The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Tulane vs Army
In this story:
This past Saturday, Tulane came from behind, scoring two touchdowns in the final six minutes to defeat Army, 24-17. Here is our weekly look at The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
There was more good that happened than what I originally thought. Truth be told, I did not feel good at all during most of the game. Once I had a chance to look back, and reevaluate, I came up with more good than what was in my brain during the game.
The Good
The running game felt sluggish at times. That may be why I just wasn't feeling it for most of the contest. However, the Green Wave was able to pile up a quiet 141-yards on the ground. Leading the way, quarterback Jake Retzlaff, whose 37-yard quarterback draw knotted up the game at 10 apiece. Tulane averaged 4.9-yards every time they tucked the ball and ran. Army, a downright professional when it comes to the college running game, totaled more real estate at 233-yards, but averaged 3.7-yards per rush. Their longest rush was a 16-yarder by their quarterback. Tulane didn't out-run the running team, but they sure did outperform them.
Finally. Penalties were not almost the undoing of the Green Wave. In fact, it could be said that the least penalized team in the American Conference, Army, was undone by their defensive holding penalty right before the winning touchdown throw by TU. The four flags against the Greenies were the least in any win for the Wave this season. Unlike previous weeks, the penalties did not stop touchdowns or keep alive drives (well, it did once, but Army only got a field goal out of it). Point being, the penalty pixies weren't driving the coaches mad or giving the other team a chance to win.
Nice job, Yulman Stadium crew! The backup scoreboard was sitting in the South end zone ready to go in case there were any issues, and I was told by the crew they had another backup plan in place. The folks up in the booth also told me the scoreboard designers had spent the entire week at Tulane ironing out the flaws and were at Yulman for Saturday's game just in case the stadium scoreboard went on the fritz again. The game was flawless, no issues with the clock or anything else that might have been wrong before. Nice.
The Bad
Give credit where credit is due: Tulane can run the two-minute offense. If only the Wave can figure out how to have that type of urgency all game long. Far be it from me to try to tell a coach how to coach. I'm the guy who coached middle-school cabbageball, for crying out loud. So don't listen to me. Perhaps listen, instead, to your quarterback. After the game, Jake Retzlaff was asked about feeling that immediacy of the two minute drill, and he said, "The team is just in go-mode. There's no thinking about it. There's no 'possessing the ball.' Coaches are just calling plays and making yards." He continued, "We're not calling plays to establish the run." Tulane already runs a no-huddle offense for almost the entire game, so the tempo is pretty darn quick. I don't think the senior signal caller was talking about tempo.
This is more of a request of the Tulane players than an observation: please don't wait until the end of the game to win. I think most Tulane fans, and your head coach, would like to see a blowout every once in a while. I don't know if my 69-year old heart can take many of these. Heck, even your coach, when talking about your growth this year, said after the Army game, "This group of guys is young and still trying to figure it out. It may age me, but it's also going to keep me young at heart." So, please guys, help your coach sleep better at night.
The Ugly
I was disappointed in the amount of seats in the seats. I know, it was an 11:00 a.m. kickoff. New Orleans fans are not known for wanting to be up that early for anything, much less a football game (note to schedulers of future games). However, here is Tulane taking on Army on Military Appreciation Day at Yulman Stadium and the numbers essentially matched the East Carolina game: a little over 20,000. This place should be packed, the way it was for the Duke game. Yeah, I know there were home shows, and marches, and Master P basketball, and umpteen other activities going on. Again, it's New Orleans: there's always something going on. But game ticket prices are unbelievably low, and Tulane football is on a roll. Yet, New Orleans cannot fill a 30-thousand seat stadium. I am not blaming this on the marketing or stadium folks. They have giveaways galore, great stadium food, an incredible environment for football, a super on-the-field product, a full-fledged marching band, an energetic student section, and scoreboards that work (sorry, had to bring that one up again). I just know this team deserves better support than what it's getting.
Tulane has an extended break between Army and its next contest. The Green Wave will be traveling to southern Texas on Halloween-eve for a Thursday, October 30th prime time game at the University of Texas San Antonio.
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.