Forecast for the Tulane Green Wave

Let me start by saying that I believe it is important to not overlook any team while playing the sport of college football. Fortunately for me, I don’t play for a college football team. Don’t worry about your disaster prep, don’t buy the sandbags at Home Depot, and relax. This wave isn’t gonna be doing any damage. So will y’all please chill the hell out worrying about Tulane? TULANE. We’re going to win this game and win it comfortably.

I’ve heard so much about all the points Tulane put up in week 1 (against Florida International). Seriously? Florida International? Tulane has a former LSU player as their QB. Justin McMillan is his name. He’s a good player. They also have a former Oklahoma State player that is their primary WR. He’s a good player. But folks that ain’t enough. You know what Tulane doesn’t have? A human grizzly bear named Derrick Brown.

Defensive Expectations

Auburn’s defensive front is just going to be too much for the subpar Tulane offensive line to handle. I expect Tulane to attack us in a very similar fashion to what Oregon did starting out the game last week. They’ll get the ball out of the QB’s hands quickly by throwing short crossing routes, screen passes, etc. This is standard operating procedure when you’re facing a more talented defensive front than you’re offensive line can handle. So what do we do to counter this?

I also expect to see the safeties and slot coverage guys to play much tighter at times than they did last week. Take away the easy, quicker throws, force the QB to hold the ball a little bit longer, and deal with the consequences. Those consequences will be detrimental for the Tulane offense. Their run game is strong as well so expect Kevin Steele to dial up a few overload blitzes in order to shoot gaps and disrupt Tulane’s scheme. All of this puts more pressure on the secondary to do their job well. And if there’s one learning opportunity to focus on I think we’d all agree it’s the secondary getting better in pass coverage.

Offensive Expectations

For the Auburn offense it will be important to establish the run early. It drives everything we want to do as a football team. It was tough to get going against an underrated Oregon defensive line and that was evident through the first three quarters of last week’s game. Expect to see Bo Nix run the ball a little more off the zone read concept and I’d personally love to see some more RPO (run-pass option) plays utilized. This will let the Bo get his legs loose, put some pressure on the defense, and make everything so much easier.

Special Teams Expectations

PLEASE COVER A DAMN PUNT. I don’t care if we just punt it out of bounds every single time. Hell I’d rather see Bo heave a prayer on 4th and long and it get picked off before punting and giving up 43.7 yards per return like the Oregon game. Anders Carlson is going to have to become more reliable kicking field goals from 40+ yards. Clearly you can’t expect someone to hit them all from this kind of range but you better be making more than you miss. Gus, after a first down, kneel the ball on the 25 yard line three times in a row if you have to so that Carlson can get comfortable at this distance (please don’t take that seriously).

Prediction: Auburn 41 – Tulane 13

Auburn wins in comfortable fashion in a respectable tune up game. Folks let’s not overthink this thing and tap into our insecurities. We’re a significantly better football team and we’re gonna beat* the hell out of Tulane.

*fingers crossed 🤞

Tulane ACKSHUWALLY has the all-time lead on Auburn by a count of 17-14-6. Tulane used to be part of the SEC decades ago but unless you served in World War II or are a stat nerd then you’re probably unaware of this record. Today, Auburn gets one game closer to evening the score.

War Damn Eagle from yours truly,

Pablo Escobarner