After a 52-0 win over Southeastern Louisiana last night, the Tulane Green Wave and their fans must wait another 8 days to see them in action against ranked Kansas State at Yulman Stadium, next Saturday at 11:00 am. Here are 8 things we learned and thoughts to ponder, ahead of next week’s matchup.
1. The reports from traditional media that “three quarterbacks would play” last night were technically accurate, but were off-the-mark in every real sense.
There is no three-headed monster. Darian Mensah is and has been Tulane’s quarterback for almost two weeks. Ty Thompson looked strong in the heavy red zone package (more below), but this was not a rotation or an open audition. Mensah played with great rhythm and timing, which more important than raw arm talent or even accuracy, I humbly submit. There was a fluidity with how he conducted himself that simply does not generally exist in second-year players taking their first collegiate snaps. Tulane may have found the answer to the difficulty of replacing a four-year starter (Michael Pratt) at the most important position in the sport.
2. Yulkeith Brown and Mario Williams are going to cause problems for every secondary on Tulane’s schedule, even the “P5” ones.
The speed and shiftiness that exists within the Tulane receiving core is a perfect fit for a quarterback like Mensah, who (we hope) delivers the ball timely. It allows for explosive gains after the catch, as opposed to allowing for defensive backs to break on the ball and prevent any gain after the catch, even on a completed pass. When we take a look back at the 2023 season, the departed coaching appears to have committed a pretty egregious error by not getting Yulkeith Brown more involved, especially after November injuries to Keys and Jackson (both of whom were in attendance, last night, along with Tyjae Spears). While Dontae Flmeing had a brutal drop on a sure-fire touchdown in the first quarter, his speed did and will continue to stretch defenses vertically, as pointed out by Jimmy Ordeneaux. Hopefully he gets rolling, too.
3. Caleb Thomas is as valuable of a depth piece as this team has.
Thomas was called upon early last night to pinch hit at right guard, and then at center. His versatility, experience, and continued growth over the past few years will be essential for this Green Wave front, should any injuries strike. Remember, at this time last year, Shadre Hurst had never started a game – it wasn’t until a September injury to Prince Pines that he got into the lineup and never looked back.
4. The red zone package with Ty Thompson is real, and its spectacular.
Thompson cannot help but be disappointed that he did not win the starting job after transferring to Tulane in December. It’s understandable, as he spent the last two seasons as the primary backup to Bo Nix (who was selected 12th overall by the Denver Broncos in April’s NFL Draft), and entered college as a consensus top-10 quarterback recruit in the country, in the class of 2021. That being said, he will clearly be of great import to this offense, even if his opportunity to start never comes.
Tulane was absolutely dreadful in the red zone in 2023, as was Troy, interestingly. Our friend Parker Fleming developed something called an “Eckel rate,” that tracks the ratio of quality possessions to total offensive possessions. A “quality possession” is defined as one where the offense either (A) crosses the enemy 40 yard line or (B) scores a touchdown from 41+ yards, out. In other words, crossing the 40 is a quality possession, but it loops in explosive touchdowns from further out than that, because the latter category of possessions don’t have any snaps from inside the opponent’s 40 yard line, obviously.
Both Tulane and Troy had excellent Eckel rates in 2023. But as Green Wave fans will remember, the Wave seemed to stall quite a lot once in enemy territory, and especially once inside the 20. Troy had much the same problem. Thompson may be a solve for that. His strength, speed, and decisiveness on the zone read calls was on full display last night. I would expect Joe Craddock to continue to build off of that, and for there to be post-snap RPOs (Run-Pass Options) in our near future.
5. Rayshawn Pleasant is not going to let Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards hold onto their starting jobs at outside corner without a fight.
Pleasant, as we wrote in Part 7 of our Tulane Season Preview, took as large of a leap from 2023 to 2024 as any returning player on the roster. Everyone will focus on the 100-yard interception return for a touchdown that essentially iced the game with 0:42 in the 2nd quarter, and clearly broke Southeastern’s will, but his performance was about much more than that. He is so much more comfortable, confident, and physically mature than when we last saw him in December’s Military Bowl. Southeastern had some success targeting the Wave secondary, in the first half. If others don’t start taking some air out of their man coverage, Pleasant may be giving a tutorial.
6. The special teams need some work.
It’s not all positive, unfortunately. The Green Wave special teams were downright dreadful on Thursday night. Unless the kickoff coverages get worked out, and fast, Tulane may want to consider giving up on the idea of pinning opponents deep, and instead kick it through the endzone and concede the touchback. You can get away with roughing the kicker on a 4th and 9 against Southeastern, no question. Against Kansas State (or Oklahoma, the week after)? That’s exactly the kind of play that gets you beat.
7. Tulane’s run fits and gap integrity need to be cleaned up, and fast.
Kansas State could be perhaps the worst possible opponent to play, if you aren’t sound in your gap integrity and run fits, defensively. They use misdirection at will, which seemed to confuse the Tulane front at times in the first half, last night. The concern is not that Southeastern had a tremendous amount of success running the football, as they did not (3.2 yards per attempt on 30 carries). The concern is that while Southeastern may exploit a lack of lane integrity and pick up 5-7 yards, as we saw in the first half, that Kansas State could turn those exact same opportunities into 20+ yard explosives. The Wave weren’t exposed as after that initial burst, the Southeastern runner was generally run down by a superior athlete in the Tulane defensive backfield. That likely won’t be nearly as easy to accomplish next week.
8. Jon Sumrall and Cole Heard did a really nice job of rebuilding this roster.
I am not overreacting to an FCS win, I promise. But, consider for the moment that in addition to experiencing a coaching change, Tulane is without the following, from their 2023 roster:
(1) Their four-year starting quarterback, Michael Pratt,
(2) Their top three edge rushers, Darius Hodges, Keith Cooper, Jr., and Devon Deal,
(3) Their top three wide receivers, Lawrence Keys, Jha’Quan Jackson, and Chris Brazzell,
(4) Their left tackle, Cam Wire,
(5) Their top four cornerbacks; Lance Robinson, Kam Pedescleaux, Jarius Monroe, & AJ Hampton.
Those are the premium positions in the sport, by the way: Quarterback, Wide Receiver, Offensive Tackle, Cornerback, and Pass Rusher. During last season’s AAC Conference Championship Game, amid mid-game reports that [REDACTED] had verbally accepted an offer to leave Tulane and become the head coach at a commuter school in Texas that only cares about basketball, a fan remarked to me that “unless I’m missing something, next year (2024) is going to be a rebuilding season, regardless of who the head coach is.” In fairness, it would have been hard to foresee Sumrall and Heard cooking like White and Pinkman, in that moment.
Last night, the Green Wave started ten (10) transfers that were not on the team, last year; Derrick Graham (left tackle), Vincent Murphy (center), Mario Williams (wide receiver), Terrell Allen (bandit), Adin Huntington (defensive end), Sam Howard (linebacker), Caleb Ransaw (slot corner), Johnathan Edwards (cornerback), Micah Robinson (cornerback), Jalen Geiger (safety), plus Mensah, who while not a transfer, saw his first ever action. Eventually, the Wave will get Shazz Preston (wide receiver) back, too.
Certainly we should not hang a banner over an FCS drubbing by a 26.5 point favorite, but the roster appears to have at least passed the eye-test for one week. Will that continue? I guess we’ll see in 8 days.
Good analysis. Thanks!