TU Defense to Be Challenged by FAU Passing Attack
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It's been almost a year since Tulane's football team lost in Yulman Stadium. The last time a visiting team hung a loss on the Green Wave was the last game of the year in Uptown, when Memphis dumped the Wave by ten in Uptown. Tulane is 4-0 in the friendly confines of Yulman, where Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., the Green Wave will play before an SRO crowd against American Conference foe Florida Atlantic.
The Owls are led by transfer quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who is second in the American Conference in passing yards, averaging just shy of 288-yards per game. Veltkamp is listed as questionable for Saturday's game. Veltkamp suffered an injury to his right throwing shoulder during the fourth quarter of last Saturday's 40-21 win over Tulsa and left the game. While FAU coach Zach Kittley said that Veltkamp could have returned if necessary, his transfer QB has been limited in practice this week.
“I still foresee him playing,” Kittley said in a story published in the Palm Beach Post. “But we’re having to monitor him and be smart with him throughout the week.”
According to Kittley, Veltkamp has been dealing with shoulder problems since FAU’s loss to Memphis on Sept. 27. The shoulder injury was exacerbated by the blow from a Tulsa defender he suffered last week.
“Since then, we’ve been kind of battling this a little bit,” Kittley said. “He hasn’t been 100 percent every day since then. But he’s been able to practice a little bit here and there, and he’s done a good job. This is just a little setback for him.”
If Veltkamp cannot go, Georgia State transfer Zach Gibson will fill in. Gibson was 6-for-13 in a season opening loss at Maryland for 49 yards, tossing two interceptions.
No matter the quarterback, Tulane safety Jack Tchienchou knows they'll have to be on their toes against a team that has a faster pace in the passing game than anyone else in the country.
"We know this game is going to be on us (Tulane defense)," said the sophomore defensive back. "They'll try to take their shots, a lot of sideways football, try to make us tackle in space."
The Owls are near the bottom of the pack in the American Conference, but Tchienchou believes there is little chance of the Green Wave looking past FAU.
"When you're winning, every game is a trap game," Tchienchou said. "If we go in and do what we have to do, we'll handle our business. They're coming in here, trying to ruin our season, trying to blow out our candles, but if we keep playing our ball, we'll be good."
Kickoff for Saturday's homecoming game is set for 3:00 p.m. against Florida Atlantic.
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.