The Green Wave Plays Army This Week, a Horse of a Different Color

The Tulane Green Wave play their earliest game of the year Saturday, October 18th when the Wave entertains Army at Yulman Stadium. Kickoff slated for 11:00 a.m. When they do, they will face a running game unlike anything they've seen all year: the triple option.

The Black Knights' Triple Option

At one time, the triple option offense was the norm in college football. Back in the 1970s, Barry Switzer's Oklahoma squad ran it to perfection in a wishbone formation. Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant was no slouch with the wishbone triple option, running it to national titles in Tuscaloosa. Nowadays, Army and Navy are known for their triple option attack, often using it in what is called a "flexbone" formation, where the quarterback is in a shotgun formation.

For those unacquainted with the triple option's intricacies, it starts with the quarterback receiving the snap. In the backfield with him are usually two running backs. There can also be a tight end or extra blocker back there. Then, once the QB gets the ball, he can do one of three things with the ball: fullback dive, quarterback keep, or pitch to a trailing back. Of course, he could also throw the ball, but we digress. The quarterback is the key to this offense, as he has to read which of those alternatives are best, depending on the blocking and positioning of the defense.

The 2024 American Conference Championship

In last year's league championship game, the Army offensive attack was led by "Captain America," Bryson Daily, who ran through the TU defense, piling up 126-yards and four-touchdowns enroute to a 35-14 spanking of Tulane.

Not Quite Reload, but Close for Army

This year's Army offensive attack is led by 5' 10", 205-pound signal caller, Cale Hellums. The junior from Texas has rushed the ball 109 times for 450-yards and 8-touchdowns. Hellums has thrown a grand total of 27-passes in six games, completing a dozen of them for 147-yards.

As a team, the Black Knights trail only Navy for rushing yards per game in the American, the Midshipmen coming in at 305-yards a contest, Army is at 287.2-yards a week.

The Tulane Defense Needs to Be More Disciplined than Army's Offense

Instead of what the Green Wave defense has seen so far his year with air attacks, it's going to be a ground-pounding.

"It's a different test," Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall said this week. "It's a high-discipline test, a leverage test, a physicality test. There's a lot of things that challenge everybody differently than normal."

"We have got to be very disciplined," Wave linebacker Chris Rodgers told us, "or they can break a big play."

Linebacker coach Bam Hardmon agrees with all of the above. "One of the biggest things we have to make sure our guys understand is the piece of being disciplined, (but) you've got to be patient, having the element of patience within the discipline, where we can maintain leverage so that (if one player can't make the tackle), someone else can make the play."

"We have to be fast, and violent, and physical," senior defensive lineman Kam Hamilton told us.

Revenge?

The coaches don't talk much about the revenge factor when we ask about it after last year's American Conference Championship loss to the Black Knights, but the players...

"I told my family, this is my revenge tour," Hamilton said to us. "The people who were here last year, they took it kind of personal."

Tulane plays Army Saturday, October 18th at 11:00 a.m. in Yulman Stadium