Football Heads To Greenville For Showdown With East Carolina
Nov 21, 2014 | Football
Tulane Game Notes
East Carolina Game Notes
American Athletic Conference Notes
Watch Live On ESPN3
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University football team return to action on Saturday, Nov. 21, when the Green Wave travel to Greenville, N.C., to take on American Athletic Conference rival East Carolina in Dowdy-FicklenStadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (CST) and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
The Wave enter the ballgame 3-7 on the year, 2-4 in American action and looking to bounce back from a 38-7 Homecoming loss to Memphis last Saturday in New Orleans. The contest against the Pirates is one of two remaining on the 2014 Green Wave schedule, and the team is focused on finishing the year strongly and gaining momentum for the 2015 campaign.
"We've got to play the games ahead of us," Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson said. "What we're going to do is we're going to play the hardest that we can and we're going to play the best players that we can. We've got some young kids and we've been looking at young kids all year long. We want to go out and we want to win these games. We want to create some momentum.
"If you win five games, it looks a lot better than winning three. It looks better in recruiting. What you want to do is you want to continue to play hard and continue to win. The one brand that we do have in this program is that we play hard and we never quit."
In addition to the ESPN3 coverage, Saturday's game will be carried on the flagship radio station for Green Wave football - WMTI 106.1 FM "The Ticket" - and the radio call is available on the web at www.TulaneGreenWave.com via the All-Access Pass. Live game stats are also available on the official website of Tulane Athletics for free courtesy of GameTracker.
As a team, Tulane is averaging 357.0 yards of total offense per game (160.7 rushing, 196.3 passing) and reached the endzone 24 times while giving up 381.0 yards (166.4 rushing, 214.6 passing) per game and 36 touchdowns.
Three different Green Wave running backs have rushed for 100 yards in a game so far this year - the first time the program accomplished that feat since 1998 - and redshirt-freshman tailback Sherman Badie paces the Tulane ground game with 634 yards on 104 carries to go with three touchdowns. Sophomore Lazedrick Thompson, who has 470 yards on 98 totes to date, shares the team lead in rushing touchdowns with freshman Dontrell Hilliard at four each, and Hilliard ranks third on the squad with 404 yards and two touchdowns on 84 carries.
Three Green Wave quarterbacks have seen action to date and both redshirt-freshman Tanner Lee along with senior Nick Montana have multiple starts at the position. Lee, who two games due to injury, leads the Green Wave attack with 1,552 yards and 12 touchdowns on 144-of-260 passing and all of those stats stands as Tulane records for a rookie passer. Montana, meanwhile, has thrown for 300 yards on 42-of-72 passing with a score in three games and two starts so far in 2014 while redshirt-sophomore Devin Powell has completed 10-of-26 passes for 111 yards off the bench.
Senior wideout Justyn Shackleford leads the aerial assault with 419 receiving yards to go with a pair of scores while sharing the team lead with freshman Teddy Veal at 33 catches apiece. Freshman tight end Charles Jones and senior receiver Xavier Rush both have a team-high three touchdown receptions and the duo of Hilliard and Badie both pulled down 20 passes to date.
Defensively, Tulane has 19 sacks among 70 tackles for loss, broke up 26 passes and forced 27 turnovers on the strength of 16 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries. Senior free safety Sam Scofield headlines the unit with 72 tackles (50 solo, 22 assists) while sophomore linebacker Nico Marley and junior strong safety Darion Monroe follow with 63 and 59 stops, respectively.
Junior defensive end Royce LaFrance paces the squad with 5.0 sacks, Marley leads the team with 11.0 tackles for loss and senior cornerback Lorenzo Doss headlines the secondary with seven pass break-ups. Redshirt-freshman corner Parry Nickerson has a team- and conference-best six interceptions, Monroe and LaFrance share team-high forced fumble honors with two each and the tandem of Monroe and Marley both have a team-best two fumble recoveries.
"I think the offense is on the track with exactly where we want it to go," Johnson said. "We talked about what we wanted to do when I got here. The first thing we wanted to do is we wanted to run the ball. I think we're doing that. For two years, we hadn't done much running the ball. Schematically, we're doing it. We're doing a great job of running the football and we're averaging over 150 yards a game.
"Secondly, in the passing game, we hit, we miss, we hit, we miss. Last year, we had a receiver who caught the ball for over 1,000 yards and he's playing for the Washington Redskins. Now, what it is is just continuing to get together and continuing to get this thing to where we want it to be. There's a lot of things that we want to do that we're not doing. I'm looking at some of these quarterbacks, these three- and four-year players are playing outstanding, and I think we'll be there."
East Carolina, meanwhile, enters the weekend 6-3 on the year, 3-2 in conference action and looking to snap a two-game skid after dropping consecutive road games at Temple, 20-10, and at Cincinnati, 54-46. As a team, the Pirates are averaging 552.8 yards of total offense per game (184.4 rushing, 369.3 passing) and 37.0 points per outing with 44 touchdowns and nine field goals while giving up an average of 366.8 yards (102.7 rushing, 264.1 passing) and 26.4 points per contest.
Quarterback Shane Carden leads the ECU attack with 3,216 yards and 20 touchdown on 263-of-418 passing while adding 67 yards and four scores on the ground. Breon Allen paces the rushing attack with 734 yards and seven touchdowns on 98 carries and Mose Frazier leads the receiving corps with 80 catches for 1,002 yards and seven scores.
Defensively, East Carolina has 14 sacks among 42 tackles for loss, broke up 33 passes and forced 12 turnovers after picking off 10 passes and recovering two fumbles. Zeek Bigger leads the squad with 96 tackles (44 solo, 52 assists), followed by Brandon Williams with 77 (37 solo, 40 assists) and Dominique Lennon with 51 (27 solo, 24 assists).
Montese Overton paces the unit with 8.0 tackles for loss, Williams has a team-best 3.5 sacks and Josh Hawkins headlines the secondary with four interceptions and 10 pass break-ups. Terry Williams leads the Pirates with a pair of forced fumbles and both Overton and Joe Allely have accounted for ECU's fumble recoveries.
"They're outstanding offensively," Johnson said of the Pirates. "The quarterback, Carden, is one of the best players. They've got a couple of receivers. This little receiver [Justin Hardy], he gave us the blues last year. They've got a big, physical offensive line. They've got a whole new bunch of guys on defense. They play together and sometimes they're a little inconsistent, but they're athletic on defense.
"This team is a really, really good football team. They have experience on offense. That's why they score against everybody. The one thing we have to do is our defense has to come to play. We've got to get to them and shut these guys down a little bit."
Saturday's game marks the 13th meeting between Tulane and East Carolina on the gridiron, and the Pirates hold a 9-3 advantage in the all-time series. The Green Wave, however, won the last head-to-head matchup with a 36-33 triple-overtime victory against the Pirates last Oct. 12 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Tulane is 0-6 against East Carolina on the road and the last time the team's squared off in Greenville was Nov. 17, 2012, when the Pirates came away with a 28-23 victory.
Following the game in North Carolina, the Green Wave will enjoy a week off before closing out the 2014 regular season on Dec. 6 against Temple in Yulman Stadium. For tickets to that game, as well as future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283). The Tulane Ticket Office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at the official website of Tulane Athletics - www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
