Takeaways from Tulane's 48-26 Loss to UTSA
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Takeaways from a 22-point Loss in San Antonio
Tulane's football team was on its heels from the get-go Thursday in a game that saw the Green Wave get outgained and outgunned by a team with more losses than wins going into the contest.
Passing Defense is Missing Assignments
We have seen it, and heard it from head coach Jon Sumrall: the Tulane defense is missing assignments, especially on the big pass plays. Against Army, the Wave could almost be forgiven for losing a wide receiver on a deep route, because the Black Knights hardly ever throw the ball. The same cannot be said for Texas-San Antonio. Sure, they have the premiere running back in the league in Robert Henry, but their passing game is not to be ignored. Sumrall said as much in his postgame interviews, referring to Road Runner quarterback Owen McCown, the son of a former NFL QB, as "the best returning quarterback in the league (American Conference)." Allowing the big play has become commonplace instead of an aberration, something that must change if the Green Wave stand a chance against Memphis in a week.
The Hurry Up Didn't Work Against UTSA
Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock shared with us this week that they were going to push the tempo more. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff has shown a propensity to run a more up-tempo offense very efficiently. That didn't happen for the Wave against UTSA. Retzlaff and his receivers looked like they weren't on the same page regularly Thursday night, and the Tulane running game, long held as a Sumrall offensive standard, continues to bog down. The up-tempo might need more time to coalesce, but it didn't work well against the Road Runners.
UTSA Felt Slighted by Tulane Pregame Talk
In a story in this morning's San Antonio Express-News, Road Runner players and coaches said they felt slighted by comments made by Tulane players and coaches. In his post-game comments, Texas-San Antonio head coach Jeff Traylor called out Tulane coach Sumrall for saying that people accuse UTSA of piping in music and artificial noise in the Alamodome. Then, there was the pregame on field interview with Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff. The senior, responding to a question from the ESPN booth announcers about the Road Runners being unbeaten in 23 straight home conference games, told the men in the booth that he was "unbeaten in the Alamodome," referring to a bowl game in which he played when he was at BYU, but not against UTSA. Texas-San Antonio players were not happy about Retzlaff's bluster. The UTSA staff did a good job of making sure players and coaches knew about these incidents and used them to their advantage, much like when Sumrall used the "jersey gate" kerfuffle in the Northwestern game. Traylor used every tool in his coaching toolbox to get the Road Runners good and ticked off.
Distractions?
Jon Sumrall is refreshingly honest with his coaches, his players, and the media. He is a quote machine, as some journalists say. There is much to like about him, both as a coach and a person to talk with. However, when Sumrall said he was tired of people asking about distractions involving his team, his coaches, his program, and himself, it seems a little off. He told us this week that helping his players learn how to tune out the distractions was one of the big talking points in the offseason. He even partially chalked up some of the issues last season toward the end as him not helping his players learn how to hand diversions. Maybe it wasn't a mantra by the Green Wave going into this year, but it was definitely a point of concern for the Tulane head coach.
In this game against UTSA, the Green Wave offense was not in sync. The Tulane defense was giving up chunk plays pretty regularly, allowing an opposing quarterback to work his way to an ungodly quarterback rating of 228.1. Yeah. 228.1. Even the kicking game wasn't normal. Mr. 100% in Field Goals, Patrick Durkin, missed a chip shot 23-yarder. Something was not copacetic for the Green Wave in this game against UTSA. Was it from the distractions of what was going on off-the-field and in the Alamodome? Sumrall doesn't think so. Then, there is something else going on for a talented Tulane team to look like they did on Thursday night.
The Green Wave won't have a lot of time to find answers to these questions, as Tulane is back on the road on Friday, November 7 in another prime time game, this time in Memphis against the Tigers.
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.