Green Wave Football Hosts Southern Methodist Saturday
Sep 8, 1999 | Football
Sept. 8, 1999
SMU at Tulane
Sept. 11 ? New Orleans, LA
Louisiana Superdome
5:00 p.m. (CDT)
Last Week
Tulane opened with a 48-14 loss at
Southern Miss, while SMU lost at
home to Arkansas, 26-0.
Coaches
Chris Scelfo (NLU, 1981) is 1-1 in
his first full season at Tulane. He
led the Green Wave to a 41-27
Liberty Bowl win over BYU last year
in his TU debut.
SMU?s Mike Cavan (Georgia, 1972) is 11-13 in his third year with the Mustangs and 78-62-2 in his 14th year overall.
Series
Tulane leads the series, 7-4, and
has won five of the seven games
played in New Orleans. Although the
Green Wave has won the last two
meetings, SMU won the most recent
contest in the Crescent City, 31-17
in 1991.
The Wave claimed a 31-21 win over SMU last year in Dallas.
TV
The game will be televised live in
Dallas only on KLDT-TV.
Radio
The Tulane Radio Network provides
radio coverage to 20-plus stations.
Ken Berthelot (play-by-play), Steve
Barrios (color) provide gameday
analysis.
The Skinny
Tulane and SMU both go for their
first win of the season when they
meet in the Green Wave?s home opener
at the Louisiana Superdome.
Tulane-SMU Connections
SMU offensive coordinator Greg
Briner coached with Tulane head
coach Chris Scelfo at both Marshall
and Georgia.
Mustang receivers coach Derek Dooley and tight ends coach Paul Etheridge served as graduate assistants at Georgia while Scelfo was with the Bulldogs.
Seeking Another Winning Season
After consecutive seasons of 7-4 and
12-0, Tulane enters 1999 seeking its
third-straight winning campaign.
The Wave hasn?t had three-straight
winning seasons since 1979-81.
Tulane in Home Openers
Tulane is 62-34-4 all-time in home
openers and has won its last two
home openers.
Tulane vs. the WAC
Tulane is 22-26-1 all-time against
the eight schools that currently
make up the WAC. The Wave owns a
14-10-1 mark against those teams at
home.
Scelfo Looks to Join in Success
Tulane?s Chris Scelfo is attempting
to become the fourth-straight Tulane
coach to win his first game in the
Superdome.
Greg Davis defeated Chattanooga (33-19) in his home debut in 1988. Buddy Teevens won his dome opener against Nevada (34-17) in 1992. Tommy Bowden defeated Cincinnati (31-17) in his first Tulane home game in 1997.
13-Game Win Streak Ends
While Tulane saw its 13-game overall
winning streak and eight-game road
winning streak snapped at Southern
Miss, the Green Wave still has a
pair of streaks alive as it returns
home to face SMU.
Tulane has won six-straight home games as it entertains the Mustangs. Another longer, although more obscure, phenomenon is a 17-game winning streak against non-Mississippi teams. The Green Wave is 17-3 in its last 20 games, with those three losses coming against Southern Miss (twice) and Ole Miss.
The last non-Mississippi team to beat Tulane was Syracuse on the road in 1997. Tulane?s last home loss to a non-Magnolia State team was against Rice in 1997, nine home wins ago.
Turnovers Return
Prior to a second-quarter
interception by Southern Miss,
Tulane had gone 24 quarters
(spanning parts of seven games)
without committing a turnover.
The Green Wave finished fifth
nationally in turnover margin last
year (+15, +1.36 per game). The
Wave also tied for third nationally
with just 11 giveways.
Dawson Surpasses 2,000 Mark
WR JaJuan Dawson, a member of the
Biletnikoff Award preseason watch
list, become the fifth Tulane player
in history to surpass 2,000 career
receiving yards.
With nine catches for 71 yards and a touchdown against Southern Miss, Dawson is now ranked in the top five on Tulane?s career lists for pass receptions (4th, 147), receiving yardage (5th, 2068) and touchdown receptions (2nd, 24). He needs one more touchdown reception to tie Mark Zeno?s school record of 25. Dawson needs 90 receptions and 1,658 yards to become Tulane?s career leader in those categories.
Ironically, despite catching a combined 120 passes the last two seasons, Dawson is the only member of Tulane?s all-time top 15 receivers to have never led the team in receptions.
More Dawson
WR JaJuan Dawson reached a
significant milestone with his
13-yard TD catch against Southern
Miss. Dawson has now scored a
touchdown against every Conference
USA opponent, except for UAB, whom
he faces for the first time in
Tulane?s regular-season finale on
Nov. 20.
Phillips Named to Butkus List
Junior LB Jerry Phillips, Tulane?s
1998 leading tackler, is on the
Butkus Award preseason watch list.
He is one of 65 players named to the
list, which is presented by the
Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando
and goes annually to the nation?s
top linebacker.
Phillips, a New Orleans native, had six tackles against USM.
Converse on the Charts
Junior RB Toney Converse is
currently ninth on Tulane?s career
rushing list with 1,672 yards,
fourth in rushing yards per game
with 72.7, and second in rushing
yards per attempt with 5.536.
Converse needs 38 more attempts and
three more rushing touchdowns to
join the Green Wave career top 10 in
those categories.
Burnette Joins 100-Yard Club
Junior WR Adrian Burnette caught
eight passes for 107 yards against
Southern Miss, marking his first
career 100-yard receiving day.
Burnette's eight catches against the
Golden Eagles matched his total from
all of 1998, when he had eight
receptions for 189 yards, including
a 71-yard TD catch-and-run at
Rutgers.
Newcomers See Action vs. USM
Tulane's season opener at Southern
Miss featured an abundance of new
faces, namely eight first-time
starters.
Offensively, three players earned their first career starts - QB Patrick Ramsey, TE Mike Truax and OT Charles Caldwell. On defense, LB Delando Davis, CB Ky Joseph, DE Glenn Lemoine, DE Kenan Blackmon and DT Roxie Shelvin all started for the first time.
In addition, eight true freshman also played against the Golden Eagles, highlighted by WR Kerwin Jones, who made his first career catch on a 10-yard touchdown reception for the Green Wave's first points of 1999.
Other true freshman to play included PK Seth Marler, who attempted all placements, FS Quentin Brown, RB Jeff Sanchez, DT Marlon Tickles, DE Floyd Dorsey, WR James Dunn and DB Terry Fontenot.
Tulane Home Replays on WB38
Throughout the 1999 season, Tulane?s
home football games will be
rebroadcast in a one-hour package
each Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. on
WB38 in New Orleans.
