Coach Geezy in the Big Easy: Our City, Our Team | Part II - The Golden Age of Tulane

[Cheese2121]

Another decent matchup coming up for you. On paper, you should have no trouble with the Wildcats especially since you are at home.....but games are of course not played on paper.

I think putting this team away early and not giving them a chance to get anything going with that spread attack will be paramount. Good luck my friend!

[djp73]

excellent way to start a season man!

[RyanLeaf16]

Jackson and Cowan came up big in the secondary with those 3rd quarter INTs. Both plays kept LSU from getting at least 3 points, which could have changed the play-calling for you and how the rest of the game unfolded.

Excellent debut for Ryan Jean. 7 for 107 and a key conversion. Not bad for a true Freshman!

You gotta talk to Jimmy Williams about that negative yardage due to sacks. -52 yards!?!?!? He's gotta "GET RID OF THE BALL!"

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cheese2121

Another decent matchup coming up for you. On paper, you should have no trouble with the Wildcats especially since you are at home.....but games are of course not played on paper. I think putting this team away early and not giving them a chance to get anything going with that spread attack will be paramount. Good luck my friend!

Yeah I'd like to think we could dominate this team, but you never know - especially against those pesky, no-huddle spread attack teams.

I'd like to try to establish the running game. Based on last week's results, we need to work on that area. Hopefully this is a game where we can get an early lead and can run the ball a ton in the second half.

Quote: Originally Posted by djp73

excellent way to start a season man!

Thanks djp...that was a very fun game and fun way to re-start this thing.

Quote: Originally Posted by RyanLeaf16

Jackson and Cowan came up big in the secondary with those 3rd quarter INTs. Both plays kept LSU from getting at least 3 points, which could have changed the play-calling for you and how the rest of the game unfolded. Excellent debut for Ryan Jean. 7 for 107 and a key conversion. Not bad for a true Freshman! You gotta talk to Jimmy Williams about that negative yardage due to sacks. -52 yards!?!?!? He's gotta "GET RID OF THE BALL!"

I really had trouble protecting the QB for some reason in this one. I'm hoping this was just a product of playing a great LSU defense. I definitely envisioned him doing better on the ground. We need to protect him first and foremost though or he'll get killed.

Ryan Jean is going to be a star. I'm thinking that by his junior season, he will be mentioned in the same breath as superstar RB Reggie Moore(my first and only Heisman winner in this dynasty).

Thanks all for checking in...the next game will be played today, results posted in the next day or two.

[RaiderAid89]

A little late, but I'm all caught up now and will continue to follow

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by RaiderAid89

A little late, but I'm all caught up now and will continue to follow

Thanks for hopping onboard RaiderAid. Hope you enjoy!

[Deegeezy]

NR 20 -- 0-2
#1 37 -- 2-0

With it appearing that the two teams would go into halftime tied up at 17-17 following a Northwestern field goal with 0:01 to go in the second quarter, sophomore KR Joel Ryan spun past Wildcat defenders and returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown as the first half clock expired, giving the Green Wave a 24-17 halftime lead and a significant shot of momentum heading into the break. The kickoff return touchdown was the third of Ryan's career.

#1 TULANE PULLS AWAY FROM PESKY NORTHWESTERN IN THE SECOND HALF FOR A CLOSER-THAN-EXPECTED 37-20 VICTORY; QB WILLIAMS INJURES PECTORAL, EXPECTED TO MISS "AT LEAST" 7 WEEKS

Big days from RB Davis, WR Jean, and KR Ryan helps spark Green Wave to 34th straight victory at the Superdome | Back-up QB Atkinson spotty in relief duty, Geezy refuses to immediately declare him next week's starter | SEC road date at Auburn next on tap for Wave

New Orleans, LA -- It was a bittersweet Saturday evening at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for top-ranked Tulane, as they defeated a very game-Northwestern Wildcats squad 37-20 however lost starting redshirt freshman QB Jimmy Williams for a significant chunk of the remainder of the season in the process. Junior RB Bernie Davis scored two first half touchdowns and sophomore KR Joel Ryan's 94-yard kickoff return touchdown on the final play of the first half helped pace the defending national champions to a 2-0 start to their season.

Ryan, last year's winner of the "Best Return Man" award and a Preseason All-American this season as a return man, helped Tulane seize the momentum heading into halftime, giving the Green Wave a 24-17 lead that they would never relinquish the rest of the way. The kickoff return touchdown was the third of Ryan's career, after scoring two in one game in last season's 42-17 home win versus Texas Tech.

QB Antoine Atkinson held down the fort in spot duty, however Geezy was noncommittal about his status as the new starter moving forward.

In the second half, junior backup QB Antoine Atkinson came in for Williams, who was hurt while being hit on a pass attempt midway through the third quarter. Atkinson's 5-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior WR Larry Woods made the score 31-17, putting his team comfortably ahead with 3:04 to go in the third quarter. Atkinson finished the contest 4 of 7 for 40 yards and 1 touchdown, however he did throw a costly interception deep in his own territory which could have been disastrous. Fortunately, the Green Wave defense stood strong and held Northwestern to a field goal to make the score 31-20 late in the third.

The extended game action was the first for Atkinson since his freshman season, when he was forced to play virtually the entire 2017 BCS National Championship Game versus USC following former Tulane starter Jamie Manning's injury on the first play of the game, a game the Green Wave lost 20-13. Atkinson finished the national title game 12 of 21 for 155 with no touchdowns and 1 interception, and guided the Green Wave to within a yard of tying the score on the game's final play, completing a short slant pass to former Green Wave star RB Reggie Moore, who was tackled at the 1-yard line as the clock expired.

RB Bernie Davis, who scored 2 touchdowns on Saturday, will need to help pick up the slack in Williams' absence.

Williams, a promising redshirt freshman making just his second start of his career, left the game with what sources are saying is a torn pectoral, an injury that will leave Tulane without its top signal caller for at least the next 7 weeks. Tulane head coach D. Geezy was evasive about who would be the starter moving forward and despite him being listed #2 on the depth chart, refused to immediately declare Atkinson the team's new signal caller.

"We're going to do a lot of study this week to determine what we're going to do moving forward at the quarterback position," said Geezy.

"What I think is this - Antoine (74 ovr, 88 spd, 78 thp, 83tha) certainly has earned his job as the week to week back-up quarterback. He is a very fast quarterback in regards to foot-speed and his game directly applies to a lot of the concepts we run with Jimmy in regards to the zone reads, sprint outs the options, etc.

"On the other hand, redshirt senior QB Preston Fields (81 ovr, 71 spd, 82 thp, 87tha) is a guy our staff holds to a high level of esteem and is a very polished passer. Where as Antoine may be a better fit for the offense we run with J-Dub at QB, there may be some consideration to getting back to being more of a traditional pro-style attack like we had with Manning prior to this season. And if that's the case, Preston may be the better fit. Who knows? Maybe both will play. We'll see."

Tulane (2-0) will travel to face Auburn (1-1) next week at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Green Wave blew away the Tigers last season 41-16 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Box Score

Northwestern Wildcats at Tulane Green Wave
	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Northwestern Wildcats (0-2)	7	10	3	0	20
#1 Tulane Green Wave (2-0)	10	14	7	6	37

1st

: 4 yd TD run by Davis (White kick) 5:38 -- 7-0
: 53 yd FG by White 2:15 -- 10-0
: 80 yd TD run by Hales (Carter kick) 2:03 -- 10-7

2nd

: 11 yd TD pass from Little to Sherman (Carter kick) 4:08 -- 10-14
: 2 yd TD run by Davis (White kick) 0:55 -- 17-14
: 42 yd FG by Carter 0:01 -- 17-17
: 94 yd kickoff return TD by Ryan (White kick) 0:00 -- 24-17

3rd

: 5 yd TD pass from Atkinson to Woods (White kick) 3:04 -- 31-17
: 23 yd FG by Carter 0:34 -- 31-20

4th

: 35 yd FG by White 5:18 -- 34-20
: 46 yd FG by White 2:08 -- 37-20

Game Statistics


#1 Tulane

Click here to view 2019 Tulane Green Wave Roster

* - IMPACT Player


Passing                       RATING  COMP  ATT  YDS  TD  INT   
 8-QB  Jimmy Williams(rs-fr)~  130.3   14    19  152   0   1
 7-QB  Antoine Atkinson(jr)    123.7    4     7   40   1   1
~ - injured in third quarter (torn pectoral) | out for 7 to 9 weeks

Rushing                          ATT  YDS  TD 
28-RB  Bernie Davis(jr)           18   60   2
32-RB  B.J. Johnson(rs-sr)         5   30   0
 7-QB  Antoine Atkinson(jr)        5    6   0
15-FB  Marcus Young(sr)            1    4   0
 5-WR  Chris Kane(rs-sr)           1    3   0

Receiving                        REC  YDS  TD 
81-WR  Ryan Jean(fr)               6  124   0
82-TE  Roger Battle(jr)            4   28   0
28-RB  Bernie Davis(jr)            3   -6   0 
17-WR  *Bobby McCall(sr)           2   25   0
80-WR  Larry Woods(rs-sr)          1    5   1
 5-WR  Chris Kane(rs-sr)           1   18   0
32-RB  B.J. Johnson(rs-sr)         1   -2   0
27-WR  Jon Ryan(so)                0    0   0 (5 kr 198 yds 1 td, 5 pr 40 yds)

Defensive Leaders                TAK  SOLO  AST  TFL  SCK  INT 
 1-FS  Lee Palmer(so)              9    7    2    1    0    1
 3-OLB *Bret Johnson(so)           4    4    0    2    0    0 
47-DE  Paul Byrd(so)               3    2    1    2    1    0

Kicking                          FG MADE FG ATT LONG  MISSED  XP MADE XP ATT 
 6-PK  Alex White(sr)              3       3     54     n/a     4       4

Tulane Key Team Stats:

Total Offensive Yards: 281
Rushing Totals: 35 att 89 yds 2 tds
Sacks Allowed: 4
3rd down conversions: 4-11 (36%)
4th down conversions: 0-0 (0%)
Offensive Turnovers: 2
Penalties: 4 for 40 yards

Northwestern

* - IMPACT Player


Passing                       RATING  COMP  ATT  YDS  TD  INT   
17-QB  Terrance Davis(rs-jr)~   96.1   17    28  142   0   1
 8-QB  Ryan Little(rs-jr)      522.4    1     1   11   1   0
~ - injured in second quarter (undisclosed) | returned in second quarter

Rushing                          ATT  YDS  TD 
 7-RB  Allen Hale(rs-jr)          14  133   1
17-QB  Terrance Davis(rs-jr)       8   23   0
20-FB  James Jones(fr)             1    6   0
19-WR  Joel Moore(rs-jr)           1    0   0

Receiving                        REC  YDS  TD 
 7-RB  Allen Hale(rs-jr)           5   35   0
12-WR  *Peter Sherman(sr)          4   42   1
19-WR  Joel Moore(rs-jr)           3   20   0
 5-WR  Bill Rhodes(rs-jr)          2    8   0
13-TE  Graham Murray(fr)           2   35   0
81-WR  Joe Clark(rs-sr)            1   11   0

Defensive Leaders                TAK  SOLO  AST  TFL  SCK  INT 
57-OLB *Bill Ramsey(rs-sr)         8    6    2    1    0    0
22-CB  Matt Roach(rs-sr)           7    4    3    0    0    1
90-DE  Alvin Fletcher(sr)          6    5    1    3    3    0
91-DE  Quinton Summers(rs-sr)      3    3    0    1    1    0
99-DT  David Brown(rs-jr)          3    3    0    2    1    0
 4-CB  Frank Broussard(rs-sr)      2    2    0    0    0    1

Kicking                          FG MADE FG ATT LONG  MISSED  XP MADE XP ATT 
 3-PK  Nicholas Carter(jr)         2       3     42     51      2       2

Northwestern Key Team Stats:

Total Offensive Yards: 315
Rushing Totals: 24 att 162 yds 1 td 
Sacks Allowed: 1
3rd down conversions: 2-10 (20%)
4th down conversions: 1-1 (100%)
Offensive Turnovers: 2
Penalties: 6 for 50 yards

2019 Tulane Green Wave Schedule/Results

                                                                     
Opponent (record)       Result        Tulane Player of the Game              -Record-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vs LSU (1-1)            W 21-18       QB Williams 18-23 234 yds 2 tds 1 int  1-0 (1-0)
vs Northwestern (0-2)   W 37-20       KR Ryan 238 return yds 1 kr td         2-0 (1-0)
at Auburn (1-1)
at Vanderbilt (1-1)
vs Notre Dame (1-1)
at USC (1-0)
vs Florida (2-0)
at Kentucky (2-0)
vs Alabama (2-0)
at Arkansas (2-0)
vs Ole Miss (1-2)
at Southern Miss (1-0)

Next Game:

#1 (2-0) at (1-1)

.

[jct32]

A really unimpressive game stats wise. Great job on the win though.