This year's Tulane isn't quite the bunny that you think it is.
I was at the SuperDome two years ago and SU wasn't quite that good at hunting bunnies that day either.
From my SU preview:
Saturday, 9/21/13 TBA (“to be announced”) vs
. TULANEat the Carrier Dome TBA
Tulane, usually one of college football’s “have-nots”, occasionally rise up like those movie zombies to start beating people. They might be on the verge of that again. We played them in the Super Dome two years ago and barely scraped by on a last second field goal, 37-34, sandwiched in between Green Wave defeats to Army, (6-45) and UTEP, 7-43), both of whom are also generally terrible. It was pretty embarrassing. They have a history of giving SU trouble. We kicked a field goal in the mud to beat them 3-0 in 1976, got upset by them in the Dome, 24-26 in 1990 and we needed a last play interception by Tebucky Jones to beat them in 1997.
Last year the Green Wave petered out to a 2-10 record. Senior safety Devon Walker suffered a spinal cord injury and that punched a hole in the team, physically and emotionally. First year coach Curtis Johnson, who had spent six year as receivers coach for the Saints, held the team together while trying to install the Saint’s offense. They lost their first five games by a combined 45-212, then went 2-5 and were only outscored 212-249. They are getting better.
They have a quarterback with a good pedigree, Nick Montana, the son of you-know-who, who transferred in from junior college in time for spring practice. He’ll be throwing to Ryan Grant, who caught 76 passes last year for 1,149 yards. They had basically no rushing attack at all, gaining less than 40 yards a game. But star running back Orleans Darkwa was injured most of the season and he is back. He gained over 900 yards and had double figures in touchdowns his first two years. They have four starters back on the offensive line, so they could be potent.
Unfortunately their defense was awful the whole season. Whatever strength they have is in the secondary where CB Lorenzo Doss was a freshman All-American . An LSU transfer, Chris Davenport, could improve things in the line.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 40-223 yards 119th-114th
Passing: 280-260 yards 33rd-95th
Total: 320-483 yards 109th-114th
Scoring: 21-38 points 97th-115th
Turnover Margin: -9
