Showing posts with label tulane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tulane. Show all posts
Green Wave fans, Homecoming is upon us. In 48 hours, the 6-3 Memphis Tigers will be entering Yulman Stadium with the hopes of spoiling a Tulane Homecoming. 

 Here to break it down in "Know Your Enemy" is John Martin, a columnist for ESPN 92.9 who specializes in all things Memphis Tigers. 

 He was cool enough to take some questions over email after covering the Memphis Tigers' big matchup with Christian Brothers University on the hardwood last night.

 Give John a follow on Twitter, and you can read his column on Memphis here.

 Let's see what the Tigers are thinking.

Q: This season has certainly shaped up to be an interesting year for the Tigers. For one, they haven't been to a bowl game since 2008. On top of that, they were picked to finish 7th -- behind UConn, SMU, and USF -- in the preseason media poll. What were the expectations of Memphis fans coming into this year? 

 This being Justin Fuente’s third year, I think Memphis fans expected to see more wins this season. There wasn’t a quarterback competition — Paxton Lynch locked it up — and the defense, particularly stout last season, was returning mostly everyone. Maybe a portion talked themselves into six wins, with home games against UConn and South Florida to end the year. But nobody expected this. 

 Nobody expected to go toe-to-toe with UCLA and Ole Miss for three quarters. Nobody expected to have the chance to win nine games and the American Athletic Conference championship. In a Tiger fan’s wildest of dreams, that scenario wasn’t on the table.


Q: Memphis is on a nice run since their bye, obliterating SMU and Tulsa by a combined score of 88-30, and then following with a solid win on the road at Temple. How much fire do the Tigers have right now after those wins and gaining bowl eligibility? 

 It’s a huge deal to be bowl eligible at Memphis, as you know. That hasn’t happened since 2008. Even Justin Fuente, a notoriously understated fellow, let himself celebrate after Jake Elliott’s game-winning field goal went through. People don’t realize how bad a shape the program was in when Fuente took over; they were low on scholarships, low on talent, low on attendance and low on hope. 
But Fuente, by way of not missing in recruiting and sharp evaluating, has this thing rolling, and Memphis is gonna have to find the resources to keep him from bolting in the offseason. With the AAC title still mathematically possible, the key for Memphis is to obviously not be satisfied with six wins.

 Q: Senior running back Brandon Hayes has been very solid with a 200 yard and three touchdown game against Tulsa and a 5.1 YPC average on the season. With Tulane's defensive strength in producing turnovers, what do you envision the Tigers' offensive game plan will look like?

  I don’t really expect Memphis to change its game plan; the Tigers have been pretty balanced all season long. They’re reasonably better at running the ball, with Hayes and possibly Sam Craft returning from injury this weekend, but Lynch has accounted for 18 total touchdowns this season, too. So I suspect it’ll be, as it has all season long, a healthy mix of run and pass.

 Q: Rick Ross made an appearance at the FedEx Forum for Josh Pastner at Memphis Madness. Has the football program thought about bringing in the big guns for this road trip?

  I think Rick Ross took up their entertainer budget for the year.

  Q: Tulane's offense has been inconsistent at times due to a dangerous combination of youth as well as injuries at quarterback, running back, and receiver. How do you think Memphis will stack up on defense to Tanner Lee's offense?

 Memphis’ defense, when at full strength, is tough to handle. The Tigers have ball-hawking defensive backs like Bobby McCain and Chris Morley and they’ve got a havoc-wreaking defensive lineman in Martin Ifedi. There just aren’t many weak links in the Memphis defense, and they thrive off of causing mistakes.

 Q: While I am sure Tigers fans are gearing up for those heralded Memphis vs. Tulane matchups in basketball, do you see a strong contingent of Tigers making the drip down to Yulman? 

  You know, that’s an interesting question. It’d all depend on the hotel availability, which doesn’t seem ideal this weekend with the Saints in town. Maybe a few hundred?

  Q: If you were given the choice for a world where Coach Calipari stays for the 2009 Memphis season but Memphis football could not reach bowl eligibility until 2025, do you take the deal? 

  2025 is a long time, man. And that season would’ve been vacated anyway, probably.

  Q: Prediction for the game on Saturday? 

  Let’s go 31-14, Memphis. (Sorry, Tulane. New day.)

 It's been a good week in the Tulane sports world. On Saturday night, the Green Wave shocked AAC fans when they took down a strong Houston team while spoiling their Homecoming in the process.

In the wake of that victory -- and with our own Homecoming on the horizon this week -- Tulane players racked up some nice individual awards.

Leading the pack, Parry Nickerson, who responded to a near ejection by intercepting the ball on two critical fourth quarter plays, was named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week by the AAC as well as Defensive Player Honors for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Forgot one important fact. Nickerson, who is now third in the country in interceptions, is a red-shirt freshman.

Fellow freshmen Tanner Lee and Dontrell Hilliard also were named, alongside Nickerson, to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll.

The future of this team is strong, and the young guns keep bringing it.

Happy Homecoming, and Beat Memphis.

Sept. 17, 2011. That was the date of the last Tulane road victory outside of the state of Louisiana. In this millennium, the word that has defined Tulane has been: struggle.

That has never been more true over the past decade than on the road, where wins were few and far between.

The narrative this week was that this team was done.

With a road trip to the Houston Cougars, favored by a full 18 points by the folks in Vegas, many believed this team was headed for another disappointment.

Instead, the Green Wave produced what was hands down the most impressive win of the Curtis Johnson era. Houston was no joke. With a victory, they were set to clinch bowl eligibility for another year and regain control of the American Conference atop the AAC standings.
Tulane jumped out to an early lead with a Tanner Lee touchdown following an interception of the first quarter. In the end, the Green Wave went wire-to-wire, controlling the momentum for nearly the entire game.

The only exception: two minutes of disaster at the end of the first half, when a Tulane fumble bobbled into the end zone, and the Cougars snagged it for a TD. 14-14. On the next drive, with Tanner Lee taking his offense down the field, an interception on third down set up a field goal, allowing the Cougars to head to the end zone with a 17-14 lead.

Tulane has struggled to put together complete games this year. There's no question about it. Until today, the Green Wave had never reclaimed a lead in a game where they were trailing.
They did today. Tanner Lee immediately responded by throwing his third touchdown of the day against the #4 pass defense in the country.
Just a great throw and a solid catch on that fade route.

Now the game looked all but over in the fourth quarter. With less than 9 minutes remained, CB Parry Nickerson grabbed an interception, bringing his total for the year to five.

We just had to wait for the clock to strike zero. However, Houston managed to put together one good drive in the half, and scored with less than 2:00 remaining. Now here is where it gets sticky.

Down by one touchdown, Houston goes for the onside kick. A Cougar blatantly crosses the line before the kick, a seemingly obvious offsides call. Tulane bumbles the ball, and Houston recovers, but a flag is on the field for the offsides.

The AAC official chose to pick up the laundry, and the fumble recovery was good. Curtis Johnson was incensed. Houston proceeded to move down the field to the red zone, within yards of the house on 4th down and the game on the line.

Parry Nickerson, who was nearly ejected in the first quarter, made a game saving interception for his team. Tulane won on the road outside its state for the first time since 2011. They did it against a defense ranked higher than LSU. And they did it, most importantly, with no excuses.
Great game. Beat Memphis. It's Homecoming.

A rare appearance on national television was not kind to the Green Wave on Halloween night. Despite entering Yulman Stadium with an astounding 8-0 record, Tulane endured a 38-14 beating at the hands of the Cincinnati Bearcats in front of a sparse home crowd.

Yikes. I don't really have a need to talk much about this game. I have made an active effort not to read any of the fan boards because I don't like ruining my Saturday and I pretty much know what is going to be there.

Here's a funny picture of a creepy Cat in the Hat though.


Look how lonely that creepy Cat in the Hat is. But I digress. Tulane went to halftime with a 24-0 deficit. The worst part is that it didn't have to be that way.

Tulane showed up for this one, at first. On superstar QB Gunner Kiel's first throw, Parry Nickerson picked off the Cincy gunslinger. He was abruptly benched for the rest of the game. Good news, right?

Well then Tanner Lee marches his team down the field completing every pass on the way. Maybe he has some Manning at Isidore Newman blood in him, who knows? The kid looked great though.

In the red zone, Tulane couldn't break through when going for the touchdown on fourth. Then it was all Munchie Legaux, graduate of the nearby Karr High School, for the rest of the half.

Cincy just straight up rolled through the Tulane defense. Nothing was stoppable. Pressure the QB? Munchie would float one to the screen for 30 yards. Try to cover the spread? Watch a Bearcats RB break through the line at twice the speed of our linebackers.

It just got out of hand. No way around that. Now that being said, there is one thing that I loved. 

 This team --- all year --- has come out of the locker room flat. They scored one touchdown in the third quarter of every game combined up to this point. Not this time.

Tanner Lee led his team on the opening drive to make it a 24-7 game. Tulane wasn't done. Darion Monroe picked off a charging Munchie on the next drive. After that, it was Lee time once again, who looked sharp and smart in the pocket, culminating in a TD throw in the red zone.

24-14. It's a game. Two scores. Maybe the Bearcats were getting a little ahead of themselves, but who knows? Tulane looked like a real team.

Then this happened.


Munchie hits a gentleman named Shaq Washington, who put in a phenomenal effort to haul this pass in. It is ruled a touchdown on the field. As the replay and the screenshot above shows though, the ball essentially rested on the receiver --- not in control -- until he crosses that boundary when he gets his hand back onto the ball. It is bobbling until he crosses out of bounds. The good folks of ESPN 2 confidently believed this one was coming back.

It did not. And the game was 31-14 and out of reach entering the fourth quarter. Look, I am not going to bellyache about this too much. When you put your team down by 24, you are one bad break from letting a game get away. I think it was a shitty call, but that is my $.02.

Regardless though, the momentum was gone. The air was sucked out of Yulman. And as the commentators noted, it seemed like Munchie's 75 friends and family in attendance made up about half of the total audience at that point.

Absolutely brutal. At least this dude perfectly timed going Hulk on his t-shirt for the ESPN cameras. Nice work, bro.



Happy Halloween, y'all. It is Tulane Gameday. At 7 PM, the Cincinnati Bearcats will make their first-ever appearance in Yulman Stadium in a crucial in-conference matchup. 

The Bearcats are 4-3 on the year and will enter riding a two-game winning streak. Tulane had a week off to allow star running back Sherman Badie to heal up and for freshman Tanner Lee to get back in the mix. 

I had a chance to interview Scott over at the Bearcats Blog. You can find them on Twitter here too. Here's what we learned. 

1. We now know Gunner Kiel is officially in for Friday instead of Munchie Legaux (who went to Karr on the Westbank in New Orleans). With his rib injury against USF, do you see Gunner being limited at all, or should the offense be back at 100%? 

 Kiel has battled the rib injury ever since the third game of the season at Ohio State. He's a very tough kid. He's also been knocked out of a couple of games since. That's a little worrisome. I'm of the mind that Kiel shouldn't start and only play a "In case of fire, break glass," role, but I'm not the coach. Kiel is great. He's going to throw deep, he's going to throw short and he's going to just make any throw he wants because he's incredibly talented. We've seen him tear apart most of the secondaries UC has faced. 

2. This is obviously a weird year in the world of the AAC with some new teams coming on board, but Cincinnati was the #1 pick in the preseason. After losing that three game stretch against Ohio State, in-conference Memphis, and the U, do you feel like the Bearcats have regained their momentum? How's the fan base handling this season in Cinci? 

 That's a tough question to answer. The Bearcats have bounced back on the scoreboard with a couple of lopsided wins. Those wins have come against Southern Methodist and South Florida, teams who hold up the southern part of the standings. They are two of the dirt worst teams in the nation. Tulane isn't thought of much better, sorry!, so even a huge win here wouldn't answer a ton of concerns.

 The defense has been a huge issue for the Cats this season and is one of the 30 or so worst in the nation. They have feasted on SMU and South Florida. The Bearcats have picked off 4 passes the last two weeks after having two all season to that point. The Cats have taken away opposing run games, something they didn't do to OSU, Memphis or Miami, and forced the awful quarterbacks to make plays. If you know anything about SMU and USF, those quarterback situations are a mess.

Cincinnati's running game has given the offense balance the last couple weeks as well. The UC QBs ran for over a combined 100 yards against SMU and freshman running back Mike Boone had over 200 yards last week. Again, the competition is a major point but the results are positive. 

Cincinnati has turned a bit of a corner. I say that with some optimism and some reserve because we really won't know until the Cats play East Carolina. Double sorry, Tulane fans reading this. 

3. We're a little shocked to be a 2.5 point underdog to Cinci, especially since the Green Wave was a 20 point dog to UCF in the last matchup. What's your prediction for the matchup this week? 

 I'm a bit surprised the spread was that low too. Cincinnati was only 13.5 and 10 point favorites to SMU and USF. Vegas does not believe in the Bearcats. Memphis opened as a 24ish point favorite at SMU for some comparison. I thought some of it was because of Kiel's status, but even now it's a 4 point spread. Cincinnati is ranked 75 on the Football Outsider S&P rankings, Tulane 101. Just off that, you would think that the Bearcats would be a bigger favorite, even on the road.

My prediction is going to be a blowout (sorry again). Cincinnati has proven one thing under Tommy Tuberville and it's that they can wipe the floor with the bottom of the league, USF excluded. The games against the top teams are a different question. Maybe Tulane gets the Bearcats to play the same type of terrible offense that the Green Wave were able to force Central Florida into a couple weeks ago. Making the game incredibly ugly is Tulane's only shot in my book. 

 I just don't think they'll be able to pull it off for 60 minutes. UC was pushed to the limit by an awful Miami Ohio squad, so anything could happen. Still see a blowout. Something like Cincinnati 34 Tulane 13.

4. With a sophomore linebacker picking up another run-in with Johnny Law this week, is Tommy Tuberville starting to see some distractions for the team with the legal incidents, or do you not expect that to be much of a factor against this opponent? 

 Sadly, Cincinnati has faced this problem as recently as last week. It sounds like Marcus Tappan, the player arrested, is going to have a long road back to getting on the field, if he ever gets on the field at Cincinnati. I think arrests are more of a public perception problem than on the field problem. I doubt FSU is going to be too distracted by the fact their starting running back is involved in whatever the hell he's involved in. There are bigger things to worry about, like the opponent. You can't stroll into Tulane and be distracted. That's how you walk home with a loss.

I hope ending this with a compliment of Tulane has endeared me to the readers. You'll be better soon. Just not this year in any sports that matter. But one day.

Tulane Football dropped to 2-5 on the season (and 1-2 in the American Conference) in a 20-13 loss to former Conference USA foe UCF yesterday in Orlando, FL.

At this point, we know the program is done with moral victories, so I don't want to go crazy in celebrating a loss... But here are the key points from the game yesterday.

1. The Tulane Defense is Actually Very Good

The biggest surprise this year, in my opinion, was not the foibles of the special teams unit but a strange regression for the Tulane Defense.

By the end of last season, capped off by a bowl appearance, "mid-major Michigan State" was thrown around frequently to describe the defensive powerhouse that Tulane was honestly becoming. Lorenzo Doss was picked as the next big thing, and anyone who knew anything about this team expected for the "bend but don't break" Green Wave to come back.

It didn't quite happen like that. In the first game of the season, the secondary broke down against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and couldn't stop a comeback that culminated in a double overtime loss.

Things didn't look better when the Duke Blue Devils and Rutgers Scarlet Knights put up points at will against the prized element of our program.

That seems to be changing though. Last week at home, Tulane held the UConn Huskies to three points, facilitating another home victory with minimal offensive production in the absence of Tanner Lee. Fair enough, but it's still UConn, right?

Well, this week may be a true turning point. In the last two matchups with UCF, the Golden Knights put up 110 points of offense combined. It was not good, and the Green Wave didn't belong on the same field.

Yesterday, however, the Tulane Defense did everything it possibly could to keep its team in the game. In the second half especially, Tulane forced two consecutive three-and-outs to set up potential game-tying drives. This is what you have to do playing a good team on the road, and they stepped up every chance they had.

2. Nick Montana muffed a meaningless play, and now everyone is freaking out but it did not matter. 

You have probably seen this, right?


With :05 left in the first half, Nick Montana thought he had a first down and instinctively spiked the ball in a last ditch effort to stop the clock.

SB Nation, Bleacher Report, and ESPN could not resist the urge to post this as a not top ten-type of play involving "Joe Montana's son." The fact remains though:
It's whatever. I am sure Nick is capable of handling that type of attention given his last name, but he did everything he could as a third string quarterback to give his team a chance to win. In the fourth quarter, he threw deep shots on first and fourth down (including escaping two sacks) that his receivers dropped. He did what he had to do.

3. DiRocco Nailed a 42 yarder, and it was awesome. 
The narrative that DiRocco isn't any good was easy to latch onto. He missed field goals, extra points, and pretty much anything that involved holding a football and kicking it at something.

CJ was adamant, however, that DiRocco had the ability to play at this level, as a former first-team prospect out of the state of Florida. In particular, the snapping has been horrid, and this has caused a dozen opportunities where the play was mis-timed, which wreaks havoc on kickers mentally and physically.

He hit a good one yesterday, and you have to hope he's back on track after a pretty disastrous introduction to college football.

4. Tulane Could Have Won 

 We out-gained UCF 278 to 233 in total yards. Tulane had greater time of possession. The Green Wave was +2 in turnover margin yesterday. It all adds up.

In the end, they were not able to nab a second score to tie it up. UCF is the upper level of the American Conference, and you have to make some plays to get out of there with a rare road victory.

That said, the Green Wave showed tangible progress yesterday. It wasn't enough for a win, but it is enough for me to get psyched for the Halloween showdown with Cincinnati.

Tulane has a week off and some momentum and fire after leaving Orlando. Let's see what they bring to Yulman against another top team from the American Conference.

Tulane Football returns to the field tomorrow for an AAC showdown with the University of Central Florida.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. UCF, of course, is a former Conference USA foe, but this will be the first meeting between the two teams in the American Conference.

Let's preview the action in Orlando.

1. Records: Tulane (2-4 /1-1 in AAC) at UCF (3-2/1-0 in AAC)

2. Last Game: Tulane defeated UConn at home in a 12-3 victory. UCF delivered a home victory in overtime against BYU, albeit a BYU team without injured big-time QB Taysom Hill.

3. Broadcast: National on ESPNU and Streaming on Watch ESPN

4. Game Time: 11 AM CST. Wake up for this one.

5. All-Time Record: UCF leads 4-1 in the all-time series

6. Green Wave Storyline: The return of Montana.

Redshirt freshman and resident gunslinger Tanner Lee missed his first full game of the season last week when he nursed a "bruised" shoulder (with speculation that it may be separated). Due to second-string QB Powell struggling to command the offense in the prior week against Rutgers, the stage was set for former starter Nick Montana to lead the offense once again.

Nick Montana came out with another victory as a starting quarterback with one passing TD to boot. That said, the offense largely fell back to the "dink and dunk" method of 2013. While this may have been in part due to Montana's lack of recent experience, the UConn defense is also structured to prevent long plays.

The feeling is that Montana will be starting this week unless CJ is working on some Payton-esque Jedi mind tricks here. The report is that Montana worked on some longer passes this week in his first team reps, so our offense will be a big question mark.

7. UCF Storyline: Pretender or contender?

UCF has not established a clear identity in wake of the departure of first-round draft pick Blake Bortles. They started the season with disappointing losses to Missouri and Penn State, but they have been solid, as of late.

They will enter their home field riding a three game winning streak and a history of taking care of business when on the same turf as the Tulane Green Wave.

That said, with an emotional overtime victory behind them, they will need to reclaim their focus this week to take care of a Green Wave squad that just captured its first American Conference victory ever.

8. Bulletin Board Material of the Week: 


The Tulane Green Wave earned its first American Conference victory ever by beating the UConn Huskies 12-3 in a home victory.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. This was important. UConn is not a great team, or even an average team, but they are a team. In our conference. As their hometown paper remarked, "Both teams need a win. Badly." Tulane was the team that survived today.

2. Nick Montana earned a W. The son of Joe started 11-games last year in a season that ended in a bowl berth. Losing the starting job to Tanner Lee in camp couldn't have been a great feeling, but Nick stayed with the program and had a chance to lead tonight.

The word that came to mind was efficiency. Arm strength has always been the challenge for Montana, but he delivered a series of effective throws on short routes to keep drives alive. He didn't cough the ball up or sustain as many sacks as he regularly did last year. All in all, great game for a third stringer coming in for his first start of the year, right?

3. Anthony DiRocco put one through the uprights. From the right hashmark in the fourth quarter, DiRocco helped to extend the Tulane lead in a close game. He wasn't a liability, and he took care of a tough but critical kick. It's too soon to tell whether the Cairo Santos visit will be a turning point for his season, but tonight was the first solid game he has had in a Tulane jersey.

4. Defense had swag tonight. The Tulane defense has been a bit of a surprise this year given sky high hopes entering the season.

The unit showed up tonight. Three turnovers --- two of which ended with a Darion Monroe recovery --- let us attain a +3 turnover margin this game. This was highlighted by a safety after a bad run call on the 1 yard line for UConn. Defense produced offense tonight.

5. Yulman Stadium remains undefeated as a venue in night games. It's also 2-1 all-time with the lone loss to #22 Georgia Tech.

Tulane will head back on the road to face UCF in Orlando, FL next week.


The upswing of the AAC continued this week when the East Carolina Pirates dropped 70 points on a #24 University of North Carolina squad. Even the Temple Owls had a 59-0 game... albeit one against a school called Delaware State. Let's see where everyone ranks.

The top half of the conference saw little movement, as we saw some winning this week. The bottom half? Still a lot of question marks.

11. SMU Mustangs - LW #11, 0-3 Record, L to #6 TEXAS A&M 

 SMU notched another major loss with with a 58-6 loss at home when they faced the #6 Aggies squad. The program is in disarray, and they have to be close to just calling it a rebuilding year and moving on.

10. UConn Huskies - LW #8, 1-3 Record, L to U. SOUTH FLORIDA 

 Tulane didn't exactly put up a perfect effort against Duke, but UConn took a much harder hit in a rough, rain-soaked Thursday night loss to a struggling USF Bulls team. UConn does not look good right now, and virtually no aspect of their game is clicking at the moment.

9. Tulane Green Wave - LW #9, 1-3 Record, L to DUKE 

 Duke is a good football team. They won their division last year and took Johnny Football to the wire. It doesn't look like it, but the Green Wave was not far off from this being a competitive matchup, but a disastrous second half let the game get away. Tulane will need to rebound this week with a big opportunity to upset a Big Ten opponent in the Rutgers Scarlet Knight. Don't forget we did it in 2010 at their Homecoming. Game on.

8. Tulsa Golden Hurricane - LW #10, 1-2, No Action 

 7. South Florida Bulls - LW #7, 2-2 Record, W over UCONN 

 USF got their first conference win against UConn, but they didn't exactly do it in style. They're on the upswing right now though.

6. Temple Owls - LW #6, 2-1 Record, W over DELAWARE STATE 

 5. Houston Cougars - LW #5, 2-2 Record, W over UNLV 

 Hey, Houston showed a sign of life with a 47-14 win over the UNLV Rebels. They needed a rebound game, and that was it. That said, that won't do anything to jump them over a red hot Memphis Tigers squad.

4. Memphis Tigers - LW #4, 2-1 Record, W over MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE 

 What? The Memphis Tigers are showing up in football. Yes, it's sort of real. They took a ranked UCLA to the wire on the road. Then they come home, put 46,000 people in the Liberty Bowl, and take down an in-state rival by 19 points. This is an historic season for Memphis, and they will try to keep the good times rolling.

3. UCF Knights - LW #3, 1-2 Record, W over BETHUNE COOKMAN 

 Memphis is playing great, but this is where the upper echelon of the conference starts. UCF was the last AAC team to get a win this year. Fun fact.

2. Cincinnati Bearcats - LW #2, 2-0 Record, W over MIAMI (OH) 

 Cinci notched its second straight win, but it wasn't pretty, as they escaped by only one score over a weaker Redhawks team. They will get a chance to make a statement when they face in-state rival Ohio State this weekend.

1. East Carolina Pirates - LW #1, 3-1 Record, W over #24 UNC 

 East Carolina just laid 70 on a solid ACC team. Shane Carden is the real McCoy, and this ECU team looks hungry. Cinci is going to need to fire it up to seriously challenge the Pirates for the conference crown, because East Carolina is the real deal. They are now ranked #23 in the country, as the first AAC team to earn a ranking this season.

This is a new feature I want to update every couple weeks on what Tulane's opponents are doing. As you can see, Georgia Tech and Duke have established strong 4-0 starts after beating the Green Wave.

There is more trouble on the way with Memphis, ECU, and Cincinnati all playing very strong football right now. These next couple games will be critical wins in the Green Wave's effort to get back to bowl season.

 1. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-2) [Tulane Loss] 

 Tulsa had the week off but will play Texas State next week with a great chance to get back to .500.

2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (4-0) [Tulane Loss] 

The Ramblin' Wreck pulled off a great upset of the Virginia Tech Hokies, handing another loss to the team that previously beat Ohio State on the road.

3. Southeastern Louisiana Lions (2-2) [Tulane Win] 

The Lions, coming into this week ranked #3 in FCS, dropped another game against SE Missouri. They will have to get their season back on track after losing some momentum in this stretch.

4. Duke Blue Devils (4-0) [Tulane Loss] 

Duke's victory over Tulane earned the Blue Devils another appearance in the Top 25. They are now #23 after a convincing 4-0 start.

5. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-1) [Away at Rutgers] 

Rutgers is coming off a victory when they host the Tulane Green Wave next week. They survived a comeback at the hands of the Navy Midshipmen this weekend, but they received news today that Paul James, their star running back with five touchdowns this season, has had season ending surgery.

6. UConn Huskies (1-3) [Home at Yulman] 

If Tulane can pull off a nice game against their Big Ten opponent, they will have a really good chance to get back to .500 when they host the UConn Huskies. UConn dropped another game in a messy matchup with the USF Bulls this week. Their offense has been stagnant, and the defense hasn't been much better.

7. UCF Golden Knights (1-2) [Home at Yulman] 

UCF became the last AAC team to win a game this year after a 41-7 win over Bethune Cookman. They have a week off, and then they will try their hand against a struggling Houston Cougars team to get back to .500.

8. Cincinnati Bearcats (2-0) [Home at Yulman] 

Cinci started this season extremely late (after even the Cincinnati Bengals), but they are off to a 2-0 start after beating the Miami (OH) Wildcats this past weekend 31-24. They will have a tough test against the Ohio State Buckeyes this week, but a win would really galvanize this team.

9. Houston Cougars (2-2) [Away at Houston] 

The Cougars had a fairly disastrous start to this season, which included a loss to a very good BYU. They showed some signs that things are back on track when they wrecked the UNLV Rebels 47-14. Their offense can be potent when it's clicking, and they will look to build momentum.

10. Memphis Tigers (2-1) [Home at Yulman, Homecoming] 

Wow. The Memphis Tigers are by far the biggest surprise in the AAC so far this year. They are 2-1 after a nice home win over Middle Tennessee. The Tigers even packed the Liberty Bowl for the game. Their lone loss was a near upset to #10 UCLA while on the road. Memphis is playing tough football right now.

11. #24 East Carolina Pirates (3-1) [Away at ECU]

East Carolina is looking like the best team in the AAC. A week after beating Virginia Tech, East Carolina took down #24 UNC in absolute beatdown, the kind where QB Shane Carden puts 70 points on the board against the Tar Heels. The Pirates are a very solid football team right now, and they will be ranked #24 this week.

12. Temple Owls (2-1) [Home at Yulman] 

The Owls put up a 59-0 victory against an undermatched Delaware State squad this week. That warmup game should give the Owls a good look when they face a middling UConn next week.

It isn't often you can can look at a 47-13 loss and think that the teams were somewhat evenly matched, but to the fans who watched the matchup today, that feeling is tough to forget.

In the defeat, Tulane produced 375 yards of offense to Duke's 437. Not exactly the kind of line you would expect in a 34 point loss. So what happened?

1. Duke Never Lost Control 

 If there is a reason to walk away frustrated after a game like this, it's because of the many flashes the Green Wave showed today. While the defense looked outmatched in the first series of the game when Duke ran for an easy touchdown, Tanner Lee and the Gang responded with a crisp, professional drive to the end zone to make the game 7-7.

Another touchdown later, Tulane was snapping the ball over the punter's head to hand the Blue Devils a safety and make the game 16-7.

When the teams came back from the half, a Duke received uncharacteristically beat Lorenzo Doss almost immediately for a huge game and to set up another touchdown. This is where we're all thinking it's about to go down the tubes, but the Green Wave responds with a critical touchdown.

That's where things got crazy. First, Tulane committed a false start on the extra point and then followed with a wide left extra point attempt.

Then the defense put together a great stand, looking extremely hungry and bringing up the stop with a three and out (which almost was ended by an interception). However, a Duke punt led to a Tulane fumble, and the Blue Devils controlled the game from that point forward.

2. Special Teams are a Nightmare 

 Advocate beat writer Scott Kushner has been the Chicken Little in this regard for months now, but the special teams situation in Uptown is an absolute disaster.

As you can see in the kick above, we're struggling with basically anything that involves putting a foot on a ball.

It got worse though. As the game was out of reach, a dropped Tulane snap led to Peter Piccerelli trying to make a run for it. That wasn't that bad, though the conventional wisdom is to hit the deck.

As he went down, the ball came out, and Tulane managed to retrieve it. At that point, you can see what happens next.

3. In better news, Lazedrick Thompson killed it. 

 Thompson had his best game of the season, by far. On top of the 124 yards he put up, he was a reliable runner on virtually every competent Tulane drive this game. When they needed yards, Thompson was able to step up for it.

While it would have been great to see the "thunder and lightning" running back combo with freshman standout Sherman Badie, Badie entered the game a bit banged up and listed as questionable to play. The run game, by far was the strength of the offense today.

4. Tanner Lee Struggles with Location 

 It's important to remember that Tanner Lee is a freshman, and Duke is a good team with a defense that was able to put pressure on Johnny Football last season during bowl season.

Unfortunately, Tanner was not able to find his rhythm today and coughed up three turnovers, including one in the first half that killed the team's momentum after a strong drive to the end zone.

The final line: 14/35, 160 yards, 3 interceptions, 0 TD

5. Some Perspective Though 

 Especially after the strong start last year, it's easy to be disappointed in the 1-3 start to this season, especially with the historic opening of Yulman Stadium.

That said, the combined record of the three teams Tulane lost to is now 9-2. Both Georgia Tech and Duke are both undefeated and in position to contend for their conference's title this year.

Unlike previous season, Tulane's schedule is clearly front-loaded, with a few other extremely challenging matchups in the late season (circle East Carolina, because the Pirates are going to be looking for revenge after last year).

With a trip to Rutgers this week, Tulane will have a good shot to bounce back and built some momentum.

6. FearTheWave.com Prediction Review: Duke 42, Tulane 17 

 Came pretty close on this one. Like I said, the 47-13 final score is not reflective of how the first three quarters looked, when the teams had a good chance to trade blows. When the train was off the rails, the Blue Devils put up two more touchdowns with a Tanner Lee pick six and the crazy play off the botched punt you saw above.

Once again, the Green Wave showed flashes of its tremendous upside but was bogged down by turnovers, unnecessary penalties, and a truly struggling special teams unit.

The Tulane Green Wave, coming off its first win of the season last week in a battle with the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, will hit the road today to play the Duke Blue Devils. 

While this is the first leg of a two game road trip, this Duke team is clearly one of the most formidable teams on Tulane's 2014 schedule. Let's put it this way. Duke not only is coming off of a 41-3 smackdown of the Kansas Jayhawks last week, but they have not turned the ball over once in their first three wins of the season. They are the only team in college football to do that.

Today will be a tremendous test. Here is the Preview.

1. Venue and Time: Wallace Wade Stadium, NC at 11:30 am CST

2. Where to Watch: Cox Channel 79 or Watch ESPN for online streaming

3. Records: Tulane (1-2) and Duke (3-0)

4. Tulane's Kicking Question Mark: For anyone who has been following Tulane this year, the kicking game has been bad. Tammy Nunez is reporting that Trevor Simms, the touchback-producing machine, will likely not be kicking today due to injury. The Green Wave will need to keep pace with the Blue Devils today, and thus special teams will be a gap that Curtis Johnson needs to fill.

5. A Tale of Two Tanners: Freshman Tanner Lee will make his fourth start at quarterback today. The tale of 2014 has been very high upside but also inconsistency for the young QB. A strong first half with some amazing throws against SLU gave way to some struggles to close out the Lions last week. While a few big plays kept the game out of reach for SLU, Tanner Lee will be need to find his game in both halves to give Tulane a chance today.

6. The Spread: Tulane is an 18.5 point underdog to the folks in Vegas. That's no shock. Duke is currently on the edge of the Top 25, so this will be some of the stiffest competition Tulane will see beyond East Carolina and Cinci.

7. FearTheWave.com Prediction: Duke 42, Tulane 17


Tulane will open the doors to Yulman Stadium for the second time in history when the Southeastern Louisiana Lions come to town tonight. Here are the key details for your gameday preview.

1. Game Time: 7 PM (CST) at Yulman Stadium, New Orleans

 2. TV: Nationally televised on ESPN 3 and Watch ESPN online

3. Records: Southeastern Louisiana Lions (2-0) and Tulane Green Wave (0-2)

4. Enemy Playmaker: Quarterback Bryan Bennett. Bennett is a transfer from a little FCS school called Oregon, where he was supposed to be the next big thing for the fast paced offense. Then Marcus Mariota happened, and Bennett went to Southeastern to run the Lions offense. This game will feature a big time matchup between a talented quarterback and Tulane's stacked secondary, namely Lorenzo Doss.

5. Current Power Ranking: Tulane 10 of 11 in AAC Power Rankings 

6. FearTheWave.com Prediction: Tulane 34, Southeastern 30 

7. Other Storylines: Tonight will be the first-ever night game for Yulman Stadium. That will be a nice respite for the folks who sweated it out last week in the early September heat. 

Tulane (0-2) got its first home game in Uptown out of the way last Saturday in the kickoff at Yulman Stadium. They will notch another first this week when the Southeastern Louisiana Lions (2-0), ranked #3 in FCS, come to town to face the Green Wave.

I wanted to do a "Know Your Enemy" preview piece with a Lions expert, and here is my Q&A with RL from the Lions Den forum. Check him out on Twitter @royalLion05 too. 

Tulane Head Coach Curtis Johnson called SELA the toughest team on Tulane's schedule. Do you think that is deserved, or was CJ just hyping this game up?

As for Curtis Johnson's comments ... I believe he said an NFL scout told him that, and was essentially repeating it. Not sure those are his thoughts but the fact that he brought it up when he did, leads me to believe he has respect for our program. But we hear "coachspeak" all the time ... it's part of it. As for whether I feel it's deserved? We're an FCS program with 63 scholarships, the AAC is a solid FBS conference with 85 scholarships ... I'll leave it at that.

Green Wave fans are familiar with how well SELA did with big-time transfers, including Jordan Batiste, who led the team in sacks last year. Who do you see as the big-time players for the Lions this week to watch out for?

We do have a number of FBS transfers, including Bennett, but also have a solid core of kids signed out of high school who are impact guys for us. Harlan Miller, Xavier Roberson, Chris Malott, Marice Sutton, Drew Misita, Kaleb Muse, Tyler Stoddard and Rasheed Harrell to name a few.

As far who to to look out for this weekend? Obviously Bennett, along with Xavier Roberson, Devante Scott, Jeff Smiley, Rasheed Harrell and Chris Malott on offense. Defensively, our top guys are Harlan Miller, Isiah Corbett, Jacob Newman, Drew Misita, Marice Sutton, Jordan Batiste, Micah Eugene ... I could pretty much name them all, we've got a lot of depth.

QB Bryan Bennett had a nice week against Southern Utah last game. Tulane is noted for its strong secondary and ball hawks like Lorenzo Doss. How do you anticipate the Lions will handle that passing defense.

Actually Bennett didn't have one of his better nights vs Southern Utah, though still managed to put up over 300 yards of total offense, and made big plays when he had to. As for facing Tulane's secondary ... I'm sure we'll handle it the same we approach practice everyday vs our own secondary. Anytime you have to go against Harlan Miller, Derrick Raymond, Batiste, Eugene, Stoddard and Sutton on a daily basis, you're pretty well battle tested.

Week Two is officially in the books, and we have some movement in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Power Rankings.

Below, you will see a listing of the teams in rank order, their rank last week, and the most recent result.

Sound off @fearthewaveblog on Twitter.

AAC Power Rankings - Week Two: 
11. SMU Mustangs - LW #7, 0-2 Record, L to U. OF NORTH TEXAS 

 SMU suffered a big drop this week. After getting shellacked by Baylor, we thought they might just be rusty. A 43-6 beatdown by the hands of UNT (a team Tulane beat last year) led to the resignation of their coach and shaky waters ahead. Likely moving down further with time.

10. Tulane Green Wave - LW #10, 0-2 Record, L to GEORGIA TECH 

 This kills you, but Tulane has a lot to prove after a monumental week in the program's history. In front of a sellout crowd at the brand new Yulman Stadium, Royce LaFrance opened the game with a fumble recovery to get the fans fired up. Unfortunately, on an extremely hot and humid Louisiana Saturday, things slipped away, and ultimately standout QB Tanner Lee was benched. The second half allowed the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech to break it open, and Tulane was left winless once again. They will get another chance with Southeastern Louisiana coming to Yulman for the first ever night game.

9. Tulsa Golden Hurricane - LW #9, 1-1 Record, L to OKLAHOMA 

 Well, reality came back to Tulsa 52-7 beatdown at home by the Oklahoma Sooners.

8. UConn Huskies - LW #10, 1-1 Record, W against STONY BROOK 

 Not going to give them much credit for beating Stony Brook of the CAA. Let's see what else they will do down the stretch.

7. USF Bulls - LW #8, 1-1 Record, L against MARYLAND 

 USF gave up a fourth quarter lead to almost secure another victory for the American Conference against the Power Five.

6. Temple Owls - LW #5, 1-1 Record, L against NAVY 

 Temple could not complete a comeback against future conference rival Navy. The Owls are back to .500.

5. Memphis Tigers - LW #6, 1-1 Record, L against #11 UCLA 

 I hate to move a team up after a loss, but no one in the rear made a move. And everyone lost. So what are you going to do? Furthermore, who saw the Tigers going punch-for-punch with the #11 UCLA Bruins on the road? Tough to judge the Tigers by this performance alone, but things seem to be turning around in Memphis.

4. Houston Cougars - LW #4, 1-1 Record, W against GRAMBLING STATE 

 47-0 win against Grambling State after a beatdown suffered against UTSA last week. Moving on.


3. East Carolina Pirates - LW #2, 1-1 Record, L against #21 SOUTH CAROLINA 

 The Pirates led going into the second quarter. Pretty sure South Carolina would have imploded if Shane Carden and the gang had stuck this one out.

2. UCF Knights - LW #3, 0-1 Record, No Action 

 Snooze. Getting a break after the weird Ireland trip. What are we hoping to do with that gimmick?

1. Cincinnati Bearcats - LW #1, 0-0 Record, No Action 

 The Bearcats will start their regular season after the Cinci Bengals in the NFL. Who made this schedule up?

Let me know what you think about the American Athletic Conference Power Rankings: Week Two. 

Well here we are, folks. It's time. The Tulane Green Wave, who were last seen in an inspiring comeback in the second half of the New Orleans Bowl --- stymied only by a failed field goal attempt to end the game --- are back in action for the 2014 season.

The American Conference may be a new league, but the Green Wave faces an old foe in the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. That's right. Tulsa. Another Conference USA gone Power Six export.

But to say it's an old rivalry would be inaccurate. From 1968 until 2012, the Green Wave had won a grand total of zero games in this series.

Last year, however, Tulane notched a historic victory for the first time in over 40 years that made the team bowl eligible. It was a big deal. It symbolized new hope for a program that had been devastated by real hurricanes, administrative issues, and yes, some serious football issues.

The stakes are just as high this year. You would have to look back to the 1990s to think of another time when the passion and optimism of the Green Wave fan base has reached this level.

In the offseason, Head Coach Curtis Johnson made waves after signing every target on National Signing Day, and as a bonus, locking down a ton of local talent from the Louisiana recruiting base.

But today is the day that the team gets a chance to realize the huge expectations for this season. Here are the storylines.

Game Time: 7 PM CST
TV: CBS Sports Network. Check your local listing. 
Betting Line: Tulsa -6.5 

1. Freshman QB 

 Coming out of camp, one of the bigger stories has been the success of redshirt freshman Tanner Lee. The New Orleans Jesuit product has impressed pretty much anyone watching with impressive arm strength and his ability to make the offense more dynamic.

As a result, he became the clear starter over Nick Montana and Devin Powell, who both started in games in the 2013 campaign.

While it was widely reported that Lee would be the first freshman QB to start opening day in history, one of my Twitter followers pointed out he's actually the second.
Still, crazy, right? Lee's ability to manage this offense will be a critical part of keeping pace with the Golden Hurricane tonight.

2. Defense, Defense, Defense 

 Yes, the defense is really good. Obviously in the off-season, the Green Wave lost some key contributors to graduation (especially Davenport), but they return a very strong core highlighted by Lorenzo Doss who made pretty much every pre-season watch list in existence, Royce LaFrance (who led the team in sacks), Nico Marley (who won Conference USA freshman of the year), and Sam Scofield, who led the team in tackles. Pretty solid, right?

The term "mid-major Michigan State" has been thrown around, and it's fitting. The Green Wave defense will look to build on the success of last season.

How much pressure can they bring tonight to hold the Golden Hurricane back like they did last year?

3. #18 

 Devon Walker is returning to the site of his tragic injury, which occurred against Tulsa two years ago. He will make an appearance at halftime in front of the Tulsa crowd. Go Devon go!

Devon graduated from Tulane in the spring and is pursuing a graduate degree right now.


Nice work @TheHullabaloo. You can download the poster with the 2014 Tulane Football schedule right here.

The border at the bottom is a nice touch. As you can remember from the pictures of Yulman Stadium once the turf was put down a couple weeks ago, we'll be using our own checkered end zone (think: University of Tennessee).

Great work. Download it today at the link above.
Credit: @katielentz on Twitter
Don't really know what else to put here. A strong effort on the mound allowed Tulane baseball to topple the #3 LSU Tigers 3-2 after 11 innings of baseball.

This is, without a doubt, the biggest upset that comes to mind since I started following the Green Wave. The LSU baseball powerhouse was unable to manufacture a run late in the game, the Wave ultimately capitalized with a two-out double followed by a game winning RBI by Richard Carthon.

That was the dagger, for sure. In a weird bit of cosmic irony though, it was former Tulane pitcher and LSU transfer Nate Fury who gave up the game winning run.

Kyle McKenzie, who entered the game as a closer, pitched four dominant, scoreless innings to keep the Green Wave's upset hopes alive. In the top of the 11th, he downed the final two batters on strikeouts to finish his outing.

This game was an absolute battle for the Green Wave. We didn't produce a single hit from the 4th until the 11th inning. However, the team stood strong, the pitching held up, and the Green Wave hung around long enough to pull out a momentous victory.

And for the first time since 2010, the Bayou Bengals will head back on I-10 without a win.
See you at the Box on April 22nd for round two.

Last night, the Green Wave managed to pull away from the UTSA Roadrunners en route to 68-56 victory at Devlin Fieldhouse.

While the Roadrunners led at the half, the Green Wave picked up the pace in the second and ultimately notched their seventh Conference USA win of the year.

This marks the first time in the Ed Conroy era that Tulane has had 7 or more wins in-conference, and the Green Wave are on the inside track to a first round bye in the Conference USA tournament.

To top it off, Jay Hook, who was 4-4 from three point land against UTEP, continued his hot streak while putting up 25 points on the Roadrunners.

Tulane picks it up again with a home matchup against Florida Atlantic, who we have at 9th in our power rankings, on Feb. 26.

This also marks another game in Tulane's streak of seven consecutive wins against C-USA teams with a worse record (matched by an 0-6 streak when facing teams with a superior record).

Tulane hosted the conference-leading UTEP Miners at Devlin Fieldhouse tonight. Of course, Miners' coach Tim Floyd brought some New Orleans roots (as a former coach of UNO) in the final in-conference, regular season matchup between these two teams.

It had the potential to be a big game, with UTEP leading our league and Tulane in 6th position in-conference. As a result, Coach Ed Conroy brought out his marketing "A game," offering up free pizzas and dollar drinks to the students in attendance:
The Green Wave has struggled with similar top in-conference talent, so the ability of the Green Wave to stick with UTEP for the first half and much of the second half was a bit of a shock.

However, late in the second half, UTEP managed to build its lead to 20 points as Tulane's three pointers slowed down. Throughout the matchup, the Green Wave was unable to establish any kind of inside game against a much bigger UTEP team.

The Green Wave finished with a 72-54 loss at the Miners' hands.

As Guerry Smith highlights below, this game will be added to the "Tale of Two Teams" year for Tulane:
On one hand, the Green Wave has accumulated a .500 C-USA record, a big feat in light of past years' struggles this time of year.

On the other hand, one can't deny that the team has not been able to show up against better teams, which is highlighted by beatdowns at the hands of UTEP, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, and Kansas State.

The Green Wave is still very much in the hunt for a bye in the C-USA tournament, but unless it can play up to a higher level of basketball, it remains to be seen whether the team can do anything with it.

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