My main concern is the Tulane secondary. They have 3 of the four starters returning from a bowl team (loss to La La in NO Bowl 21-24).

Tulane's quality win last year was at home against ECU in 3 OTs. Tulane has 7 offensive starters returning including their QB Nick Montana who was a 53% passer - not a huge number advantage for them at that position over Dane. (BTW, look for Joe Montana -<Nicks father>- to be in Chapman stadium Aug 28th somewhere in the crowd.) Their rushing attack is not a great advantage to them either and we will probably see some younger kids there. The WRs are their top skill players so I see some balls in the air at gametime from the Wave. Their OLine is decent, about what we will have. Neither team gets the advantage offensively IMO.

Defense is where we will have the advantage. They have 6 returners, mostly in the secondary, but their interior DLine is young as well as their LBers. So if BB will do what he probably wants to do - run, we should have an advantage. Our defense returns virtually intact, so this is where we'll win the game if our "suspect" kickers don't give the game away.

So without further ado:

Tulsa ------------------28
Tulane-----------------10

I think Tulane will throw the ball 70% of the time.....how efficient they are passing will determine the game......if our defense can stop them fairly consistently, we win a very close game......if their passing game is successful it won't be close!! I just don't see BB opening up the game enough for us to score enough points.....he'll run the same 10 plays over and over and it won't take a defensive genius to figure that out........the 2nd half could get ugly. If I'm wrong it's a tie game 21-21........if I'm right right......Tulane 31-14.

Best case scenario:

Tulsa 31
Tulane 10

Worst care scenario:
Tulsa 3
Tulane 10

What will probably happen:
Tulsa 21
Tulane 17

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How to lose the Tulane game - Turnovers and breakdowns in the kicking game. I remember several atrocious kick breakdowns from last year (and the year before) that have eaten away our chances of winning games. A case in point is the Colorado State game last year - a close win for us. The game started out with two major breakdowns in the kick game within the first 5 minutes.

After the defense held CSU the first series, they punted to us and Trey fumbled (at the 13:43 mark) giving CSU the ball on the 50 yd line. TU's defense held again and they then punted to us again. C Green and the offense wasn't able to move the ball from our 20 so we elected to punt. Then Cole Way had his punt blocked (at the 10:34 mark) and CSU got the ball on the 1 yd line. They scored.

So what happened? CSU scored a TD in the first 5 minutes of the game without a single first down and our defense held them to virtually no yards. CSU 6 - TU 0. If these kinds of things happen again, TU will lose.

Now later on, we won this game on a short FG, but why was it so close? Kicking matters. Two complete breakdowns in the kicking game within the first 5 minutes of that game should never happen. Quarterbacking doesn't matter if we just give the other team easy touchdowns when the defense isn't out there.

imo

Tulsa 20 Tulane 17

However, I won't be surprised if we lose. I think Tulane is better than many Tulsa fans think they are. Coming off a bowl season, with a new on-campus stadium & a coach who just signed a 1.3 million $ per year contract extension, Tulane sees itself as a program on the rise.

Tulsa is coming off a horrible season & has to be low on confidence. Tulsa really needs to start this game & this season strong. A bad start to this game & it could get ugly. Same for our season.

I agree with Rabid, turnovers & kicking game will be huge. I'll add 1 more key : QB play. Dane needs to play a smart game. I think we have some good offensive weapons if we use them properly.

There are so many unknowns this season.....everyone seems to be guessing and hoping.......so much depends on BB......first of all, can he get the team up for our first game and then what kind of game is he going to call.....he needs to set the tone early.......fake a run and drop back for a long, long pass on the first play......open it up from the beginning and also.....it just might work because Tulane won't be expecting it. Even if it didn't work, it would give them something to think about from the start of the game.

Here is something that might "help" figure this all out.

Last years stats:


http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footbal...green-wave

3 things I was told today by a knowledgable source : our play book is twice as thick as last season. Our offense looks much better. The kid from Tulsa Central (Brewer) looks good at RB.

I hope we all see evidence of this Thursday night.

I hope you're right! I'd love to see TU win 7 or 8 games this season

Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

(08-24-2014 05:54 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  3 things I was told today by a knowledgable source : our play book is twice as thick as last season. Our offense looks much better. The kid from Tulsa Central (Brewer) looks good at RB.

I hope we all see evidence of this Thursday night.

Fanzz, You seem to go to a lot of the practices, so on a scale of one to ten, how much better do they (the team) look to you from last year? And on that same scale, how much better does Dane look? Thanks.

(08-25-2014 10:55 AM)rabidTU2 Wrote:  

(08-24-2014 05:54 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  3 things I was told today by a knowledgable source : our play book is twice as thick as last season. Our offense looks much better. The kid from Tulsa Central (Brewer) looks good at RB.

I hope we all see evidence of this Thursday night.

Fanzz, You seem to go to a lot of the practices, so on a scale of one to ten, how much better do they (the team) look to you from last year? And on that same scale, how much better does Dane look? Thanks.

Actually Rabid, I went to a few spring scrimmages. This information was passed on to me.

Here's my take on the comments I heard : The playbook size only means something if we use it ! I've heard Dane & the offense look sharp. How will they look with the TV cameras on them ? Brewer has impressed me from his HS highlight videos thru TU practice video clips. Will he be impressive in his first college game ?

I have more questions than answers, but I was encouraged by what I heard.

Thanks for the input. Most of us have no idea what will happen Thursday, but it better be good. I think you are as close to a fan who has eye tested the team as we have. From your comments, I think we should be better and thats the indication I've been getting too. Thanks.

Well, we did look much better on offense. However, I don't think any of us would've predicted victory, with Tulane getting over 500 yds offense ! It was a good thing our offense REALLY improved !

BTW, Brewer didn't play much ( with Dickerson's great game, he didn't need to ), but Coach B said in post game that Brewer will be used more coming up. We adjusted our offense for Tulane. I think we'll see more different packages & different plays in future games. I'm glad to see we've added some playmakers & we're utilizing our playmakers much better.