Army/Tulane Preview

Army plays Tulane today at noon. Along with Rutgers, I believe that this rivalry should be developed in in the long-term. The rivalry is even at this point; a 8-7-1 advantage for the visiting Green Wave. It's a competitive rivalry that will take on more meaning as the series plays out. This series obviously doesn't approach the level of rivalry as Army/Navy, but it is of great importance to keep this competitive rivalry going - to establish rivalries and gameday traditions against a team from another region.

Ali Villanueva gets another look from the national media -yeah, he's big.

Tulane looks for a big game from Andre' Anderson.

The Green Wave actually took some extra time last week to prepare for Army.

The Black Knights (2-2), coming off a 31-10 loss at Iowa State, host Tulane on Saturday, and the Green Wave (1-2) spent two days preparing for Army's option attack before winning their first game of the season a week ago.

"For them to have taken some time during that bye week and invest it in us - it's a compliment, but certainly one I could do without," Ellerson said.

The Green Wave snapped a 10-game losing streak last week when it defeated McNeese State 42-32 despite being outgained 473-427. Wideout Jeremy Williams had 10 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns and tailback Andre Anderson had 199 yards and four TDs rushing to pace the attack.

"I think the one thing is by winning the football game there was a little pep in our step," head coach Bob Toledo said. "We came out and practiced with a purpose. We were excited. They are rejuvenated, so to speak."

Very rarely do you hear a coach admit that they looked ahead to the next week. If McNeese State scored 10 more points we wouldn't have heard a peep out of Bob Toledo regarding the look ahead. Earlier in the week Tulane HC Toledo tossed his team out of practice for their lack of execution. Nice to see their attention is on Army this week.

"Well, they sure contributed to (ruining the season), " Toledo said. "We were 2-2 at the time and it was homecoming, and it was an embarrassing effort on our part. We threw three interceptions, we had a punt blocked, we fumbled the ball and they ran it back for about 90 yards for a touchdown. It was a poor performance on our part. Their fullback (Collin Mooney, rushed 19 times for 187 yards) that day.

"Yeah, I don't know if they ruined the season, but they sure did ruin homecoming. It was unbelievable . . . the venue, the game . . . everything was just a disaster, and again, it didn't affect them. They came out and performed, but it did affect us. It was like having a road game -- there was no home-field advantage."

If there's one guy to watch running deep, it's J. Williams last week he caught all 10 Tulane passes for 222 yards.

Here are Tulane's team notes and stats.

Game notes available here. (pdf)