Is TU Baseball Peaking at the Right Time? And Our Final Look Back at Spring Football
Welcome to our regular edition of the Green Wave Report from On SI Tulane. I'm Doug Joubert. The Green Wave Report is a weekly rundown of stories we've put together, analysis of what went on, and what you can expect later in the week from On SI Tulane, part of the Sports Illustrated Network. If you like what we produce each week, we’d appreciate it if you’d like our stories and subscribe to our YouTube channel. It helps us in knowing what you like and don’t like.
Tulane Baseball Turns It Around
With their backs against the wall, Tulane baseball found itself getting clobbered on Friday night at home to, at the time, fellow cellar dweller South Florida. A stern talking-to from their head coach left the Sluggerbirds with a choice: quit or give a better collective effort. Wins on Saturday and Sunday told the story, as the Green Wave have a chance to make it into the American Conference tournament next week as they travel to Houston for the regular season-ending series against Rice.
On SI Tulane Analysis
This Tulane team has shown flashes of who they could be this season. Examples: taking two of three from East Carolina, going to Wichita and taking two of three there, beating a ranked Southern Miss squad. Unfortunately, the flashes weren’t sustained, which is why the Green Wave find themselves looking for a way to get into the American Conference tournament. At 10-14, the Wave is tied for 9th. Only eight get into the league tourney.
The Sluggerbirds know what they have to do to get in. A sweep of Rice this weekend would help. The Owls, though, are one of the hottest teams in the American, winning six of their last seven, sweeping UAB and taking two of three from ECU. Can this team sustain the momentum gained from their Saturday and Sunday wins over a just-as-desperate-to-win team, South Florida? We’ll find out starting Thursday.
Part Four of Our Look Back at Spring Football
This is the final of our four-part examination of where the Tulane football program sits after the first Spring of Hall Ball. Week one, we talked about the quarterback room. In part two, we examined the offensive and defensive line play. Last week, we looked at the running backs now on the Tulane roster. This week, we talk defensive secondary.
On SI Tulane Analysis
Not to overuse superlatives, but this may be the best defensive backfield we’ve seen in Uptown in a while. The corners and safeties play physical and have long reach. Coverage was so tight sometimes, it was like Tulane receivers had an extra jersey on. We said last year, the Tulane secondary needed to play more physically to keep up with teams like Ole Miss. They have done that aplenty this Spring with the addition of Macho Stevenson. The Spring results by the secondary showed a more aggressive approach to guarding receivers. And that was without Jach Tchienchou who was recovering from shoulder surgery. The reigning American Conference Championship contest Player of the Game will be ready for the Fall.
As we covered earlier in our critique, the defensive line was stout this Spring, and we didn’t even talk linebackers, which should be the strength of this side of the ball with Chris Rodgers the star of that group.
Defensive coordinator Tayler Polk has brought an energy to the entire defensive side of the ball. If you don’t know who he is, be looking this Fall for the guy who is jumping and gyrating on the sidelines, and sometimes on the field, more than anyone else.
The Tulane University swimming and diving program announced the hiring of Kat Mueller as the program's Assistant Swimming Coach.
And, the Tulane beach volleyball program ended up ranked No. 20 in the final American Volleyball Coaches Poll. This is the second time Tulane has been ranked in the final AVCA poll of a season since joining Conference USA after finishing the 2023 season at No. 18.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our regular edition of the Green Wave Report. We’ll be back next Monday at 4:00 CDT.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.