Post season analysis

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winwave
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We did make progress this season. Banks is a big reason for that. The QB position as we all know is uber important and he was clearly an upgrade there. The O-line is still bad and we can only hope for more transfers. The TE's are capable and it would be nice to use them more. The WR's looked better as they got more chances once we started throwing the ball on a regular basis. The RB's were good. Losing Hilliard will hurt. Bradwell looked good running but when asked about him Fritz always said he needs to learn everything about the position. He clearly means he needs to learn how to block on passing plays so that he can stay on the field.

The D regressed this year. I was never sold on them being as good as some wanted to say they were the past few seasons but I thought they were decent. The change in scheme didn't work. what was worse was the move of Aruna inside. He hadn't played much before he got here but got better every year. The position switch was a detriment to him and the team. We lose a lot on this side of the ball. We need some JUCO and grad transfers here to help us out for next year especially on the D-line.

The ST's are still a complete mess.

So we made some progress which was bolstered by the Houston win. That's making us all feel better about things. We needed to make significant progress and we didn't. In year two of the system you should see a noticeable and consistent jump. That didn't happen. Maybe with Banks in his second year we'll see that on the offensive side of the ball. Not sure we'll see that in the other two phases of the game. Hopefully we get good transfers in that speed things up for us. God knows we all deserve it.


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winwave
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BAYWAVE&Sophandros are SPINELESS COWARDS
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6-4-23:Now all of the mistakes Tulane has made finally catches up with them as they descend to CUSAAC.
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Saturday's game made me want to throw up, but hey it sure was wildly entertaining, wasn't it? We're going to witness many more high scoring shootouts as our offense improves and our defense shows to be helpless at CB & DT. We need a staff member who can recruit the river parishes asap. What's Lionel doing? We need talent at key positions and we need it now!
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I don't think he's the most dynamic Xs and Os coach I've ever seen. May need to upgrade coordinators, but I think he will probably adapt as well.
I see a lot of progress as a program. It's taken a while to get his recruiting bearings, but it's coming around. The team is disciplined - don't turn the ball over, don't make a lot of mistakes. I think some good groundwork has been laid to develop a consistent program here. And really, I think that's the most important thing, long term. We were 3-6 and playing poorly, and fought like hell to turn it around, and almost did. There's little external motivation on the program to win at TU - at this point, the students don't care if we lose, and the city doesn't care. That motivation has to come from inside the program, and I think Fritz brings it and instills it in his players.
Just as an aside, I'd like to see one of our coordinators get hired away...just to keep everything fresh.
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wave97 wrote:Saturday's game made me want to throw up, but hey it sure was wildly entertaining, wasn't it? We're going to witness many more high scoring shootouts as our offense improves and our defense shows to be helpless at CB & DT. We need a staff member who can recruit the river parishes asap. What's Lionel doing? We need talent at key positions and we need it now!
Dont forget 3 of our top 5 highest rated commits this year are DL, including two DTs.
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Very encouraged that for our last 2 games Banks passed for 251 yards against Houston and 314 yards against SMU. We cannot possibly be successful at the AAC level without a passing game and I think we will now have one for all twelve games next year.
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What a roller coaster of emotions for this football year. I came into the season extremely bullish with us getting to a bowl game and then lost faith halfway into the season with losses at FIU and laying a goose egg at homecoming. I don't think I've felt so despondent about our program under the Fritz era with that loss to Cinci at home, but he regained my faith with 2 wins in a row at ECU and Houston.

It's been a while since we have seen 4th quarter heroics by our qb. Banks won the game against Army, ECU,(SMU) and almost USF. I keep asking myself, what if he hadn't got dinged up in the Navy game and was healthy all year? Would our passing game be even better than what we saw during the final stretch? Our passing game nearly doubled our running game stats for the last fourth of the season. We started as a run heavy team all the way up till after Tulsa and then went into passing mode and found some success. Also, why didn't we feed Hilliard the ball more towards the end? He's an NFL caliber RB and he dropped off at the end... Why?

Our O-line is still a mess. If we want Banks to have success he needs to not be running for his life on every damn play. Our turnstile O-line needs massive improvement.

Our D-line needs more help. We don't have enough depth and as Robert noted, Fritz has been recruiting heavily on the d-line, however, we are going to need a lot more than 3 recruits.

Also, our secondary was a sham this season. They had lots of ups and downs and we all know who is the perfect example of this, Mr. Lewis #21. He had games where he was a lock down corner, then he had games where he looked completely lost. Having a bit more stability would have greatly helped.

Lastly, our ST needs a placekicker. Fritz having 0 faith in the kicking game makes this game a lot harder when you can't get the almost guaranteed 3 points... Let's hope his recruiting will pay off.

Things are certainly looking better than last year. We have improved from last year and it looks like Fritz just needs a little more time. We are getting closer to the promise land, and here's to Fritz ending the year with a strong recruiting class. Roll DAMN Wave!
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RobertM320 wrote:
wave97 wrote:Saturday's game made me want to throw up, but hey it sure was wildly entertaining, wasn't it? We're going to witness many more high scoring shootouts as our offense improves and our defense shows to be helpless at CB & DT. We need a staff member who can recruit the river parishes asap. What's Lionel doing? We need talent at key positions and we need it now!
Dont forget 3 of our top 5 highest rated commits this year are DL, including two DTs.
They are 18 & 19 year old kids. I like Coach Fritz and I like how he keeps a level head with loyalty & continuity in his staff. IMHO it may be time to make a change in a coaching position for the sake of the program. We have more safeties than you can shake a stick at, we need some cover zero DB's.
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Coach Fritz is a seasoned and successful coach. I'm sure he gets it. The O line needs to be fixed, though I think Coach Atkins got a lot out of a limited O-line. We need to protect the QB better. There were holes to be found, we didn't average 230 yards on the ground/game without some success by the O line. But it was for the most part matador blocking. Ole! We also need help in the trenches on the other side of the ball. The secondary can do a whole lot more if there's pressure. I agree that Aruna was out of position and his quickness off the edge made him a more effective player in years past. JUCO and/or 5th year transfer help on both the O and D line would be huge.

I don't see Fritz firing anyone, though we can all debate about the direction of the program. I still feel the jury is out as far as Coach Fritz taking us to perennial contenders for division and conference championships. It's going to be a big test with a lot of players lost to graduation, but it will also be year 3. I'd like to see Fritz hire a Special Teams coordinator, as he does this himself and they haven't been very special.

I do think the program is headed in the right direction, and while I'm cautiously optimistic about Coach Fritz, I think he's a good man and a good coach. I just am not sure if he can overcome all the Tulane hurdles to success. JUCO transfers are not easy to get at Tulane, we need some big talented ones on both sides of the line.
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RobertM320
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I think the whole concept of JUCO/Grad transfers is overrated. We had two in our OL this year. Did you think they were anything special? Briggs started at G, and the grad transfer was a backup. Its not just getting transfers, you need GOOD ones. Not every transfer is going to be Davenport.
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winwave
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Banks was a JUCO. That was good but I agree with your point.
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There's nothing wrong with matador blocking in a zone scheme, that's kinda the point. The O-line needs to have enough athleticism to stay in phase with a gapping DT & LB or else it all goes to hell (à la Tanzel & Nico)
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RobertM320
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winwave wrote:Banks was a JUCO. That was good but I agree with your point.
Agreed. I was referring more to those that feel we just can't have a good d-line or a decent OLine without JUCO/Grad transfers. We had two on the OLine this year and I don't know that we were any better than last year. Hard to tell. We got Diaz back and Banks is better with his feet than GC was, so was there really improvement? I don't know.
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RobertM320 wrote:
winwave wrote:Banks was a JUCO. That was good but I agree with your point.
Agreed. I was referring more to those that feel we just can't have a good d-line or a decent OLine without JUCO/Grad transfers. We had two on the OLine this year and I don't know that we were any better than last year. Hard to tell. We got Diaz back and Banks is better with his feet than GC was, so was there really improvement? I don't know.
I see your point, too, 320. Davenport spoiled us. Finding those guys that didn't play much but are a great fit for our system is a difficult task. I think Glenn Cuillette could be a good fit somewhere else, for example. Maybe Fritz finds the next Troy Kropog to build an offensive line around.
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winwave
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RobertM320 wrote:
winwave wrote:Banks was a JUCO. That was good but I agree with your point.
Agreed. I was referring more to those that feel we just can't have a good d-line or a decent OLine without JUCO/Grad transfers. We had two on the OLine this year and I don't know that we were any better than last year. Hard to tell. We got Diaz back and Banks is better with his feet than GC was, so was there really improvement? I don't know.
I hear ya but that doesn't mean you give up on the JUCO's. You should still try to address immediate needs with them and strive to get better quality JUCO's players the next go round.
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RobertM320
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I agree not to give up on them. We just can't assume that because they're a JUCO they'll necessarily be better than what we could get with a HS player. Probably bigger because they're older, but not necessarily better.
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Up and down year. I said 5-7 but thought we’d beat FIU and Cincy. We improved slightly from last year but that was expected (mainly because of the QB position). Overall I’d give the staff a C. We didn’t overachieve or underachieve based on what I thought. Banks was a difference maker. Without him we’d have 3 wins. Special teams was disappointing. Not having a reliable FG kicker probably cost us two more wins. The defense at times was great and at times not so great. Next year the offense is going to have to carry the load since we’ll be losing a big chunk on D. At this point with the schedule being tougher (Bowl bound Wake Forest, playoff team Nicholls St is no guarantee win, at 8-4 bowl bound UAB, at Ohio St) and the losses on defense in 2018 I see us falling just short of a bowl game once again. Banks will have to be remain healthy all season and be Superman for things to be different.
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I dont see any reason why we can't go 2-2 non conf and 4-4 in conf to be 6-6. Or even 3-1 and 3-5. WF was 7-5 but they lose their QB Wolford. If you remember when we played them last year, they tried to use Hinton but had to go back to Wolford. A year later and Hinton still couldn't beat Wolford out. First game of season and its home. The OOC is tougher but I'd be disappointed if we're not 3-0 going into Ohio State.

And look at our offense from where we were two seasons ago. Banks at QB, Mouney and Encalade as solid WR and a playbook that actually includes passing. Don't sleep on Corey Dauphine. He's fast like Badie but can run like Hilliard.
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Willie Langham, Donnie Lewis JR., Jaylon Monroe, Stephon Lofton & Thakarius Keyes will be returning at CB next year. As yet, we do not have a cornerback in 2018 recruiting class. We have a total of 8 (scholarship) free & strong safeties returning. Who from this group can credibly show and execute man-to-man coverage? If there are a handful of guys who can effectively play man it will open a world of opportunities, if we can't our defense will be attending track meets, not football games.
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tpstulane wrote:Up and down year. I said 5-7 but thought we’d beat FIU and Cincy. We improved slightly from last year but that was expected (mainly because of the QB position). Overall I’d give the staff a C. We didn’t overachieve or underachieve based on what I thought. Banks was a difference maker. Without him we’d have 3 wins. Special teams was disappointing. Not having a reliable FG kicker probably cost us two more wins. The defense at times was great and at times not so great.
+1 Agree with your take here. C is a fair grade in my opinion. Just after homecoming he was an F but 2 solid games to end got him a passing grade. In reality with how the season started 3-2 and having FIU, Cincy & ECU on the schedule, 6-6 should have been a passing grade. UH win should have propelled WF to a solid A.

The important point is that I think 90%+ of us agree that WF is a better coach than CJ, Toledo, and the list goes on (sans Bowden). But all of those coaches failed. When we say "CJ's team would have lost by several touchdowns" or "no way a Toledo team makes it that close" the obvious reaction is "no sh!t". I think this is one thing that divides us in our views of progress. If we set the bar so low then small improvement could still equate to failing. Don't get me wrong, improvement is great. But just like the Physics class I took as a freshman, I showed up late to my first exam and walked away with a 20%, then showed up on time to the next exam and got a 35%. Nearly a 100% improvement but still not even close to passing.

I like WF and I get frustrated with WF. I have no idea what the ceiling is with him as a coach. There are signs (and you can point to his coaching history) that he can continue to push us toward our goals of competing for a conference championship and bowl eligibility each year. This is the trust the process view. And yet there are signs that we may be close to hitting the ceiling with him already based on the on-the-field performances over the last two seasons. What many of us fear as that we have a history of hanging with a coach too long, waiting for the process to finish, and yet the process resulted in a set-back instead of an advancement. I get that there's a new sheriff in town. Again, I'm not saying WF can or cannot get us to the promised land. I'm saying he's just been OK the first two years, not good or great, but not bad or terrible. And maybe I should be happy with OK because it's better than we've had.
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wave97 wrote:Willie Langham, Donnie Lewis JR., Jaylon Monroe, Stephon Lofton & Thakarius Keyes will be returning at CB next year. As yet, we do not have a cornerback in 2018 recruiting class. We have a total of 8 (scholarship) free & strong safeties returning. Who from this group can credibly show and execute man-to-man coverage? If there are a handful of guys who can effectively play man it will open a world of opportunities, if we can't our defense will be attending track meets, not football games.

I wonder if Brantley is odd man out at QB that he might want to give CB a whirl. Better to have your best athletes on the field helping.
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I do believe that we made progress this year. Above anything else, when the chips were down the team kept believing and didn't quit. Like last year, we played till the last play of the last game. I love this about our team, no quit!!! We came back time and time again. It's also been fun to watch our passing attack come alive the past several weeks.

If we can get just an average OL and kicker, we will be OK. I do hope we can plug a few holes on the defensive side of the ball with some judo's and/or grad transfers. Our recruiting has ticked up a bit also. We are moving in the right direction in my opinion. Refreshing to say!
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netshorty wrote:
tpstulane wrote:Up and down year. I said 5-7 but thought we’d beat FIU and Cincy. We improved slightly from last year but that was expected (mainly because of the QB position). Overall I’d give the staff a C. We didn’t overachieve or underachieve based on what I thought. Banks was a difference maker. Without him we’d have 3 wins. Special teams was disappointing. Not having a reliable FG kicker probably cost us two more wins. The defense at times was great and at times not so great.
+1 Agree with your take here. C is a fair grade in my opinion. Just after homecoming he was an F but 2 solid games to end got him a passing grade. In reality with how the season started 3-2 and having FIU, Cincy & ECU on the schedule, 6-6 should have been a passing grade. UH win should have propelled WF to a solid A.

The important point is that I think 90%+ of us agree that WF is a better coach than CJ, Toledo, and the list goes on (sans Bowden). But all of those coaches failed. When we say "CJ's team would have lost by several touchdowns" or "no way a Toledo team makes it that close" the obvious reaction is "no sh!t". I think this is one thing that divides us in our views of progress. If we set the bar so low then small improvement could still equate to failing. Don't get me wrong, improvement is great. But just like the Physics class I took as a freshman, I showed up late to my first exam and walked away with a 20%, then showed up on time to the next exam and got a 35%. Nearly a 100% improvement but still not even close to passing.

I like WF and I get frustrated with WF. I have no idea what the ceiling is with him as a coach. There are signs (and you can point to his coaching history) that he can continue to push us toward our goals of competing for a conference championship and bowl eligibility each year. This is the trust the process view. And yet there are signs that we may be close to hitting the ceiling with him already based on the on-the-field performances over the last two seasons. What many of us fear as that we have a history of hanging with a coach too long, waiting for the process to finish, and yet the process resulted in a set-back instead of an advancement. I get that there's a new sheriff in town. Again, I'm not saying WF can or cannot get us to the promised land. I'm saying he's just been OK the first two years, not good or great, but not bad or terrible. And maybe I should be happy with OK because it's better than we've had.
UCF hired Danny White as AD he hired Scott Frost who has UCF at 11-0 in year two. Prior to Frost UCF was 0-12

Tulane hired Troy Dannen as AD he hired Willie Fritz who has Tulane at 5-7 in year two. Prior to Fritz Tulane was 3-9.
Just saying the improvement between the two are night and day.

I’m anxious to see who White brings in to replace Frost in trying to keep the training rolling.
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tpstulane wrote:
netshorty wrote:
tpstulane wrote:Up and down year. I said 5-7 but thought we’d beat FIU and Cincy. We improved slightly from last year but that was expected (mainly because of the QB position). Overall I’d give the staff a C. We didn’t overachieve or underachieve based on what I thought. Banks was a difference maker. Without him we’d have 3 wins. Special teams was disappointing. Not having a reliable FG kicker probably cost us two more wins. The defense at times was great and at times not so great.
+1 Agree with your take here. C is a fair grade in my opinion. Just after homecoming he was an F but 2 solid games to end got him a passing grade. In reality with how the season started 3-2 and having FIU, Cincy & ECU on the schedule, 6-6 should have been a passing grade. UH win should have propelled WF to a solid A.

The important point is that I think 90%+ of us agree that WF is a better coach than CJ, Toledo, and the list goes on (sans Bowden). But all of those coaches failed. When we say "CJ's team would have lost by several touchdowns" or "no way a Toledo team makes it that close" the obvious reaction is "no sh!t". I think this is one thing that divides us in our views of progress. If we set the bar so low then small improvement could still equate to failing. Don't get me wrong, improvement is great. But just like the Physics class I took as a freshman, I showed up late to my first exam and walked away with a 20%, then showed up on time to the next exam and got a 35%. Nearly a 100% improvement but still not even close to passing.

I like WF and I get frustrated with WF. I have no idea what the ceiling is with him as a coach. There are signs (and you can point to his coaching history) that he can continue to push us toward our goals of competing for a conference championship and bowl eligibility each year. This is the trust the process view. And yet there are signs that we may be close to hitting the ceiling with him already based on the on-the-field performances over the last two seasons. What many of us fear as that we have a history of hanging with a coach too long, waiting for the process to finish, and yet the process resulted in a set-back instead of an advancement. I get that there's a new sheriff in town. Again, I'm not saying WF can or cannot get us to the promised land. I'm saying he's just been OK the first two years, not good or great, but not bad or terrible. And maybe I should be happy with OK because it's better than we've had.
UCF hired Danny White as AD he hired Scott Frost who has UCF at 11-0 in year two. Prior to Frost UCF was 0-12

Tulane hired Troy Dannen as AD he hired Willie Fritz who has Tulane at 5-7 in year two. Prior to Fritz Tulane was 3-9.
Just saying the improvement between the two are night and day.
Well crap TPS, you just opened up a throw-down on how UCF had the players already in place just needed a coach while Tulane needed both. :D
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Comparing Fritz and Frost is ridiculous. UCF has no admissions standards.
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