Tulane’s Toledo gives Austin early nod
October 31, 2008
Nathan Austin steps on center stage his week, replacing Andre Anderson as the Green Wave travels to Tiger Stadium Tulane freshman running back Nathan Austin figured his time would come eventually — just not …
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Tulane’s Toledo gives Austin early nod
October 31, 2008
Nathan Austin steps on center stage his week, replacing Andre Anderson as the Green Wave travels to Tiger Stadium Tulane freshman running back Nathan Austin figured his time would come eventually — just not …
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane/2008/10/t…
Tulane’s Toledo gives Austin early nod
October 31, 2008
Tulane’s Toledo gives Austin early nod - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune October 30, 2008 8:37PM
Categories: Football
Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneNathan Austin steps on center stage his week, replacing Andre Anderson as the Green Wave travels to Tiger StadiumTulane freshman running back Nathan Austin figured his time would come eventually — just not this quickly or this way. With junior running back Andre Anderson sustaining a season-ending fractured shoulder, it’s up to Austin to take over Saturday against No. 15 LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.
It’s an intimidating situation.
Anderson was fourth nationally in rushing before going down in the first quarter against Rice this past Saturday in the Green Wave’s 42-17 loss at the Superdome. His 852 yards are 82 percent of the team’s run total.
Plus, this is LSU, which despite its defensive woes, is No. 27 against the run (110.6 yards per game), second only to Alabama among the teams Tulane has or will play.
“I didn’t expect this at all, ” said Austin, who prepped at Barbe. “I mean, Andre was getting hit a lot and starting to wear down, but I didn’t think anything like this would happen. But I guess it’s time for me to step up. Besides, I’m a Louisiana boy, so I’ll be ready for Tiger Stadium.”
It’s not that Tulane has much choice.
Tulane’s only other scholarship running backs are freshman Albert Williams, who at 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds isn’t built for being the every down I-back back in the Green Wave’s offense, although he will see more action, and little used redshirt freshman J.T. McDonald, who has a bad ankle.
Austin, 6-2, 226, has prototype size (Anderson is 6-0, 216) with above average speed. And he does have some experience — 30 carries for 136 yards (13 of the carries coming against the Owls, plus nine receptions for 75 yards).
Austin’s also seen action in a daunting setting, coming in twice to spell Anderson in Tulane’s opener at Alabama.
“The first time Andre had trouble with his helmet, ” Austin said. “It happened so quick, I didn’t have time to think about it. It wasn’t like I didn’t know where to line or anything. It was just ‘OK, it’s time to roll.’ “
But Austin’s never been called on to carry the ball as often as Anderson did — 28 times a game, third most in the country. Used mostly as a fullback at Barbe, Austin said he never has carried more than 19 times in a game, and that was a junior.
Not a problem, Austin said.
“If they want to give it to me 25 times, I’m ready for it, ” he said.
Tulane Coach Bob Toledo agreed.
“Nate’s a physical runner, ” he said. “He runs into people pretty good.”
Austin also is a capable receiver, with nine catches for 75 yards — 49 coming on a screen pass and run against Rice.
But Austin has his faults, too. He tends to turn back inside too quickly, something that probably cost him a touchdown on a fourth down carry from the 1 against the Owls. Austin also tends to run too straight up.
“That’s the way I’ve always done it, ” he said.
But the biggest stumbling block for Austin has been in learning protections. That, Toledo said, as much as how much Anderson was excelling, was why Austin was seeing so little action, not even playing in Tulane’s three games following Alabama.
That inactivity, Austin said, had him a little frustrated — but it also helped him understand his role on the team and what he would have to do to increase it.
“Getting the ball and running with it is something that’s easy to do, ” he said. “But I had a hard time getting the hang of our protections. When you’re a freshman you come in just knowing the base stuff, and then they change it up every week. It’s a lot to absorb.”
Austin has stepped up his learning curve this week, watching extra film and going over things more with the coaches and other players. He’s also benefited from getting more reps in practice.
“Nate’s still learning the nuances of the system, and when you’re a freshman it’s all new and foreign to you, ” Toledo said. “He’s done well this week. He’s really concentrated on the game plan. He’s knows he’s the best we’ve got, and we’re going with him.”
Williams, who mainly has been used in specialty situations (he scored a touchdown against Louisiana-Monroe on an end-around coming out of the slot), has more speed than Austin, which Toledo said will be worked even more into the game plan. But as Anderson, and Matt Forte last season, was “our horse, ” Austin will be looked on that way from here on in.
In addition to the extra time he’s putting with the coaches and in the film room this week, Austin also has been getting extra help in practice this week from Anderson, who despite his fractured shoulder has been at practice.
“Nate’s a big, strong guy with a passion to play, ” Anderson said. “He had some trouble with the blocking schemes, but he’s on track about it now. I know he’s a lot better than I was when I was a freshman.”
That, Austin said, he takes as a high compliment.
“Andre was having a great year, and I hate what happened to him, ” he said. “I know how hard he worked to do what he did.
“This is going to give me a lot more experience, so I can compete with him next year.”
Tulane defense struggling of late
October 30, 2008
Tulane defensive coordinator ONeill Gilbert says the Green Wave defense must learn to overcome early advsersity.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Tulane defense struggling of late
October 30, 2008
Tulane defensive coordinator ONeill Gilbert says the Green Wave defense must learn to overcome early advsersity.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane/2008/10/t…
Tulane defense struggling of late
October 30, 2008
Tulane defense struggling of late - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune October 29, 2008 8:38PM
Categories: Football
Danny Bourque / The Times-PicayuneTulane defensive coordinator ONeill Gilbert says the Green Wave defense must learn to overcome early advsersity.The numbers don’t lie: Tulane leads Conference USA in total defense, allowing 309.29 yards per game, which ranks No. 33 nationally. But these numbers don’t lie either: Since the start of the second half against Southern Methodist, the midpoint of the seven games the Green Wave has played, Tulane has allowed more rushing yards (676-272), more passing yards (616-552), more touchdowns (16-5), more third-down conversions (16-8) and more red-zone scoring (15-of-15 vs. 3-of-5) while having fewer sacks (14-2) and creating fewer turnovers (7-3) than its opponents.
Not surprisingly, Tulane has lost its past three games and had to hang on to beat SMU when the Mustangs outscored the Green Wave 20-3 in the second half.
After that, Army’s option attack gashed the Green Wave for 291 rushing yards, and UTEP ripped Tulane for a season-high 452 total yards, including a 68-yard touchdown pass in the closing minutes for the winning score.
But things hit a nadir last week against Rice when the Owls scored four touchdowns in 4:28, starting with a deflating 94-yard, 16-play drive en route to a 42-17 victory.
“We weren’t used to that, ” senior cornerback Josh Lumar said. “We usually make teams go three-and-out. After that long drive, we were dead.”
Defensive coordinator O’Neill Gilbert saw it, too.
“We try so hard to do things the right way, and unfortunately when things tend to go wrong, they blame themselves and can’t let it go, ” he said. “We’ve got to move on to the next play.”
That’s a far cry from the play of the defensive unit that held Alabama to 172 total yards and one touchdown in the opener.
“We’re still doing some things right, ” Gilbert said. “But we’re not getting off the field like we were, and we’re giving up too many big plays. And we’re beat up. Not so much from losing guys for the season, but we don’t have a lot of depth, and when we lose one guy, that’s one too many.”
Injuries have not been a major factor, certainly not as much as on the offensive side.
Of the starters, only freshman defensive tackle Chris Asumnu has missed more than one game, and he is sufficiently recovered from a high ankle sprain to play, but not start, Saturday night at LSU.
Linebacker Devin Holland, who started the past three games, won’t play against LSU because of a concussion, but Gilbert said he likely would have been demoted in favor of James Dillard because of poor play against Rice.
Gilbert said opponents have been spreading the field to take advantage of Tulane’s lack of speed and playmakers, even though he had designed the defense to maximize the team’s speed, and thus opening up the running game.
Rice did so to near-perfection during its four-touchdown spree. Quarterback Chase Clement completed 11 of 12 passes, two for touchdowns while he and running back C.J. Ugokwe exploited the expanded running lanes, especially on first-down situations when Tulane would have six players in the box.
Missed assignments haven’t helped either. On the key play of the first Rice scoring drive, on third-and-7 from Tulane’s 34-yard line, Clement stepped up out of trouble to avoid the rush and hit an open Toren Dixon for a 17-yard gain chiefly because cornerback Charles Harris had left Dixon to come after Clement.
“When we watch film, it’s like there’s one person not doing his job, and that costs us a big play, ” senior linebacker Evan Lee said. “That just happens too much.”
The missed assignments have caused Gilbert to scale back his NFL-quantity playbook.
“I think the younger guys weren’t used to the speed of the game and didn’t always trust what the coaches were telling them, ” Lee said. “Now we’ve got fewer calls, so there’s less to listen to.”
But it comes down to talent, something Gilbert said he’s a little short of.
“When we took over this job, we had to accept the players that we have, ” he said. “Now the guys we’ve got have been good players for us, but our numbers are down. And when you don’t have the athletes, you wind up with matchup problems. You can’t take away everything the other team does, but we can only take away one or two things, and the other teams are exploiting that.”
Against LSU, the challenge isn’t one of combating the spread. The Tigers will come at Tulane with power.
O’Neill calls it a “big brother-little brother” situation.
“We’ve got to do everything just right if we want to keep things close, ” he said. “Their quarterbacks had some problems, so we’ve got to keep pressure on them and make them beat us with their young quarterbacks.”
Even that, Gilbert acknowledged, might not be enough, especially with Tulane being without its top rusher and receiver and its uncertainty at quarterback. And lying ahead after this week are games against Tulsa and Houston, the top two C-USA offenses, plus improving Alabama-Birmingham and Memphis.
Still, Gilbert said, Tulane’s early success wasn’t fashioned with smoke and mirrors.
“You look at our numbers, and we’re playing decent defense, ” he said. “There are people in this league who have given up 600 and 700 yards in a game. We’re yet to cross that little creek.”
Tulane coach braces team for test against LSU
October 29, 2008
BATON ROUGE - That Wave headed to Tiger Stadium appears to be that of a white surrender flag instead of a green swell of water.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Tulane coach braces team for test against LSU
October 29, 2008
BATON ROUGE - That Wave headed to Tiger Stadium appears to be that of a white surrender flag instead of a green swell of water.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane/2008/10/t…
Tulane’s Andre Anderson out for season
October 29, 2008
Tulane’s Andre Anderson out for season - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Ted Lewis, Times-Picayune October 28, 2008 12:49PM
Categories: Football
Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneTulane’s Andre Anderson is out for the season.Although his season has been ended by a fractured and dislocated right shoulder, Tulane running back Andre Anderson still was at practice Tuesday, wearing his jersey and helmet and even doing sit ups with his arm in a sling while the rest of the team was running sprints.
“I just want to be out here supporting the team the best I can,” said Anderson, who was injured in the first quarter of Saturday’s 42-17 loss to Rice at the Superdome. “We’ve got a rule, if you want to be on the field you’ve got to dress out — so I dressed out.”
Anderson, who got the word on the extent of his injury late Monday, could have had surgery Friday, but he opted to wait until next week so that he can attend Saturday night’s game at LSU.
“I want to be there, supporting from the sideline,” he said. “Maybe I can do something to help.”
That attitude, Tulane Coach Bob Toledo said, exemplifies Anderson, who was No. 4 nationally in rushing before the Rice game and is still No. 8 despite getting only four carries for 12 yards before leaving the game.
“That shows how much heart he has,” Toledo said. “Andre’s a great kid, a great leader and a heck of a football player. And he’s probably as good with one arm as most guys are with two.”
Anderson, a junior who Monday was announced as a nominee for the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation’s top running back, finishes the year with 864 yards on 174 carries with seven touchdowns. Despite being limited to seven games, his yardage total is the 11th best in school history.
Anderson’s 255 yards in his last full game, against Texas-El Paso, is No. 4 in school history.
Anderson also is the second-leading receiver on the team this season with 25 catches for 202 yards and one touchdown.
“I was close to 1,000 yards and everything, but more than anything else I wanted to help my team get back on track and win some games. I knew it was probably pretty bad, but I figured maybe I could get to play before the end of the season. These things happen for a reason, I guess.”
Anderson was scheduled to be redshirted as a freshman in 2006, but played in the final six games after injuries to other running backs. Plans were to try to redshirt him again last year, but when backup Ray Boudreaux was arrested on attempted murder charges three games into the season, he was pressed into service again.
Anderson’s rehabilitation time is expected to be four to five months, and although he could be back for spring practice, Toledo said he would not see any contact.
“Look at it this way,” Anderson said. “At least I’ll be fresh.”
Tulane’s Andre Anderson Named a Candidate for the 2008 Doak Walker Award
October 28, 2008
Tulane junior Andre Anderson has been recognized as one of the nation’s premier running backs with his selection to the 2008 Doak Walker Award Candidate List, the Guaranty Bank SMU Athletics Forum announced on …