SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Because we were a bad team in disguise against Wagner, a totally toothless FCS team that was only a shell of last year’s playoff team. We can’t use any of those 54 points in this game and there were a lot of plays that worked in that game that would not have worked against a better opponent. And all those holes in our defense that northwestern exploited are still there.
- Terrel Hunt isn’t a savior. He’s just the most popular guy in town- this week.
- Tulane has a history of giving us trouble. We beat them 3-0 in the Archbold mud in 1976, (when they were 2-9). They knocked off Coach Mac’s last team 24-26 in the Carrier Dome in 1990, (when they were 4-7). We got up on them 24-0 at halftime in the Super Dome in Coach P’s first year, (1991, when they went 1-10), but couldn’t score in the second half. We shut them out but their fans were shouting “Florida State!, Florida State!” at our team as we kept punting the ball back to them. The next week we lost by 32 to the Noles and the following week to East Carolina. We didn’t score in the second halves of those games, either. In 1997 we needed a pick 6 from Tebucky Jones on the last play of the game to sew up a 30-19 win. At least they had a good team that year, (7-4, followed by an improbable 12-0 the next season). They were decidedly not a good team when we played them two years ago. They’d just lost to a 3-9 Army team 6-45 and the next week would lose 7-44 to a 5-7 UTEP team. They wound up 2-11. We struggled to beat them with a last second field goal, 37-34. That prompted the famous “transitive property of college football” debate, with some people insisted that was meaningless. I remember asking Doug Marrone about that on his show and he didn’t think it was meaningless. That was the SU team that was lucky to start 5-2 and then feel apart down the stretch to finish 5-7. Playing a weak opponent is no guarantee of victory to a dysfunctional team.
- Tulane’s history is that they rest in peace most of the time but occasionally they rise up like a team of Zombies and feast on the living. From 1957-1969 they had one winning season, (and that was 5-4-1). Then they rose up to 8-4, including a Liberty Bowl victory over Colorado. Three years later they went 9-3, including a 14-0 win over LSU. They didn’t have another winner until 1978 when they again went 9-3 and beat LSU again, 24-13. They had a couple more winners after that but then went back to sleep with a lone 6-6 season the best they could do from 1982-96. Then came the 7-4 and incredible 12-0 season in 1998. But they weren’t able to build on that, although they did got 8-5 and beat Hawaii in the Aloha Bowl in 2002. They’ve had ten straight losing seasons since. They are due to rise from the dead once more. Their coach, Curtis Johnson was a colleague of Doug Marrone’s when they helped Sea Payton build the Saints Super Bowl winners. They have a good quarterback in Joe Montana, a great receiver in Ryan grant and fine running back in Orleans Darkwa, as well as an unreal kicker in Cairo Santos. This is no Wagner. They are going to beat some people this year and that could include us.
- Last year they went 2-10 but that record bears closer scrutiny. They had a 16 game losing streak during which they were out-scored 220-625, (an average of 14-39). That ended with a victory in their sixth game against Southern Methodist. They were only 2- 5 from that point on but they were only out-scored 212-249, (30-36). Their defense was still bad but their offense grew up. And that was without Darkwa, who was injured. Grant, (6-1, 190), put up Allen Robinson type numbers, (76 receptions for 149 yards and 6TDs), and did it with no running game to speak of, (Tulane finished 119th in the country with only 40 yards a game). Now they’ve got Darkwa and his back-up Rob Kelly, and have already rushed for more yards than they gained last year.
- Scott Shafer said that Nick Montana’s footwork is very similar to his father’s and he’s starting to coordinate things well with Grant. He’s showing the ability to throw long, too. Remember our secondary against Robinson and then in the Northwestern game.
- The defense seems improved. They had an awful beginning against South Alabama, (just as we did against Northwestern), falling behind 7-28 early in the first quarter. But they won the rest of that game, 32-13 and out-scored their other opponents by a combined 58-22.
- You just k now Cairo Santos will show up and hit a 50 yarder to win it. Ryan Norton will show up but it better not come down to him for us.
- Tulane is starting to beat people again and we are their next target.
- Terrel Hunt isn’t a savior. He’s just the most popular guy in town- this week.
- Tulane has a history of giving us trouble. We beat them 3-0 in the Archbold mud in 1976, (when they were 2-9). They knocked off Coach Mac’s last team 24-26 in the Carrier Dome in 1990, (when they were 4-7). We got up on them 24-0 at halftime in the Super Dome in Coach P’s first year, (1991, when they went 1-10), but couldn’t score in the second half. We shut them out but their fans were shouting “Florida State!, Florida State!” at our team as we kept punting the ball back to them. The next week we lost by 32 to the Noles and the following week to East Carolina. We didn’t score in the second halves of those games, either. In 1997 we needed a pick 6 from Tebucky Jones on the last play of the game to sew up a 30-19 win. At least they had a good team that year, (7-4, followed by an improbable 12-0 the next season). They were decidedly not a good team when we played them two years ago. They’d just lost to a 3-9 Army team 6-45 and the next week would lose 7-44 to a 5-7 UTEP team. They wound up 2-11. We struggled to beat them with a last second field goal, 37-34. That prompted the famous “transitive property of college football” debate, with some people insisted that was meaningless. I remember asking Doug Marrone about that on his show and he didn’t think it was meaningless. That was the SU team that was lucky to start 5-2 and then feel apart down the stretch to finish 5-7. Playing a weak opponent is no guarantee of victory to a dysfunctional team.
- Tulane’s history is that they rest in peace most of the time but occasionally they rise up like a team of Zombies and feast on the living. From 1957-1969 they had one winning season, (and that was 5-4-1). Then they rose up to 8-4, including a Liberty Bowl victory over Colorado. Three years later they went 9-3, including a 14-0 win over LSU. They didn’t have another winner until 1978 when they again went 9-3 and beat LSU again, 24-13. They had a couple more winners after that but then went back to sleep with a lone 6-6 season the best they could do from 1982-96. Then came the 7-4 and incredible 12-0 season in 1998. But they weren’t able to build on that, although they did got 8-5 and beat Hawaii in the Aloha Bowl in 2002. They’ve had ten straight losing seasons since. They are due to rise from the dead once more. Their coach, Curtis Johnson was a colleague of Doug Marrone’s when they helped Sea Payton build the Saints Super Bowl winners. They have a good quarterback in Joe Montana, a great receiver in Ryan grant and fine running back in Orleans Darkwa, as well as an unreal kicker in Cairo Santos. This is no Wagner. They are going to beat some people this year and that could include us.
- Last year they went 2-10 but that record bears closer scrutiny. They had a 16 game losing streak during which they were out-scored 220-625, (an average of 14-39). That ended with a victory in their sixth game against Southern Methodist. They were only 2- 5 from that point on but they were only out-scored 212-249, (30-36). Their defense was still bad but their offense grew up. And that was without Darkwa, who was injured. Grant, (6-1, 190), put up Allen Robinson type numbers, (76 receptions for 149 yards and 6TDs), and did it with no running game to speak of, (Tulane finished 119th in the country with only 40 yards a game). Now they’ve got Darkwa and his back-up Rob Kelly, and have already rushed for more yards than they gained last year.
- Scott Shafer said that Nick Montana’s footwork is very similar to his father’s and he’s starting to coordinate things well with Grant. He’s showing the ability to throw long, too. Remember our secondary against Robinson and then in the Northwestern game.
- The defense seems improved. They had an awful beginning against South Alabama, (just as we did against Northwestern), falling behind 7-28 early in the first quarter. But they won the rest of that game, 32-13 and out-scored their other opponents by a combined 58-22.
- You just k now Cairo Santos will show up and hit a 50 yarder to win it. Ryan Norton will show up but it better not come down to him for us.
- Tulane is starting to beat people again and we are their next target.
