Showing posts with label aac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aac. 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.)


The Tulane Green Wave is coming off a remarkable 31-24 victory over Houston last weekend with a big-time matchup against the Memphis Tigers on the way.

I'll be publishing an interview with an expert on Memphis football tomorrow for my "Know Your Enemy" piece, but with three games remaining this season, I couldn't help but think: what is this year going to look like?

Saturday will be a big factor. Memphis -- like Houston -- is fighting for the top spot in the American Conference. Tulane will be an 11 point underdog, which will shock no one, when they enter Yulman Stadium on Saturday.

Thinking about our chances, I have been getting really into the Football Outsiders website, which specializes in advanced stats for college football. If you're into that sort of think, you'll probably dig this post. If math isn't your thing, I'd probably use this as a jumping off point.

Memphis at Tulane: 

 While the conventional wisdom was that this season would come down to UCF vs. Cincinnati vs. East Carolina, that has not been the case. Memphis has already thrown a wrench in that dynamic with a single in-conference loss so far this year.

Memphis is a damn good football team. They took UCLA to the wire on the Bruins' field, and then hung with a very talented Ole Miss team into the fourth quarter in the Liberty Bowl. But how good are they?

Using the F/+ formula of Football Outsiders, which rates teams on the basis of offensive, defensive, and special teams performance excluding garbage time and garbage drives, here's a quick preview of Saturday:

Tulane Green Wave [3-6]: 

  1. Ranking: 99th out of 128 in FBS 
  2. Offensive Ranking: 92nd 
  3. Defensive Ranking: 63rd 
  4. Special Teams: 126th 
  5. F/+ Rating: -14.5% 
Memphis Tigers [6-3]: 
  1. Ranking: 45th out of 128 in FBS 
  2. Offensive Ranking: 75th 
  3. Defensive Ranking: 46th 
  4. Special Teams: 2nd 
  5. F/+ Rating: 6.1% 
A couple things pop out immediately. For one, as you can see in the full ranking, Memphis is the highest rated team in the American Conference. The Tigers, through this week, have been on par with the likes of Texas A&M, Texas, and the University of Florida. That is a big time college football team. 

While both teams boast a serious strength on defensive with relatively low-ranked offenses through this week, you will notice the discrepancy at special teams: Memphis being ranked second in the country to Tulane, ranked second to last. 

Interesting, but still 6.1% vs. -14.5% in a F/+ rating? What does that actually mean in terms of the football game that is about to be played. 

An Underdog Story: 

SB Nation writer Bill Connelly writes a pretty cool blog called Football Study Hall, which is worth checking out if you like this sort of thing. 

Unfortunately, they do awesome projections for the power conferences but the AAC doesn't get any love. 

My question this week was how meaningful the difference between Memphis and Tulane in their play so far this year should be as a factor in projecting who wins this game. After tweeting at Bill, they do not publish their algorithm for how they turn the F/+ ratings into pretty impressive predictions for win probabilities, so I decided to try to do it myself. 

Using this college football season as a data set, in games so far between teams with a margin of F/+ ratings between 19 and 20 points, the favorite won about 96.8% of the time. If we played a game like that 100 times, you would expect the underdog to win about three of those times. 

Does It Matter? 

Depends who you ask. The ratings tend to be pretty solid. If you are picking games straight up using the F/+ ratings, you would be right about 78% of the time (it's a little tougher in projecting beating the spread, so that's a whole other conversation). 

A relevant factor that we don't pick up from these numbers is that a team trending upward is obviously desirable when you need one to beat the odds, even if the chance of victory is fairly small. 

I think Tulane fits that profile as much as any team can. For one, reports from practice this week indicate that not only has Tulane seen a couple key components coming back online after injury, but quarterback Tanner Lee is starting to hit his peak. 
That's a good sign. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the Tulane offensive unit -- which along with the special teams -- really anchors the Green Wave down in such ratings has been forced to evolve in some pretty absurd ways.

Does the trajectory of the offense under Nick Montana, which slowed to a crawl as the team tried to minimize risk against UConn and UCF, have anything to do with where the offense is right now?

Is the fact that 70% of the yardage Tulane has put up offensively has been produced by freshman a factor in that each game is basically multiplying the amount of experience this team has?

It's very possible. Tulane will be able to choose its own fate on Saturday playing in front of a sold-out crowd against the toughest team in its league.

If the Green Wave can survive this one again, it will be a huge statement not only to the development of this team but also to its viability against East Carolina and Temple, which on paper will prove to be easier games.

Predicting the Other AAC Matchups:

 Thursday: 

 East Carolina at Cincinnati: This one is extremely close on paper. Ranked 57th to 64th respectively, I have East Carolina with a 53% win probability. This is going to be a toss-up.

Saturday: 

 Tulsa at UCF: Huge disparity between these two teams. UCF playing at home will have a 98.5% chance of beating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to stay in the AAC contender race.

Temple at Penn State: Temple will head to Penn State after a tough loss by a field goal to Memphis. The Owls should lose this one but have a 31% win probability, so they may be able to find some magic on the road.

USF at SMU: Both of these teams are considered the worst 15 squads in the country, but the Mustangs are putting up some historic numbers in their badness. USF will have an 81% win probability for this one on the road.


 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.

Week Eight of college football is in the books, and it's time for a new edition of the American Athletic Conference Power Rankings. 

11. SMU Mustangs - (0-6 / 0-2 in AAC) - LOST to CINCINNATI 

Easy one. SMU is without a head coach with no light at the end of the tunnel. They have no hope for this season. I just wish they were on our schedule. Next. 

10. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-6 / 1-2 in AAC) - LOST to USF 

Tulsa is in a death spiral. Coach Blankenship's program gave up a commanding lead at home to lose to a struggling USF Bulls squad with 17 points allowed in the fourth quarter alone. Yikes. I wish we had that first game back, but so it goes. 

9. UConn Huskies (1-5 / 0-3 in AAC) - No Action 

UConn had a weak to recover from a road loss to our Tulane Green Wave. Until they find a way to compete even against the bottom tier of our conference, UConn will remain in the doghouse. 

8. Tulane Green Wave (2-5 / 1-2 in AAC) - LOST to UCF 

Yargh. Tulane had a real chance to start a run when our defense held UCF to 20 points, but a struggling offense was not able to produce a tying score. Still, they have a bit more upside than those bottom three teams and a few appealing upset matchups on the docket. First up: a home battle with the Cincinnati Bearcats after a week to prepare. Let's roll. 

7. South Florida Bulls (3-4 / 2-1 in AAC) - WIN against TULSA 

Well, the USF managed to earn a winning record in the conference with a huge comeback against Tulsa. Don't get me wrong. The Golden Hurricane is not a strong team, but for the time being, USF has put itself in the middle of the conference. 

6. Memphis Tigers (3-3 / 1-1 in AAC) - No Action 

I've been a fan of Memphis all season, but a home loss to Houston kills the momentum they built from a smackdown at Cincinnati. They have a favorable stretch of SMU, Tulsa, and Temple as their next three games. They will need to win all three to put themselves back into the conversation as a contender for the conference. 

5. Temple Owls (4-2 / 2-1 in AAC) - LOST to HOUSTON 

Owls, Owls, Owls. One of the feel good stories of 2014. A 4-1 start was a great thing for a program that was once straight-up disowned by the Big East (the old Big East, that is). But still, a 31-10 beating at the hands of the Houston Cougars won't cut it. Were wins against Delaware State, Vanderbilt, UConn, and Tulsa great tests, or are we about to see some serious regression? Let's watch. 

4. Cincinnati Bearcats (3-3 / 1-1 in AAC) - WIN against SMU 

The good news? The Bearcats are now coming off of a 41-3 shellacking of a conference opponent. The bad news? They had a three game losing streak coming into that win. I do not believe Cinci is a serious contender to win this conference at this stage, but they are still very dangerous behind QB Gunner Kiel. 

3. Houston Cougars (4-3 / 2-1 in AAC) - WIN against TEMPLE 

Houston just took care of business in back-to-back week by silencing plucky newcomers Memphis and Temple with nice wins. They do have a loss to UCF on their record, but still, they have USF, Tulane, and Tulsa as their next three matchups. Houston controls its own fate if it wants to put itself in the mix, as they do not play ECU. 

2. UCF Knights (4-2 / 2-0 in AAC) - WIN against TULANE 

UCF did not look like a great team against Tulane. In fact, the offensive line looked like a much bigger problem than the absence of big-time QB Blake Bortles. That being said, they are playing at another level than the rest of the teams, and I would say they are the only real viable threat to ECU's run here. 

1. East Carolina Pirates (5-1 / 2-0 in AAC) - No Action 

East Carolina did not have a game this week, but they are up to #18 in the rankings and expect them to keep rising with UConn and Temple as their next two games. 

That's it for now. Hit me on Twitter @fearthewaveblog or leave your comments. 

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: 


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 (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. 

The first week of the new look American Athletic Conference is in the books following a weekend of lopsided results (in addition to Tulane and Tulsa contributing the first overtime and double overtime game of this NCAA season).

Let's get the Power Rankings rolling for the American Conference. Feel free to weigh in by tweeting @fearthewaveblog or in the comments.

11. UConn Huskies (0-1): L to BYU 

While it's tough to tease the bottom out too much at this point, UConn put forth a pretty weak performance in their season opener against the BYU Cougars. In a home matchup, they fell 35-10 to a BYU team that was suffering some serious personnel issues between injuries and team-issued suspensions. Nevertheless, BYU ran all over the Huskies while average 5.5 yards per carry and producing over 200 yards rushing to UConn's 71.

10. Tulane Green Wave (0-1): L to TULSA (AAC) 

Tulane is probably the new team in the AAC with the most to prove coming in this year, and the Green Wave nearly made an incredible statement in a Thursday night thriller against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Freshman gunslinger QB? Check, Tanner Lee. Newcomer RB becoming the sixth RB in Tulane history to rush for over 200 yards? Sherman Badie was on it. Double overtime at an away field to start the season? That too. The only thing missing was the ability to close out a resurgent Tulsa team, either by producing more offensively in the second half or better coverage of the deep ball by the Tulane secondary. Sadly, it slipped away, and Tulane will have to make the most of these close games with an extremely tough schedule this year.

9. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-0): W against TULANE (AAC) 

Picked to finished last by the AAC Media Poll, Tulsa caught fire in the second half, led by QB Evans in his second season at the helm. A spirited performance helped the team notch their first home win and move past Tulane.

8. USF Bulls (1-0): W against W. CAROLINA 

USF barely escaped a huge upset by the Western Carolina Catamounts in a thin 36-31 victory at home. The Bulls looked rougher than expected, though true freshman RB Marlon Mack salvaged a bad game with 200+ yards against the fledgling FCS team. USF will have to show more to survive the conference schedule looking forward.

7. SMU Mustangs (0-1): L to BAYLOR

 Tough to judge the Mustangs too harshly for scheduling such a tough game to start the season, but a 45-0 shutout against a talented Baylor team made it look like the Mustangs are not ready to set the world on fire this year or do some damage to serious opponents.

6. Memphis Tigers (1-0): W against AUSTIN PEAY

 On one hand, Memphis smoked their first opponent 63-0. On the flip side, that opponent was Austin Peay.

5. Temple Owls (1-0): W against VANDERBILT 

 Everyone wanted to talk about the "Anchor Down" on the back of the Vanderbilt Commodores jerseys. The Temple Owls didn't feel like talking and smoked this SEC opponent 37-7. The AAC is 1-0 against the SEC so far this season...

4. Houston Cougars (0-1): L to UT-SAN ANTONIO 

 Houston Cougars got a taste of one of the more dangerous teams you probably haven't heard of yet unless you're a Green Wave fan. UTSA was a thorn in our side last year when Larry Coker (yeah, that one; the guy with the national titles from "The U" days) led his team to a nasty comeback against Tulane in the midst of our run. That was a close game. This one with Houston wasn't. The Roadrunners jacked Houston up with a 27-7 win on the road to show they are still mad about not getting a bowl bid.

3. UCF Knights (0-1): L to PENN STATE 

 A strong UCF team fell by a field goal to a strong Penn State team in a wacky gimmick game played in Dublin, Ireland. Whatcha gonna do. UCF will look to rebound and establish itself as a contender for the conference, once again.

 2. East Carolina (1-0): W against N. CAROLINA CENTRAL 

 Quarterback Shane Carden and his squad laid out an undermatched opponent to start their season. Next three opponents? Away at South Carolina. Home against Virginia Tech. Away at UNC. We're going to know pretty quickly here how serious ECU is this season.

1. Cincinnati Bearcats (0-0): N/A 
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