Tulane's Sumrall Previews East Carolina Ahead of Prime Time Game
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We met with Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall after Monday's practice to look ahead to Thursday's ESPN game against East Carolina. First things first, the Pirate offense, that is downright incendiary.
"They're good," Sumrall agreed. "They thrive on explosive plays and shots, but if you play too light in the box, they'll run it down your throat. Their offensive coordinator (John David Baker) was at Ole Miss prior, so they're similar schematically to what they do. They've got good players."
ECU Quarterback's Got a Gun
Leading the charge for ECU is quarterback Katin Houser. The redshirt junior started his career at Michigan State before settling on East Carolina. He's completed 68.3% of his 180-passes, averaging almost 302-yards per game through the air.
"He's a talented kid," Sumrall said. "He's got a big arm...can make all the throws. He's as good a quarterback as we have in our conference.
Pirate Receivers Can Stretch the Field
"They've got long, fast receivers," Sumrall stated.
The three top ECU receivers all have over twenty catches each and each has over 300-yards receiving. The trio of Anthony Smith, Yannick Smith (no relation to each other), and Brock Spalding are each averaging over 12-yards a pop for each reception.
"This is a real challenge for our defense," Sumrall concluded.
The Pirate Running Game is Not What the Passing Game Is
Though the Pirates don't run the ball as often, averaging less than half the yardage per contest they do in the air, they are capable on the ground. Redshirt sophomore London Montgomery is their main man, averaging 41.8-yards per game on 51-carries.
The East Carolina D
While the Pirate offense is motoring at a 456-yard per game clip, the defense is giving up 304-yards a contest, most of that in the air, at 186-yards for each game played.
Bye Week a Chance to Regroup
Sumrall said this week off has given his players an advantage of getting back to the basics.
"I don't care who you're playing," Sumrall pointed out. "The standard you're playing at has to be your standard. When I get frustrated is when we don't play clean. I thought the cleanest we played from an operational standpoint was game one (against Northwestern). So, I told our guys, lets do the simple things better. Let's just function and operate better.
"That's one of the things we do in the bye-week," he continued. "Before we even worry about who's next, we look back and say, 'What's gone well? What hadn't gone well? What do we need to address?'"
Offensive Line Is Starting to Get It
And Sumrall addressed how well the line play on the offensive side is getting.
"The O-line is the only position on the team," Sumrall continued, "that (essentially) needs nobody's help to do their job well. Maybe they need the tight end for some run game stuff, but the quarterback needs the O-line to play well for him to play well. The O-line doesn't need the quarterback to play for them to play well. (On the other side of the ball) The D-line needs the secondary to play well and vice-versa.
"I think what I'm most pleased with is when you see different (offensive line) rotations in the game (because of injuries), they just played really solid. Now, I think was most frustrated at the Tulsa game (at the end) when we put some youngsters in the game and we had 25-yards worth of penalties, but there's been a lot of good."
Tulane has an early week, taking on East Carolina on Thursday, October 9th at 6:30 in Yulman Stadium. The game will be a prime time game on ESPN.
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.