Key to winning at Tulane

[Stallion]

Tulane is not a crappy team-they physically manhandled SMU last year. They have comparable or better talent than SMU. They played an entire season on the road under the most stressful and conditions that were not conducive to competing much less winning-what did you expect them to do last year. Anybody predicting an easy victory over Tulane because they were "crappy" last year is a fool. SMU hasn't played even a decent game that I can remember in New Orleans. I'd make Tulane a favorite

[ThadFilms]

The key to winning at Tulane is not to back off of this newfound pass-happy offense. Continue to go down the field. Continue with the quick strike offense. Play to win, and I think our Ponies will be just fine.

I'm not going to predict an easy win. I'm just going into the game liking our chances, which I could not have done a mere three Sundays ago.

[SMUballboy]

Tulane will be playing with a lot of emotion (we all know that) but that can be good and bad. It can be good becasue they will be playing with alot of passion but it can be bad because they may make some stupid mistakes. We can beat if we just don't make any stupid mistakes like we did against UNT.

[KnuckleStang]

Tulane is not a crappy team-they physically manhandled SMU last year. They have comparable or better talent than SMU. They played an entire season on the road under the most stressful and conditions that were not conducive to competing much less winning-what did you expect them to do last year. Anybody predicting an easy victory over Tulane because they were "crappy" last year is a fool. SMU hasn't played even a decent game that I can remember in New Orleans. I'd make Tulane a favorite

Tulane is crappy. 2-9 is crappy, even for a road record! Crappy crappy crappy!

[Big10Ponyfan]

Tulane is not a crappy team-they physically manhandled SMU last year. They have comparable or better talent than SMU. They played an entire season on the road under the most stressful and conditions that were not conducive to competing much less winning-what did you expect them to do last year. Anybody predicting an easy victory over Tulane because they were "crappy" last year is a fool. SMU hasn't played even a decent game that I can remember in New Orleans. I'd make Tulane a favorite

That analysis is ridiculous.. I was at that game. Both team's had the same talent, and I would give our side a slight edge.

But when you don't come prepared to play and you don't act interested - and we weren't - you get 31-10.

If we play like we have the last two weeks and continue to ALLOW our QB to continue to grow, there's no reason to think we can't win.

And have those TCU home attendance been posted yet?

[Swamp Gas]

But when you don't come prepared to play and you don't act interested - and we weren't - you get 31-10....

That might be the best way to describe last year's implosion -- we seemed absolutely disintrested. I have to assume the Ponies will be VERY interested this year, and that -- coupled with Tulane's karma wagon -- could make for a sensational game.

[codered28]

smu will come out pissed from last year and handle business with our without tulanes karma.

[Stallion]

you people are amazing-Tulane physically whipped us.

[SMU Football Blog]

you people are amazing-Tulane physically whipped us.

I assume you were at that game. If so, I assume you also saw a team that cam out completely flat (matched the crowd, actually) and showed absolutely no life from the opening kickoff. I am not saying the loss was completely due to the total lack of emotion, but it was a part of it. If you say that game was all about talent and ability, you are either blind, stupid or lying.

[Stallion]

for those of you with terminable sunshine disease Tulane had 9 sacks, held SMU to 125 yards total offense and 25 yards passing. They physically whipped us like we've rarely been whipped before.

[davidsmu94]

you people are amazing-Tulane physically whipped us.

I'm with you on this one Stallion, I was at that game and they kicked our asses.

I'm telling you, Tulane will come out and hit our boys square in the mouth. This will be a real gut check for the team, if SMU can fight back and claw out a win, then we are talking something here. If not, same story as last year.

[BRStang]

Guys, I watched Tulane play last night. Although it's difficult to pick up on a team's strengths when they are getting whupped 49-7, I can say they had some positives on the field. As I mentioned earlier--their D line and linebackers are pretty good. D-Line is fast and will put get past our O-Line unless they are ready...you watch. We need POWER at RB to run over their LBs. Their QB is pretty good and their RB (#19) is big and good. Defensive secondary and wide receivers were the biggest weaknesses. Lots of dropped balls by receivers and corners became toast several times.

Hopefully, Bennett and the team are watching film overtime and realize that they can't take Tulane lightly. Something tells me they won't just b/c of last year, but, again, this is SMU...stupid, underwhelming performances are nothing new.

Maintain the confidence, play smart, get up for the game, and do what they did last night, and we will be in a position to win. We need this one. I'm still going to predict a loss, though, to do my part.

[Hoop Fan]

it will be interesting to see what Vegas sets the line at. I'm guessing Tulane by 7 at least, but who knows. obviously SMU didnt bring its best effort last year againt tulane (i think everyone, including our fans, thought they were going to roll over for us), but tulane had some monsters. they mauled our Oline, no two ways about it.

[Big10Ponyfan]

I'm telling you, Tulane will come out and hit our boys square in the mouth. This will be a real gut check for the team, if SMU can fight back and claw out a win, then we are talking something here. If not, same story as last year.

Since there is a great misinterpretation of what has been debated, here's the deal.

You get your tail physically whipped when you don't show up. Since our talent level is comparable to Tulane, you have no margin for error. And when that happens, you get sacked a lot and don't move the football very much. It's that simple.

Oh, and Tulane wanted to win. We didn't know what we wanted. I looked back at the game with more disgust than what happened at Marshall.

And I have not said this will be a walk through the park. It's going to be hard, and we're going to have to deal with it. We've seen the boys rise to the occasion against a more talented Houston team last year.

We all know the history against Tulane. Katrina notwithstanding, we never play well against them. What are we 4-11 lifetime.

That's why this game is so conflicting for me. I believe we can win it, but I also believe that if we start poorly, we'll check out pretty quickly.

Talent is a major, but a truism of college athletics is emotion. If you don't have it to compliment your talent, you don't win.

[FW]

Tulane is not a crappy team-they physically manhandled SMU last year. They have comparable or better talent than SMU. They played an entire season on the road under the most stressful and conditions that were not conducive to competing much less winning-what did you expect them to do last year. Anybody predicting an easy victory over Tulane because they were "crappy" last year is a fool. SMU hasn't played even a decent game that I can remember in New Orleans. I'd make Tulane a favorite

Tulane is crappy. 2-9 is crappy, even for a road record! Crappy crappy crappy!

Without Katrina, Tulane is a bowl team last year. Last year was supposed to be one our best defenses in 10-15 years. They just ran out of steam a couple of weeks into the season because of Katrina.