As Willie Fritz said after the game, Tulane always makes its interesting and close. In what was an absolute butt kicking at the line of scrimmage, the Wave led by 17 early and late but had to survive some tight moments in the fourth quarter in a game that could have been 48-14 if not for a late interception in the first half.
All in all, it was an outstanding win for the Wave, which tied its record for most points in a bowl and broke its record for most lopsided victory in a bowl, both set by the 1998 undefeated team against BYU in the Liberty Bowl (41-27) and also the 1970 team against Colorado (17-3). Aside from the interception, if Willie Fritz could draw up a perfect day of how he wants to win games, this would be it.
WILLIE FRITZ
"I'm just really proud of our football program and the university supporting us. These guys worked their tails off. I'm especially proud of our seniors. We've had some tough times here at Tulane. These guys have just worked through everything. Every game this season was kind of fourth and inches where every one of them was tough. To start the year off at 2-5 and come back and win this game is very, very special."
How pivotal was that drive when they cut the deficit to 3? You converted a fourth-and-7 with the pass to Charles Jones and another third down along the way.
"That was huge. It was a big catch by Chuck, but another big play he had was at the end of the first half when he made that tackle (on ULL's long interception return). It was really a 4-point play. If he doesn't make that tackle, they probably take it back 99 yards for a touchdown and they had to settle for a field goal.
"On the (fourth-down conversion), that was good protection and a good call. I thought Alex Atkins did an excellent job the first time ever calling plays in a game. He really prepared the guys well. It was a nice play call and good execution. The pass wasn't right on the money. Chuck had to move for it a little bit. He made a big catch to really kind of seal the game for us."
I know the plan going in was not to give the ball to Bradwell 35 times. Corey Dauphine got dinged up, but what were your thoughts on Bradwell's performance?
"Well, we just kept feeding him. He did a nice job of hitting it vertical. There were a couple of times they ran some twists inside and caught us on some fourth and short situations, but for the most part he did a really nice job of seeing the hole and getting vertical and he's a hard guy to arm tackle. He's about 235 pounds, has great strength and always runs with forward lean."
You did a little hurry-up offense at times. Was that Will Hall's influence?
"No, coach Hall was really just a consultant the last week-and-a-half. That was something we've done a little bit throughout the season and we did a little bit more this game."
Can you talk about how important it was to get those points on the board early?
"It was huge. They take the opening drive and go right down the field and score on us. We didn't fit up a counter play very well. We just went right down the field and scored and got a lot of confidence. At the end of the first half if we had gotten a touchdown, that would have really put us in the driver's seat and put us up 31-7 or get a field goal out of it. We made it tough, but we did a great job moving the football. We held the ball for twice as much as them, almost 41 minutes. If you do that, normally you're going to win pretty good if you're not giving up big plays, which for the most part we did. Offensively it was a great job chewing it up. When we're on the sideline defensively, we always playing pretty good defense. It was good ball control offense today."
You were 2-5 at one point. How night and day does that seem to you considering where you are now?
"Oh it's great. It's tough. You get in those kinds of situations and the natural thing to do is doubt yourself. We really all stayed positive and kept working through it. There was a chance when we were 2-5 that we could have easily been 5-2. We had some really close games. It was just a great job of a bunch of guys believing in each other and accomplishing their goals that they wanted to accomplish. They've been very easy to work with. I've had very few problems with these young men. They are real credit to Tulane University. They represent the university in a class manner."
When Bradwell was running the ball so well early in the game and then they started stopping him a little bit, how difficult was it to resist the temptation to go away from him?
"We've kind of done running back by committee most of the season, but we've tried to get the ball to the guy who's hot, and he was hot, so we gave him the ball a bunch."
What does it mean for him to go over 1,000 yards?
"That was big. He was 13 or 14 yards away when the game began (actually 16) and now he's over 1,100 yards. That's a heck of an accomplishment in the college game, particularly in a league like this. The American is an excellent conference with a lot of good defenses. You think it's an individual accomplishment, but it's a team accomplishment. The offensive line, the tight ends, the other running backs, the quarterback. It's great for our team."
You went 2-0 in Florida this year (after the program had lost 13 in a row in Florida) and that first win in Tampa (41-15 over USF) seemed to be the game that propelled you to this spot. Can you talk about the back end of the schedule overall?
"That was a big win for us. We went down to Tampa and got the win against South Florida, but every game's different. The guys just prepared well. I was looking at we had one penalty for five yards. Normally when you take off a little bit of time, you're a little rusty and you might have a penalty or two, but the guys were pretty sharp for the most part."
On the fourth-and-8 conversion, what were your thoughts on that and did you consider taking a field goal?
"You kick a field goal in that situation and it doesn't help you a lot because it puts you up 6 and gets them in four-down territory to go down the field, and they know they have to score a touchdown. We were pretty intent on going for it unless it would have been a little bit further than that. It was a nice play by Justin to Chuck."
Your team had a season high for first downs and set a bowl record as well. What do you think drove that productivity?
"We were able to run the ball and mix up just enough throwing that they had to play honest. We had a good game plan. We did a lot of check with me calls from the sideline and saw what they were getting into and making the appropriate call based on their front and coverage. Alex and the offensive staff did a great job with that."
DARIUS BRADWELL
You had 35 carries for 150 yards. You're previous high for carries had been 19. How much fun was this game for you and how tired were you by the end of it?
"I wasn't too tired. Thirty-five carries is the most I've ever received in a game, but I'm just happy for the seniors. This whole season went to the seniors."
How important was that drive when you got your second touchdown? You guys converted a fourth down and a third down as well. What was your perspective?
"I knew we had to score and we all knew we had to score. We just had faith and played our game. That was our whole mentality--we have to score this drive, so that's we did out there."
What was your thought on how Justin McMillan played? That was a pretty big fourth-down pass.
"I'm very proud of Justin. He had an interception early in the game but he kept fighting and he kept leading. As a quarterback, everybody is looking at that, so I'm just proud of him and how he led this team."
All in all, it was an outstanding win for the Wave, which tied its record for most points in a bowl and broke its record for most lopsided victory in a bowl, both set by the 1998 undefeated team against BYU in the Liberty Bowl (41-27) and also the 1970 team against Colorado (17-3). Aside from the interception, if Willie Fritz could draw up a perfect day of how he wants to win games, this would be it.
WILLIE FRITZ
"I'm just really proud of our football program and the university supporting us. These guys worked their tails off. I'm especially proud of our seniors. We've had some tough times here at Tulane. These guys have just worked through everything. Every game this season was kind of fourth and inches where every one of them was tough. To start the year off at 2-5 and come back and win this game is very, very special."
How pivotal was that drive when they cut the deficit to 3? You converted a fourth-and-7 with the pass to Charles Jones and another third down along the way.
"That was huge. It was a big catch by Chuck, but another big play he had was at the end of the first half when he made that tackle (on ULL's long interception return). It was really a 4-point play. If he doesn't make that tackle, they probably take it back 99 yards for a touchdown and they had to settle for a field goal.
"On the (fourth-down conversion), that was good protection and a good call. I thought Alex Atkins did an excellent job the first time ever calling plays in a game. He really prepared the guys well. It was a nice play call and good execution. The pass wasn't right on the money. Chuck had to move for it a little bit. He made a big catch to really kind of seal the game for us."
I know the plan going in was not to give the ball to Bradwell 35 times. Corey Dauphine got dinged up, but what were your thoughts on Bradwell's performance?
"Well, we just kept feeding him. He did a nice job of hitting it vertical. There were a couple of times they ran some twists inside and caught us on some fourth and short situations, but for the most part he did a really nice job of seeing the hole and getting vertical and he's a hard guy to arm tackle. He's about 235 pounds, has great strength and always runs with forward lean."
You did a little hurry-up offense at times. Was that Will Hall's influence?
"No, coach Hall was really just a consultant the last week-and-a-half. That was something we've done a little bit throughout the season and we did a little bit more this game."
Can you talk about how important it was to get those points on the board early?
"It was huge. They take the opening drive and go right down the field and score on us. We didn't fit up a counter play very well. We just went right down the field and scored and got a lot of confidence. At the end of the first half if we had gotten a touchdown, that would have really put us in the driver's seat and put us up 31-7 or get a field goal out of it. We made it tough, but we did a great job moving the football. We held the ball for twice as much as them, almost 41 minutes. If you do that, normally you're going to win pretty good if you're not giving up big plays, which for the most part we did. Offensively it was a great job chewing it up. When we're on the sideline defensively, we always playing pretty good defense. It was good ball control offense today."
You were 2-5 at one point. How night and day does that seem to you considering where you are now?
"Oh it's great. It's tough. You get in those kinds of situations and the natural thing to do is doubt yourself. We really all stayed positive and kept working through it. There was a chance when we were 2-5 that we could have easily been 5-2. We had some really close games. It was just a great job of a bunch of guys believing in each other and accomplishing their goals that they wanted to accomplish. They've been very easy to work with. I've had very few problems with these young men. They are real credit to Tulane University. They represent the university in a class manner."
When Bradwell was running the ball so well early in the game and then they started stopping him a little bit, how difficult was it to resist the temptation to go away from him?
"We've kind of done running back by committee most of the season, but we've tried to get the ball to the guy who's hot, and he was hot, so we gave him the ball a bunch."
What does it mean for him to go over 1,000 yards?
"That was big. He was 13 or 14 yards away when the game began (actually 16) and now he's over 1,100 yards. That's a heck of an accomplishment in the college game, particularly in a league like this. The American is an excellent conference with a lot of good defenses. You think it's an individual accomplishment, but it's a team accomplishment. The offensive line, the tight ends, the other running backs, the quarterback. It's great for our team."
You went 2-0 in Florida this year (after the program had lost 13 in a row in Florida) and that first win in Tampa (41-15 over USF) seemed to be the game that propelled you to this spot. Can you talk about the back end of the schedule overall?
"That was a big win for us. We went down to Tampa and got the win against South Florida, but every game's different. The guys just prepared well. I was looking at we had one penalty for five yards. Normally when you take off a little bit of time, you're a little rusty and you might have a penalty or two, but the guys were pretty sharp for the most part."
On the fourth-and-8 conversion, what were your thoughts on that and did you consider taking a field goal?
"You kick a field goal in that situation and it doesn't help you a lot because it puts you up 6 and gets them in four-down territory to go down the field, and they know they have to score a touchdown. We were pretty intent on going for it unless it would have been a little bit further than that. It was a nice play by Justin to Chuck."
Your team had a season high for first downs and set a bowl record as well. What do you think drove that productivity?
"We were able to run the ball and mix up just enough throwing that they had to play honest. We had a good game plan. We did a lot of check with me calls from the sideline and saw what they were getting into and making the appropriate call based on their front and coverage. Alex and the offensive staff did a great job with that."
DARIUS BRADWELL
You had 35 carries for 150 yards. You're previous high for carries had been 19. How much fun was this game for you and how tired were you by the end of it?
"I wasn't too tired. Thirty-five carries is the most I've ever received in a game, but I'm just happy for the seniors. This whole season went to the seniors."
How important was that drive when you got your second touchdown? You guys converted a fourth down and a third down as well. What was your perspective?
"I knew we had to score and we all knew we had to score. We just had faith and played our game. That was our whole mentality--we have to score this drive, so that's we did out there."
What was your thought on how Justin McMillan played? That was a pretty big fourth-down pass.
"I'm very proud of Justin. He had an interception early in the game but he kept fighting and he kept leading. As a quarterback, everybody is looking at that, so I'm just proud of him and how he led this team."