BY JAKE WEINSTOCK
Tulane's first (of two) bye week(s) conveniently falls halfway through the regular season, as the Green Wave sit at 4-2 (2-0) with six more games to play. Coming out of this week's bye, the Wave will host Rice at Yulman Stadium on October 19, at 2:30 p.m. Before we get there, however, let's examine how the team has played, to date, and what that can tell us about the future.
Darian Mensah remains one of the best in the country when pushing the ball down the field
Among 58 qualifying quarterbacks in the FBS (i.e. those that have taken at least half of their team's offensive snaps, to date), Darian Mensah has the 6th best adjusted completion percentage on throws that traveled between 10-19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, with a mark of 72.7%. Adjusted completion percentage filters out on-target balls that hit the ground or were intercepted. Among those same 58 qualifiers, he has the 15th best adjusted completion percentage on throws that traveled at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage (47.8%). Mensah continues to be a dynamic and impressive successor to Michael Pratt, and continues to be a major driver of the offense, which is not something outside onlookers would have expected in August, had they been informed that the presumed 3rd string quarterback with 0 college snaps and 1 FBS scholarship offer would have wound up with the starting job.
The pass rush has been an absolute wrecker through two conference games
After 4 games (Southeastern, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Louisiana-Lafayette), Tulane had managed to accumulate a total of just 46 pressures. In just 2 conference games, however, they have racked up a total of 41, with 21 coming in a 45-10 win over USF and 20 coming in their 71-20 woodshedding of UAB, last weekend. But what's most exciting is that the pressures are coming from everywhere, as 12 different players had at least 1 pressure against USF and 14 different players had at least 1 pressure against UAB, all while Adin Huntington has been nursing an injury and played just 7 snaps between the two games (though he did get credited with a pressure against USF). To have so many members of the front six step up and find their way to the quarterback creates significant problems for any opposing offense. As Tulane fans observed against UAB, the easiest pass rushes to slow are those that rely on one individual, as the Blazers' does. Matthew Fobbs-White has been a complete revelation at the Bandit position, and has a total of 6 pressures, through those two conference games.
Tulane's offense has been in the upper echelon of the FBS, through six games
The Green Wave are averaging 6.2 yards per offensive play, which is the 27th best such average nationally, out of the 134 qualifying schools. They're also averaging 40.6 points scored per game, which is the 10th best average in the country, and they've been quite efficient in their scoring, too, as their 0.587 points per play is the 14th best such average in the nation. Offensive Coordinator Joe Craddock has done a marvelous job of not only getting the ball to the (many) playmakers along the Tulane offense, but he and Mensah have created opportunities for those playmakers to generate explosive plays. In the context of the passing game, for example, sharp play-callers generally prefer slants, drags and crosses, to name a few, over comebacks and stops, because the former category, when executed properly, gets the ball to the receiver already mid-sprint, whereas the latter requires the pass catcher to get moving from a complete stop or stop and then change direction. Watch closely and it'll become obvious that Craddock is very, very aware of this.
How have Tulane's remaining six opponents fared, to date?
Here's who the Wave have left on their regular season schedule:
v. Rice 1-4 (0-2)
@ North Texas 4-1 (1-0)
@ Charlotte 3-3 (2-0)
v. Temple 1-5 (0-2)
@Navy 5-0 (3-0)
-BYE-
Memphis 4-1 (0-1)
Now, here's how the Athletic currently ranks each, in their weekly 1-134 FBS ranking:
Rice -- No. 130
@North Texas -- No. 86
@Charlotte -- No. 97
v. Temple -- No. 125
@Navy -- No. 23
-BYE-
Memphis -- No. 42
A challenge inside the locker room as mid-November draws nearer and nearer may be to prevent anyone from looking ahead to those last two games of the season, which is clearly what most astute and even casual observers are doing, it seems. If the Green Wave want to end up as the highest ranked Group of 5 conference champion, come Sunday December 8, thereby earning a playoff bid, there can be no more losses, and they will likely need some help, elsewhere. In the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff/New Years' Six Bowl Games, which have now been transformed from a 4-team format to a 12-team format, only twice out of those ten years did a Group of 5 school get the bid with 2 losses (2014 Boise State, 2022 Tulane). Never has a school earned such a bid with 3 losses.
Roll Wave!!!