Tulane will be playing in only its second bowl game in the past 16 years.
The Green Wave haven’t won a bowl game since 2002.
It’s safe to say they are excited to be here playing in the Cure Bowl against Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday.
When you consider how the Green Wave got into a bowl game, you know they’re excited to be here. Let’s just look back to last year when they finished 5-7 and lost to SMU 38-41 in their final game of the season. They were stopped at the SMU 1-yard line as time expired and they didn’t have any timeouts left. They spent all offseason thinking about how close they were to making a bowl.
Then it looked gloomy this season for Tulane after a 2-5 start to the season. However, the Green Wave went 4-1 over their final five games, and the key was Justin McMillan taking over as starting quarterback. He has 13 touchdowns (9 passing, 4 rushing) with only three interceptions during this five-game stretch. And the Green Wave beat Navy in dramatic comeback fashion in the season finale, converting a 2-point conversion in the closing seconds to win 29-28. I have no doubt the Green Wave want to be here and will give an ‘A-plus’ effort.
Louisiana-Lafayette won the weak Sun Belt West Division this season. That afforded them the opportunity to play in the Sun Belt Championship against Appalachian State. They gave a good showing, but lost 19-30. I think they were certainly more motivated in that game against Appalachian State than they will be in this bowl game against Tulane. That was for a championship, this is just for a win.
Tulane has the better defense between these two teams, while Lafayette has the better offense. However, I think the matchup favors Tulane on both sides of the ball. Both teams love to run the football, so stopping the run will be key. Tulane rushes for 208 yards per game, while Louisiana rushes for 229 yards per game. Well, Tulane only gives up 155 rushing yards per game and 4.0 per carry, holding opponents to 50 yards per game and 0.7 per carry less than their season averages (205 YPG, 4.7 YPC). Louisiana gives up 209 rushing yards per game and 5.0 per carry, giving up 27 yards and 0.2 per carry more than their opponents average (182 YPG, 4.8 YPC) on the season.
Tulane head coach Willie Fritz is 12-3 ATS vs. poor rushing defenses that allow 4.75 or more yards per carry in all games he has coached.
His teams feast on these poor rushing defenses because of their triple-option scheme on offense.
So I am hitting the Tulane -3
Good Luck
The Green Wave haven’t won a bowl game since 2002.
It’s safe to say they are excited to be here playing in the Cure Bowl against Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday.
When you consider how the Green Wave got into a bowl game, you know they’re excited to be here. Let’s just look back to last year when they finished 5-7 and lost to SMU 38-41 in their final game of the season. They were stopped at the SMU 1-yard line as time expired and they didn’t have any timeouts left. They spent all offseason thinking about how close they were to making a bowl.
Then it looked gloomy this season for Tulane after a 2-5 start to the season. However, the Green Wave went 4-1 over their final five games, and the key was Justin McMillan taking over as starting quarterback. He has 13 touchdowns (9 passing, 4 rushing) with only three interceptions during this five-game stretch. And the Green Wave beat Navy in dramatic comeback fashion in the season finale, converting a 2-point conversion in the closing seconds to win 29-28. I have no doubt the Green Wave want to be here and will give an ‘A-plus’ effort.
Louisiana-Lafayette won the weak Sun Belt West Division this season. That afforded them the opportunity to play in the Sun Belt Championship against Appalachian State. They gave a good showing, but lost 19-30. I think they were certainly more motivated in that game against Appalachian State than they will be in this bowl game against Tulane. That was for a championship, this is just for a win.
Tulane has the better defense between these two teams, while Lafayette has the better offense. However, I think the matchup favors Tulane on both sides of the ball. Both teams love to run the football, so stopping the run will be key. Tulane rushes for 208 yards per game, while Louisiana rushes for 229 yards per game. Well, Tulane only gives up 155 rushing yards per game and 4.0 per carry, holding opponents to 50 yards per game and 0.7 per carry less than their season averages (205 YPG, 4.7 YPC). Louisiana gives up 209 rushing yards per game and 5.0 per carry, giving up 27 yards and 0.2 per carry more than their opponents average (182 YPG, 4.8 YPC) on the season.
Tulane head coach Willie Fritz is 12-3 ATS vs. poor rushing defenses that allow 4.75 or more yards per carry in all games he has coached.
His teams feast on these poor rushing defenses because of their triple-option scheme on offense.
So I am hitting the Tulane -3
Good Luck
