Football Travels To West Point To Battle Army
Oct 22, 2001 | Football
Oct. 22, 2001
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TULANE at Army
October 27, 2001
Noon CDT
West Point, N.Y.
Michie Stadium
FACTS ON THE WAVE
2001 Record: 2-6
2001 C-USA Record: 1-3
Head Coach: Chris Scelfo
Alma Mater/Year: NE Louisiana '85
Record at Tulane/Years: 12-19/3rd
Overall Record/Years: Same
Football SID: Donna Turner
SID Phone: 504-865-5506
SID Fax: 504-865-5512
SID e-mail: dturner1@tulane.edu
Website: www.TulaneGreenWave.com
FACTS ON THE BLACK KNIGHTS
2001 Record: 1-5
2001 C-USA Record: 1-4
Head Coach: Todd Berry
Alma Mater/Year: Tulsa '83
Record at Army/Years: 2-15/2nd
Overall Record/Years: 26-39/6th
Football SID: Bob Beretta
SID Phone: 845-938-3303
SID Fax: 845-446-2556
SID e-mail: yr7587@usma.edu
Website: www.goarmysports.com
THE SERIES
Overall: Army leads 5-3-1
In West Point: Army leads 3-2
As C-USA Members: Tulane leads 2-1
Last Meeting: Army 21, Tulane 17
Oct. 21, 2000 in West Point
First Meeting: Tulane 0, Army 0
Oct. 31, 1953 in New Orleans
Of Note: Tulane visits Michie Stadium for the second straight season. The Green Wave has won five of the last seven meetings between the teams. The teams have played every year since 1996, although Army did not join C-USA until 1998. The 1996 game at West Point was the first between the schools in 20 years.
TULANE HEAD COACH CHRIS SCELFO In his third season as the Tulane head coach, Chris Scelfo, one of the youngest head coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has a career record of 12-19. A 1985 graduate of Northeast Louisiana University (now Louisiana-Monroe), Scelfo began his coaching career at his alma mater and made coaching stops at Oklahoma (1986-87), Marshall (1990-95) and Georgia (1996-98) before becoming Tulane's head coach. A native of New Iberia, La., Scelfo moved past Mack Brown and Buddy Teevens in Tulane victories with the win over TCU. He now ranks 14th all-time in coaching wins at Tulane, one behind the 13 posted by Claude Simons Jr. in four full seasons.
OF NOTE Traveling Team Tulane takes to the road for the second straight week as they face Army in West Point for the second straight season. The Green Wave plays four of its last five games of the 2001 season on the road. The Wave's final home contest of the season -- a Nov. 3 date with Louisville -- is sandwiched by a pair of road games before (UAB, Army) and after (Navy, Southern Miss).
Perfection Tulane kicker Seth Marler has become a leading candidate for the 2001 Lou Groza Award as the junior has not missed a kick this year. Marler booted a pair of field goals and three PATs versus UAB, the fifth straight game he has kicked two field goals or more, and has moved within two three-pointers of the Tulane career record for field goals. The junior has made all 15 of his field goal attempts in 2001 to lead the nation, and is 27-of-27 on extra points. Marler has made 17 consecutive three-pointers dating back to the final game of last season. The field goals haven't exactly been "chip shots" either, three have been of over 50 yards and four were from 40-plus yards out. Marler connected on a 51-yard boot versus TCU and made a career-record 53-yard FG versus East Carolina, the second-longest in Tulane history. He moved past longtime NFLer Eddie Murray into second place on the Wave charts with his kicks at UAB.
Turnover Tales After forcing four turnovers that resulted in 24 Tulane points at UAB, the Wave defense has now picked up 21 TOs through eight games this season. That's just one off the season total of 22 turnovers that Tulane forced in 11 contests last year. The Green Wave D has recovered 13 fumbles and picked off eight passes so far this season. Last year, Tulane totalled 11 interceptions and recovered 11 fumbles. In its last four games, Tulane is +13 on the turnover count, having committed five turnovers (three of those in the Cincinnati game) while forcing opponents into 18 miscues, including five each in Tulane's wins over TCU and Southern. The Green Wave ranks 16th nationally in turnover margin, having committed a total of 13 turnovers while opponents have given the ball up 21 times. Tulane's defense has also scored on interception returns in back-to-back weeks.
Ramsey's TD Streak Tulane QB Patrick Ramsey owns the nation's longest current streak of consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass, as the senior has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 29 straight games played, every game in which he has started during his Green Wave career. The Ruston, La. native has tossed at least two touchdown passes in seven of the Wave's eight games this season with 18 total. With 68 career touchdown passes, he trails Tulane record holder Shaun King by just two.
And Then There Was One Patrick Ramsey took over the all-time lead in passing yards by a Tulane quarterback with 177 yards in the UAB game and now has 8,421 for his career. Earlier this season, Ramsey added the school's career records for pass completions and pass attempts to his list. Just about the only Wave passing records Ramsey hasn't broken yet is touchdown passes. Ramsey is Tulane's all-time leader in 300- and 400-yard passing games and leads the Tulane career lists in most of the per game averages. He owns the Top 6 single game completion marks and 11 of the top 12 games in single game pass attempts. In all, he has broken 27 records during his stellar Tulane career.
Now There Are Two With 88 yards on 21 carries versus TCU, Mewelde Moore became only the SECOND player in 108 years of Tulane football to earn 1,000 yards rushing in a single season. Moore joined Tulane all-time great, and single season record holder Eddie Price, who had a pair of 1,000-yard seasons, in 1948 and 1949. Moore is the first player in 52 years to gain 1,000 yards and was also the fastest to the mark. Price set the single season record with 1,178 yards in 1948 and had 1,137 yards one season later. Moore needs 83 yards to move into second place for single season yards and will establish a new school record with 124 rushing yards. In back-to-back weeks versus Southern and Cincinnati, Moore recorded two of the top five rushing days in Tulane history, and two of the top four all-purpose games. His 10 100-plus yard games in his career (in just 17 career games) ranks second to Price's 13.
First and Fastest to 1,000 Tulane's Mewelde Moore remains the only player in the country to have compiled 1,000 rushing yards on the season. Moore did much of the rushing damage in successive weeks versus Southern and Cincinnati with back-to-back 200-yard games. At Cincinnati, Moore broke the 31-year-old Tulane single game rushing record with 249 yards on 28 carries, picking up C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors. He also set the Conference USA and Tulane record for all-purpose yards in a game with a total of 336 rushing (249) and receiving (87) yards. He averaged 9.9 yards every time he touched the ball and 8.9 yards per rush (a new Tulane record). He scored a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
All-Purpose Mewelde Moore currently ranks No. 2 in the country in all-purpose yards per game as he is averaging 197.1 yards per game rushing, receiving and returning. Moore is within 68 yards of Tulane's all-time record for single season all-purpose yards, set by Michael Pierce in 1988. Pierce, who earned the bulk of his yards on returns, had 1,644 that season. Moore's current total of 1,576 all-purpose yards ranks second all-time on the Tulane single season charts.
"Fresh" Starters A total of 10 members of the 2001 signing class have now started games for Tulane this season. The 10 -- four on offense and six on defense -- have combined to make 22 starts. Brandon Spincer and Tra Boger, two of four true freshmen who have started on the Wave defense in each of the last two games, have each made four starts to lead the way for the rookies while DT Wallace Mateen has made three starts. Receiver Carl Davis, cornerback Darren Sapp, defensive end Jay Ashton and tight end Bobby Hoover have two starts each while Laine Sambrooks, Tristan Smith and Brandon Rottmayer have started one game apiece. The Green Wave started a total of six true freshmen on offense and defense versus TCU while five freshmen made starts last week versus UAB.
Making Strides Tulane's defensive freshmen are making an impact and showing improvement. Tra Boger scored the first defensive TD of the year when he returned an interception for a score in the TCU game. Brandon Spincer played his top game of the year with a a team season high 14 tackles, seven solo and a tackle for loss, at UAB. That's after Spincer recorded a key QB sack and forced a pair of fumbles versus TCU. On the defensive line, Jay Ashton was credited with a pair of tackles for loss at UAB and has three in the last two games, while Brandon Rottmayer had his best game with five tackles and a tackle for loss and Wallace Mateen was credited with a season high four solo tackles, a tackle for loss and forcing a fumble.
Honored A trio of Tulane players have earned Conference USA honors this year, while Mewelde Moore also earned Offensive Player of the Week recognition from the Louisiana Sportswriter's Association following the Southern game. Moore was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week after his record-breaking day at Cincinnati. Following Tulane's win over TCU, Green Wave QB Patrick Ramsey shared C-USA offensive honors while LB Wesley Heath became the first Tulane player to be named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week in the last three seasons, since Meldon Barnes was honored after the final game of 1998.
Targeting the Tight End Through the first eight games of 2001, Green Wave tight end Bobby Hoover has more catches -- 11 -- than Tulane TEs made in the last two seasons combined. In fact, Hoover's total of 11 catches is more than Tulane tight ends have made in any of the previous four seasons. Tulane tight ends caught three passes in 2000, four in 1999 and five in both 1998 and 1997. In 1996, Tulane tight ends Cory Geason and Kevin Cunane accounted for 26 catches. Hoover ranks sixth on the team in catches and he has caught at least one pass in Tulane's last five games.
Key Catch for KC Tulane fullback Kris Coleman made his first catch of the season count when he hauled in a pass from Patrick Ramsey at the 12-yard line and dragged a TCU defender the rest of the way into the end zone to get Tulane on the board. Coleman's catch was the first of the year for the sophomore and just the second of his career. He came back to make a 21-yard catch and run later in the game while also rushing for 12 yards on three carries.
Open Date Slate In a quirk of scheduling, seven of the Green Wave's 2001 opponents will have or have had at least two weeks (or more) to prepare for the Wave. Three of Tulane's early opponents did not play in the week prior to the game with Tulane: BYU, which was the first game for both teams, LSU, which played Tulane in its season opener, and UCF, which had an unexpected open date due to the postponement of its contest with ULL on Sept. 15. In addition to Cincinnati and TCU, Tulane's last two opponents of the year, Navy and Southern Miss, will have off before playing the Wave.
Offensive Youth is Served While much has been made of the lack of seniors on the Green Wave defense, the Cincinnati game pointed up the youthfulness of the Tulane offense. Of the 12 players that caught a pass or rushed the ball for Tulane at Cincinnati, 10 were freshmen or sophomores, including EVERYONE who caught a pass and the top four rushers. Sophomores Mewelde Moore, James Dunn and Kris Coleman and freshman Tristan Smith combined for 34 carries for 288 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Moore, Smith and Dunn, along with freshmen Bobby Hoover and Carl Davis and sophomore Roydell Williams caught 24 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns.
Conference Calling In four seasons, the Green Wave is 17-17 all-time in Conference USA play, including a 6-0 record and league championship in 1998. After adding a seventh conference game a year ago, the league will have an eight-game schedule next season. In 1996, teams played five league games, and the number stood at six from 1997-99. The league has expanded to 10 teams with the addition of TCU this season. South Florida, a I-A independent this year, will become C-USA's 11th football member beginning in 2003.
A Thousand Times Tulane's game with UAB last week was the 1,000th in school history. Tulane played its first game Nov. 18, 1893 versus the Southern Athletic Club, game No. 500 was a 27-13 win over eighth-ranked Auburn in New Orleans on Oct. 29, 1955. In its 109th season, the Wave's all-time record is 454-508-38.
Great Grad Rates Tulane student-athletes, and Tulane football players, were near the very top of the DIvision I-A lists when the NCAA released its annual graduation rate report last month. The graduation rate for ALL Tulane student-athletes who entered the school in 1994-95 was 75% as opposed to a 70% graduation rate for the overall student body. On the football side, Tulane's graduation rate of 89% topped every school in Conference USA, every school in Louisiana and nearly every school in the nation.
On The Watch Four Tulane players have been named as candidates for five national awards. Senior quarterback Patrick Ramsey was named one of just 20 candidates for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the nation's top senior quarterback. Ramsey has also been named to the Watch List for the Davey O'Brien Quarterback Award and is Tulane's nominee for the National Scholar-Athlete Award. Junior kicker Seth Marler - a semifinalist last year who is enjoying a "perfect" season so far in 2001 - is on the list for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top kicker. Running back Mewelde Moore is one of just three sophomores on the Watch List for the Doak Walker Award while senior punter Casey Roussel is on the Watch List for the Ray Guy Award given to the nation's top punter.
Spreading It Out Patrick Ramsey hit 10 different receivers with passes in the UCF game. That is the most Tulane receivers to catch passes in a game since Sept. 2, 1995, when 10 players caught passes from QB Aley Demarest in the season-opening loss to Maryland in the Superdome. That's a string of 66 games since a Tulane QB "spread it around" as much. Ramsey's receivers in the game included two players who caught their first passes of the year - WR Chris Bush and RB Gee Reshard, and two more who caught their second passes of the season in WR James Dunn and TE Bobby Hoover.
It's Been A While With his 64-yard punt return for a touchdown versus Southern, Tulane's Lynaris Elpheage became the first Green Wave player since 1988 to return a punt for a score. Elpheage was six years old when TU's Mitchell Price scored on a 59-yard return vs. Chattanooga on Sept. 3, 1988. That's 149 games between punt return touchdowns for the Green Wave.
Savvy Senior LaPlace senior Corey Sewell will line up for his 43rd consecutive career start Saturday versus Army, having started every game of his Tulane career beginning in his rookie season of 1998. Sewell is one of four senior offensive linemen for the Green Wave in 2001.
Streaking Despite missing a game with an injury and seeing limited time in other contests this year, Tulane receiver Terrell Harris extended his streak of consecutive games played with a pass reception to 25 last week in the UAB game. Harris' streak stretches back to the fourth game of the 1999 season when he was shut out at Syracuse.
Captain My Captain Five Tulane players were named permanent team captains for 2001 at the end of preseason drills in Hammond, La. Offensively, quarterback Patrick Ramsey was selected a captain for the second consecutive season. He is joined as an offensive captain by former Archbishop Shaw High School teammates Terrell Harris (WR) and Torie Taulli. Defensively, a pair of juniors were selected to lead the team. Defensive end Floyd Dorsey and strong safety Terry Fontenot earned the selection from their teammates.
ON THE AIR Tulane-Army TV There is no television broadcast of the Tulane-Army game.
Tulane ISP Radio Network WTIX-FM (94.3) in New Orleans is the flagship station of Tulane's 12-station network. Jim Freeman, in his first season as the "Voice of the Green Wave," provides play-by-play while Steve Barrios returns with color commentary and Todd Graffagnini is the sideline reporter.
Coaches' Call-In Show Head Coach Chris Scelfo will be the featured guest on the Tulane Coaches' Call-In Show every Monday from 7-8 p.m. beginning August 20th. Jim Freeman and Tulane AD Rick Dickson will co-host the show, which will be take place live at Superior Grill on St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans.
Chris Scelfo TV Show The Chris Scelfo Show will air weekly in New Orleans on WDSU-TV every Sunday night at 11:05 p.m., and on Cox Cable Mondays at 8 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. The show will also air on Comcast Sports South. Check local listings for those weekly times.
TulaneGreenWave.com Tulane game broadcasts and Call-In Shows, as well as Coach Scelfo's portion of the weekly Conference USA Coaches' Teleconference, can be heard on the internet through Tulane's official athletic department website, www.TulaneGreenWave.com. The site is the stop for all the latest information on Tulane Athletics, including player features, Ask the Coach and AD, statistics and game reports.
