You watched it. Terrific fight from Tulane, but poor playing. Defense was outclassed for three quarters before a fortuitous bounce turned into an interception and everything changed. Penalties galore, although I hear a couple of key ones were not deserved and will try to judge for myself when I watch the tape of the game tomorrow.
I like the long-term picture under Willie Fritz, who is one of the best coaches I have ever covered (I will be proven right on this one sooner or later), but I honestly don't know what to think about this year's team right now. Will the improbable fourth-quarter comeback pay dividends this week and beyond? Is Jonathan Banks' competitiveness, which have gone over the edge in the second half but still is something Tulane has lacked and needed for a long time, going to galvanize everyone around him? Or, as in so many cases in the past, is this team wearing down with a defense that is finding it harder and harder to stop people? And had Merek Glover ever attempted an onside kick before Saturday?
I'll have a longer take later this week, but here's what Willie Fritz, Dontrell Hilliard, Jonathan Banks and Donnie Lewis said Saturday night.
FRITZ
"I'm proud of our guys fighting through to the end of the game. That team's ranked as high as 13th in the country, and to come within a touchdown--we don't have moral victories--but it didn't look good for us there at the beginning of the second half, but we kept fighting throughout the second half and made it a very competitive ball game.
"There were a lot of plays that you look back on. There was a fourth-and-1 (in the first half when Darius Bradwell got stuffed) that would have been a big play for us, and then the score right before half (by South Florida to go up 20-7) was a big play as well, but I saw some good things out of the offense, particularly late in the game with a little bit of play-action pass. They are one of the top defenses in the country, and we were running and throwing the ball pretty effectively.
"Defensively there were some big plays we made, but we missed far too many tackles during the game. I think this was probably the worst tackling game we've had so far this season. Bad play again on the kickoff return team in the second half (when Sherman Badie reversed field because of a missed block and got tackled at the 2). One of the guys missed an easy block. It didn't allow us to even get started on the play. Like I told the guys, I was proud of their energy and fight throughout the game. We're going to have to turn the page quickly. We've got a Friday game (against Memphis) coming up. We have to learn from our mistakes, keep improving. The best thing I saw in the game was just everybody was fighting throughout the game. I told them that's really the best I've seen it since I've been here where we had a bunch of unselfish people on the sideline really fighting for each other. That's good."
Banks got hurt on the second play from scrimmage. What happened?
"Yeah, he dislocated his finger and he pulled it back in. It's one of those things you can do real quick. He took a couple of shots early. I thought he did a good job down the stretch. We've got to do a better job with protection so that he feels comfortable in the pocket. There were some times we just didn't do a good job with protection, and there were times we had good protection and we needed to stay in the pocket and throw it. We just have to get more consistent with that throughout the game."
Quinton Flowers had his way with the defense in the first three quarters. I know keeping him contained in the pocket was a big part of the plan, but he beat contain consistently. How good was he, and what didn't get done?
"Yeah, you know, if you get too in a gap he's going to kill you. He'll step up in the pocket. I believe it was three times when we pretty much sent the house and we lost leverage on the outside. One was on a third-and-10. If we could keep him between us, we were going to get a loss of probably 10 yards. We talked and worked on it all week, but when you get out there and see the real deal, it's a little bit different."
There were a ton of penalties. How frustrating were they?
"Very frustrating. We overcame a bunch of them, but that also ate up a lot of time having to overcome those penalties. Far too many penalties, and two of them I can remember were on the backside of the zone, and I don't know how you get a penalty on them, but we did."
What about Dontrell Hilliard's performance?
"The guy's what you're looking for as far as a competitor. Very competitive. A team guy all the way. He's a role model for our players. That's how you conduct yourself throughout the game."
Was it an ankle injury for Rod Teamer?
"I think so. It just didn't look like he was going to be a hundred percent."
What can you take away from the comeback at the end?
"The part about everybody fighting together, being on the same page, pulling in the same direction. I like that. I thought we did a good job throwing the ball and beating some man coverage. Obviously they were sitting back a little bit more than what they were earlier in the game. There are a lot of things to take away offensively down the stretch. Donnie Lewis made a big play with the interception. Darn it we didn't get any of the onside kicks. We had to take some chances to try to steal a possession and we didn't quite do it."
Can you talk about the receivers? Terren Encalade had the one drop, but otherwise they made some plays.
"Yeah, they did. It was a good job seeing the open seam, hitting them in stride. When you're throwing the ball over the middle, that's what it's supposed to look like throwing and catching. I think we stepped in the right direction throwing the ball today."
I like the long-term picture under Willie Fritz, who is one of the best coaches I have ever covered (I will be proven right on this one sooner or later), but I honestly don't know what to think about this year's team right now. Will the improbable fourth-quarter comeback pay dividends this week and beyond? Is Jonathan Banks' competitiveness, which have gone over the edge in the second half but still is something Tulane has lacked and needed for a long time, going to galvanize everyone around him? Or, as in so many cases in the past, is this team wearing down with a defense that is finding it harder and harder to stop people? And had Merek Glover ever attempted an onside kick before Saturday?
I'll have a longer take later this week, but here's what Willie Fritz, Dontrell Hilliard, Jonathan Banks and Donnie Lewis said Saturday night.
FRITZ
"I'm proud of our guys fighting through to the end of the game. That team's ranked as high as 13th in the country, and to come within a touchdown--we don't have moral victories--but it didn't look good for us there at the beginning of the second half, but we kept fighting throughout the second half and made it a very competitive ball game.
"There were a lot of plays that you look back on. There was a fourth-and-1 (in the first half when Darius Bradwell got stuffed) that would have been a big play for us, and then the score right before half (by South Florida to go up 20-7) was a big play as well, but I saw some good things out of the offense, particularly late in the game with a little bit of play-action pass. They are one of the top defenses in the country, and we were running and throwing the ball pretty effectively.
"Defensively there were some big plays we made, but we missed far too many tackles during the game. I think this was probably the worst tackling game we've had so far this season. Bad play again on the kickoff return team in the second half (when Sherman Badie reversed field because of a missed block and got tackled at the 2). One of the guys missed an easy block. It didn't allow us to even get started on the play. Like I told the guys, I was proud of their energy and fight throughout the game. We're going to have to turn the page quickly. We've got a Friday game (against Memphis) coming up. We have to learn from our mistakes, keep improving. The best thing I saw in the game was just everybody was fighting throughout the game. I told them that's really the best I've seen it since I've been here where we had a bunch of unselfish people on the sideline really fighting for each other. That's good."
Banks got hurt on the second play from scrimmage. What happened?
"Yeah, he dislocated his finger and he pulled it back in. It's one of those things you can do real quick. He took a couple of shots early. I thought he did a good job down the stretch. We've got to do a better job with protection so that he feels comfortable in the pocket. There were some times we just didn't do a good job with protection, and there were times we had good protection and we needed to stay in the pocket and throw it. We just have to get more consistent with that throughout the game."
Quinton Flowers had his way with the defense in the first three quarters. I know keeping him contained in the pocket was a big part of the plan, but he beat contain consistently. How good was he, and what didn't get done?
"Yeah, you know, if you get too in a gap he's going to kill you. He'll step up in the pocket. I believe it was three times when we pretty much sent the house and we lost leverage on the outside. One was on a third-and-10. If we could keep him between us, we were going to get a loss of probably 10 yards. We talked and worked on it all week, but when you get out there and see the real deal, it's a little bit different."
There were a ton of penalties. How frustrating were they?
"Very frustrating. We overcame a bunch of them, but that also ate up a lot of time having to overcome those penalties. Far too many penalties, and two of them I can remember were on the backside of the zone, and I don't know how you get a penalty on them, but we did."
What about Dontrell Hilliard's performance?
"The guy's what you're looking for as far as a competitor. Very competitive. A team guy all the way. He's a role model for our players. That's how you conduct yourself throughout the game."
Was it an ankle injury for Rod Teamer?
"I think so. It just didn't look like he was going to be a hundred percent."
What can you take away from the comeback at the end?
"The part about everybody fighting together, being on the same page, pulling in the same direction. I like that. I thought we did a good job throwing the ball and beating some man coverage. Obviously they were sitting back a little bit more than what they were earlier in the game. There are a lot of things to take away offensively down the stretch. Donnie Lewis made a big play with the interception. Darn it we didn't get any of the onside kicks. We had to take some chances to try to steal a possession and we didn't quite do it."
Can you talk about the receivers? Terren Encalade had the one drop, but otherwise they made some plays.
"Yeah, they did. It was a good job seeing the open seam, hitting them in stride. When you're throwing the ball over the middle, that's what it's supposed to look like throwing and catching. I think we stepped in the right direction throwing the ball today."
