TULANE GAME REVIEW
Here’s the start of my writeup on the Tulane game. I’ll have some more notes and observations later today or tomorrow morning.
(A quick note: The 11 stats below are the ones that I plan to start my write-ups with all season long. I’ll also find a way to compare between games as the season progresses)
OFFENSE - STATS
Total Yards: 175
Explosive (20+ yard) Plays: 0
# of Drives > 40 Yards: 1
% of RB carries 3 yards or greater: 44% (8 of 18 carries)
DEFENSE - STATS
Total Yards Against:280
Explosive Plays Against: 3
# of Drives > 40 Yards Against: 2
Disruptive Plays by the DL: 10.5 (note: Wake didn’t have more than 7 in a single game last season)
Turnovers Forced: 1
SPECIAL TEAMS – STATS
“Special” Plays: 1 (Stewart’s Blocked FG)
% of Kickoff Returns 30 yards or more: 100% (1 for 1)
OFFENSE: OVERVIEW
Clawson said post-game that Tulane played a significant amount of Cover-1. As I understand it, Tulane had a single safety deep and challenged their experienced CBs to take away Wake’s outside pass routes using man coverage. That set up an important test for Wake’s receiver group that has been so highly praised this summer. That test was won by the Tulane DBs.
The benefit of playing Cover-1 was the additional safety that it added to the box, allowing Tulane to play with an 8-man front instead of a 7-man front. This was a curious move by Tulane and it’s certainly not the defensive plan that Wake typically faces (Wake hasn’t exactly carved up many 7 man fronts recently, so teams have been happy to take away our running game with 6 and 7-man fronts while blanketing pass coverage with a full complement of DBs). But it worked for Tulane and may have helped to bottle-up Hinton’s run game.
All of Wake’s offensive possessions were 6 or fewer plays (and 18 yards or less) with the exception of:
1) a 7 play / 33 yard drive in the second quarter that started with 4 straight John Wolford completions for 37 total yards before stalling inside Tulane territory when a first down pass to Scotty Washington fell incomplete and was followed by two Matt Colburn runs that netted only a single yard.
2) the 12 play / 53-yard touchdown drive that was the difference in the game. That drive started at the Wake Forest 47 yard line and featured a 16-yard completion from Wolford to Matt Colburn and the longest runs of the evening for both Kendall Hinton (13 yards) and Matt Colburn (8 yards).
QBs / PASSING GAME
The two QBs combined for a 57% completion percentage, but attempted only 21 passes (with 17 of those pass attempts coming from Wolford).
The big story was the QBs inability to connect with the outside receiver group that might have forced Tulane out of Cover-1. Wolford targeted Wake’s outside receiver group (Washington, Lewis, Claude and Bachman) 9 times but completed only 3 of those passes for 25 total yards. Hinton would attempt only 1 pass to the outside receiver group (an 8 yard completion).
DEFENSE – 3 STARS OF THE GAME
#1 STAR – Julian Thomas-Jackson. Despite playing almost exclusive on third-and-long he had two sacks and a forced fumble on the decisive final play. Where have YOU been hiding?????
#2 STAR – Jessie Bates. Seven solo tackles. Consistently solid all evening, including some key tackles when he was the last line of defense. A very, very nice debut for the rFR.
#3 STAR – Chris Stewart. He had a sack and a QBH to go along with the FG block on special teams.
OFFENSE - PLAYING TIME NOTES
rFR Nathan Gilliam played a significant number of snaps at RG in relief of Phil Haynes (Haynes had simply worn down physically, but apparently didn’t suffer an injury per se).
Matt Colburn led the RBs in carries. Rocky Reid saw the field but didn’t record a single carry.
It appeared that Cortez Lewis didn’t see the field until the second half. Scotty Washington went the whole way in the first half at X-WR.
Alex Bachman and Steven Claude appeared to divide snaps about 50/50.
DEFENSE – PLAYING TIME NOTES
The situation at DT is starting to get scary. Obviously Zeek Rodney isn’t with the team (although he did tweet about the team and game, which was interesting). Josh Banks missed the game (late scratch because of a hamstring). Willie Yarbary left the game early in the second quarter and didn’t return. That left Wake with a 3-man rotation of Chris Stewart, Shelldon Lewinson and rFR Elontae Bateman. All three played significant snaps. True FR Sulamain Kamara didn’t dress for the game and is presumably dealing with an injury of his own.
Duke Ejiofor was limited in warmups and is clearly not 100%. He still had a good game though.
Both Marquel Lee and Jaboree Williams got banged up. Williams appeared to be hampered by his ankle once he returned to the game. Grant Dawson played a lot of snaps.
Essang Bassey saw some snaps at corner.
Julian Thomas-Jackson, Josh Okonye, Thomas Brown and Shelldon Lewinson look to be the consistent subs in the third down subpackage this year.
OTHER NOTES
The most worrisome offensive stat: Wake had 19 plays of 1st-and-10 but managed 3 yards or more on just 7 (37%) of those plays. That left a lot of unfavorable down and distance throughout the game.
The most worrisome defensive stat: the LBs combined for only 6 solo tackles, while the safeties combined for 16 solo tackles. Where art thou Brandon Chubb?
3 redshirts were burned: Dom Maggio, Cade Carney, and Essang Bassey
Here’s the start of my writeup on the Tulane game. I’ll have some more notes and observations later today or tomorrow morning.
(A quick note: The 11 stats below are the ones that I plan to start my write-ups with all season long. I’ll also find a way to compare between games as the season progresses)
OFFENSE - STATS
Total Yards: 175
Explosive (20+ yard) Plays: 0
# of Drives > 40 Yards: 1
% of RB carries 3 yards or greater: 44% (8 of 18 carries)
DEFENSE - STATS
Total Yards Against:280
Explosive Plays Against: 3
# of Drives > 40 Yards Against: 2
Disruptive Plays by the DL: 10.5 (note: Wake didn’t have more than 7 in a single game last season)
Turnovers Forced: 1
SPECIAL TEAMS – STATS
“Special” Plays: 1 (Stewart’s Blocked FG)
% of Kickoff Returns 30 yards or more: 100% (1 for 1)
OFFENSE: OVERVIEW
Clawson said post-game that Tulane played a significant amount of Cover-1. As I understand it, Tulane had a single safety deep and challenged their experienced CBs to take away Wake’s outside pass routes using man coverage. That set up an important test for Wake’s receiver group that has been so highly praised this summer. That test was won by the Tulane DBs.
The benefit of playing Cover-1 was the additional safety that it added to the box, allowing Tulane to play with an 8-man front instead of a 7-man front. This was a curious move by Tulane and it’s certainly not the defensive plan that Wake typically faces (Wake hasn’t exactly carved up many 7 man fronts recently, so teams have been happy to take away our running game with 6 and 7-man fronts while blanketing pass coverage with a full complement of DBs). But it worked for Tulane and may have helped to bottle-up Hinton’s run game.
All of Wake’s offensive possessions were 6 or fewer plays (and 18 yards or less) with the exception of:
1) a 7 play / 33 yard drive in the second quarter that started with 4 straight John Wolford completions for 37 total yards before stalling inside Tulane territory when a first down pass to Scotty Washington fell incomplete and was followed by two Matt Colburn runs that netted only a single yard.
2) the 12 play / 53-yard touchdown drive that was the difference in the game. That drive started at the Wake Forest 47 yard line and featured a 16-yard completion from Wolford to Matt Colburn and the longest runs of the evening for both Kendall Hinton (13 yards) and Matt Colburn (8 yards).
QBs / PASSING GAME
The two QBs combined for a 57% completion percentage, but attempted only 21 passes (with 17 of those pass attempts coming from Wolford).
The big story was the QBs inability to connect with the outside receiver group that might have forced Tulane out of Cover-1. Wolford targeted Wake’s outside receiver group (Washington, Lewis, Claude and Bachman) 9 times but completed only 3 of those passes for 25 total yards. Hinton would attempt only 1 pass to the outside receiver group (an 8 yard completion).
DEFENSE – 3 STARS OF THE GAME
#1 STAR – Julian Thomas-Jackson. Despite playing almost exclusive on third-and-long he had two sacks and a forced fumble on the decisive final play. Where have YOU been hiding?????
#2 STAR – Jessie Bates. Seven solo tackles. Consistently solid all evening, including some key tackles when he was the last line of defense. A very, very nice debut for the rFR.
#3 STAR – Chris Stewart. He had a sack and a QBH to go along with the FG block on special teams.
OFFENSE - PLAYING TIME NOTES
rFR Nathan Gilliam played a significant number of snaps at RG in relief of Phil Haynes (Haynes had simply worn down physically, but apparently didn’t suffer an injury per se).
Matt Colburn led the RBs in carries. Rocky Reid saw the field but didn’t record a single carry.
It appeared that Cortez Lewis didn’t see the field until the second half. Scotty Washington went the whole way in the first half at X-WR.
Alex Bachman and Steven Claude appeared to divide snaps about 50/50.
DEFENSE – PLAYING TIME NOTES
The situation at DT is starting to get scary. Obviously Zeek Rodney isn’t with the team (although he did tweet about the team and game, which was interesting). Josh Banks missed the game (late scratch because of a hamstring). Willie Yarbary left the game early in the second quarter and didn’t return. That left Wake with a 3-man rotation of Chris Stewart, Shelldon Lewinson and rFR Elontae Bateman. All three played significant snaps. True FR Sulamain Kamara didn’t dress for the game and is presumably dealing with an injury of his own.
Duke Ejiofor was limited in warmups and is clearly not 100%. He still had a good game though.
Both Marquel Lee and Jaboree Williams got banged up. Williams appeared to be hampered by his ankle once he returned to the game. Grant Dawson played a lot of snaps.
Essang Bassey saw some snaps at corner.
Julian Thomas-Jackson, Josh Okonye, Thomas Brown and Shelldon Lewinson look to be the consistent subs in the third down subpackage this year.
OTHER NOTES
The most worrisome offensive stat: Wake had 19 plays of 1st-and-10 but managed 3 yards or more on just 7 (37%) of those plays. That left a lot of unfavorable down and distance throughout the game.
The most worrisome defensive stat: the LBs combined for only 6 solo tackles, while the safeties combined for 16 solo tackles. Where art thou Brandon Chubb?
3 redshirts were burned: Dom Maggio, Cade Carney, and Essang Bassey
Last edited:
