Although he felt good about a second win on the road in a short week, Jon Sumrall was not overly pleased with Tulane's win tonight. Let's face it, Charlotte was absolutely awful, shooting itself in the foot repeatedly while quarterback Deshawn Purdie played like the shaky true freshman he is while his teammates were completely undisciplined. The Wave will take the comfortable victory, hammer an even worse Temple team two Saturdays from now and move on to the two games that really matter against Navy and Memphis to close the regular season.
Sumrall wants better execution from Darian Mensah and more attention to detail from a defense that gave up fewer than 200 yards and scored a touchdown but gave Charlotte three great opportunities to score TDs in the first half. The 49ers said no thank you, managing only one field goal out of those three possessions.
I will be at the Navy game after covering the last two road games from home, and if Tulane ends up having to travel to Army for the AAC Championship, I will go there, too. But I can't see how Army would be ranked higher than a 10-2 Tulane if the Black knights lose as expected to Notre Dame.
Sumrall, Micah Robinson and Makhi Hughes talked on Zoom after the game.
SUMRALL
"Short week, back-to-back road games in a short week, tremendous challenge. I'm really grateful for our guys' effort today, just finding a way. Didn't play clean early in the game. The first half we were a little sluggish. We missed some opportunities and we gave them some opportunities. We didn't execute great at times, but coming out of the halftime, getting a field goal on the first drive and then getting the pick-six, good things started to happen. We played really good defense later in the game. We played really poor defense early in the game. Going 12 of 18 on third downs while they went 1 of 12 was critical. The 42 minutes in time of possession is pretty amazing, and just 431 yards to 189, you are going to win most of the time when you do that. Happy for our guys. Ready to get on the plane and get home. We are a tired bunch. We'll rest up the next couple days. The guys have some academic stuff and training room stuff to do tomorrow. They'll have the weekend off and then we'll get back to work on Monday to get ready for Temple."
On 20-play, 80-yard, 10:58 drive on opening possession:
"We just showed on that drive that we were able to sustain. We didn't finish the way you want to. We had to kick a field goal there that drive, but a 20-play drive just shows you are able to execute over and over. We found ways to convert on third down and just keep the drive extended. Obviously we need to score touchdowns in those situations and not kick field goals, but it was a really impressive drive for sure."
On Makhi Hughes carrying 84 times in the last 12 days, with 27 more coming tonight:
"He's a load, man, and he plays like it. He's that guy that doesn't flinch. Just down in the locker room, he acted like hadn't done anything today. He looked pretty fresh to me. He's an impressive dude the way he carries himself. He's super physical and tough. We need to get him some rest this week as well, but he's a really tough runner for sure."
On Darian Mensah:
"Yeah, I thought we missed a throw on the post to Mario (Mensah threw well behind him) that should have been a touchdown. We were a little off on the one to Alex Bauman on the pop pass, but for the most part we threw it efficiently. We probably could have been a little bit better in the throw game. I think he would tell you he could have one or two back and probably do better, but a good day, a solid day. We're going to need to throw the ball a little bit better at times, but a good day for the most part."
On pressuring Deshawn Purdie:
"He's played in several games, but they've kind of done that quarterback shuffle a little bit between him and Max Brown. He's the one that came in last week and really gave their offense a jolt against Memphis. He also came in against Rice and gave their offense a jolt. I think the kid's really talented. He has a huge arm. I think they felt like give the hot hand a shot. He played pretty good against us early. He took some access throws. He hit us on a three-out route coming back to our sideline. He has a live arm. The kid's going to be a heck of a player."
On Micah Robinson's pick-six, Tulane's fifth defensive TD of the year:
"Wow. To have five defensive touchdowns is just unbelievable. If you score on defense, you should win a lot of games, and that was a critical play in the game. It was a huge momentum play, so that was such an awesome play to see Micah make. I told him on the sideline late in the game I was just as happy as I was with the pick-six, he missed a tackle in the first half on a run play they pulled him into the fit; he made one of those later in the game, and I said I'm just as proud of the tackle you made. Everybody's going to pat you on the back for the pick-six. That's an obvious big play, but we gotta tackle better on the perimeter, and he did that later in the game."
On Sumrall's catch of the errant pass on the sideline during the fourth quarter:
"Well, Brayden Berezowitz, who works on the defensive staff, was my G.A. at Kentucky, and he knows this fact, that my high school interception record's held by me. so I've got decent hands. I'm not going to act like I'm Randy Moss. I'm not going to jump over anybody, but if it's thrown to me, I can catch it. Catch the ones they throw you."
On his high school record for INTS:
"It was 17. I set the school record."
On Sam Howard status:
"They X-rayed. It's an ankle, I don't know if it's low or high yet. While the rest of the guys have the weekend off he'll be in the training room. I think he'll be available, but we'll see. Don't really know. It's too early to tell. The X-ray showed no break there. We were worried about a fracture, but there's not."
On Arnold Barnes status:
"He's fine. He's fine. We put Shaadie in and he looked pretty good."
On holding Charlotte to 3 points and under 200 yards:
"It could have been a lot better. I thought we played really rotten situational football on defense in the first half. The drive right before the halftime we gave up, it was so self-inflicted. We didn't line up right once. We didn't tackle. It was a mess for a minute there defensively, but we settled in and played a lot better in the second half. I'm glad to see that. We need to play a lot better."
On the timeout he called right before Charlotte's bad snap on third-and-goal from the 1:
"We were not matched up properly with the formation. We were a little off. We sent the call in and the guys didn't line up properly, so I didn't want to give them a freebie. The snap was a little high, and I was like Oh my God. Had it been a clean snap, they probably would have had a touchdown on us."
On his halftime speech with only a 10-3 lead:
"Nothing crazy. I was probably more composed than you would expect. I just said, hey guys, we haven't played to our standard completely, but now it's time to do it. It's a four-quarter game for a reason, and we had to go out and execute a lot better than we had and play with a little different chip on our shoulder, and the guys did that."
On Patrick Jenkins making tackle on first play:
"It's so good having Pat back. I love Patrick Jenkins. He's a phenomenal teammate, a great player and it's right when he's with us. We wrapped our arms around him this week and so good to have him back with the team and a phenomenal young man."
On what it will take to stay undefeated in AAC:
"We've got to play a lot better in some situations. We've got to throw and catch early in the game better. We can't be stagnant on offense. We have to score touchdowns. We're going to lose a game or two here down the stretch if we don't play more efficiently or clean on defense and leverage the ball properly. If we're supposed to be outside, stay outside, and then we tackled a little sloppy. There are so many areas where I'm not pleased. We'll take a 30-point win, but we've got to get better."
On the schedule for the rest of the weekend:
"Tomorrow morning they have to check in the training room before noon. We get back at probably 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. They have priority registration coming up next week for spring classes, so they can't leave tomorrow until they've done that with the academic advisors or at least gotten their stuff ready to register on Monday morning, and then Saturday and Sunday we are going to give them off. They need a little time. This has been a stretch these last five or six days, so we'll give them Saturday or Sunday off unless you're injured like Sam Howard. He'll be in the training room. But if they're healthy and good to go for Monday's practice, then they'll have a couple of days."
On keeping starters in for most of fourth quarter:
"The last drive we put Ty (Thompson) in at quarterback. We sent Darion Reed in at tackle. We kept Darian Mensah in because we just felt like there were some things we needed him at the end to execute the way we wanted him to, but we're still not playing at a high level and efficiently. I wanted to see us throw the ball a little bit just for the future of this team. And then at the end we subbed. When we were up 27-3, I'm not real comfortable mass exodus subbing yet. And then when we got up 34-3, it felt a little bit better."
Sumrall wants better execution from Darian Mensah and more attention to detail from a defense that gave up fewer than 200 yards and scored a touchdown but gave Charlotte three great opportunities to score TDs in the first half. The 49ers said no thank you, managing only one field goal out of those three possessions.
I will be at the Navy game after covering the last two road games from home, and if Tulane ends up having to travel to Army for the AAC Championship, I will go there, too. But I can't see how Army would be ranked higher than a 10-2 Tulane if the Black knights lose as expected to Notre Dame.
Sumrall, Micah Robinson and Makhi Hughes talked on Zoom after the game.
SUMRALL
"Short week, back-to-back road games in a short week, tremendous challenge. I'm really grateful for our guys' effort today, just finding a way. Didn't play clean early in the game. The first half we were a little sluggish. We missed some opportunities and we gave them some opportunities. We didn't execute great at times, but coming out of the halftime, getting a field goal on the first drive and then getting the pick-six, good things started to happen. We played really good defense later in the game. We played really poor defense early in the game. Going 12 of 18 on third downs while they went 1 of 12 was critical. The 42 minutes in time of possession is pretty amazing, and just 431 yards to 189, you are going to win most of the time when you do that. Happy for our guys. Ready to get on the plane and get home. We are a tired bunch. We'll rest up the next couple days. The guys have some academic stuff and training room stuff to do tomorrow. They'll have the weekend off and then we'll get back to work on Monday to get ready for Temple."
On 20-play, 80-yard, 10:58 drive on opening possession:
"We just showed on that drive that we were able to sustain. We didn't finish the way you want to. We had to kick a field goal there that drive, but a 20-play drive just shows you are able to execute over and over. We found ways to convert on third down and just keep the drive extended. Obviously we need to score touchdowns in those situations and not kick field goals, but it was a really impressive drive for sure."
On Makhi Hughes carrying 84 times in the last 12 days, with 27 more coming tonight:
"He's a load, man, and he plays like it. He's that guy that doesn't flinch. Just down in the locker room, he acted like hadn't done anything today. He looked pretty fresh to me. He's an impressive dude the way he carries himself. He's super physical and tough. We need to get him some rest this week as well, but he's a really tough runner for sure."
On Darian Mensah:
"Yeah, I thought we missed a throw on the post to Mario (Mensah threw well behind him) that should have been a touchdown. We were a little off on the one to Alex Bauman on the pop pass, but for the most part we threw it efficiently. We probably could have been a little bit better in the throw game. I think he would tell you he could have one or two back and probably do better, but a good day, a solid day. We're going to need to throw the ball a little bit better at times, but a good day for the most part."
On pressuring Deshawn Purdie:
"He's played in several games, but they've kind of done that quarterback shuffle a little bit between him and Max Brown. He's the one that came in last week and really gave their offense a jolt against Memphis. He also came in against Rice and gave their offense a jolt. I think the kid's really talented. He has a huge arm. I think they felt like give the hot hand a shot. He played pretty good against us early. He took some access throws. He hit us on a three-out route coming back to our sideline. He has a live arm. The kid's going to be a heck of a player."
On Micah Robinson's pick-six, Tulane's fifth defensive TD of the year:
"Wow. To have five defensive touchdowns is just unbelievable. If you score on defense, you should win a lot of games, and that was a critical play in the game. It was a huge momentum play, so that was such an awesome play to see Micah make. I told him on the sideline late in the game I was just as happy as I was with the pick-six, he missed a tackle in the first half on a run play they pulled him into the fit; he made one of those later in the game, and I said I'm just as proud of the tackle you made. Everybody's going to pat you on the back for the pick-six. That's an obvious big play, but we gotta tackle better on the perimeter, and he did that later in the game."
On Sumrall's catch of the errant pass on the sideline during the fourth quarter:
"Well, Brayden Berezowitz, who works on the defensive staff, was my G.A. at Kentucky, and he knows this fact, that my high school interception record's held by me. so I've got decent hands. I'm not going to act like I'm Randy Moss. I'm not going to jump over anybody, but if it's thrown to me, I can catch it. Catch the ones they throw you."
On his high school record for INTS:
"It was 17. I set the school record."
On Sam Howard status:
"They X-rayed. It's an ankle, I don't know if it's low or high yet. While the rest of the guys have the weekend off he'll be in the training room. I think he'll be available, but we'll see. Don't really know. It's too early to tell. The X-ray showed no break there. We were worried about a fracture, but there's not."
On Arnold Barnes status:
"He's fine. He's fine. We put Shaadie in and he looked pretty good."
On holding Charlotte to 3 points and under 200 yards:
"It could have been a lot better. I thought we played really rotten situational football on defense in the first half. The drive right before the halftime we gave up, it was so self-inflicted. We didn't line up right once. We didn't tackle. It was a mess for a minute there defensively, but we settled in and played a lot better in the second half. I'm glad to see that. We need to play a lot better."
On the timeout he called right before Charlotte's bad snap on third-and-goal from the 1:
"We were not matched up properly with the formation. We were a little off. We sent the call in and the guys didn't line up properly, so I didn't want to give them a freebie. The snap was a little high, and I was like Oh my God. Had it been a clean snap, they probably would have had a touchdown on us."
On his halftime speech with only a 10-3 lead:
"Nothing crazy. I was probably more composed than you would expect. I just said, hey guys, we haven't played to our standard completely, but now it's time to do it. It's a four-quarter game for a reason, and we had to go out and execute a lot better than we had and play with a little different chip on our shoulder, and the guys did that."
On Patrick Jenkins making tackle on first play:
"It's so good having Pat back. I love Patrick Jenkins. He's a phenomenal teammate, a great player and it's right when he's with us. We wrapped our arms around him this week and so good to have him back with the team and a phenomenal young man."
On what it will take to stay undefeated in AAC:
"We've got to play a lot better in some situations. We've got to throw and catch early in the game better. We can't be stagnant on offense. We have to score touchdowns. We're going to lose a game or two here down the stretch if we don't play more efficiently or clean on defense and leverage the ball properly. If we're supposed to be outside, stay outside, and then we tackled a little sloppy. There are so many areas where I'm not pleased. We'll take a 30-point win, but we've got to get better."
On the schedule for the rest of the weekend:
"Tomorrow morning they have to check in the training room before noon. We get back at probably 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. They have priority registration coming up next week for spring classes, so they can't leave tomorrow until they've done that with the academic advisors or at least gotten their stuff ready to register on Monday morning, and then Saturday and Sunday we are going to give them off. They need a little time. This has been a stretch these last five or six days, so we'll give them Saturday or Sunday off unless you're injured like Sam Howard. He'll be in the training room. But if they're healthy and good to go for Monday's practice, then they'll have a couple of days."
On keeping starters in for most of fourth quarter:
"The last drive we put Ty (Thompson) in at quarterback. We sent Darion Reed in at tackle. We kept Darian Mensah in because we just felt like there were some things we needed him at the end to execute the way we wanted him to, but we're still not playing at a high level and efficiently. I wanted to see us throw the ball a little bit just for the future of this team. And then at the end we subbed. When we were up 27-3, I'm not real comfortable mass exodus subbing yet. And then when we got up 34-3, it felt a little bit better."
