Rutgers 24 TU 12

[DrBox]

Aug, what's the deal with Renaldo Thomas? They moved him to LB - perhaps he's a stop slow for safety (just a guess). He looked good in the UAB game last year.

[jonathanjoseph]

I'm not one for moral victories, but there was a lot to be encouraged by. The talent gap is still massive across the board, as we look small, slow and weak in comparison to the upper half of D1A, but in many phases the team played over it's talent level.

First, about the criticism of Ryan Griffin. Y'all are nuts. Griffin was fantastic, save once or twice when he stared down his receivers (and once it cost us), but even NFL QBs occasionally stare down their receivers. The bottom line is that with literally no running game and despite taking a brutal pounding, Tulane still ended up with 19 1st downs, which is an incredible figure given the play of the OL. I watched the game with a Rutgers alum, and his description of Griffin was simply "Stud".

The OL was bad. Real bad. What's unfortunate is that if the OL were even average, this team would have a good shot at a bowl game. Not much to say here, other than that I hope a disproportionate amount of recruiting attention is paid to the OL.

The defense was really, really good. When I say that, it's with the context that they were undermanned and undersized. The "new" secondary was really promising, the LBs played better than I would have expected and the DL played above their talent level. Except for the 2 big plays, the defense bottled up Rutgers and gave us a chance to win.

The coaching looked very solid, outside of the penalties. I'll chalk up the penalties to first game jitters and as long as those get corrected, I'm pretty happy with gameday coaching. The defense was ready to play, despite a size/talent gap and the offense adjusted quite well to being unable to expect positive yards on running plays.

Thought Griffin, Grant, Strozier were great on offense. Can't tell about Kelly or Butler because they never had a chance, but I suspect they'd have been great if they had a chance. Darkwa would not have made any difference. On defense, a great team effort save for some missed tackles. I would really love to know what this defense would look like with Pierce and Mackey.

Let's see what happens next week vs Tulsa. A win next week, which is possible, and this season could be a positive.

[Wave QB]

Very boring game....very disappointing performance .....The main, inexcusable area of last nights game was the 11 penalties. That concerns me very much as it shows a lack of football discipline and that comes directly from the head coach.....The media and many fans have proclaimed CJ to be "The Man." Let's just hope that he is NOT just a recruiter but also a head coach....Remember, he was hired because we couldn't get any other decent candidate to take the job. Not trying to demean him but sure looked like "typical Tulane" to me last night......

You serious? Disappointing performance? So, overall you think that the performance was typical Tulane? We held those cats to 10 points through 4 quarters. Their D-Line was dominant against our lacking O-Line and we were completely one dimensional, not because of coaching but because of TALENT. Coaches tried motion blocking to help, but how is that gonna help when our receivers are 190 lbs? You gotta accept the fact that it isn't going to work and do what you can to move the ball.

The D-Line that damn near everybody said would be putrid, actually did a decent job. Their O-line was HUGE. They have a 6'8 330 pounder on their line. Who's our biggest DT, Redwine? At 6ft 300?? You think coaching cost us the game?? So coaching made that pick-6 happen? Did poor coaching make Shak scared to hit that running back coming full steam at him? Did you not see how pissed the coaches were at the wideout dropping that ball (forgot which one exactly)?? He was in perfect position. It was a perfect play. They put them in the position to win and the players didn't capitalize. Not saying that nothing good happened, but I'm just focusing on the negatives at the moment. You learn from it and move on to the next game.

PPFFTTT! We played better than I expected. The penalties were bad, but how many of them were effort penalties?? Facemasks and holding are effort penalties. Better to hold than to let the guy through and destroy your QB. Now the delay of games were due to the scheme. Installing it for the first time within a game all the while adjusting to the defense is something you cannot practice. The only way to get better is to play a REAL GAME against someone different than yourself.

We will be straight. To point the finger at CJ is just frickin' ridiculous. We lost. Period. 24-12. I'd much rather see a loss like that than a frickin 60 point blowout to C-USA teams. 24-12 loss against the Big East #1 contender?? 9 wins and probably gonna reel off double digit wins this season? C'mon man.. be real. And we were there until the end?!?!!!

Ok bro. I don't f*** with moral victories, but to say that the team was a disappointment is just outrageous. If you didn't see improvement in the team then I don't know what to tell ya. *shrug*

+1 and a big AMEN!!!!!!!


If these kids can play like this on defense for the rest of the season, we should have a shot taking down plenty of teams. I want the Wave to beat Ole Miss at home so very badly. On the road, I want us to shock the Cajuns!.

[Wave QB]

I'm not one for moral victories, but there was a lot to be encouraged by. The talent gap is still massive across the board, as we look small, slow and weak in comparison to the upper half of D1A, but in many phases the team played over it's talent level.

First, about the criticism of Ryan Griffin. Y'all are nuts. Griffin was fantastic, save once or twice when he stared down his receivers (and once it cost us), but even NFL QBs occasionally stare down their receivers. The bottom line is that with literally no running game and despite taking a brutal pounding, Tulane still ended up with 19 1st downs, which is an incredible figure given the play of the OL. I watched the game with a Rutgers alum, and his description of Griffin was simply "Stud".

The OL was bad. Real bad. What's unfortunate is that if the OL were even average, this team would have a good shot at a bowl game. Not much to say here, other than that I hope a disproportionate amount of recruiting attention is paid to the OL.

The defense was really, really good. When I say that, it's with the context that they were undermanned and undersized. The "new" secondary was really promising, the LBs played better than I would have expected and the DL played above their talent level. Except for the 2 big plays, the defense bottled up Rutgers and gave us a chance to win.

The coaching looked very solid, outside of the penalties. I'll chalk up the penalties to first game jitters and as long as those get corrected, I'm pretty happy with gameday coaching. The defense was ready to play, despite a size/talent gap and the offense adjusted quite well to being unable to expect positive yards on running plays.

Thought Griffin, Grant, Strozier were great on offense. Can't tell about Kelly or Butler because they never had a chance, but I suspect they'd have been great if they had a chance. Darkwa would not have made any difference. On defense, a great team effort save for some missed tackles. I would really love to know what this defense would look like with Pierce and Mackey.

Let's see what happens next week vs Tulsa. A win next week, which is possible, and this season could be a positive.

Amen again. I need to sit next to you and Augwave against Ole Miss.

[DfromCT]

Sorry, folks, but this was not a really good Rutgers team. Their play calling was horrenedous, keeping Tulane in the game by trying their own short passing game instead of pounding the run. Tulsa will do a lot of that next week, and our Wave will come home looking for it's first win after it's first blowout loss.

The coaching staff showed a lot, certainly more than the new regime (which isn't all new) at Rutgers. RU had more to work with, and they didn't do much with the tools they had. Hat's off to the new staff, good luck with a mad Tulsa team, it could be ugly.

As I end many of my posts: I hope I'm wrong, but that's how I see it.

[DrBox]

Rutgers was universally predicted to be a top 3 BE team. Rutgers ran the ball 35 times and passed 20. They didn't pound the ball?

Tulsa's pounded us in the past due to a) the underrated QB Kinne who was overshadowed in C-USA by Keenum; b)their DL dominating our OL; c) our inability to stop them from going around the corners. a)is gone and c) we have a lot more speed on d. Tulsa was unimpressive yesterday really. Still, we'll be 17 point dogs and have a tough task.

Oh, and last year, Rutgers pounded Iowa State in their bowl game.

[TURVS71]

Very boring game....very disappointing performance ...........

CJ aint a miracle worker bro,it takes a little time to turn around a program.

I certainly know that! There was only ONE of those in the last 40 years and that was Bowden. Fans and certain media have tried to make CJ out to be the answer to TU's program and that remains to be seen ....I was not convinced then and not convinced now....as I said , he may turn out to be a hell of a recruiter but a bad college coach .....only time will tell..

That being said, that WAS a very dull game to watch....

As far as my comment of "Typical Tulane". Here you go:

- very young and inexperienced team..Not CJ's Fault but a typical comment after a game
-11 penalties for 120 yards ......many were routine penalties that should not happen
- 8 yards rushing......nuff said
- Offensive line terrible .....again. Not CJ's fault but another typical comment after a game
- blocked PAT - Seen that before
- giving up a big kickoff return after our score - again, seen that before
- should have won the game, we beat ourselves ---where have I heard that before

That is what I meant by my comment and I stand by it....maybe a different staff, new schemes and new attitude but it is consecutive loss no. 11

Nothing against CJ but until I see better consistent play and win, it is still typical Tulane for me..

It may change, but we will have to wait and see.

Right now it is different ingredients going into the pot but the food still comes out the same.

[NotJtS]

Right now it is different ingredients going into the pot but the food still comes out the same.

One hell of a +1.

Last night, CuJo had the same results with Toledo's players as Toledo did. 100% coaching.

Compare that with Toledo's first game vs. LSU with Scelfo's players. We know how Toledo's tenure played out but at least that first game was competitive and exciting. Where's Show Me? Because CuJo ain't shit until he shows me.

[NotJtS]

Recruiting aside, good / great coaches can produce improved play with the same players. See Bowden.

[Robert1969]

I know we got the same results. That doesn't mean we didn't have improvements. Ultimately, I hope the coach's attitudes translate to the players' performances. Over the debacle known as the Toledo era, every time I saw Toledo interviewed at halftime he'd have one of two things to say:

If we had any glimmer of hope at halftime, he'd be overly exuberant and talk about just how swell everything was going even though there were clear problems that needed to be addressed. If things didn't go well he'd blame the players -- no matter how bad his play-calling was. Basically, there was no leadership.

CJ seems much more like a real leader, and its clear from his comments that the buck stops with him: “I have to be better,” Johnson said. “I have to make some quicker decisions to help our assistants out. The main thing is just being better at game operation. I think I’ll be better next time. This is the first time and I really didn’t know what to expect.”

I saw the half time interview with him, and he spoke of where he saw weaknesses, but said, "It's something I have to address." He didn't blame anyone. He is the clear leader of this team and he is taking ownership of what happens on the field. In the Toledo era, being down 10-3 at halftime, Toledo would've been talking about how tough his team was playing a Big East contender, and would've been all smiles.

So, yes, another loss. But, in the very least, our head coach sees the deficiencies, recognizes his own, and takes ownership for the mishaps. He's not pointing fingers at anyone but himself. That's the kind of leadership you need to turn things around. The verdict is still out on whether he could (as would be the case had we not had 11 penalties, not dropped crucial passes, opened up room for the running backs, and didn't have a QB staring down his receivers, and pulled the upset).

Remember, this wasn't merely the first game of the Curtis Johnson era at Tulane. This is the first game Curtis Johnson ever coached. Win or lose, it wouldn't tell us much. I'm still optimistic. I liked the game plan. I thought the play-calling was creative. I think the energy and enthusiasm needed to get the job done was there (something sorely lacking under Toledo) The question for me is whether Curtis Johnson is the type of coach who can get his players to cleanly execute the game plan. If he can, we'll see daylight.

[JDTulane]

Insulting the students on this board? Shocker. I think its remarkable we get any with one of the worst fbs teams on the planet. But some of you just love to make your digs.



That said, game was disappointing from a penalty and coaching standpoint but game 2 is where the real opinions can start.

[Wave QB]

Very boring game....very disappointing performance ...........

CJ aint a miracle worker bro,it takes a little time to turn around a program.

I certainly know that! There was only ONE of those in the last 40 years and that was Bowden. Fans and certain media have tried to make CJ out to be the answer to TU's program and that remains to be seen ....I was not convinced then and not convinced now....as I said , he may turn out to be a hell of a recruiter but a bad college coach .....only time will tell..

That being said, that WAS a very dull game to watch....

As far as my comment of "Typical Tulane". Here you go:

- very young and inexperienced team..Not CJ's Fault but a typical comment after a game
-11 penalties for 120 yards ......many were routine penalties that should not happen
- 8 yards rushing......nuff said
- Offensive line terrible .....again. Not CJ's fault but another typical comment after a game
- blocked PAT - Seen that before
- giving up a big kickoff return after our score - again, seen that before
- should have won the game, we beat ourselves ---where have I heard that before

That is what I meant by my comment and I stand by it....maybe a different staff, new schemes and new attitude but it is consecutive loss no. 11

Nothing against CJ but until I see better consistent play and win, it is still typical Tulane for me..

It may change, but we will have to wait and see.

Right now it is different ingredients going into the pot but the food still comes out the same.

I do understand what you are saying now. However, Curtis Johnson and his staff coached a soild game on Saturday. I hope I am not wrong, but I saw a Tulane football with the correct attitude for winning games. Those coaches and kids want to win.

I will be the first to tell you that I was very pissed when they hired CJ. I really wanted Bowden back, if not him, I wanted Rich Rod or Leach. After I understood that hire wasn't going to happen, I really wanted Mike Haywood. I felt that we needed a proven winner to take our program to another level. I am not sure if CJ is the answer for Tulane, but I really like what he wants for his program. Every Tulane fans needs to be behind him after they way he is busting his a___ to get top local talent to come to Tulane. The 2012 class was impressive, but we are expected to have an even better 2013 class. As of now, I see a man who loves New Orleans and wants Tulane to become what it should have became after 1998. A BCS buster. Untill he only wins 6 games in two years, I am behind Curtis Johnson 100%. I really feel that Tulane will start winning again very soon. I could be wrong, but this is how I feel.

[Wave QB]

I know we got the same results. That doesn't mean we didn't have improvements. Ultimately, I hope the coach's attitudes translate to the players' performances. Over the debacle known as the Toledo era, every time I saw Toledo interviewed at halftime he'd have one of two things to say:

If we had any glimmer of hope at halftime, he'd be overly exuberant and talk about just how swell everything was going even though there were clear problems that needed to be addressed. If things didn't go well he'd blame the players -- no matter how bad his play-calling was. Basically, there was no leadership.

CJ seems much more like a real leader, and its clear from his comments that the buck stops with him: “I have to be better,” Johnson said. “I have to make some quicker decisions to help our assistants out. The main thing is just being better at game operation. I think I’ll be better next time. This is the first time and I really didn’t know what to expect.”

I saw the half time interview with him, and he spoke of where he saw weaknesses, but said, "It's something I have to address." He didn't blame anyone. He is the clear leader of this team and he is taking ownership of what happens on the field. In the Toledo era, being down 10-3 at halftime, Toledo would've been talking about how tough his team was playing a Big East contender, and would've been all smiles.

So, yes, another loss. But, in the very least, our head coach sees the deficiencies, recognizes his own, and takes ownership for the mishaps. He's not pointing fingers at anyone but himself. That's the kind of leadership you need to turn things around. The verdict is still out on whether he could (as would be the case had we not had 11 penalties, not dropped crucial passes, opened up room for the running backs, and didn't have a QB staring down his receivers, and pulled the upset).

Remember, this wasn't merely the first game of the Curtis Johnson era at Tulane. This is the first game Curtis Johnson ever coached. Win or lose, it wouldn't tell us much. I'm still optimistic. I liked the game plan. I thought the play-calling was creative. I think the energy and enthusiasm needed to get the job done was there (something sorely lacking under Toledo) The question for me is whether Curtis Johnson is the type of coach who can get his players to cleanly execute the game plan. If he can, we'll see daylight.

+1.

I don't know why people are bashing the coaching on last night. The coaching was very good to me. I think we are going to crush people once we get some more talent in.

[JerseyWave]

I don't have any criticism for the coaching staff after the first game. I felt like the team was well prepared and energized. I saw adjustments being made, especially with the long 15 play drive in the second half. We didn'tt see any stupid trick plays which epitomized the Toledo era. I was pleasantly surprised with the defense. Some of the things that disappointed me I can't put on coaching as much as it was just poor execution by Tulane's players. The opening kick off going out of bounds, the tight end dropping a ball over the middle on the opening drive, and Griffin's pick six...we must execute better! Some of these guys have to step up their games.

I'll be looking for significant improvement in game 2 which I am putting on the coaching staff. Let's have some accountability and discipline...less penalties, less dropped balls, less missed tackels. It's up to the coaching to staff to get creative with the running game to overcome a weak offensive line. You know a certain coach whose initials are RR could do it. Put Griffin on a shorter leash. If the offense fails to get into the endzone at halftime against Tulsa then put Powell in to start the second half. Let's see some changes in the secondary where we have a safety that's frightened to make an open field tackle.

I know we are undermanned but I felt the staff did a good job with what they have to work with.

[AugWave]

Aug, what's the deal with Renaldo Thomas? They moved him to LB - perhaps he's a stop slow for safety (just a guess). He looked good in the UAB game last year.

One practice I saw him getting chewed out by the coach for not paying attention. He just seems to be in space sometimes during practice. Dude can play, he did get offers from Michigan and OK State, but I'm guessing maybe we needed some more bodies at LB. I wouldn't be surprised if they move him back to safety after yesterday's game though..

[AugWave]

I'm guessing CJ must've stolen someone's girl for them to be saying the coaching wasn't decent last night. .. I saw guys in the position to make plays. I saw PLAYERS drop balls, get scared to tackle, etc.. But hey, what do I know?

[wavemania]

Augwave, you are dead on. In the 1st series, we get a great play called back by a chop block down field. Add a couple of false starts and a dropped pass by the TE that was wide open(beautiful play calling), and we would have been knocking at the door in Rutgers territory. Momentum is so fragile in a game. We score first and the whole game changes.

[Show Me]

Right now it is different ingredients going into the pot but the food still comes out the same.

One hell of a +1.

Last night, CuJo had the same results with Toledo's players as Toledo did. 100% coaching.

Compare that with Toledo's first game vs. LSU with Scelfo's players. We know how Toledo's tenure played out but at least that first game was competitive and exciting. Where's Show Me? Because CuJo ain't sh*t until he shows me.

Thanks for asking NotJts just got my power back. The talent level just isn't there outside of Grant. Toledo had Matt Forte and rode him every week. Lionel Washington had our defense in the right positions. Special teams were horrible. ( Kickoff out of bounds to start the game, gave up a big return before half, missed PAT,etc ). Offense has no weapons outside of R Grant. For a 5th yr Sr. RG is just ok. He'd look much better behind LSU's line and throwing to LSU receivers. Overall it's much too early to judge CJ. I'm going to wait until mid-season.
Show Me

[NOLABigSteve]

Augwave, you are dead on. In the 1st series, we get a great play called back by a chop block down field. Add a couple of false starts and a dropped pass by the TE that was wide open(beautiful play calling), and we would have been knocking at the door in Rutgers territory. Momentum is so fragile in a game. We score first and the whole game changes.

Man I like CuJo and all, but that's all excuses, excuses, excuses.

[Wave QB]

It sure would have been great to pull of that upset. However, I believe in Curtis Johnson. He is going to bring us to another level.

[sader24]

How can the students not be called out when 75% of them leave at halftime. I brought an LSU and a Ole Miss fan with me to the game. They commented continuously after halftime about the students leaving and how ridiculous it was that 80% of them were gone in the 4th when we were down 10-6, had the ball and a real shot to beat a team favored by 21. It's deflating for the team when they see alot of students at the game, are playing their a##es off and come out of halftime and see 3/4 of them have left. I've never seen anything like that except at Tulane.

As for Griffin, I thought he looked alot better last night. Lets remember that there were 6 snaps he literally had to field off the ground like a shortstop and he had absolutely no protection. I was actually more impressed with him and less impressed with the playcalling.

Defensively, I think if anyone would've told us that our defense would only give up 17 pts we'd have been pretty shocked.

Rutgers is not a really good football team. They look like a 6 win team to me, their QB is horrible. That was a game that could've and probably should've been won. Until we start winning games like last night I won't be sold on anything. I think we're headed in the right direction, but as TURVS commented above there were alot of similarities between last night and the last 4 years.

[waveclem]

Here is my 2 cents.
-Orleans Darkwa/Pierre Thomas/Mark Ingram would have made ZERO difference in this game. There were no holes to run through. Butler and Kelley literally had 3 guys conrnering them when they recieved the handoff 90 percent of the time.
-Trent Mackey was missed. Sure, Zach Davis made a few tackles but as a middle linebacker ur suppose to do that. There is no telling how many plays Mackey (5th yr senior) would have sniffed out before the play developed (ala Ryan Travis' pick).
-Ryan Griffin will get better as this year progresses with this new system. He went to the wrong recievers plenty of times when other guys were breaking open (alot of that had to do with his lack of time to throw)
-The entire O-line needs to be shot up with the steroids that the russian took in Rocky IV.... and then slap them all in the face before they take the field.
-Strozier looks really good catching the ball out of the backfield. He will break some long ones this year.
-Our young Defensive backs are very athletic. Monroe,Batiste, and Doss are gonna start gelling quickly and will start seeing alot more picks as the season goes on.
-Rutgers was bigger then we were at almost every position. The reason we were in this game is credited to Dare I Say COACHING!!! I seriously love our new scheme and think that we will get smoother as the season marches on. The coaches are putting our players in the right position to make plays. Players just have to make them.
-I think 6 wins is very attainable.

[RWR]

Very boring game....very disappointing performance .....The main, inexcusable area of last nights game was the 11 penalties. That concerns me very much as it shows a lack of football discipline and that comes directly from the head coach.....The media and many fans have proclaimed CJ to be "The Man." Let's just hope that he is NOT just a recruiter but also a head coach....Remember, he was hired because we couldn't get any other decent candidate to take the job. Not trying to demean him but sure looked like "typical Tulane" to me last night......

You serious? Disappointing performance? So, overall you think that the performance was typical Tulane? We held those cats to 10 points through 4 quarters. Their D-Line was dominant against our lacking O-Line and we were completely one dimensional, not because of coaching but because of TALENT. Coaches tried motion blocking to help, but how is that gonna help when our receivers are 190 lbs? You gotta accept the fact that it isn't going to work and do what you can to move the ball.

The D-Line that damn near everybody said would be putrid, actually did a decent job. Their O-line was HUGE. They have a 6'8 330 pounder on their line. Who's our biggest DT, Redwine? At 6ft 300?? You think coaching cost us the game?? So coaching made that pick-6 happen? Did poor coaching make Shak scared to hit that running back coming full steam at him? Did you not see how pissed the coaches were at the wideout dropping that ball (forgot which one exactly)?? He was in perfect position. It was a perfect play. They put them in the position to win and the players didn't capitalize. Not saying that nothing good happened, but I'm just focusing on the negatives at the moment. You learn from it and move on to the next game.

PPFFTTT! We played better than I expected. The penalties were bad, but how many of them were effort penalties?? Facemasks and holding are effort penalties. Better to hold than to let the guy through and destroy your QB. Now the delay of games were due to the scheme. Installing it for the first time within a game all the while adjusting to the defense is something you cannot practice. The only way to get better is to play a REAL GAME against someone different than yourself.

We will be straight. To point the finger at CJ is just frickin' ridiculous. We lost. Period. 24-12. I'd much rather see a loss like that than a frickin 60 point blowout to C-USA teams. 24-12 loss against the Big East #1 contender?? 9 wins and probably gonna reel off double digit wins this season? C'mon man.. be real. And we were there until the end?!?!!!

Ok bro. I don't f*** with moral victories, but to say that the team was a disappointment is just outrageous. If you didn't see improvement in the team then I don't know what to tell ya. *shrug*

No reason for that type of response. Everyone likes CJ and we are all hoping for the best. For the most part I see it like you do. But that takes taking it into a certain perspective,i.e., it's the teams first game in a new system, CJ's first game as a HC, the staff's first game together. But the flip side is that it was a sloppy performance. That's on the coaches especially at this level. They have to get the players ready to make those plays. They get paid big bucks to do so. While we were all anxious for that 1st game so we could see what it would look like week 2 is where we really get to see if this staff has it. It's nearly impossible to get game speed at practice especially when you lack talent and depth like we do. At the scrimmages w/refs this team committed a lot of penalties. I hope it's as easy as "just cleaning it up" but that takes a leap of faith at this point. I'm willing to take that leap but starting w/this game the clean up needs to be very visible.

BTW, someone need to buy Shak a new jock strap. He'll never find the one he lost last night. That shoulder injury is a long time ago. Time to get over it and make some damn plays. Live up to the hype Shak.

[NOLABigSteve]

-The entire O-line needs to be shot up with the steroids that the russian took in Rocky IV.... and then slap them all in the face before they take the field.

Yes!

Strozier looks really good catching the ball out of the backfield. He will break some long ones this year.

Really like him being our Sproles.

[wave runner]

Insulting the students on this board? Shocker. I think its remarkable we get any with one of the worst fbs teams on the planet. But some of you just love to make your digs.



That said, game was disappointing from a penalty and coaching standpoint but game 2 is where the real opinions can start.

JD, we are calling them as we see them man. Look I know we are at the bottom now as a program but 10-3 game at halftime (against probably top 3 biggest opponent we play this season) and MOST are gone.... that's pathetic. Don't want to offend those students that do support such as you, but let's be real.... If it was 10-3 Tulane at half... I still would have a hard time believing it would be any different.