That was a very good opener for Tulane. Yes, there was a really bad stretch for about 10 minutes spanning the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, and the tackling was shoddy at times, but those were typical first-game issues that can be corrected. Willie Fritz teams usually tackle well, so if you're going to do something poorly, it might as well be in an area he has proven he can fix.
The game played out pretty much as I expected. Michael Pratt was brilliant, throwing one gorgeous deep ball after another to the most talented group of receivers Tulane has had in the Fritz era. The defensive line was active, with Patrick Jenkins coming up huge. The running backs were so-so. Makhi Hughes ran the best in the second half, but he also missed the blitz pickup that led to Pratt getting crushed on a sack and fumbling right before halftime, and he ran the wrong way in the second half, forcing Pratt to improvise and run himself. That will continue to be position by committee against Ole Miss, but remember, South Alabama, which ranked third nationally in rushing defense a year ago, is much better against the run than the Rebels. The Jaguars were vulnerable in the secondary, and Tulane took full advantage with an excellent plan and good play-calling. The flea flicker was perfectly executed at the exact right time after South Alabama had pulled with 7.
Quite honestly I don't know a whole lot about Ole Miss, which hung 73 on Mercer, but I like Tulane's chances next Saturday. It will depend on whether the Wave can slow down the Ole Miss offense because Tulane is going to score in the 30s at least.
Here is what Willie Fritz and four players said after the game. They were clearly very confident all week going into the game, and it easy to see why after the fact. They knew they were the better team and would win as long as they went out and executed.
FRITZ
"We made a lot of mistakes tonight. I'm sure they are going to look at it and say they might quite a few mistakes as well, but you'd rather learn from a win than from a loss. We did a good job other than one time giving Michael Pratt a lot of good time in the pocket. That enabled him to throw the ball down the field. We've got good speed on the perimeter with 'Quan and Lawrence and Dontae and Chris Brazzell, so we've got good wideouts. The passing game for us was outstanding. We wore them down a little bit in the second half and started running the ball effectively, and the key was takeaways when we needed to on defense also. Decent job, it was good coming on and off the field, but that's one of the disadvantages the college game has with the pro game is we don't get preseason games and a chance to tackle for real and all those kinds of things. We did not tackle very good on defense, but we'll get that fixed."
On Pratt going 14 for 15 and improving as a passer:
"He's gotten better. I just think that having the same offensive coordinator two years in a row makes a big difference, but a lot of it has to come down to the offensive line giving him that time with Cam Wire and Prince Pines and Sincere Haynesworth and Josh Remetichn and Rashad Green. Those guys played the majority of the snaps, and we had a good pocket the majority of the night for him to step up and throw."
On containing South Alabama quarterback Carter Bradley (he went 23 of 30 for 190 yards but his longest completion was 20 yards and he rushed for minus-11 yards on 9 carries factoring in five sacks.):
"Coach (Shiel) for the first time called the game here. It was the first time I've been on the headphones with him, and he does an excellent job of making calls at the line based on the formation, alignment, splits rather than just a call sheet. It's a little bit of organized chaos. He did a good job of putting us in some good stuff."
On Pratt's health status after limping in fourth quarter:
"He's fine. He just wanted to see if anyone would notice."
On the flea flicker TD:
"Yeab, the trick play, we run a lot of that speed sweep with Lawrence, so it's a pretty good play. We run it a bunch, and then we had a bunch of guys touch the ball. A good job by Slade (Nagle) dialing it up at the right time. It was right after a first down. He didn't think they would be in a pressure-type situation. Clean pocket again. Wide open."
On Keys as an asset:
"He's really just a dynamic player. He's got great speed, great quickness, change of direction, hands, he can cover punts. He's a good kick returner. He's a good blocker out on the perimeter. He's just a really good overall player."
On looking good despite not having benefit of preseason game:
"I thought our timing was really good. What happens is when you have to block on the perimeter and sustain blocks, angles, leverage. We tackled poorly. Who's the outside fitter, who's the inside fitter. We screwed up on some of those. Until you tackle live bodies, you can do all those drills and throw all those rings all over the place, but tackling a 200-pound guy running at you is a little different thing. We're going to get better at that."
On importance of sequence of fumble and quick touchdown to start game:
"Yeah, it gives you a little bit of momentum, a little bit of rhythm, getting in there and getting a score. It's a good way to start the game off. It kind of nullifies them starting with the ball initially."
On the mental aspect of Pratt's game:
"He did a good job. We did a really nice job of running the clock at the end of the game. A lot of that's the quarterback. There's a routine he's got to go throw on each play. He should know field zone, he should know down and distance, he should see the play clock, he should see the game clock when both are running, and he did a really nice job of milking the clock. He did a really nice job on our field goals, milking the clock also and snapping the ball with one second on the play clock. Michael did a good job with those things."
On what he saw from the running game:
"Towards the end we kind of wore them out and did a good job of running straight at them. We had some good running plays. Shedro (Louis) came in there, he's a little guy, but he runs with low pad level and did a good job of making some yards. They ran behind their pads. We were much better in the second half, and a lot of that was the push from the offensive line."
On defense forcing four turnovers:
"It's huge. We're always looking for that elusive, perfect game, and part of that is tackling, leverage, all those other kind of things. I think in my career as a head coach when we've been plus-one or better in turnover margin, I've won over 90 percent of the games I coached at all different levels, so that's the No. 1 stat. If you can create more takeaways than your opponent, you have an excellent chance to win."
On Pratt tying school record for career touchdown passes:
"Well, one thing, Tulane's had some great quarterbacks, a bunch of really good quarterback over the years, so for him to be tied for the all-time leading touchdown passer, 100-whatever years of football here at Tulane is quite an accomplishment. Patrick Ramsey I believe was a first-round draft pick and a pretty good player."
On Pratt's running:
"He did a good job when called upon, and he even slid one time. I thought that was excellent. I also want to make note before I leave here, Barry Kern called us, a great alum at Tulane, and he gave me a fired-up speech about Mardi Gras and all that kind of stuff. I appreciate Mr. Kern for doing that."
The game played out pretty much as I expected. Michael Pratt was brilliant, throwing one gorgeous deep ball after another to the most talented group of receivers Tulane has had in the Fritz era. The defensive line was active, with Patrick Jenkins coming up huge. The running backs were so-so. Makhi Hughes ran the best in the second half, but he also missed the blitz pickup that led to Pratt getting crushed on a sack and fumbling right before halftime, and he ran the wrong way in the second half, forcing Pratt to improvise and run himself. That will continue to be position by committee against Ole Miss, but remember, South Alabama, which ranked third nationally in rushing defense a year ago, is much better against the run than the Rebels. The Jaguars were vulnerable in the secondary, and Tulane took full advantage with an excellent plan and good play-calling. The flea flicker was perfectly executed at the exact right time after South Alabama had pulled with 7.
Quite honestly I don't know a whole lot about Ole Miss, which hung 73 on Mercer, but I like Tulane's chances next Saturday. It will depend on whether the Wave can slow down the Ole Miss offense because Tulane is going to score in the 30s at least.
Here is what Willie Fritz and four players said after the game. They were clearly very confident all week going into the game, and it easy to see why after the fact. They knew they were the better team and would win as long as they went out and executed.
FRITZ
"We made a lot of mistakes tonight. I'm sure they are going to look at it and say they might quite a few mistakes as well, but you'd rather learn from a win than from a loss. We did a good job other than one time giving Michael Pratt a lot of good time in the pocket. That enabled him to throw the ball down the field. We've got good speed on the perimeter with 'Quan and Lawrence and Dontae and Chris Brazzell, so we've got good wideouts. The passing game for us was outstanding. We wore them down a little bit in the second half and started running the ball effectively, and the key was takeaways when we needed to on defense also. Decent job, it was good coming on and off the field, but that's one of the disadvantages the college game has with the pro game is we don't get preseason games and a chance to tackle for real and all those kinds of things. We did not tackle very good on defense, but we'll get that fixed."
On Pratt going 14 for 15 and improving as a passer:
"He's gotten better. I just think that having the same offensive coordinator two years in a row makes a big difference, but a lot of it has to come down to the offensive line giving him that time with Cam Wire and Prince Pines and Sincere Haynesworth and Josh Remetichn and Rashad Green. Those guys played the majority of the snaps, and we had a good pocket the majority of the night for him to step up and throw."
On containing South Alabama quarterback Carter Bradley (he went 23 of 30 for 190 yards but his longest completion was 20 yards and he rushed for minus-11 yards on 9 carries factoring in five sacks.):
"Coach (Shiel) for the first time called the game here. It was the first time I've been on the headphones with him, and he does an excellent job of making calls at the line based on the formation, alignment, splits rather than just a call sheet. It's a little bit of organized chaos. He did a good job of putting us in some good stuff."
On Pratt's health status after limping in fourth quarter:
"He's fine. He just wanted to see if anyone would notice."
On the flea flicker TD:
"Yeab, the trick play, we run a lot of that speed sweep with Lawrence, so it's a pretty good play. We run it a bunch, and then we had a bunch of guys touch the ball. A good job by Slade (Nagle) dialing it up at the right time. It was right after a first down. He didn't think they would be in a pressure-type situation. Clean pocket again. Wide open."
On Keys as an asset:
"He's really just a dynamic player. He's got great speed, great quickness, change of direction, hands, he can cover punts. He's a good kick returner. He's a good blocker out on the perimeter. He's just a really good overall player."
On looking good despite not having benefit of preseason game:
"I thought our timing was really good. What happens is when you have to block on the perimeter and sustain blocks, angles, leverage. We tackled poorly. Who's the outside fitter, who's the inside fitter. We screwed up on some of those. Until you tackle live bodies, you can do all those drills and throw all those rings all over the place, but tackling a 200-pound guy running at you is a little different thing. We're going to get better at that."
On importance of sequence of fumble and quick touchdown to start game:
"Yeah, it gives you a little bit of momentum, a little bit of rhythm, getting in there and getting a score. It's a good way to start the game off. It kind of nullifies them starting with the ball initially."
On the mental aspect of Pratt's game:
"He did a good job. We did a really nice job of running the clock at the end of the game. A lot of that's the quarterback. There's a routine he's got to go throw on each play. He should know field zone, he should know down and distance, he should see the play clock, he should see the game clock when both are running, and he did a really nice job of milking the clock. He did a really nice job on our field goals, milking the clock also and snapping the ball with one second on the play clock. Michael did a good job with those things."
On what he saw from the running game:
"Towards the end we kind of wore them out and did a good job of running straight at them. We had some good running plays. Shedro (Louis) came in there, he's a little guy, but he runs with low pad level and did a good job of making some yards. They ran behind their pads. We were much better in the second half, and a lot of that was the push from the offensive line."
On defense forcing four turnovers:
"It's huge. We're always looking for that elusive, perfect game, and part of that is tackling, leverage, all those other kind of things. I think in my career as a head coach when we've been plus-one or better in turnover margin, I've won over 90 percent of the games I coached at all different levels, so that's the No. 1 stat. If you can create more takeaways than your opponent, you have an excellent chance to win."
On Pratt tying school record for career touchdown passes:
"Well, one thing, Tulane's had some great quarterbacks, a bunch of really good quarterback over the years, so for him to be tied for the all-time leading touchdown passer, 100-whatever years of football here at Tulane is quite an accomplishment. Patrick Ramsey I believe was a first-round draft pick and a pretty good player."
On Pratt's running:
"He did a good job when called upon, and he even slid one time. I thought that was excellent. I also want to make note before I leave here, Barry Kern called us, a great alum at Tulane, and he gave me a fired-up speech about Mardi Gras and all that kind of stuff. I appreciate Mr. Kern for doing that."
