a bigger return at that point in time. We were down 21-10. We had some timely sacks. I guess Darius Hodges is now top five all-time sacks in Tulane history. He had two sacks tonight, and they were big ones on third down plays that went to fourth-and-real long. Offensively we did a super job. Slade Nagle, and Shiel Wood on defense but Slade Nagle on offense, coach (Greg) McMahon with the kicking game, I thought they called a fantastic game. Slade did a really nice job mixing up run and pass. We controlled the clock. In the first half we had the ball for over 20 minutes and they had it for nine-something, but it didn't equate to points. In the second half it did equate to points, so we dominated time of possession.
"It was just a really good overall game. Chris Brazzell had some big catches for us. Chris Carter, that's the best game he's played since he's been here. Mike overthrew him for a little bit on the little out and up play down near the goal line and he made a sensational catch to get the ball on the 1-yard line for us. We had to play a lot of guys on the offensive line. We probably played seven or eight guys, and they all did a really nice job. On Yulkeith's (touchdown), you never know, sometimes you get a bunch of targets and sometimes you don't, but Yulkeith's touchdown was just a really tremendous block by Lawrence Keys that kind of sprung him loose. There's times when Yulkeith has to do the same thing for Lawrence. A lot of unselfish play by our guys."
On responding to gut punch of three straight TD drives by Memphis:
"We just weren't finishing drives in the first half. I think we had 200-some-odd yards, but a lot of it was between the 20s. I went for one we didn't get, but I told them at halftime this is a 12-round fight with about six rounds and you have six rounds to go. You have to keep going and the guys did it. It's a good game to build off of as far as toughness is concerned. I thought they did a good job."
On Makhi Hughes draw to pick up third-and-9 when trailing 21-10:
"He does a nice job. We call that sequencing when we already know we are going to go for it and let's get some of it. You run it and often times against a three-man front they are thinking pass and the down schemes are really good against it, but if they get into something a little bit different, we have the ability to throw it out of that as well, so a good job by Slade with the call and our guys executing the play."
On being set up going forward with win:
"The last time that Tulane won here was 1998. How old were you in '98 (directed toward Yulkeith Brown, who says he wasn't born yet)? I knew that. Tulane won twice that year. You can't carry over one year to the next. I say that all the time. You can't revel in past successes or you're not going to be as good as you want to be, and you can't pout if you don't play as well as you're capable of playing because you won't be good that next week. We'll move on and go 1-0 and get ready for the next practice. That's easy for me to do. Sometimes it's tough for the guys, but they've really bought into it. That helps you. This is one game, and we've got another big one. We're taking tomorrow off, which is good. I told my coaches I don't want to see them in the office tomorrow. Last week we had a bye week but we worked recruiting the whole time. The kids had a few days off, but we busted our tails, so we're going to take it easy tomorrow and then jump into North Texas on Sunday."
On having grown a lot as a program to make this win happen:
"Yeah, you know, I always liked our fight whenever we played at home or away. We always competed. We have better Jimmies and Joes right now. That's helping us with the playing. We've had a lot of close ones on the road against some real quality opponents, but we've got some weapons on offense. This is the first time I've had four guys on offense that can all run speed sweeps and run it effectively. Usually we've had one guy. It's pretty easy to figure out who that guy is and all those kind of things, but we have a bunch of guys who can do it and a bunch of guys we can go to like Chris Carter. He stepped in, and a lot of times those balls were going to Alex Bauman, but Chris stepped in and played extremely well. We've got more weapons and good depth on defense. We rolled nine defensive linemen tonight, and then we had a couple of guys get hurt in the secondary. Lance Robinson was down a little bit. A.J. Hampton stepped up. DJ Douglas got hurt, and Kentrell Webb, who hasn't played that much this season., probably played 30 snaps. That's the first defensive action he's had this year, so we've got more depth than we've had in the past."
Willie Fritz, Yulkeith Brown, Makhi Hughes and Kam Pedescleaux talked after the impressive comeback victory.
FRITZ
"Great overall effort by our guys. I thought we played fantastic complementary football. Did a super job in the kicking game. Will Karoll, I think he pinned them inside the 10 at least twice, and then he had another big punt to kind of turn the field, a 49-yard net punt, so he really played great. We did a good job with the coverage units. We had one kickoff return we missed a tackle on, but other than that they had to go the long field and we had a nice kick return by Shedro Louis, got it out to the 50-yard line, started a short field for us when we needed a bigger return at that point in time. We were down 21-10. We had some timely sacks. I guess Darius Hodges is now top five all-time sacks in Tulane history. He had two sacks tonight, and they were big ones on third down plays that went to fourth-and-real long. Offensively we did a super job. Slade Nagle, and Shiel Wood on defense but Slade Nagle on offense, coach (Greg) McMahon with the kicking game, I thought they called a fantastic game. Slade did a really nice job mixing up run and pass. We controlled the clock. In the first half we had the ball for over 20 minutes and they had it for nine-something, but it didn't equate to points. In the second half it did equate to points, so we dominated time of possession.
"It was just a really good overall game. Chris Brazzell had some big catches for us. Chris Carter, that's the best game he's played since he's been here. Mike overthrew him for a little bit on the little out and up play down near the goal line and he made a sensational catch to get the ball on the 1-yard line for us. We had to play a lot of guys on the offensive line. We probably played seven or eight guys, and they all did a really nice job. On Yulkeith's (touchdown), you never know, sometimes you get a bunch of targets and sometimes you don't, but Yulkeith's touchdown was just a really tremendous block by Lawrence Keys that kind of sprung him loose. There's times when Yulkeith has to do the same thing for Lawrence. A lot of unselfish play by our guys."
On responding to gut punch of three straight TD drives by Memphis:
"We just weren't finishing drives in the first half. I think we had 200-some-odd yards, but a lot of it was between the 20s. I went for one we didn't get, but I told them at halftime this is a 12-round fight with about six rounds and you have six rounds to go. You have to keep going and the guys did it. It's a good game to build off of as far as toughness is concerned. I thought they did a good job."
On Makhi Hughes draw to pick up third-and-9 when trailing 21-10:
"He does a nice job. We call that sequencing when we already know we are going to go for it and let's get some of it. You run it and often times against a three-man front they are thinking pass and the down schemes are really good against it, but if they get into something a little bit different, we have the ability to throw it out of that as well, so a good job by Slade with the call and our guys executing the play."
On being set up going forward with win:
"The last time that Tulane won here was 1998. How old were you in '98 (directed toward Yulkeith Brown, who says he wasn't born yet)? I knew that. Tulane won twice that year. You can't carry over one year to the next. I say that all the time. You can't revel in past successes or you're not going to be as good as you want to be, and you can't pout if you don't play as well as you're capable of playing because you won't be good that next week. We'll move on and go 1-0 and get ready for the next practice. That's easy for me to do. Sometimes it's tough for the guys, but they've really bought into it. That helps you. This is one game, and we've got another big one. We're taking tomorrow off, which is good. I told my coaches I don't want to see them in the office tomorrow. Last week we had a bye week but we worked recruiting the whole time. The kids had a few days off, but we busted our tails, so we're going to take it easy tomorrow and then jump into North Texas on Sunday."
On having grown a lot as a program to make this win happen:
"Yeah, you know, I always liked our fight whenever we played at home or away. We always competed. We have better Jimmies and Joes right now. That's helping us with the playing. We've had a lot of close ones on the road against some real quality opponents, but we've got some weapons on offense. This is the first time I've had four guys on offense that can all run speed sweeps and run it effectively. Usually we've had one guy. It's pretty easy to figure out who that guy is and all those kind of things, but we have a bunch of guys who can do it and a bunch of guys we can go to like Chris Carter. He stepped in, and a lot of times those balls were going to Alex Bauman, but Chris stepped in and played extremely well. We've got more weapons and good depth on defense. We rolled nine defensive linemen tonight, and then we had a couple of guys get hurt in the secondary. Lance Robinson was down a little bit. A.J. Hampton stepped up. DJ Douglas got hurt, and Kentrell Webb, who hasn't played that much this season., probably played 30 snaps. That's the first defensive action he's had this year, so we've got more depth than we've had in the past."
