By Jacob Thigpen | AAC Columnist
E-mail the author | Follow on Twitter
Tulane elevated its competition by moving up from the Conference USA class to the American Athletic Conference. My grades slipped a little from my final year in middle school to my first year in high school. The change in scenery, more home work and tougher classes bared heavily on my GPA. I began to get the hang of things my sophomore year.
The Green Wave hope their sophomore year in the AAC is a big improvement.
Let’s take a look at where Tulane stands after year one in its new league. Hopefully these grades will look less punishable in 2015.
Offense: C-
No. 6, No. 7, and No. 7: Tulane’s conference rankings for rushing (145.5 per game), passing (201.3), and total offense (346.8).
Fairly average stats in an 11-team league, right?
Average is the best way to describe the Green Wave’s offense in 2014, on a good day. Downright awful is another strong adjective to describe the unit’s performance in a handful of games this year.
No. 9: Tulane’s AAC ranking for scoring offense (16 points per game); showcasing the “downright awful” offensive stat.
The Wave came to a “C-“ season-ending grade on offense because of a bevy of consistent mistakes (*cough* turnovers), lack of explosiveness, and a slew of young players (14 freshmen and sophomores in the two-deep).
Tulane tricked all of us after its wild Week 1 shootout at Tulsa, where it compiled 516 yards of total offense in a 38-31 double-overtime loss. The offense failed to gain 400 or more yards in the next 11 games.
Freshman quarterback Tanner Lee was the catalyst for the Wave’s woeful offense, tossing 14 interceptions to 12 touchdowns, missing two games with a shoulder injury (UConn and UCF), and recording a passer efficiency rating less than 80 three times.
The 6-foot-4 quarterback was under heavy pressure most of the season from a literal and physical sense; if he wasn’t getting sacked 20 times this year, he was feeling back-up QB and 2013 starter Nick Montana breathing down his neck.
Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson has stated numerous times that “Tanner is going to be good” in the future. The young signal caller was surrounded by inexperience that contributed to his poor rookie play.
Another freshman, running back Sherman Badie, made his Green Wave debut in glorious fashion, rushing for 215 yards in the Week 1 offensive anomaly at Tulsa.
Plagued by minor bruises the rest of the season, Badie only rushed for 475 yards in the next 11 games. But he and another young running back, sophomore Lazedrick Thompson, gave Tulane a solid foundation for improving the running game in 2015.
Eight first-team starters return in 2015, including four on the offensive-line, providing hope that an extra year of experience will bring more wins in 2015.
Defense: C+
The best unit on the team still wasn’t good enough to crack a “B” average. Am I grading too harshly? The overall play of the defense is a big reason why the Wave upset 7-5 Houston on the road this season. Then again, it also allowed over 460 yards in four games this year – each ending with a loss.
The “defense wins championships” mantra doesn’t quite fit Tulane’s season. Its mantra read more like, “defense helps you win three games.”
The unit held FCS heavyweight Southeastern Louisiana to 271 yards in the team’s first victory of the season. In win No. 2 at home over UConn, the Huskies were held to 217 yards and had only 13 first downs. And in the Wave’s shining moment of the season, the it surrendered 426 yards to Houston, but recorded four key interceptions in a 31-24 road upset, including freshman cornerback (and New Orleans native) Parry Nickerson’s game-sealing INT as time expired.
Nickerson finished No. 2 in the AAC and No. 7 nationally with six interceptions. The young defensive back represented what the defense can potentially become if more players can match Nickerson’s productivity.
The step up in competition from moving to the AAC from Conference USA, and a tough non-conference schedule that included ACC members Duke and Georgia Tech and the Big Ten’s Rutgers, contributed to the defenses drop in play from the 2013 unit that finished No. 22 in the FBS in total defense.
Perhaps Nickerson can lead the defense to a “B” average next season.
Special Teams: D-
By far the worst Green Wave unit in 2014.
Check the stats:
- 22-of-24 on PAT’s (how do you miss two gimme’s?)
- 8-of-16 field goals
- Last in the AAC in average yardage per kick-off return (16.78)
- Ninth in average punt return yardage (4.56)
- A “D-” appears generous now, doesn’t it?
Tulane has had at least a five-year history of poor special teams play. Special Teams is arguably the second most important unit of any team. Think about it: You can have either a high-powered offense (a la Oregon), or a stout defense (Roll Tide) and compete for championships, but your special teams has to be solid to make up for the lesser unit.
Against Georgia Tech, Tulane had a punt blocked in a tight game that led to a Yellow Jackets touchdown and a demoralizing blow to the psyche of the team. The Jackets carried momentum from the blacked punt to a 38-21 win, spoiling the Green Wave’s inaugural game at new on-campus Yulman Stadium.
Freshman (I sense a theme here) kicker Andrew DiRocco must improve in the off-season if he plans to keep his job next fall.
Coaching: C
The Wave finished 3-9, and as mentioned in the previous sections of the report card, each team unit played mostly average – or worse – throughout the season.
Head coach Curtis Johnson would have received a “B+” for leading the Green Wave to a 3-9 record just a few years ago. But today’s Tulane fans expect much more than three wins after tasting the fun of a winning season and a bowl birth last year.
“You’ve got to continue to try to improve your football team,” Johnson told NOLA.com. “The best thing about this season is they’ve been a in a war all year. Some of those freshmen really came around and really played well for us. Three-and-9, it’s a very very bad record. But it doesn’t reflect the improvement we’ve made, how we played defensively all season. We’re making some strides.”
Johnson appears to be liked by fans and is bringing in far more New Orleans area kids high to the football program than the previous coaching regime. Aside from the team’s three wins, the Wave were competitive in one-score losses to Tulsa, UCF, and Temple.
Johnson must find a way for his team to play more consistently if he wants to keep his job after 2015. A 3-9 record is forgivable for a coach moving a young team into a tougher conference, but next year will no longer be an introductory season.
Improvement all starts with developing the young talent filling his roster.
Overall: C-
Tulane took a step back in 2014 from its 7-6 ’13 campaign which ended with a loss in the New Orleans Bowl.
Those outside the football program, including me, didn’t expect the Green Wave to duplicate last year’s results. Three or four wins was the ceiling for this club, given the lack of experience on the O-Line, at quarterback, and the team’s traditionally bad special teams play.
Despite Tulane’s poor final-grade this season, there is much to be excited about come next season. The American might be a “C-USA 2.0” to some people, but it truly was a major upgrade in competition. To place the disparity between the two leagues in perspective, the AAC had four teams finish with eight or more victories and six out of 11 members were bowl eligible. C-USA only had two teams finish with eight or more wins out of 13 members.
Sprinkle in more overall consistency next season and this team can go from competing in the AAC to actually winning.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
