Tulane Football

Tulane vs. Ole Miss
Prediction: -20.5 -110 odds
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Every year it happens. A well known team loses to an BCS squad and all the doomsayers come out of the woodwork. That’s exactly what has happened to Mississippi. This is a team coming off back to back 9-4 seasons that had dominated Jacksonville State on the scoreboard in the first half leading 31-10 at intermission. Talk about a team on a mission this week and you find the Ole Miss Rebels. Mississippi was 3-0 ATS last year against non-conference foes covering each game by double digits.
Tulane hasn’t made any progress since the signing of Bob Toledo in 2007. The Green Wave has posted a 9-27 record in his tenure including 6-13 overall at home. Tulane is on a 5-13-1 spread run in the home dog role. This team has one of the worst home field advantages in the nation. The lineup is loaded with freshmen at key positions. Two linebackers, the kicker and punter all all extremely young and untested. The offensive line lacks depth which is really a problem going against a fired up SEC squad. Tulane lost at home last year to Tulsa by 24, BYU by 51 and Houston by 28. A very similar outcome is to be expected on Saturday. PLAY MISSISSIPPI - Get more college football predictions from Bryan at Touthouse.com

Mississippi Rebels vs. Tulane Green Wave
Pick: Mississippi -20.5 -110 odds
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Mississippi blew a 31-10 halftime lead against Jacksonville State and wound up losing the game outright in double overtime 49-48. Rebels head coach Houston Nutt wasn’t pleased at all with that performance and you just know he will have his troops completely focused for this game.

Coach Nutt will be happy to see Tulane too. Ole Miss has dominated the Green Wave in the last nine meetings posting a solid 9-0 SU and 6-3 ATS record. The Rebels have been at their best too when priced as a big favorite of -19 or more notching a perfect 6-0 SU and ATS record in their last six.

Tulane does return 12 starters from last season and the Green Wave’s season-opening 27-21 home win over Southeastern Louisiana is noted. However, Wave head coach Bob Toledo is going to have his hands full with this embarrassed Mississippi bunch. Technically speaking, as a home underdog, Tulane is a soft 20-41-2 ATS including a pathetic 2-13 ATS in this role priced at +13 or more. Also, against SEC competition, the Green Wave has been calm posting a weak 2-33 SU and 14-21 ATS mark including a nasty 1-11 SU and 2-10 ATS in this role in their own backyard.

Ole Miss dedicated the 2010 season to their lost teammate Bennie Arbam. A blemish to Jacksonville State in the home opener will only fuel the Rebels more. With the ESPN2 cameras rolling, watch Coach Nutt’s kids take out their frustrations on the home team. Take Mississippi! Thank you and best of luck, Tom Stryker. Be sure to get more NCAA football betting picks from Tom at Touthouse.com

Texas A&M

• Texas A&M lost to Texas, 49-9, last season. The 40-point loss was the second worst defeat in the series for the Aggies, second only to a 48-0 loss to the Longhorns in 1898.

• Texas A&M renews a series against old Southwest Conference rival Arkansas in 2009. It will be the first time that the old SWC opponents have met since 1991. The two teams are scheduled to meet each year through 2018. Give the Aggies credit for upping the ante in their non-conference schedule.

• Few schools are as steeped in tradition as Texas A&M.  From the 12th man to Reveille to Midnight Yell practice, the Aggies of College Station have tradition down to a science.

The 12th Man  

The tradition of the 12th Man was born in 1922, when Texas A&M was playing Centre College, then the nation’s top ranked team.

As the hard fought game wore on, and the Aggie bench became depleted, Coach Dana X. Bible remembered a squad man who was not in uniform. He had been up in the press box helping reporters identify players. His name was E. King Gill, and was a former football player who was only playing basketball.

Gill was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game, which A&M finally won 22-14. When the game ended, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies.

Gill later said, “I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I did not. I simply stood by in case my team needed me.” 

The tradition of “Standing by” was born, and to this day the entire student body stands throughout the game, ready to go in if called.

Reveille  

In 1931, some Aggie students accidentally struck a dog with their Model T.  They took the injured collie back to their dorms.  When the bugler sounded Reveille the next morning, the dog began barking loudly, and the dog had its name. 

After Reveille accompanied the band onto the field for the first home game that fall, the Corps adopted her as their mascot.  Thirteen years later, when Reveille died, she was given a full military funeral at Kyle Field. 

The latest Reveille, Reveille VII, has been on campus since 2001.  All the Reveilles have been commissioned as five star generals, making the mascot the highest ranking member of the Corps.

Yell Practice  

Dating back as far as 1913, the first actual Yell Practice began in 1931.  Some freshman cadets suggested falling out and meeting at the steps of the YMCA at midnight.  Senior Yell Leaders caught wind of the event, but instead of stopping it, joined in, and the tradition was born. 

Today, Yell Practice is conducted at midnight on Fridays before every home game, and on Thursday nights before road games (plus some Yell Practices are held close to stadium of the opposition on Friday nights of road trips). 

The Yell Leaders lead the band and the 12th man into the stadium, with practices for cheers (along with stories about how the team is going to beat up on the opposition) the main order of the evening. 

The Yell Leaders are five students chosen by the student body.  They are not cheerleaders in the traditional sense.  Instead, they use a series of hand signals, or “pass backs”, to spur on the faithful.

• A charter member of the Southwest Conference, Texas A&M played in the SWC from 1915 to 1995, joining the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

• Texas A&M won the national championship in 1939.  Little was known about the Aggies nationally, despite an undefeated regular season (part of the reason may have been some of the opponents in ‘39: Centenary, Santa Clara, and Villanova).  That changed when Texas A&M defeated Tulane on the home field of the Green Wave, 14-13, in the 1940 Sugar Bowl. 

• The Aggies Big 12 title came in 1998, when A&M upset Kansas State, 36-33, in the Big 12 Championship.  A 24-14 loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl left Texas A&M with an 11-3 final record, and a No. 11 final ranking. 

• Colorado leads the all-time series against Texas A&M, 5-2, with all seven games played since 1995. CU is 2-1 at College Station, with the only loss a 29-26 overtime setback in 2004.

• Famous alumni—football: John David Crow (Heisman trophy winner, 1957), John Kimbrough (fullback, 1939-40), Lester Hayes, Dat Nguyen, Mark Moseley, Tony Franklin

• Famous alumni—other: Lyle Lovett (singer), Jeff Maggert (golfer)

TULANE 28 Marshall (-4.0) 27

Running back Darius Marshall is a one man team for, well, Marshall. Darius is averaging 160 rushing yards per game at 7.0 ypr and the Thundering Herd have an average offense because of him despite poor passing numbers. Tulane has allowed 5.0 yards per rushing play this season (against teams that would average 4.6 yprp against an average team) but the Green Wave are much tougher to run on now that their two starting defensive tackles, Oscar Ponce de Leon and Reggie Scott are in the lineup after missing the first two games and not starting in game 3.

With both starting last week the Green Wave held Army to 3.6 yprp, which is 0.5 yprp better than an average team would defend Army's rushing attack on the road. Marshall will still have good numbers, but Tulane appears to be a bit underrated if their defense can continue to play at a decent level with everyone now available (FS Sonnier is also back after missing the first two games).

Tulane has a pretty good offense, rating at 0.1 yards per play better than average with starting quarterback Joe Kemp in the game (5.6 yppl against teams that would allow 5.5 yppl to an average team).

My math model gives Tulane a 53% chance of covering but that percentage is probably even higher given Marshall's horrible road record under coach Snyder (just 7-17-1 ATS).

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I got a little curious last night as to why a team would name themselves the Green Wave.  Could it have something to do with a Hurricane? Or a Tidal Wave in the history of Louisiana?  I did some digging and came up with some interesting history on Tulane…

Tulane’s earliest athletic traditions are tied to its football team, which began playing in 1893.  In their early beginnings they were known to fans as the Greenies or Greenbacks and officially called The Olive and Blue.  In that first year of football (1893) as a member of the SEC, Tulane beat LSU 34-0 and started a rivalry known as The Battle for the Rag.  The program hit its stride in 1900 with a perfect 5–0 season, beating the Southern Athletic Club, Alabama, Millsaps, LSU, and Ole Miss.  In a 1912 game against Southwestern Louisiana, Tulane set records of 15 rushing touchdowns and 95 points that still stand. In 1925 the Green Wave again went undefeated, with only a tie against Missouri to blemish its record and were invited to play in the Grand Daddy of ‘em All, the Rose Bowl. The administration declined a Rose Bowl invitation, however, in order to keep the students in class.

More on the Rivalry…In 1973, Tulane broke a 25-game losing streak to LSUwith a 14-0 victory in front of a Tulane Stadium record crowd of 86,598.  Tulane then won 3 out of 4 meetings until1982 and have not beat the Tigers since.

So where does the name come in?  In 1920 there was a song published in the Tulane Hullaballo, the school newspaper.  The university’s mascot and nickname, the Green Wave, owes its origins to a song published in the Hullabaloo. The paper’s editor at the time, Earl Sparling, wrote and published a football song called “The Rolling Green Wave” in support of the “Olive and Blue.” Within a month, the Hullabaloo started referring to the university’s teams by the new nickname, a practice that was soon picked up by the daily press.

BYU vs. Tulane
Free Pick: Tulane +17.5 (-110 odds) - Click here for point spreads
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Trap games usually happen when a team is looking ahead or coming off a very tough fought win. Well BYU is coming off both of these. BYU pulled a huge upset in week 1 of college football beating power house Oklahoma. They have moved up in the ranking to #9 earning a ton of respect from voters. Tulane was beat very handily at home verse Tulsa this past Saturday so I am sure BYU will be thinking this one is in the bag. Even more likely is BYU is looking forward to Week 3 and a huge home game against Florida State.

Pretty hard to just smell the perfume that everyone is spraying and this young team has to be tempted to drink the perfume. Now I am not saying that BYU is going to lose to Tulane but do think that the Green Wave will be pumped and give them a good first half.

BYU is one of the most penalized teams in College Football and with all the distractions and media attention has to make it tough for BYU to concentrate on preparation this week. They better not sleep on Tulane as they are much better than they looked against Tulsa.

Don’t fall into the Trap this week instead take the +17.5 and Tulane.

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OK Cougar fans, it is now Wednesday and I think it is time for us to shift our focus onto the Green Wave from Tulane.  Hopefully the Boys in Blue made that shift Monday morning, but since we don’t need to run drills or watch scout tape, I figure we should get a few extra days.

The OU win was incredible and has its place in history.  But it will be meaningless unless we take care of business in the SUPERDOME!

What another great stage for a great football game.  Two concerns from the BYU side.  An emotional win over a powerhouse and then a game against an also-ran that come up and nip you in the butt.  We better strap it up.  As worried as everyone was about the guys being pumped for the OU game, I am worried about them being pumped for this game.  But I think that Coach Mendenhall knows how to rein them in.  The past 4 years have ben a great progression in BYU football and I look at the OU as being comparable to the game at TCU when they had that huge home winning streak and #17 ranking and knocked them off.  At the time for the BYU program that was an emotional win and a huge game!  Good news is that Coach brought us back down to earth and we got back to work and ran the table.  No doubt the boys will be ready.

On with the scouting report…

Defensively they will not be as good as OU.  They run a standard 4-3 defense and while they are athletic they will not play with the same speed and tenacity as OU did.  They are capable and we do need to set the tone early with run game.  They are experienced on D with 7 Seniors, 2 Juniors and 2 Sophomores.  Good news for us is that the young pups are at DT which is where we need to pound the ball early and often.  With a secondary that has been playing together for 4 years and with guys who know the system we will have to run crisp routes and Max will need to make good reads and distribute the ball evenly like he did in Dallas.

Offensively they have some legit weapons and we need to respect them.  They tried to spread Tulsa out and get their WRs 1-on-1 or in open space.  They like handing the ball on the fly sweep to Williams or throwing him little swing passes and letting him make guys miss.  I think that their RB, Anderson is better than his stats showed against Tulsa (19 carries 49 yds 2.6 ypc).  That being said we should still shut him down.  They have two WRs who are very good.  Big Play good! #19 Robottom and #20 Williams.  Both had huge games (Robottom 6 rec – 82 yds 13.7 ypc; Williams 5 rec – 139 yds 27.8 ypc).  Both are fast, elusive and good at what they do.  They QB, Kemp will put the ball where it needs to be.  An interesting thing about the OU was that they did not test us on the deep ball (odd since that is how they beat TCU last year).  I would expect Tulane to take their shots downfield and try and isolate Robottom or Williams 1-on-1 with our DBs.  They have to go for some big plays to try and swing momentum.

On that note, be ready for trick plays galore!  ala Tulsa in 2007.  We came out and stoned them 3 and out 3 times in a row against their base stuff and then all the tricks came out and we got flustered and didn’t play assignement football.  Look for Tulane to do the same.  The coaches at BYU know the Tulane guys and they are expecting a lot of tricky.  ASSIGNMENT FOOTBALL will be the key to victory this week!

Markell Staffieri

Tulsa vs. Tulane
Free Pick: Tulane +14.0 (-110 odds) - Click here for football lines
Fri September 4th 2009 8:00p
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Last season, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane had one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. QB David Johnson threw for 4,059 yards, and RB Tarrion Adams rushed for 1,525 yards and 15 touchdowns. In total, Tulsa made NCAAF betting fanatics thrilled by averaging an NCAA-best 569.9 yards of offense per game. The unit ranked ninth in passing (301.9 yards per game), fifth in rushing (268.1 yards per game), and second behind Oklahoma in the country in points scored (47.2 points per game). However, there is a lot of offensive turnover on the team, but HC Todd Graham should still have his unit moving at a rapid pace.

The Tulane Green Wave probably won’t be keeping up with Tulsa’s offensive pace, as the unit only averaged 16.7 points per game last season, the eighth worst mark in the country. The Green Wave haven’t won a game since September 25th of last season, and the team is only 2-6 ATS since then. Even though Tulane’s defense was strong against the pass last season (172.8 yards per game, 14th in the NCAA), the unit ranked 107th in the country, allowing 34.5 points per game.

This appears to be a one-sided battle, but Tulsa’s lack of continuity on offense may come back to bite it. The Golden Hurricane may have destroyed the Green Wave 56-7 last season, but we’re talking about a Tulane squad which nearly knocked off East Carolina SU last season at home. Take the two touchdowns all the way to the bank.

Tulane comes out of the Western division of C-USA, and last year they finished 2-10, ending the year on an eight-game losing streak.

There is not much to like for Tulane. They lost two of their top three receivers, a backup running back, and the quarterback situation isn't any good.

The listed starter on the post spring depth chart is Joe Kemp, but he was not the starter last year; that position went to Kevin Moore who struggled to pass for eight scores and 13 picks.

The top returning starters at each position are below. The biggest bright spot is Andre Anderson, who did quite well.

Now, if Tulane can stay in games, then he will become more valuable to the team's success.

Passing	Com Percent	Yards	TD	INT
Joe Kemp	56.5	344	2	1
Rushing	Carries	Yards	Yards Per Carry	TD
Andre Anderson	174	864	5.0	7
J.T. McDonald	37	124	3.4	3
Receiving	Catches	Yards	Yards Per Catch	TD
Jeremy Williams	27	437	16.2	5
Casey Robottom	16	203	12.7	1
Alan Mitchell	20	224	11.2	1

Offensively, the Green Wave were inept to be nice, as they came in at 113th in the country in scoring, which translates into a less-than-solid 16.7 per game.

The rushing attack hopes to be better, but Tulane lost their top two linemen in Troy Kropog and Michael Parenton. Kropog was drafted in the fourth round by the Tennessee Titans, and Parenton started 47 career games.

For a team looking to improve, losing two of the school's all-time best on the line is huge, and this will adversely affect the rushing game. However, Andre Anderson had 864 yards in seven games (really six because of a season-ending injury he suffered).

Anderson had four games over 100 yards, and two of those were over 200 yards. With a new line, Anderson may have to be creative to get to the same level of production from 2008.

Another injury that hindered the Green Wave from success was wideout Jeremy Williams, who played in only five games and averaged nearly 100 yards a game.

If the quarterback situation is settled, then look for Williams to take advantage of secondaries.

The quarterback battle is between projected starter Joe Kemp and 2008 starter Kevin Moore, and in my opinion, it could change quickly if Kemp starts to struggle. Their first two games are at home against Tulsa and BYU, but both are really good teams that will cause trouble for either quarterback.

Moore lost the job for 2009 because of his second half struggles. In his first five games he averaged nearly 250 per game, but in the second half the wheels fell off and he only passed over 200 yards once.

On to the equally disappointing defense, which also ranked in the 100's, giving up 34.5 per game. The defense does return six players, but like I say quite often: Does a team that returns multiple starters really improve if that unit was bad the previous year?

My big sign that teams are bad is turnover margin. That does seem obvious, but this stat goes both ways. Last season they were minus five, and again, near the bottom of the FBS.

The first two games again will test this defense.

Tulsa and BYU put up a lot of points and yards; most of those will come from the air attack.

The part of the defense that will be the best is the line. They bring back experience with four players who played significant time. Also, they lost just one starter.

Tulane hopes to improve on their two-win season, and have only one gimme in FCS punching bag McNeese State. Other than that, there are maybe four winnable games: at Army, UTEP, SMU, and at UFC.

However, with three of those games on the road, and it looks like less of a chance for Tulane to surpass the two-win mark of 2008.

2009 Tulane Green Wave Predictions
2008 Record: (2-10, 1-7)
Coach: Bob Toledo, 3rd year (6-18 overall)
Off. Coordinator: Dan Dodd (3rd year)
Def. Coordinator: Steve Stanard (1st year)
Returning Starters: 16 (8 offense, 6 defense, punter)
Ret. Starting Quarterback: No

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Offense: The Green Wave return eight starters from an offense that averaged 16.7ppg (112th in the nation) and 339.7 yards per game. They return junior quarterback Kevin Moore (6-5, 234), who threw for 2,150 yards last season sharing the position with Anthony Scelfo. However, sophomore Joe Kemp (6-4, 206) could be more of a playmaker in the West Coast offense and is a better option than Moore. Senior RB Andre Anderson (6-0, 211) return after rushing for 864 yards last year, averaging 142 yards per game before suffering a shoulder fracture in the seventh game. Senior wide receiver Jeremy Williams (6-1, 201) was also having a strong year (437 yards, 16.2ypc) before suffering a knee injury in the fifth week. Up front, they return three of five starters.

Defense: The defense was atrocious last season, allowing 34.5ppg (106th in the nation) and 391.3 yards per game. The hope is that new coordinator Steve Stanard can improve the unit. They return six starters including two on the defensive line. The line is their strong point, which is not saying much because they gave up 218.4 yds/game against the run last year. Senior NT Reggie Scott (6-4, 260) is back for a sixth year of eligibility and moves to tackle from end. Senior DE Logan Kelley (6-2, 246) led the team in sacks last year with seven. At linebacker, senior David Kirksey (6-1, 224) is the only returning starter (41 tackles). The secondary returns three starters including senior S Corey Sonnier, who recorded 86 tackles last year.

Outlook: The Green Wave opens with Tulsa, before facing BYU, McNeese State and Army in their non-conference schedule. They also face state rival LSU in Baton Rouge on Oct. 31. In conference, they end the season with three straight on the road against Rice, UCF and SMU. A road game against Southern Miss is tough. The whole slate is tough for a squad that needs to find its identity on both sides of the ball.

This CUSA prediction is courtesy of the ATS Sports Blog. If you are looking for winning college football betting picks be sure to choose ATS Consultants this year, A featured sports handicapping service on Touthouse.com