Football With Much to Play For at Houston Thursday

By Clyde Verdin
TulaneGreenWave.com

New Orleans – There's no need to remind the Tulane football team what's at stake in the team's primetime matchup against the Houston Cougars this week.

Winners of the last three games the Green Wave are now 5-5 on the year, and with a 4-2 record in the American Athletic Conference the team is still in the thick of the league's western division title race.

Coming off last Saturday's tense, 24-18 victory over the ECU Pirates at Yulman Stadium, Tulane needs a win in either of the last two games of the year against the Cougars at 7 p.m. Thursday, or next week in the home finale against Navy to earn bowl eligibility for the first time since the 2013 season.

Since the undefeated season of 1998, where the team won the Conference USA title and earned a trip to the Liberty Bowl, the program has made just two postseason trips since. Last year, the team was on the cusp of breaking through, but heartbreak in Dallas on the final play in the season finale extended the bowl drought another year.

"All the seniors that have been here, a lot who have been here for five years, our whole goal this year has been making a bowl game, compete for a conference championship and we've put ourselves in a position to do that," John Leglue said.

Tulane has already tasted heartbreak a couple of times already this season, with tough losses to Wake Forest to open the year and to SMU, but each of the last three weeks the Green Wave has found ways to win using every facet of their game.

Against Tulsa and USF, Tulane got it done on the ground with its powerful run game of Corey Dauphine and Darius Bradwell. Last week, the passing offense took center stage with quick-strike touchdowns from Justin McMillan to big play receivers in Darnell Mooney and Terren Encalade.

But when you break up an NCAA-record 20 passes on the night and shut out an opposing offense in crunch time in the final quarter, your defense rightfully gets top billing on the day.

"We've been playing a lot of man-to-man and the younger guys have been stepping up and making plays when called on," Donnie Lewis Jr. said. "Those younger guys have been playing with that confidence and that's helped us out a lot."

Although he wasn't expecting to have a young group contributing at such a high level this early on, head coach Willie Fritz has noticed the improvement in his younger players as the season has worn on.

"Yeah we've got a bunch of young kids out there. I was looking, there was a play during the game the other day and I looked out and I believed it was seven true freshmen or redshirt freshmen or sophomores out there playing for us on defense," he said. We're a young team. Usually that's not the case when you're in your third year. Usually you've got some more veteran guys. But we're a young team, and that's good. That's encouraging."

That young defense will be counted upon to try and limit the high-flying offense of the Cougars, and potential Heisman Trophy candidate D'Eriq King, while trying to limit the impact of one of the nation's top defenders in Ed Oliver. Oliver, however, has been hampered by injury the last few weeks and is questionable to play Thursday night.

"A lot of talented athletes on both sides. They're sitting at 7-3 and have lost a few close ballgames as well," Fritz said of Houston. "Great opportunity for us to showcase our program and show our program where we're at on national TV."

While Houston is the host and its bowl eligibility already secured, they'll have to deal with a Tulane team with something to play for and something to prove. Especially within the senior class.

"It's definitely a bigger game for me, and the seniors as well," Lewis said. "It means something to us, more so as due to us being here longer than other players. So, it's definitely a big, big game."

Football With Much to Play For at Houston Thursday

Players Mentioned

Darius Bradwell

Corey Dauphine

Terren Encalade

John Leglue

Donnie Lewis Jr.

Justin McMillan

Darnell Mooney

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