Football To Take On Army Saturday For Homecoming 2010
Oct 8, 2010 | Football
Oct. 8, 2010
Tulane Game Notes
Army Game Notes
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NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University football team returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 9, when the Green Wave play host to Army as part of the Homecoming 2010 celebration. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. in the Louisiana Superdome.
Tulane enters the ballgame 2-2 on the year and fresh off a 17-14 victory over Rutgers last weekend in Piscataway, N.J. Army, meanwhile, comes to town 3-2 for the season and looking to bounce back from a 42-35 loss to Temple last week in West Point, N.Y. Saturday's game marks the third consecutive year Tulane will enter its fifth game of the year 2-2. In each of the previous two seasons, however, the Green Wave lost their next game and finished the year with a sub-.500 record.
"Something that I've talked to my team about is that we now have to be mature enough to take the next step," Tulane head coach Bob Toledo said. "We've got to learn to forget about the last play, whether it was good or bad, and you've got to focus on the next one. We've got to do the same thing with the game. We've got to forget about what we did - win or lose - the past game and we've got to focus on the next one.
"This is a difficult one. We've got to show maturity. A lot of people are all patting us on the back this week, telling us how great we are and what a great win it was - and it was. But that doesn't do us any good at this point. We've got to move forward."
The game will be broadcast on the flagship radio station of Tulane Athletics, WIST AM 690, live stats are available on-line for free via GameTracker and live video streaming is available to paid members of the All-Access Pass. In addition, Saturday's homecoming contest will be televised via tape-delay locally on WHNO-TV 20 at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Saturday's homecoming festivities get underway with the Tailgate Village on top of parking garage five where fans can begin tailgating at 11 a.m. The first 10,000 fans to enter the Superdome for the football game will receive a free green and white pom-pom. The 2010 Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame inductees will be honored during the second quarter, the 2010 Homecoming Court will be presented at halftime, and the Super Bowl raffle winner will be announced in the third quarter.
As a team, the Green Wave are averaging 285.0 yards of total offense per game (89.8 rushing, 195.2 passing) while giving up 335.5 yards per contest (119.8 rushing, 215.8 passing). Junior running back Albert Williams paces the Tulane ground game with 174 yards on 38 carries (4.6 avg.) while sophomore Payten Jason - who is expected to make his first career collegiate start on Saturday - has 70 yards and two touchdowns on 27 attempts.
Sophomore quarterback Ryan Griffin is one of five Green Wave players to have completed a pass so far in 2010 and leads the squad by completing 59-of-92 passes (64.1 pct.) for 500 yards. Senior wide receiver Casey Robottom has been the favorite target to date, catching 23 passes for 218 yards. Sophomore D.J. Banks is second on the team with 16 receptions for 163 yards.
Defensively, Tulane is led by sophomore middle linebacker Trent Mackey who has 48 tackles (23 solo, 25 assists), 5.0 tackles for loss, a pass break-up and a forced fumble. Safeties Alex Wacha and Shakiel Smith rank tied for second on the team with 31 tackles each, while senior defensive tackle Justin Adams has a team-best 4.5 sacks among 7.5 tackles for loss on the year.
The Green Wave defense has forced nine turnovers, including a two-interception, two-fumble recovery season to date by senior cornerback Phillip Davis. Smith and Wacha also have one interception each while Adams, sophomore Ryan Travis and junior Chris Asumnu have one fumble recovery apiece.
"We're learning to finish games," Toledo said of his team. "Hopefully we can continue that trend. I think we've grown up a lot as a football team. There's no question, in my opinion, that we're better. I've told you that before. We're better than we've been in the past. We've now got to continue to do what we're doing.
"We're starting to believe that we can play with anybody. I'm trying to preach that. And we're starting to expect to win, and that's important. From a mental aspect, we're trying to use a little psychology on our players as well and make them believe that they're good. They're buying into it."
Army, meanwhile, enters the game averaging 342.2 yards of total offense per contest while giving up a 329.8 (151.4 rushing, 178.4 passing). The bulk of the Black Knight's yardage comes on the ground as Army ranks ninth nationally with 266.8 rushing yards per game.
Sophomore quarterback Trent Steelman spearheads the Army attack with 270 yards and six touchdowns on 76 carries while completing 26-of-47 passes for 357 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Austin Barr leads the team with eight catches for 128 yards and two scores.
Stephen Anderson headlines the Black Knights' defense with 39 tackles (23 solo, 16 assists) while Josh McNary and Steve Erzinger follow with 25 and 24 stops, respectively. McNary paces the team with 7.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks, and Anderson is one of five Army players with one interception on the year, and Erzinger leads the squad with three pass break-ups.
"They're a much-improved football team over a year ago," Toledo said of Army. "Rich Ellerson took over last year and they struggled at times putting in their system, but they've really come on. The difficult thing about playing Army is that they're a different football team.
"Offensively, they run the wishbone basically. They run a double-eagle flex defense that he installed when he was at Arizona. They called it the `Desert Swarm' at that time. I've coached against Rich numerous times, and I'll tell you what, it's the single most difficult defense we faced. It's hard to do much against it. He's doing a great job."
Saturday's game marks the 18th time the Green Wave and Black Knights will meet on the gridiron and Tulane leads the all-time series, 9-7-1. The series dates back to 1953 when the two teams battled to a scoreless tie and both programs were members of Conference USA from 1998-2005. Tulane is 5-2-1 at home against Army and won the last year's meeting 17-16 at Michie Stadium.
For ticket information to the Homecoming contest, as well as future Green Wave Athletic events, contact the Tulane Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE. Tickets can be purchase in the Ticket Office, which is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center, over the phone or online at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
