BY TIM SCANDURRO:
“There’s three types of players in this game. There’s guys that seek contact, tolerate contact and avoid contact. We want seekers.” –Jon Sumrall
In August 2001, I finished up a seven-day family vacation to Utah with a visit to Provo to watch Tulane open the season against BYU. Hopes were high, as they always are at this time of year. That was a talented Tulane team offensively, headlined by Patrick Ramsey, a young Mewelde Moore and Roydell Williams. “Basketball on grass,” Chris Scelfo called it.
It was a beautiful setting for college football, and a brutally hot day by Utah standards. Both offenses were even hotter to start. Ramsey, Moore and Williams were brilliant out of the gate. At the end of the first quarter the score was 21-21. But they kept scoring at will, and we didn’t. At halftime the score was 49-28, BYU. At the end of the third quarter, the Cougars had hung 70 on us. They had not punted. They may not have faced a third down. They mercifully called off the dogs and ended up coasting to a 70-35 win. It was a long walk to the car.
If you’re an old enough Tulane fan, you’ve seen some horrific beatings. I’ve seen scores worse than the one that day in Provo. But I can’t think of a time leaving a game where I felt more embarrassed and humiliated than that day. Nobody wanted to tackle. BYU went through us, to quote Nick Saban, like $hit through a tin horn.
Sure, we scored 35. But it was the lack of physicality, the absence of want-to, the taking of our football manhood, that was so deflating. Some blamed the altitude, but the real problem was the attitude. We weren’t a FOOTBALL TEAM that day, defensively. We weren’t ready, we weren’t willing, and as a result we certainly weren’t able.
The fact that it happened in Week One was especially cruel. You buy season tickets, you donate money, you spend all summer getting amped up for the start of the season…. and then you get your ass handed to you in the opener. USM, 1999. Duke, 2015. Butler, 2006 (OK, that last one was basketball). I’ve probably blocked a bunch more out. No fun as a player, no fun as a fan.
But we’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. Those days are over. Nobody is going to kick sand in the faces of this 2024 Tulane team, not with Jon Sumrall on the sidelines. Toughness, physicality, and effort will define this program. You don’t like to hit? Then I hope you don’t like to play.
Willie Fritz turned us into a more physical program. No doubt. But when Coach Sumrall got here he saw a lot of athleticism, and not enough toughness. He’s spent every day since working to instill it. He understands that the game has evolved since he started playing it, but it will always reward grit, fortitude, hard work and physical courage. He will accept nothing less. That’s old school. As a fan and supporter of this program, I find comfort in that.
That trip to Utah in 2001? It wasn’t all bad. My younger daughter turned a year old and took her first steps in the hotel the night before the game. Jon Sumrall and his Tulane program will do the same Thursday night.
I can’t wait.
-Tim Scandurro, class of 1984
I was there, too, Tim. Had the same feelings as what you described. I did "catch" one of our punts. Sitting on first row behind our bench, a punt sailed well out of bounds, headed toward the stands. I reached out and one-handed it after one bounce!