The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly from Tulane's Loss to UTSA

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The Will Hall era of Tulane football took a turn for the worst on Saturday, as UTSA manhandled the Green Wave, 42-19. The loss drops the Wave to 3-4 on the year, 1-2 in American Conference play, severely damaging any chance the Greenies have of returning to the league championship for a fifth straight year.

We know what is being said, but we have no doubt in our minds that this was a let-down game. We have seen it with other teams this year: think Ole Miss after playing LSU and their former coach, Florida skunking that Ole Miss team then Florida getting crushed in the next week by Missou. There are countless others examples.

Some people who follow college sports forget, sometimes, that these are just kids. Mostly 18 and 19-year old kids are on that field and they are still growing up. This isn't meant as a cut on them. They are young and will have these types of ups and downs in their lives. It's just a part of life.

After you read our thoughts, you may agree with us on this game being a let down for the Wave.

The Good

Defensive back Anthony Rogers

The sophomore defensive back jumped a route on the very first play from scrimmage and scored, running back an interception 22-yards for the game's first points only five seconds in.

Later in the game, Rogers got his second interception, accounting for two of the three turnovers forced by the Tulane defense.

Kicker Cooper Helmke

The redshirt freshman from St. Martin's Episcopal keeps on keepin' on. His field goals of 38-yards and 33-yards kept Tulane in this game early, and his kickoffs are nigh non-returnable.

The Bad

Offensive Line Play

You can't have it both ways. We have heard both arguments uttered by players and by coaches at one time of the other this season. Which one is it?

Popping an 81-yard run, the way Johnnie Daniels did against UTSA, is amazing, except when the rest of your of your team's rushes account for negative-14 yards. Negative fourteen yards. Fair or not, the blame will always fall on the offensive line.

Then, after a stellar job protecting their quarterback against a good front four of Memphis last week, this line did not do the same versus UTSA, giving up three sacks and eight quarterback hurries.

Defensive Front Seven Play

UTSA's Will Henderson III ran for 102-yards on 15-carries on Saturday. He joins three other running backs who have cleared the century mark. In fact, two of those cleared the 200-yard hurdle, Duke's Nate Sheppard and Army's Cale Hellums.

Again, this D-line is young, yes, but when you transfer in South Alabama's Ed Smith IV and Kam Hamilton returns for a fifth year, that young line has experience added to the mix. And by the midway point in the season, they are no longer young.

Dropped Passes

Last week against Memphis, Tulane receivers caught everything thrown their way, and we mean everything. One spectacular catch by Anthony Brown-Stephens over the middle was a perfect example: the pass was thrown a little tall and behind him, and he made a circus catch for a first down.

Tulane statisticians are a marvelous bunch of men and women, but they were generous to Green Wave receivers, counting only two drops in the game. We counted six.

This is a consistency that needs to return, and return by Friday.

The Ugly

Six Turnovers. Yuck.

It was like somebody said, "You took six last week, so you need to give them back this week."

Four fumbles, all lost, and two interceptions. You cannot win a ballgame giving the ball back to the bad guys a half-dozen times. Ask Memphis.