Tough loss to Wake Forest not the end of the world for Tulane

If there is ever a fan base in college football who thinks the sky is falling, it would be those supporters of the Tulane Green Wave.

The naysayers were out like south Louisiana cockroaches in the hours after the Green Wave’s 23-17 overtime loss to Wake Forest.

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Funny how that loss was so dreadful, when it unfolded exactly how the Las Vegas shops believed it would. Wake was favored by six points.

What happened to Tulane in the game? Well, what we saw was a solid Power 5 team who won the game with their defensive line against the Tulane offensive line.

Quarterback Jonathan Banks, who was the answer to Tulane’s hopes all offseason, didn’t seem like it to his many detractors. They were singing like canaries after the loss in the season opener.

After watching the game again on video, I can only come to one opinion. The difference in the game was Tulane’s quarterback couldn’t plant his feet and throw, and the Wake Forest quarterback could.

For most of the game, Wake was able to get pressure on Banks with only four rushers, making it very difficult for him to find an open receiver downfield.

On the 74-yard Banks touchdown pass to Terren Encalade, Tulane offensive coordinator Doug Ruse made a nice adjustment. He kept seven into protect and asked Encalade to run past their secondary.

On the earlier 52 yard touchdown pass from Banks to Encalade, Jonathan Banks had to force two defenders to miss, then roll out and throw a strike downfield on a busted play.

Later in the fourth, Banks made two outstanding runs for 17 and 15 yards to keep a game tying field goal drive alive.

Jonathan Banks wasn’t the problem in this game. It was his offensive line. More than once, Tulane missed Wake defenders rushing off the edge. They had clean shots at the quarterback.

It doesn’t matter what offense you run, if you can’t block the man in front of you, you won’t win.
Defensively, Tulane played solidly. The Wave won the turnover battle, 3-0.

And, the kicking game was solid, too.

Three of nine punts were downed inside the 20. And, one field goal attempt and both extra points were converted.

Now, for some optics.

The crowd wasn’t good. But, hey you haven’t been winning, it is a Thursday night during school, the Saints played in the Dome that night and the weather was damp and humid.

So, there’s not much that could be done about that.

Me? I have always been a Superdome guy. It would have been great to be indoors watching college football.

As for the uniforms, time to ditch them. The school colors are olive and blue. Tulane isn’t North Carolina.

Go back to the green jerseys with white pants and the ‘T’ on the helmet. That is a classy look.

I know you Tulanians don’t care for any reference to LSU. Yet, there’s something special about that gold headgear, white jerseys and gold pants. That look is as Louisiana as it gets.

Another bad optic was the guy keeping stats in the booth. What was he doing in an LSU shirt? I would have said, “Let me get you a shirt you can wear tonight.” That should not have been allowed, and if he didn’t want to change shirts, he should have been asked to leave.

If I were Troy Dannen, I would call CBS Sports network and tell them to get their act together. My message would have been clear: Don’t try to embarrass me again, ever.

In the meantime, the olive and blue sky isn’t falling.

Wake was favored by six. They won by six.

How about an ovation for the guys in Vegas?