It was a closer game than the score indicated and if Jeff Monken had not chased a blocked extra point by going for 2 in the second quarter, Army could have cut the deficit to 8 points with a chip shot field goal early in the fourth quarter and made Tulane sweat. But Monken, an otherwise excellent coach whose strategical decisions range from poor to awful, did what he did, and the game got out of hand late. Tulane was in complete control save for an abysmal second quarter, but the drops that have been a problem all year really hurt in the first half.
While still a work in progress offensively, Tulane has scored 30 or more points in seven consecutive games, matching its run at the end of 1998. Will Hall knows what he is doing, and with Michael Pratt at the helm, the offense is going to get even better down the road.
Here is what Willie Fritz had to say after the satisfying victory that ended a 36-years drought against ranked opponents.
"It was a big win for us. I was worried before the game. We had a great week of practice, but our guys just seemed kind of down and dead. We got out there in warm-ups, and luckily one of their coaches ran through us in warm-ups and was trying to knock our guys over and stuff, about 30 guys. It fired our guys up. They came in the locker room and were ready to play, so I appreciate that. It was good. We played well in all three phases. We did a really good job offensively, controlling the clock and controlling the ball and not turning the ball over. That's big against these guys. We were plus-3, and there's not very many times you are going to be plus-3 against these dudes. Defensively we played extremely well. Great job tackling, great job playing with leverage. A bugaboo against them has been them throwing the ball over the top against us, and they didn't get an opportunity to do that this week. We did an excellent job staying over the top of routes and then obviously we made some big plays in the kicking game. Huge play by Jaetavian Toles at the end of the game. I've been doing this a long time, since 1982, and I've never had a play like that before. At the end of the game when somebody needs a desperation play and we talk about ultimate contain, he did a nice job taking that lane and scoring a touchdown with it. Great job overall. They don't get beat like that very often. If you beat them by 10, that's really dominating them, so a super job by our guys."
On being ready for tricks:
"The most important physical attribute of a player is his eyes. If you're looking at the right thing, you have a chance to be right. I've had some guys who weren't very good athletes who had great eyes and played fast and pulled the trigger. Our guys did a nice job today of not getting tricked by formations or motions or going way and coming back another way. Just very good discipline."
On confidence to throw pass on fourth-and-1 from own territory in fourth quarter:
"It was big for us. That's really just a long handoff, but that's been a difficult play for us. He did a nice job of reading it and it was wide open out there on the perimeter. He hit Jha'Quan right in his chest and he put his foot in the ground and got vertical and allowed us to run another three or four minutes off the clock."
On not having to hear about never beating a ranked team:
"It's good. Somebody told me 36 years. That's a long time. We've come awful close a bunch of times, so it's good to finally accomplish it."
On Army not scoring on long drive when Tulane foiled throw-back to the quarterback:
"There were a bunch of big plays in the game but that was certainly probably the biggest play defensively. When they run a lot of time off the clock and don't score and we get the ball, that's a big win for us. We knew they would come up with some type of trick play. It was just good discipline with our eyes and we kind of brought the heat on them a little bit, which you don't do very much against them because they are usually in manageable situations to run the ball. Both coordinators, coach Curtis and Will Hall, did a very nice job with calls. We always have a few calls you wish you had back, but when you're batting a pretty high percentage, you have your defense in position to make a play or the offense in position to make a play, that's a real tribute to those guys."
On having fast start:
"We got some veterans defensively because you do always worry about the speed of the game. Our scout team guys can't simulate that speed. Those guys work on that day in and day out 365 days a year, and they can march to that triple option. Our guys adapted to it early very well and offensively, getting up on them, it's always easier against anybody to play when you're head and certainly against them it's a huge advantage for you when you play from up front."
On Pratt taking hit and leaving for a play:
"He just wanted to get his name on the radio and on ESPN2 where they had to stop the game. He's sitting over here. That's the reason I'm saying that. He's fine. He's a tough, tough kid and he sat out a play and jumped back in there, so he's fine."
On difference between first half of the season and past three weeks:
"I don't know. We've done a better job of executing the game plan. That's so important, minimizing our mistakes. When we do that, we are a pretty good team in the offense, defense and kicking game, and we should be starting to get that way because we've got a lot of veteran players. Michael's one of the few true freshman that's starting for us. Obviously that's a key position, but we have a lot of guys who have been through it quite a few times."
On quick turnaround to Tulsa game:
"They are playing tonight (and rallied from a 21-0 deficit to beat SMU 28-24, remaining undefeated in AAC play), so there's no advantage other than the fact we've got to go up there. We're going to come in tomorrow, put this game to bed and start working on Tulsa and flip the script, turn the page. We've got to get ready for Tulsa. They are a very good team with an excellent defense. We've kind of seen that same style against a few teams over the last few weeks. I think that will help us. Defensively, we've played them quite a few times with the same coaches that are there, so it's not like you're playing a team that you've never prepared for. That's one of the reasons in the summer you put together a preliminary game plan on guys in case something like this happens when you're playing two days earlier."
On Pratt's influence on recent win streak:
"Huge. We were able to throw the ball. We haven't been able to do that as effectively as we wanted to. It's just the gimmes. There were a lot of hitches out there just available to throw. If we can protect him, Michael's accurate and there are a bunch of big throws out there. And we run the ball well enough. We had 171 yards rushing on 32 carries. They've got to respect that. They've got to play the run. and if they don't we'll run it. But if they are packing the box, there were some good keys coach Hall had with their defensive backs and what kind of coverage they would be in, but Michael's got to execute it. It sounds easier than it really is."
On why he thought they were flat during warm-ups:
"Oh, I was just kidding. That guy who ran through our team with all those guys, I thought that was ridiculous. It fired me up. One of my coaches, who is one of the nicest guys in the world, he was very upset after all that happened."
On search for QB like Pratt:
"That's great, and I don't want to diminish the things some of our quarterbacks in the past have done for us. The offense we run here is a pro-style offense. There's a lot of things I'll be watching a game (on Sunday) and say this is that for us watching the Saints or the Rams in particular. If we can protect it, there's an answer for almost every type of coverage. That's great, and when you have a good run game to match it. The teams that just do one thing or the other, if they can run it real good or throw it and can't run it, sooner or later you have problems. This is the vision that I had when I hired coach Hall, and he's done an excellent job of putting the pieces together. It also is recruiting. The biggest thing for us, and it's going to be like this for the next few years, is we've got an offensive line now. We've always had some difficulties there. We've got a bunch of guys that are redshirting. We've had a couple of guys that were hurt and then coming back. We've got some good depth out there, so that's exciting for our future."
While still a work in progress offensively, Tulane has scored 30 or more points in seven consecutive games, matching its run at the end of 1998. Will Hall knows what he is doing, and with Michael Pratt at the helm, the offense is going to get even better down the road.
Here is what Willie Fritz had to say after the satisfying victory that ended a 36-years drought against ranked opponents.
"It was a big win for us. I was worried before the game. We had a great week of practice, but our guys just seemed kind of down and dead. We got out there in warm-ups, and luckily one of their coaches ran through us in warm-ups and was trying to knock our guys over and stuff, about 30 guys. It fired our guys up. They came in the locker room and were ready to play, so I appreciate that. It was good. We played well in all three phases. We did a really good job offensively, controlling the clock and controlling the ball and not turning the ball over. That's big against these guys. We were plus-3, and there's not very many times you are going to be plus-3 against these dudes. Defensively we played extremely well. Great job tackling, great job playing with leverage. A bugaboo against them has been them throwing the ball over the top against us, and they didn't get an opportunity to do that this week. We did an excellent job staying over the top of routes and then obviously we made some big plays in the kicking game. Huge play by Jaetavian Toles at the end of the game. I've been doing this a long time, since 1982, and I've never had a play like that before. At the end of the game when somebody needs a desperation play and we talk about ultimate contain, he did a nice job taking that lane and scoring a touchdown with it. Great job overall. They don't get beat like that very often. If you beat them by 10, that's really dominating them, so a super job by our guys."
On being ready for tricks:
"The most important physical attribute of a player is his eyes. If you're looking at the right thing, you have a chance to be right. I've had some guys who weren't very good athletes who had great eyes and played fast and pulled the trigger. Our guys did a nice job today of not getting tricked by formations or motions or going way and coming back another way. Just very good discipline."
On confidence to throw pass on fourth-and-1 from own territory in fourth quarter:
"It was big for us. That's really just a long handoff, but that's been a difficult play for us. He did a nice job of reading it and it was wide open out there on the perimeter. He hit Jha'Quan right in his chest and he put his foot in the ground and got vertical and allowed us to run another three or four minutes off the clock."
On not having to hear about never beating a ranked team:
"It's good. Somebody told me 36 years. That's a long time. We've come awful close a bunch of times, so it's good to finally accomplish it."
On Army not scoring on long drive when Tulane foiled throw-back to the quarterback:
"There were a bunch of big plays in the game but that was certainly probably the biggest play defensively. When they run a lot of time off the clock and don't score and we get the ball, that's a big win for us. We knew they would come up with some type of trick play. It was just good discipline with our eyes and we kind of brought the heat on them a little bit, which you don't do very much against them because they are usually in manageable situations to run the ball. Both coordinators, coach Curtis and Will Hall, did a very nice job with calls. We always have a few calls you wish you had back, but when you're batting a pretty high percentage, you have your defense in position to make a play or the offense in position to make a play, that's a real tribute to those guys."
On having fast start:
"We got some veterans defensively because you do always worry about the speed of the game. Our scout team guys can't simulate that speed. Those guys work on that day in and day out 365 days a year, and they can march to that triple option. Our guys adapted to it early very well and offensively, getting up on them, it's always easier against anybody to play when you're head and certainly against them it's a huge advantage for you when you play from up front."
On Pratt taking hit and leaving for a play:
"He just wanted to get his name on the radio and on ESPN2 where they had to stop the game. He's sitting over here. That's the reason I'm saying that. He's fine. He's a tough, tough kid and he sat out a play and jumped back in there, so he's fine."
On difference between first half of the season and past three weeks:
"I don't know. We've done a better job of executing the game plan. That's so important, minimizing our mistakes. When we do that, we are a pretty good team in the offense, defense and kicking game, and we should be starting to get that way because we've got a lot of veteran players. Michael's one of the few true freshman that's starting for us. Obviously that's a key position, but we have a lot of guys who have been through it quite a few times."
On quick turnaround to Tulsa game:
"They are playing tonight (and rallied from a 21-0 deficit to beat SMU 28-24, remaining undefeated in AAC play), so there's no advantage other than the fact we've got to go up there. We're going to come in tomorrow, put this game to bed and start working on Tulsa and flip the script, turn the page. We've got to get ready for Tulsa. They are a very good team with an excellent defense. We've kind of seen that same style against a few teams over the last few weeks. I think that will help us. Defensively, we've played them quite a few times with the same coaches that are there, so it's not like you're playing a team that you've never prepared for. That's one of the reasons in the summer you put together a preliminary game plan on guys in case something like this happens when you're playing two days earlier."
On Pratt's influence on recent win streak:
"Huge. We were able to throw the ball. We haven't been able to do that as effectively as we wanted to. It's just the gimmes. There were a lot of hitches out there just available to throw. If we can protect him, Michael's accurate and there are a bunch of big throws out there. And we run the ball well enough. We had 171 yards rushing on 32 carries. They've got to respect that. They've got to play the run. and if they don't we'll run it. But if they are packing the box, there were some good keys coach Hall had with their defensive backs and what kind of coverage they would be in, but Michael's got to execute it. It sounds easier than it really is."
On why he thought they were flat during warm-ups:
"Oh, I was just kidding. That guy who ran through our team with all those guys, I thought that was ridiculous. It fired me up. One of my coaches, who is one of the nicest guys in the world, he was very upset after all that happened."
On search for QB like Pratt:
"That's great, and I don't want to diminish the things some of our quarterbacks in the past have done for us. The offense we run here is a pro-style offense. There's a lot of things I'll be watching a game (on Sunday) and say this is that for us watching the Saints or the Rams in particular. If we can protect it, there's an answer for almost every type of coverage. That's great, and when you have a good run game to match it. The teams that just do one thing or the other, if they can run it real good or throw it and can't run it, sooner or later you have problems. This is the vision that I had when I hired coach Hall, and he's done an excellent job of putting the pieces together. It also is recruiting. The biggest thing for us, and it's going to be like this for the next few years, is we've got an offensive line now. We've always had some difficulties there. We've got a bunch of guys that are redshirting. We've had a couple of guys that were hurt and then coming back. We've got some good depth out there, so that's exciting for our future."