Tulane worked hard over the last season-plus under head coach Willie Fritz to build a dangerous triple-option offense. The Green Wave will get a close-up look at what a dangerous triple-option looks like when they host Army and its NCAA-best rushing attack on Saturday.
Both Tulane and the Black Knights are trying to recover after blowout losses to top-10 teams, with the Green Wave suffering a 56-14 setback at Oklahoma last week and Army going down 38-7 at Ohio State.
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TV: Noon, ET, CBS Sports Network. LINE: Tulane -2.5
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The Black Knights still managed to roll up 259 rushing yards on 58 carries in the loss and are second in FBS with an average of 364.7 yards on the ground.
Fritz followed Army coach Jeff Monken at Georgia Southern, and the two coaching staffs are familiar with each other.
"They've got some familiarity with our scheme," Monken told reporters. "That is likely going to make it a little more difficult to come up with something that (Tulane defensive coordinator) Jack (Curtis) hasn't seen or won't be anticipating. We don't know them as well, but hopefully Jay (Bateman) and the defensive staff will put our guys in positions where they can go make plays."
ABOUT ARMY (2-1)
Quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw leads the team in rushing with 374 yards and an average of 7.4 yards per carry but is just 4-of-17 passing for 36 yards. "All we're trying to do is win the game," Monken told reporters. "We're not going to survive getting three yards here and three yards there the entire season. There's going to be sometimes where we have to get a chunk of yards in one play. Some of those are going to have to come from passing plays, and I think we need to be more efficient when we throw the ball." Darnell Woolfolk was the only player to find the end zone against Ohio State and leads the team with four rushing scores while ranking second with 260 yards.
ABOUT TULANE (1-2)
The Green Wave held leads of 7-0 and 14-7 at Oklahoma before falling off the pace and managed 237 rushing yards on 62 carries. Tulane ranks 21st in FBS with an average of 241.3 rushing yards, led by senior Dontrell Hilliard, who piled up 104 yards on 19 carries at Oklahoma to go over 2,000 for his career. “Honestly it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win any games," Hilliard told reporters of the accomplishment. "I’m happy for it, but at the same time you have to win games."
EXTRA POINTS
1. The Tulane defense totaled three forced fumbles in the last two games.
2. The Army offense recorded a touchdown in 10 of its 11 trips inside the red zone this season.
3. The Green Wave rushed for 100 or more yards in 18 straight games.
PREDICTION: Tulane 24, Army 21