Forté's 209 Yards Just Not Enough
Oct 23, 2007 | Football
Oct. 14, 2007
By Ted Lewis
New Orleans Times Picayune
Another big night for Matt Forté, another night of frustration.
For the second consecutive game, the Tulane senior running back rushed for more than 200 yards, and he left the field angry that his team lost 26-21 to Alabama-Birmingham.
"I really don't care about having a big game if we lose," said Fortè, who ran for 202 yards in last week's loss at Army and 209 yards Saturday. "I'm tired of going in the locker room seeing all of these sad faces. I've been doing it for four years, and it's tired to make a turnaround."
Fortè's yards came on 32 carries, a 6.5 average. And they were well distributed, 58 in the first quarter, 54 in the second, 44 in the third and 53 -- on three carries -- in the fourth.
He also had four receptions for 36 yards, and a 25-yard gain was negated by a holding penalty.
Tulane Coach Bob Toledo said he felt Forté's pain.
"That's what makes me sick," he said. "There are some guys like Matt in there busting their fannies and a handful of guys are keeping us from winning. Matt Forté is a great, great football player, and I feel so bad for him to have to go through this situation. He doesn't deserve this."
Forté's 209 yards gave him 919 for the season and 3,057 for his career. That leaves him 38 yards behind Eddie Price for second on the school's career list. But Forté said his mind is more on his role as captain.
"I've got to stay on 'em," he said, "The young guys have got to step up and play, and the older guys who haven't been doing as much have to step up as well. We're not throwing everything down the well. We've still got six games left."
SACK FREE: After registering 16 sacks in its past three games and rising to No. 8 in that category, the Wave failed to get to UAB quarterback Sam Hunt all night.
They had a perfect game plan, and they protected the quarterback real well," defensive end Reggie Scott said. "They were getting their cut blocks all night, and that made it real tough to get to him. He was getting rid of the ball pretty fast, too. It was like we never had time."
OH, THOSE FLAGS: The Wave didn't have 110 yards in penalties like it did last week against Army, but the 89 yards on 12 calls it incurred Saturday were just as hurtful.
Perhaps the biggest came late in the second quarter when a 25-yard screen pass from Scelfo to Forté to the UAB 42 was called back for holding. The Wave eventually had to punt.
"That's what killing us," Toledo said. "We can't get drives sustained because we keep making too many mistakes. You get a big play called back, and it's third and a mile, and we don't have many plays that can get third and a mile. It's like we shoot ourselves in the foot over and over and over again."
NEW TACKLES: Travis Olexa and Nick Landry made their first starts of the season for Tulane. Olexa replaced Scott Holt, who is out for four to six weeks with a knee injury. It was Olexa's first career start.
Landry replaced Troy Kropog, who could not go because of a shoulder injury. It was the first start for Landry since last year's game at Texas-El Paso.
RECOVERING HIS FORM: UAB's Swayze Waters came into the game as the nation's field-goal leader with 14 made in 16 attempts, and he added two more Saturday with kicks of 47 and 21 yards in the fourth quarter to provide the winning margin.
But he uncharacteristically missed an extra-point attempt (his first in 10 tries) and a 31-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter.
Coincidentally, both of Waters' previous misses this season had been from that distance.
FIRST SINCE '06: When Frantrell Forrest went 92 yards on a kickoff return that tied the score at 7 early in the second quarter, it was the first return for a touchdown allowed by Tulane since Jesse Henderson of Southern Methodist went 100 yards last year.
IT SURE LOOKS DIFFERENT: Since the last time Tulane played here in 2003, the eastside upper deck of Legion Field was removed. The renovation reduced the capacity of the 80-year-old stadium by about 11,000 to approximately 72,000, although both end zones were covered by tarps.
The stadium, which used to be the home for big Alabama games, is certainly lacking in modern amenities, as there were no replay screens, and scores from other games were announced over the PA rather than displayed on the scoreboard.
UPCOMING: The Wave plays the third of its three straight road games next Saturday at SMU at 7 p.m. The Mustangs (1-5) lost 28-7 to Southern Miss on Saturday.
Tulane will return to the Superdome on Oct. 29 against Memphis.
