Phil Steele on Tulane FB 2017

[nawlinspete]

Fritz has us going in the right direction aided by a QB who is a good fit for his play system but we are not going to be bowling without two upsets. If we get an earlier upset the November 25 game at SMU will be for our bowl eligibility.

In 2017 we will allow more opponent points than in 2016 ie., Oklahoma; our run game will be the 15th best in FBS; our pass game will rank 127 out of 130 even with Jonathan Banks; we will finish last in the AAC West; and we have a better Power Ranking than only two of the AAC, Eastern Carolina and Connecticut.

[Aberzombie1892]

This sounds about right.

[golfnut69]

Rather than begin a new thread, I will post Athlon's 2017 pre season ranking here

https://athlonsports.com/college-footba ... teams-2017

and the AAC preseason take
https://athlonsports.com/college-footba ... redictions

[GreenPuddleSplash]

If we improve from last year(all indications is that we will), we will go bowling. In Fritz I trust.

[Aberzombie1892]

If we improve from last year(all indications is that we will), we will go bowling. In Fritz I trust.

Well, Tulane has a team should improve overall, but the schedule is more difficult. A winning record versus Army, FIU, Grambling, and ECU would be an achievement to some degree, while, last year, a winning record versus Southern, UConn, ULL, and UMass was not (2 OOC non-P5 FBS + FCS + worst conference opponent).

[GreenPuddleSplash]

If we improve from last year(all indications is that we will), we will go bowling. In Fritz I trust.

Well, Tulane has a team should improve overall, but the schedule is more difficult. A winning record versus Army, FIU, Grambling, and ECU would be an achievement to some degree, while, last year, a winning record versus Southern, UConn, ULL, and UMass was not (2 OOC non-P5 FBS + FCS + worst conference opponent).

Well, you have to learn to beat the bad teams before you can beat the big boys. I believe Mr. Banks and a more conditioned o-line will be the difference this year.

[sader24]

Two things have to happen for this to be a year to be considered any sort of success. 1) A minimum of 5 wins. 2) A clear cut starter at QB not bc of a lack of options but bc someone is actually performing in a way that gives us a consistent oppportunity to move the football. The coaching is clearly much better than the previous staff, but the previous staff was the worst staff in the country with a few exceptions.

[GreenPuddleSplash]

Two things have to happen for this to be a year to be considered any sort of success. 1) A minimum of 5 wins. 2) A clear cut starter at QB not bc of a lack of options but bc someone is actually performing in a way that gives us a consistent oppportunity to move the football. The coaching is clearly much better than the previous staff, but the previous staff was the worst staff in the country with a few exceptions.

Sader, we're on the same page. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. If we reach 5 wins this year (would be disappointing in my book because I'm a homer projecting us to get minimum of 6 wins) that would still be an improvement from last season. If we go 3-9, I will have my pitchfork and extra torches ready. Happy Friday, ROLL DAMN WAVE!

[JerseyWave]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

[Show Me]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

[Wave QB]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

Damn.

[GreenPuddleSplash]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

If that were true, then the CJ era would have been a lot different...

[DfromCT]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

If that were true, then the CJ era would have been a lot different...

I think it did even out for CJ's era. We got EXTREMELY lucky in 2013, and paid for it in 2014 and 2015. The stars aligned for CJ's 2013 team to get to a bowl game. They should have won 9 games that year, but then again, if it weren't for key injuries suffered by our opponents and some lucky breaks, that team would have been like his other teams. They weren't that good. The LSU grad transfer played a huge role in leading a D that was pretty good. We need more like him!

[DrBox]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

If that were true, then the CJ era would have been a lot different...

I think it did even out for CJ's era. We got EXTREMELY lucky in 2013, and paid for it in 2014 and 2015. The stars aligned for CJ's 2013 team to get to a bowl game. They should have won 9 games that year, but then again, if it weren't for key injuries suffered by our opponents and some lucky breaks, that team would have been like his other teams. They weren't that good. The LSU grad transfer played a huge role in leading a D that was pretty good. We need more like him!

That 2013 team could also have won 10 games. They stopped the run - do that and you'll get "lucky" a lot.
Last year, we played what was probably our worst game of the year against ULL.
If we were 2 plays from losing to U Mass, we were 2 plays from beating Memphis.
The schedule is harder this year though.

[wave97]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

If that were true, then the CJ era would have been a lot different...

I think it did even out for CJ's era. We got EXTREMELY lucky in 2013, and paid for it in 2014 and 2015. The stars aligned for CJ's 2013 team to get to a bowl game. They should have won 9 games that year, but then again, if it weren't for key injuries suffered by our opponents and some lucky breaks, that team would have been like his other teams. They weren't that good. The LSU grad transfer played a huge role in leading a D that was pretty good. We need more like him!

Our recruiting has been woeful for interior D-lineman over the last three years. That 2013 team had Warmsley, Davenport, Redwine, Welcome and a Freshman named Smart. I won't be surprised if we play a lot less of the aggressive one-gap against opposing zone blocking teams. Tanzel was a beast last year in his ability to blow through gaps cleanly in spite of taking 95 snaps. This year we may play a more fundamentally sound two-gap up front (like the 2013 team).
We're going to need a handful of grad transfers up front for 2018.

[winwave]

Last year we were one offensive play from beating Wake Forest, two plays on offense could have beaten Navy, one first down conversion would have beaten SMU, so a 6-7 win season last year was within grasp with the worst passing attack in the country.

We were one play from losing to ULL and two from losing to UMASS. It all evens out.

If that were true, then the CJ era would have been a lot different...

I think it did even out for CJ's era. We got EXTREMELY lucky in 2013, and paid for it in 2014 and 2015. The stars aligned for CJ's 2013 team to get to a bowl game. They should have won 9 games that year, but then again, if it weren't for key injuries suffered by our opponents and some lucky breaks, that team would have been like his other teams. They weren't that good. The LSU grad transfer played a huge role in leading a D that was pretty good. We need more like him!

Our recruiting has been woeful for interior D-lineman over the last three years. That 2013 team had Warmsley, Davenport, Redwine, Welcome and a Freshman named Smart. I won't be surprised if we play a lot less of the aggressive one-gap against opposing zone blocking teams. Tanzel was a beast last year in his ability to blow through gaps cleanly in spite of taking 95 snaps. This year we may play a more fundamentally sound two-gap up front (like the 2013 team).
We're going to need a handful of grad transfers up front for 2018.

This. Our D will take a big step back in 2018 if we don't get several graduate DT transfers.