Iron Dragon's Tulane Green Wave Dynasty

[Iron Dragon]

TOO AGGRESSIVE


Erik Madison gets his second pick on the day and ends Cal's chances to tie or win the game at the two-yard line with under 30 seconds to go.


Abraham Ubekista's late FG gave Tulane a 38-35 lead.


BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA -- What were they thinking? After making it to Tulane's 2-yard line down 3 with a well-working offense, why would you throw a fade route to a 6'1" receiver covered by 6'4" Erik Madison with thirty seconds left? That's the playcall and the play Cal will have to consider for a long time and most will relate back this call to "this is why we aren't a top 25 team". For Erik Madison, that's continuing to show why he's an All-American cornerback. "You gotta make the plays, if they're gonna throw it my direction, I'm not letting that WR get that pass.", said Madison. Madison had already dominated his matchup with 6'1" WR all day, already intercepting one throw his way and deflecting another. However, Cal did get one TD Marshall's way, Madison won the battle when it counted most. "I'm trying to outintercept the amount of TDs the WRs I'm covering this year catch. If I give up 12 TDs, I'm gonna have 13 picks this year.", said Madison. His first victim was indeed Marshall, Cal's senior leading WR who he won the INT-TD battle 2-1. (Last week: 0-0).

Anyways, that was the game-changing performance, but besides that, Cal had Tulane on the ropes all game. Cal opened the game with a 24 yard TD as Kerr found Marshall, to give Cal an early 7-0 lead. John Stegall battled back with a 1 yard TD pass to TE Chad Flowers. Cal ended the 1st quarter with a 10-7 advantage on a 25 yard field goal. O.J. Clarke's day turned up the heat when he got a 4 yard TD run, giving Tulane their first lead at 14-10. Kerr then hit Stevenson for a 8 yard TD, but Stegall hit J.D. Williams for a 6 yard TD pass of his own. However, Stegall's late 1st half INT set up a half-ending 42 yard FG for the Golden Bears giving Tulane just a 21-20 advantage at the half.

In the third quarter, Cal started out with a go-ahead 96 yard kick return TD by their RB Wilson and then same RB scored the two-point conversion to give Cal a 28-21 lead. Tulane battled right back with a 67 yard TD pass on a screen pass to O.J. Clarke where Clarke had 69 yards after the catch, basically making it a run with a whole lotta blockers. Needless to say, Clarke didn't have any problem getting to the endzone, he was never touched. 28-28. Then Cal's RB Wilson scored again - 35-28 at the end of three. After a 15 point third quarter, Cal put the pressure on Tulane. Mike Marquardt got his 2nd score of the year on a 3 yard TD run to tie the game back up at 35. Then after forcing Cal to punt, Tulane went on a long drive ending with a 40 yard Abraham Ubekista field goal to give the Green Wave a 38-35 lead. Cal's screen pass to Wilson put them well into field goal range, then a run by Wilson put them at the two, but Kerr's bad decision throwing to Erik Madison gave the Green Wave a close victory in Berkeley and left Cal fans wondering - why would we run play action and throw it?

PLAYER STATS
John Stegall: 17-for-27 passing, 261 yards, 3 TD, INT, 22 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 23 carries, 141 yards, TD, 3 rec, 92 yards, TD
J.D. Williams: 5 catches, 60 yards, TD
Brandon Palmer: 4 catches, 53 yards
Taylor Mackey: 3 catches, 42 yards
Kasey Capps: 8 tackles
Erik Madison: 4 tackles, 2 INT, PD
Shaun Fontaine: 4 tackles, PD, 20.2 KR avg, 8.0 PR avg
Stephen Harris: 2 TFL, Sack
Dwayne Horne: Sack

UP NEXT: Week 3 Around the NCAA

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 3

BIG XII SCORES
Kansas 31, Indiana 19
Iowa State 52, Eastern Washington 13
Rice 30, Baylor 28
#4 Oklahoma 58, Tulsa 7
Texas aTm 30, Texas Tech 27 OT
#21 Oklahoma State 31, Oregon State 28
K-State 27, Northwestern 13
#1 Texas 42, Syracuse 22
Hawai'i 36, Colorado 20

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
#8 Maryland 27, #25 NC State 24 OT
#2 Florida 22, #16 Tennessee 16 OT
Clemson 24, #15 Miami 15
Arkansas 37, #10 Arizona State 14

TOP 25 UPDATE
Top 9 stay the same, Michigan joins the top 10 at 10th.
Tennessee is 0-2 and still #20.
Arkansas joins the top 25 at #23.
Utah jumps to #15.
NC State dropped out.

HEISMAN WATCH: O.J. Clarke flies into the top 5 at #2. What??

AUBURN PREVIEW
Record: 1-1 (1-0 SEC) [Lost to K-State, beat LSU]
Meeting: 2nd [Tulane 1-0]
Notes: Auburn starts a young redshirt sophomore at QB since Tyrik Rollison is gone. He's got 2 TDs this year.. and 5 picks. However, Auburn's rushing attack is alot better than Cal's.. and Cal had a good day rushing against us. They have two capable backs. Despite their QB's bad success.. Auburn has 17 WIDE RECEIVERS. What the heck? They have 7 TRUE FRESHMAN. What??? Anyways, seven of their 17 WRs are over 86 OVR. Why do you need 17 WRs again? Auburn's o-line is good but they'll be starting a true freshman at RT due to injuries. Auburn's defense is better than Cal's led by 92 OVR OLB Deandre Glover. And pick-hog DB Michael Stewart who has 6 PDs already this year. Auburn's kicking game is OK, with their kicker's long being 46 yards but he's only a 65 percent kicker, so he may not be the clutch factor they need.
Prediction: Toss-up

[Iron Dragon]

SAFETY FIRST


The option?? at your own one? And you faked a pitch? You deserved to be tackled for a safety.


Erik Madison seals another victory.

AUBURN, ALABAMA -- For a second straight year, Tulane took away a 'W' from the Auburn Tigers. Everything was going good in the miserable downpour for Auburn after taking a 14-13 lead after being behind 10-0 early in the late 3rd. That all changed when Tulane's punt landed at the ten, then they got a nine yard sack and the game changed with a safety on a fake option pitch QB draw style play.. from the shotgun? Why not I-Form or Goal Line in that situation again? Anyways, that play put Tulane up 15-14, then going up by 8 put the pressure on Auburn to get a two-point conversion after their TD and their lack of scoring after that cost Auburn a victory.

John Stegall continued to show everyone "Marcus Minor who?" as he connected with Taylor Mackey for a 28 yard TD, and Chad Flowers (Who was wide open -- never even touched) for a 32 yard TD that put Tulane up 22-14 and put the game away. Stegall improved to 3-0 as a Tulane starter and another big win on Tulane's season.. on the road. "The 12th Man, I thought, was going to be the hardest part of this road trip we're on. It's our first Big XII game and A&M is pretty darn good.", said Ron Draggo, after the team's victory over Auburn. Tulane started out the game strong after Stegall's first TD pass with Abraham Ubekista's 23 yard FG to make it 10-0 after one. Erik Madison also recorded an INT in the first quarter as well.

Auburn's QB Casey hooked up with one of their many, many WRs for a 7 yard TD and then Ubekista's 21 yard FG made it a 13-7 game at the half. Auburn's SR RB Carrington got Auburn a 14-13 lead, then the safety by Derek Larson which was set up by Dustin Peterson (Where did he come from? 3 sacks today), then Stegall's second TD pass put the Green Wave up 22-14. Auburn's other SR RB Morris scored on a 3 yard TD run, then on the two point conversion, he was stopped inside the one. A huge stop. The game was sealed up with O.J. Clarke's 2 yard TD run, then finally with Erik Madison's INT with 48 seconds to go about 15 yards past midfield (He's winning his own challenge 4-1 this year now). And that did it. Tulane escapes. Again.

PLAYER STATS
John Stegall: 17-for-32 passing, 244 yards, 2 TD, 26 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 18 carries, 75 yards, TD, 3 rec, 17 yards
Chad Flowers: 5 catches, 92 yards, TD
Taylor Mackey: 3 catches, 66 yards, TD
Marlin Nelson: 12 tackles, 5 TFL, Sack
Dustin Peterson: 9 tackles, 5 TFL, 3 Sacks
Terrance Carr: 7 tackles, TFL, FF, FR
Derek Larson: 3 TFL, Sack, Safety
Erik Madison: 2 tackles, 2 INT
Abraham Ubekista: 2-2 FG, 3-3 XP, 45.0 avg/punt, 43.7 net avg, 4 inside the 20

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 4

BIG XII SCORES
#16 Iowa 22, Kansas 10
Iowa State 31, Indiana 10
UConn 16, Missouri 10
Colorado 43, North Dakota St. 0
Arkansas State 20, Baylor 17
#1 Texas 48, Stephen F. Austin 0
Eastern Michigan 24, Kansas State 16 [laugh] [laugh].. K-State was 3-0 and EMU was 0-2
#24 Miami (FL) 31, #6 Nebraska 17
#11 Penn State 28, #19 Oklahoma State 21
San Diego State 27, #4 Oklahoma 26 (WTF - SDSU racks up 27 straight points and upsets Oklahoma on the road.. what???)

Big XII wins against the FBS this week: 2 (Tulane, Iowa St.)

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
Minneosta 30, #20 Tennessee 27 (0-3)
Wake Forest 31, #8 Maryland 17
NC State 47, #7 North Carolina 25
Oregon 14, #17 Arizona St. 12

TOP 25 UPDATE
- Alot of shakeups.. everywhere. Texas, Florida, Ohio St., Alabama, Tulane, Michigan, Penn St., Wisky, Georgia and Nebraska are the top 10.
- Utah's up to #11, Iowa right behind at 12.
- Oklahoma drops to #16.
- Tennessee drops out from #20, NC State drops straight to #20.

HEISMAN UPDATE: O.J. Clarke. No longer in.. one week and done. WR Brant Thomas of Wisconsin leads (31 rec, 402 yards, 5 TD)

TEXAS A&M PREVIEW
Record: 2-1 (0-0 Big XII)
Meeting: First
Notes: We both have +5 turnover difference. A&M's loss came on opening weekend at Arkansas by 5 points. A&M also has a 99 OVR center.. Sam Church, like us. Their Junior QB is fast, and he can throw. 5 pass TDs and 259 rush yards this year. Their AA RB sits in the backfield with 92 SPD. A&M's top target seems to be 90 OVR TE Alex Mitchell. He's got 84 SPD and 86 CIT and 84 RR. He's pretty good and catching and blocking. A&M's O-Line is great. Four starters over 90 OVR. Their D-line is also good and quick. Their lowest secondary starter is 90 OVR. Needless to say, this may be Stegall's crappiest day as a QB. This one's gonna be tough.

[Iron Dragon]

WELCOME TO THE BIG XII, TULANE

Tulane's 17 game winning streak snapped by Pedro Dean's 39 yard field goal as time expired.



This was John Stegall's day: 5 sacks, and three picks all to SS Greg Hopkins (avg 18.6 yard return) including one at aTm's 7 yard line which gave Texas A&M the ball and led to their go-ahead field goal.

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS -- The road trip is over, for now, and so is Tulane's winning streak. This game broke Tulane's 17 game winning streak and gave them a loss in their first Big XII game. "Welcome to the Big XII Tulane, Texas A&M 16, #5 Tulane 13!!", was the way A&M's radio described the victory. "I knew the game was going to be difficult for us, A&M's defense might be the best in the country and they've only allowed 33 points this season with our game now.. a stout 11.0 points per game is pretty amazing. They were all over the place, they switched it up alot too. Their secondary is probably in the top 10, if not the top 5.", said Coach Ron Draggo after the game. Tulane was disappointed with their first trip to Kyle Field, but due to joining the Big XII and re-scheduling and shuffling, Tulane will revisit A&M next season. But that's next year.

Tulane made a huge impression on A&M early as on their first drive of the day they drove straight down the field with John Stegall finding Brian Bailey for a 1 yard TD pass, putting them up 7-0. A&M was then robbed by CB Wade Brooks in the endzone, but Tulane had to punt and that set up Pedro Dean's 45 yard field goal to make it 7-3. Stegall threw an INT to Hopkins after that, but A&M was forced to punt, and that led to Ubekista's 35 yard field goal, which made it 10-3 at the half. On the opening kickoff, Shaun Fontaine fielded the ball to start the second half, only to drop it and fumble it right to A&M, and on A&M's first play, Richard hit Parks for a 21 yard TD and we had a tie ballgame.

After Stegall was picked off again, Pedro Dean hit another field goal - this time from 24 yards putting A&M up 13-10. After a punt, Erik Madison's INT set up Ubekista's 27 yard FG in the early 4th to tie it at 13. Tulane moved straight down the field after an A&M punt, getting 25 on O.J. Clarke's carry and then Chad Flowers' 23 yard reception. Tulane hurried up to the line to throw A&M off but A&M was ready for the quick throw to the endzone and once again, Stegall found SS Greg Hopkins for pick no. 3 on the day. A&M went to the air but was faced with a 3rd down which they completed and then went into hurry-up offense which was eventually Tulane's downfall as they left A&M WRs open setting up Pedro Dean's game-ending 36 yard field goal and the underdog Aggies upset #5 Tulane 16-13.

Coaches' Corner

"Obviously it's tough to go on the road to three great teams in three straight weeks - Cal, Auburn and A&M and try to win all three. We got the first two just barely and we got nipped by A&M. They are a really tough team and this was a great venue to play in. Our guys played tough as they have all year but the pressure got to them and we lost today. Can't win 'em all, I guess."

PLAYER STATS
John Stegall: 17-for-31 passing, 228 yards, TD, 3 INT, sacked 5 times
O.J. Clarke: 20 carries, 88 yards, 26 rec yards
Brandon Palmer: 5 catches, 55 yards
Brian Bailey: Catch, 1 yard, TD
Kasey Capps: 8 tackles
Marlin Nelson: 7 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks
Dustin Peterson: 7 tackles, 3 TFL
Shaun Fontaine: 6 tackles
Dwayne Horne: 4 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Wade Brooks: 4 tackles, INT
Erik Madison: 4 tackles, INT (5:1 INT:TD allowed)

UP NEXT: Week Five Around the NCAA

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 5

BIG XII SCORES
Kansas State 23, Baylor 7
#1 Texas 33, Iowa State 0
#10 Nebraska 38, Kansas 7
#21 Oklahoma State 23, #16 Oklahoma 15 <-- Oklahoma's starting QB - injured. Starting RB - out five weeks, starting WR - out for season. Jeez.
Colorado 35, Missouri 20 <-- Our next two opponents

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
#9 Georgia 27, LSU 21
#3 Ohio State 38, #12 Iowa 16
#2 Florida 29, #25 Arkansas 3
#19 Fresno State 52, Oregon 10 <-- Oregon was 4-0. My oh my, Fresno.
#8 Wisconsin 20, #6 Michigan 10
#24 AZ State 30, #22 UCLA 27 <-- Arizona State finally wins.
Rutgers 35, #17 PITT 7
Texas Tech 45, SMU 6 (Texas Tech's first C-USA game)

Surprising Unbeatens: Florida Atlantic, Troy, UTEP, San Jose State, Idaho (they are leading the WAC), Rutgers (and they've only allowed 13 points this year), Buffalo,

TOP 25 UPDATE
Tulane drops from #5 to #14. Utah joins the top 10 at #9. Rutgers joins the top 25 at #20. USC cracks the top 25 at #25.
UCLA and Arkansas dropped out. Texas A&M sits at #26.

NOTE: Greg Hopkins was NCAA Defensive Player of the Week with 10 tackles and 3 INTs.

MISSOURI PREVIEW
Record: 1-3 (0-1 Big XII)
Meeting: 2nd (2009 Texas Bowl, Missouri won)
Notes: Missouri grades out worse than us in every category but pass defense. Their starting QB is hurt so 77 OVR redshirt sophomore will take the snaps. He's got 4 TDs and 5 picks this year filling in. His top target should be senior WR Antonio Thompson, who has 167 rec yards and 2 TDs. Their RB Phillip Sullivan has 91 SPD and 86 BTK, so he's pretty good. Their O-line is crappy besides a 93 OVR center. Their defense is led by 93 OVR DT Sean Kaplan (who has 5 TFL and 2 sacks this year) and DB Nick Maxey (who has 2 INT this year). Missouri isn't as good as the last teams we've faced, but if we're still on a slump, we might be upset-prone. Let's hope not.

[Iron Dragon]

There's some more for ya, TGT. 3/4ths of the season left to post.

[morsdraconis]

Awesome man!

Congrats on the National Title. Was able to pull one off myself in 2012 with my fellas and it felt great. Wasn't as exciting as your BCS Title (ended up beating Clemson 34-17) but it was still a great one.

[Iron Dragon]

Can a backup QB lead us in OT and survive for four of them?

NEW ORLEANS, LA --- The craziest game in the superdome would probably be Southern Miss @ Tulane when Casey Robottom made a crazy catch to win it for Tulane in 3OTs? Not anymore, Missouri @ Tulane in their second Big XII game spanned into four OTs with the 102-point game which had 48 points in OT (not more than regulation, oops!), and Missouri wore gold pants, which is really important. Could Tulane bounce back after last week's loss? Only the overtimes time would tell.

In the 1st quarter, Tulane kicked a pair of field goals and led it 6-0, we had a fumble in this quarter as well, which we didn't recover. John Stegall threw a pick in the early 2nd leading to Missouri's field goal from 30 yards. Ending the field goal party was O.J. Clarke getting a 2 yard TD run, to make it 13-3. Ubekista's 29 yard FG made it 16-3. But Missouri's so QB Massey found Brown for a 2 yard TD just before the half and it was a 16-10 halftime advantage for the Green Wave. (And Stegall threw a pick to end the half, his 2nd)

Missouri took the lead on Massey's 19 yard TD pass to Brown, then extended it with another 13 yard TD pass to Williams to give Missouri a 24-16 lead. After Missouri's 1st TD, John Stegall threw his 3rd INT of the day but he was injured on the play, and was diagnosed with a torn tricep and will be out for at least five weeks. That is a huge problem because it leaves us with only Jamal Burns at QB, the only other person suited to be a QB on the roster is starting WR Taylor Mackey who has 77 THP and 75 THA. We really do not want to pull Rich Nelson's redshirt either. To make things worse, we get the ball back.. and fumble it away.

Burns leads Tulane to Ubekista's 43 yard FG, and then our defense holds, giving us the ball back with 2 minutes to play. Tulane's main problem on the day was third downs. Tulane was an awful 2 of 16 on 3rd downs to finish the game, and with five turnovers, the game hadn't been pretty. Unfortunately the game looked like it was at it's end for Tulane as we were faced with a 4th & 6 in Missouri territory with 44 seconds to go, with inexperienced Jamal Burns at QB (no career pass TDs). Burns would come out in a five-wide formation hoping to get the first down. On this play, O.J. Clarke in as the #5 WR (4 active), Clarke somehow manages to be open as Missouri runs a CB Blitz, and he finds O.J. Clarke for the first down.. and 33 more as Clarke took it all the way for six points and Tulane took a 25-24 lead with :34 left. They went for two and Jamal Burns ran it in to make it 27-24.


O.J. Clarke's game-continuing grab

However, Missouri's gunslinging QB who already had 3 TDs and 0 INTs on the day (Missouri was turnover-free), went to work like it was nothing actually leading Missouri right down inside the ten. This gave Missouri a shot at the game-winning TD as Massey threw for Brown, but Erik Madison got in the way and got the INT!!.. only to drop it. Missouri kicked the FG and it was overtime.

Then came four overtimes, but the teams didn't know it at the time. Missouri continued to pass all over Tulane's defense as on their 3rd play Massey hit Brown for a 14 yard score and the XP was good. Tulane had no problem either as Jamal Burns scrambled for a 5 yard TD and XP was good. 34-34.

Tulane went back on offense and went to the air as Jamal Burns hit an open J.D. Williams at the goal line for a 17 yard TD, Burns' 2nd career TD pass, to give Tulane a 41-34 lead after the XP (which was good). Missouri responds with a 21 yard TD pass where Robinson bounces off Wade Brooks tackle and walks into the endzone from the ten-yard line, and the XP was good. 41-41.

Missouri hits a 36 yard FG after Tulane's defense stops them on 3rd & 4. Tulane's game is almost ended on 3rd down as well, as Jamal Burns has a pass tipped and almost picked off and Ubekista hits a 27 yard FG and it's four overtimes now. 44-44.

Then we call an option pass play, Burns sees a hole to start the 4th OT and takes it 24 YARDS to the ONE YARD LINE on our opening play on what was basically a QB keeper - no one went after Burns for some reason. Then Burns sneaks it in two plays later and gives Tulane a 50-44 advantage. Then we had to go for two, and we ran the option. Burns scrambled left with Clarke following, they played Burns only to leave Clarke wide open and he went untouched for two. 52-44. Now Missouri had to score a TD and get the 2-point conversion to push it to five overtimes. Massey found a wide open Robinson for a 8 yard strike to make it 52-50.


That's open.

Now the play that could end the game. Strangely Missouri abandoned a QB who was 33-for-54 on the day and who had torched Tulane for 413 yards and 6 TDs and tried to fool Tulane with a rush from an offense who had 39 rush yards against the Green Wave. Let's see what happened..


QB Choice run to the right with the handoff and SCOTT BARRETT WASN'T FOOLED!! TULANE WINS!!

Why did they ever abandon the pass there? Scott Barrett gets the TFL on RB Sullivan and Tulane with a horrible 5 turnover day somehow wins it 52-50 in FOUR OVERTIMES.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 13-for-22 passing, 174 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 11 carries, 82 yards, 2 TD, 2 two-point conversion runs
John Stegall (injured): 14-for-24 passing, 187 yards, 3 INT
O.J. Clarke: 16 carries, 98 yards, TD, 10 rec, 85 yards, TD
J.D. Williams: 6 catches, 82 yards, TD
Brian Bailey: 3 catches, 54 yards
Taylor Mackey: 3 catches, 31 yards
Chad Flowers: 3 catches, 56 yards
Terrance Carr: 11 tackles, TFL
Scott Barrett: 7 tackles, TFL
Derek Larson: 5 tackles, 3 TFL, Sack
Jason Nolen: 5 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Marlin Nelson: 3 TFL, 3 Sacks
Abraham Ubekista: 5-5 FG, 3-3 XP

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 6

BIG XII SCORES
Kansas State 21, #17 Oklahoma State 17
Iowa State 23, #8 Nebraska 17
Texas A&M 10, Kansas 9
#1 Texas 37, #22 Oklahoma 10
Colorado 20, Baylor 9

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
Texas Tech 28, Houston 15
South Carolina 31, #21 Ole Miss 3
West Virginia 26, #20 Rutgers 17
Tennessee 33, #7 Georgia 28
Indiana 31, #5 Wisconsin 23
Jinxed?: FAU, Idaho, SJSU, Rutgers, UTEP all lose / Troy, Buffalo still unbeaten

TOP 25
1. Texas(36)
2. Florida(21)
3. Ohio State(2)
4. Alabama(1)
5. Penn State(1)
6. Utah
7. Michigan
8. North Carolina
9. Notre Dame
10. Maryland
11. Tulane (I'd say we're overrated)
12. Georgia
13. Iowa
14. Miami
15. Fresno State
16. Wisconsin (down 11)
17. Nebraska (down 9)
18. Tennessee (up from no votes with a 2-3 record)
19. PITT
20. West Virginia (unbeaten)
21. USC
22. Texas A&M
23. Rutgers
24. Okie State
25. Oregon
Outside: 30. UCF, 31. Buffalo
Dropped Out: NC State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Arizona State

Big XII North: K-State, Colorado 2-0 / Iowa State, Nebraska 1-1 / Kansas, Missouri 0-2
Big XII South: Texas, A&M 2-0 / Tulane, OK State 1-1 / Oklahoma (now without starting CB, too), Baylor 0-2

Colorado Preview
Record: 4-2 (2-0 Big XII)
Meeting: First
Notes: Colorado has the #2 offense and the #4 turnover differential in the country. Colorado has a great JR QB in Andrew Cooper who has 9 TDs to just 2 picks along with 3 rush TDs and he's a Heisman candidate. In the backfield he has 94 ACC and 89 OVR David Bullock. Out wide his favorite target shold be Keenan Lowe who has 7 TDs this season, another Heisman candidate. Colorado's worse starter on their o-line is their true freshman LT who is 83 OVR, and will probably be a freshman AA. On defense, SS is their weak spot with their starter only being 85 OVR. Needless to say, this defense is good and their outside linebackers who are in the 90s in speed and 93+ OVR are trouble as they are. However, we only have to face one of them since OLB Jerrell Weaver (93) is out with injury. So Sophomore Eric Charles (84 OVR, 86 SPD, 93 ACC) takes his spot. Jeez, since when did Colorado have so many fast LBs? Needless to say, this is on the road and if Jamal Burns get injured we have to relate to Taylor Mackey (WR) at QB. Oh my. I don't see a victory unless something happens.

[Iron Dragon]

ROAD TRIPPED


Colorado's LB Baker celebrates his 3rd quarter pick-six giving Colorado a 27-16 lead.

BOULDER, COLORADO -- The Buffaloes basically crushed Tulane's Big XII title hopes just three games in. "Well that sucked.", said Jamal Burns after the game. Yeah, it sucked indeed. Burns' first start of his career was a rough one as Tulane got beat up some more by the Buffaloes. The Green Wave's injuries continued to grow as well as they lost two more starters: DE Stephen Harris (3 weeks) and LT Brandon Lewis (7 weeks), on top of John Stegall from last week (6 weeks). Colorado plain out dominated this one from the start as Tulane could never get within a field goal during the game. The closest they got to the lead was 21-16 in the early 3rd quarter.

Colorado came out throwing in the beginning as Andrew Cooper hit Merritt for a 14 yard TD, then Hendrix's 8 yard TD run put the Buffaloes up 14-0 while all Tulane had done was throw an INT as Jamal Burns threw his first of two INTs on the day. Tulane got on the board in the 2nd quarter with O.J. Clarke's 2 yard TD run - he was one of the two bright spots on our offense today. Colorado got the lead right back to 14 with Cooper's 2nd TD pass, this time from 4 yards out to WR Wright. On Tulane's next drive they went for it on Fourth & Goal and were stopped inside the one. However, Terrance Carr downed HB Bullocks in the endzone for a safety the very next play but Tulane did nothing before halftime and they trailed 21-9 at the break.

Tulane moved quickly on Jamal Burns' 50 yard TD strike to WR J.D. Williams to cut the lead to 21-16, then forcing a three and out, but then Burns was pick sixed by LB Baker (the Touchdown Maker) but Colorado missed the XP but yet they still led 27-16. Abraham Ubekista's 46 yard field goal cut the deficit to 27-19 with his career long 48 yard field goal. In the fourth, Bullocks re-extended Colorado's lead up to 34-19 with a 2 yard TD run. Burns then hit J.D. Williams for another TD from 7 yards out to give Tulane some hope, but Colorado's 57 yard pass put them inside the 15 leading to Cooper's 3rd TD pass of the day (what are you Max Hall?), to Young, then the Buffaloes went for two as Tulane was completely stunned, and they got it to make it 42-25 adding insult to injury I guess. On the game's final play, a scrambling Jamal Burns was tackled short of the endzone and Tulane lost 42-25 to the unranked but undefeated in conference Buffaloes.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 22-for-40 passing, 249 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 16 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 20 carries, 134 yards, TD, 1 rec, 10 yards
Brandon Palmer: 6 catches, 53 yards
J.D. Williams: 4 catches, 96 yards, 2 TD
Chad Flowers: 5 catches, 43 yards
Anthony Patterson: 5 pancakes
Jason Nolen: 11 tackles
Terrance Carr: 9 tackles, 2 TFL, Safety
Dwayne Horne: 8 tackles, 4 TFL, Sack

Colorado: Andrew Cooper 20-25 pass, 219 yards, 3 TD / David Bullock 36 carries 152 yards TD 4 rec 53 yards

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 7

BIG XII SCORES
#24 Oklahoma St. 23, Kansas 3
Missouri 27, #22 aTm 24
Oklahoma 35, Iowa State 9
#1 Texas 42, Baylor 3
#17 Nebraska 34, Kansas State 32 3OT

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
Cal 27, #25 Oregon 18
#3 Ohio State 34, #5 Penn State 14
Utah State 14, #15 Fresno State 10 .. Utah State does it two years in a row.

TOP 25 UPDATE
Ohio State jumps to #1, Florida and Texas tied for #2, Alabama 4th, Utah #5.
West Virginia at 6-0 jumps to #14.
Tulane drops ten spots to #21.
Oklahoma rejoins the top 25 at #23.
USF in at 6-1 at #25.
Buffalo at 6-0 is #26, UCF is no. 27, Cal's 28th.
Fresno State, A&M and Oregon all dropped out.

HEISMAN UPDATE
QB David Martin (rJR - USC) leads - 141/204 passing, 1851 yards, 19 TD, 2 INT

IOWA STATE PREVIEW
Record: 4-3 (1-2 Big XII)
Meeting: First
Notes: Fifth road game in the last six weeks. Iowa State is worse than us in the ratings and stats. Their record mirrors ours though. Their starting QB has a 40 percent completion rating and has 7 TDs and 12 INTs. Their RB is good with 5 TDs and 88 SPD. They have a good 6'4 SR WR in Tony Moody. Their O-line is good but they are without their 91 OVR center, so that helps. On defense, 90 OVR Antonio Robertson on the line already has 44 tackles, 11 TFL, 5 sacks and a FR and TD this year. He's good. We also need to watch for their OLB Rich Seals who has 57 tackles, 3 TFL, 3 sacks, a pick and a TD this year. Iowa State's secondary is alright, their DBs are good but their safeties lack. I think this could be a low-scoring game.

[Iron Dragon]

BACK TO NORMAL

IOWA CITY --- Tulane had no problems on their road trip to Iowa to face the Cardinals of Iowa State as Jamal Burns got his first win as a Tulane starting QB with a lot of help from his receivers. Burns only completed 13 passes (22 attempts) but threw for 290 yards and wound up with 4 Total TDs thanks to 161 YAC from his receivers. The rushing game also did well as O.J. Clarke had 6.7 yards a carry and Jamal Burns had a rushing TD.

Iowa State put up somewhat of an early fight actually holding a 14-7 lead after Tulane opened with a 4 yard TD pass to Brandon Palmer, and then ISU's Barnes' own fumble recovery in the endzone gave Iowa State a strange TD to tie it at 7. Then Brown scored from two yards out to make it 14-7 after one. Ubekista's two FGs cut it to 14-13 but Tulane broke open the game when Jamal Burns fired two late 2nd quarter TD passes: a 65 yard TD to J.D. Williams with 80 seconds left in the half and then Mackey's 42 yard TD grab with 29 seconds left to give Tulane a 26-14 halftime lead.

Tulane did not look back from there with Burns' 3 yard TD run, then Clarke's 26 yard TD run, and finally Dan Thomas's 1 yard TD run to give Tulane an easy 47-14 victory with 40 unanswered at the end of the game. Shaun Fontaine got his first career INT in the game, while Tulane recorded three sacks. They also forced a fumble which Marlin Nelson recovered. Tulane only had a 447-267 advantage in offense but Iowa State had to punt 9 times and went 6 for 20 on 3rd downs.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 13-for-22 passing, 290 yards, 3 TD, INT, 18 rush yards, TD
O.J. Clarke: 13 carries, 88 yards, TD
Dan Thomas: 5 carries, 19 yards, TD
Brandon Palmer: 6 catches, 72 yards, TD
J.D. Williams; 2 catches, 73 yards, TD
Taylor Mackey: 2 catches, 84 yards, TD
Derek Laeson: 6 tackles, 3 TFL, Sack
Dwyane Horne: 4 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 Sacks
Shaun Fontaine: 4 tackles, INT
Marlin Nelson: TFL, FR


WEEK 8

BIG XII SCORES
Texas A&M 41, #22 Oklahoma State 26
#23 Oklahoma 38, Colorado 17 <-- Oklahoma starting to get their injured players back
#16 Nebraska 27, #3 Texas 20
Baylor 23, Kansas 17 <-- Baylor's first win
Kansas State 27, Missouri 20

TOP 25/NCAA SCORES
Virginia 16, #7 UNC 13 OT
Clemson 35, #9 Maryland 12
#10 Penn State 17, #6 Michigan 10
#17 Tennessee 16, #4 Alabama 13
#2 Florida 69, Mississippi State 2 (what?)
Buffalo 28 (7-0), Toledo 17
UCF 23, Texas Tech 9 (battle of 5-1 (3-0) C-USA teams)

BCS TOP 10
1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Utah
4. Penn State
5. Notre Dame
6. West Virginia
7. Texas
8. Nebraska
9. Alabama
10. Georgia
18. Tulane (#21 Coaches, #18 AP)
25. Buffalo (#25 Coaches, #22 AP)

UP NEXT: #7 Texas (6-1, 3-1 Big XII).. third home game of the year. Their defense is better than us stat-wise and player-wise. Their defense is quick and could make it a long day for our offense. But their offense lacks, so, this could be an interesting one after our big win.

[Iron Dragon]

HOOKED


Texas pulls through on Fourth and Goal as TE Marques Coles catches a TD with 4 seconds left.


Tulane's last gasp Hail Mary/Lateral Palooza featured just one lateral ended up 18 yards short.

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- A rough return to the Superdome for Tulane. Definitely when Big XII favorite and #7 Texas is in town. Jamal Burns tries to go 2-1 as a starter for the Green Wave in Stegall's prolonged absence. Needless to say, this was his finest performance that just came up short. The Longhorns came into Tulane with a great defense - one of the better ones in the country looking to pound Tulane. They did a good job of that making Tulane go just 2-7 on third downs but neither team forced a turnover in a clean game with almost 800 yards of offense combined but yet only 5 touchdowns combined.

The game started out quick for Texas with a 28 yard TD pass as Texas QB Josh Lumpkin hit Carter for a 28 yard score. Abraham Ubekista closed the gap with a 47 yard field goal to a 7-3 lead for the Longhorns. That would be the score after the game's first quarter with Tulane driving, but that would end up to be a 23 yard field goal by Ubekista cutting the lead to 7-6. Tulane finally scored a TD on Jamal Burns 11 yard strike to Taylor Mackey. Burns broke off two Texas defensive lineman, rolled left and found an open Mackey in the endzone, to give Tulane a 12-7 lead. Then Ron Draggo decided to go for two to make it a TD-lead. O.J. Clarke walked in the two point conversion and made it 14-7, the same score at the half.

Texas tied the game at 14 as Lumpkin found Carter again for a 15 yard TD pass to start the 3rd quarter. Jamal Burns' 4 yard TD pass to Chad Flowers made it 21-14 in the early 4th. Texas cut the lead to 21-17 on a 38 yard field goal. Then Tulane went on a long drive that stalled with 71 seconds to play and Ubekista came on to try a 28 yard field goal, however, the kick sailed wide left and the Longhorns needed to get 80 yards in under 70 seconds now without any timeouts. The Longhorns under the arm of Lumpkin converted a fourth down once on the drive, making it inside the five and eventually down to the one on fourth and goal with six seconds left. That is where TE Marques Coles slipped out of pass blocking and turned around and caught Lumpkin's 1 yard TD with four seconds to play and Texas took a 24-21 lead. Shaun Fontaine kneeled at the 30-yard line with 2 seconds to go.

Then for Tulane's final play, Jamal Burns passed to J.D. Williams, who lateraled to Adrian Anderson who ran down the right side, slipped a tackle but was pulled down by Texas defenders 18 or 19 yards shy of the endzone as Tulane got 51 yards on the game's final play but it was still not enough as Texas won it 24-21.

PLAYER STATS

Jamal Burns: 20-for-24 passing, 312 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 6 rush yards (sacked once)
O.J. Clarke: 22 carries, 111 yards
Taylor Mackey: 7 receptions, 149 yards, TD
J.D. Williams: 5 receptions, 70 yards
Adrian Anderson: 3 receptions, 52 yards
Chad Flowers: 2 receptions, 27 yards
Derek Larson: 3 tackles, TFL, Sack

Texas: Josh Lumpkin 22-29, 264 yards, 3 TD | Joel Carter 7 rec 104 yards 2 TD


WEEK 9

BIG XII SCORES
A&M 27, Baylor 14
Missouri 40, #22 Oklahoma 21
K-State 20, Iowa State 0
Okie State 21, #13 Nebraska 17
Colorado 28, Kansas 17

TOP 25/NCAA UPDATE
Utah upset on the road in cross-country trip to NC State 27-20
Florida loses to Georgia 20-7
West Virginia jumps from #6 to #2 behind Ohio State as BCS title favorites.
Georgia jumps six spots to #4.
North Carolina jumps ten spots to #10, after beating Miami.
Utah dropped to #11.
Nebraska down to #16.
We dropped to #21 in the BCS, #22 in the Coaches and #22 in the AP.
Buffalo up to #20 in the Coaches, no love from BCS yet at #23.. they face Alabama in four weeks.

NEXT UP: Baylor (first meeting, 1-7 record for Baylor). Baylor is not good, they muster up 15 points a game and have the 119th ranked defense. They somehow outstupided Kansas 23-17 two weeks ago for a win. They've lost to Arkansas State and Rice, as well, two below .500 teams, well Rice is .500 right now.

[Iron Dragon]

A VERY EASY WIN, A VERY QUICK RECAP

NEW ORLEANS, LA - There's not much I have to say about this game but we didn't score in the second half. We went up 31-7 on Baylor and they could only close it to 31-10 at te end of the game. Could we have scored more? Probably. Baylor's 1-7 and we're 5-3, kinda a difference in talent too. Jamal Burns had another fine day at QB.

Burns was the star of the show indeed, although on defense we lost Terrance Carr for six weeks. How many injuries can we get, jeez. A big loss for the defense as he'll be gone until the bowl game. Speaking of bowls, this win makes us bowl elligible at 6-3 (3-3 Big XII). Speaking of defense, we picked off three passes, forced a fumble, and had two sacks. Adam Ubekista missed a 50 yard field goal try in the second half, though.

Speaking of Burns, let's get to what he did today. He threw a 22 yard TD pass to Brandon Palmer, then a 40 yard TD pass to J.D. Williams, a 5 yard TD pass to O.J. Clarke, and finally another 31 yard TD pass to Brandon Palmer. He had 4 TDs through the air and 49 rushing yards and 283 yards through the air. A fine day indeed. Luckily he hasn't got injured because I'd hate to put Taylor Mackey at QB because I don't want to waste Rich Nelson's redshirt now. John Stegall will be back soon though.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 24-for-38 passing, 283 yards, 4 TD, 49 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 17 carries, 74 yards, 26 rec yards, TD
Brandon Palmer: 9 rec, 98 yards, 2 TD
Chad Flowers: 7 rec, 75 yards
Taylor Mackey: 3 rec, 44 yards, TD
J.D. Williams: Rec, 40 yards, TD
INTs: Jason Nolen, Kevin Capps, Scott Barrett
Sacks: Jason Nolen, Dustin Peterson


WEEK 10

BIG XII SCORES
#19 Nebraska 27, Missouri 9
Colorado 24, K-State 7 (North Championship Game?)
Oklahoma 36, A&M 26
#6 Texas 21, #21 Okie State 7
Kansas 23, Iowa St. 6

TOP 25/NCAA UPDATE
J.T. Wallenstein's Cowboys at .500, upset #10 Utah on the road 30-10. Gotta support a former Tulane man. (Utah #3 to #24 in two weeks)
Top 5: 1. tOSU, 2. WVU, 3. UGA, 4. Texas, 5. Bama
Notre Dame lost to Auburn, drops 10 spots to #14.
#3 Penn State loses to previously winless in the Big Ten Purdue 27-13 and drops to #16.
Buffalo up to #15 in the Coaches, #16 AP, #17 BCS. Can Buffalo bust the BCS???
Tulane up to #20 in the BCS, 18 AP, 20 Coaches.

TULANE AWARD SEMIFINALISTS
Walker - O.J. Clarke 7th
Lombardi - Marlin Nelson 10th
Thorpe - Erik Madison 11th
Groza - Abraham Ubekista 1st (What? Yes, he has the best percentage in the NCAA, we're like kicker U. or something)
Best RET - Shaun Fontaine 9th

BIG XII OUTLOOK
North: Colorado 5-1, Nebraska 4-2 (both have beaten Kansas State, yet to play each other), K-State 4-2, everyone else sucks
South: Texas 5-1, A&M 4-2 (have yet to play), Okie State 3-3, Tulane 3-3, Oklahoma 3-3 (Oklahoma State has beaten Oklahoma, Tulane could finish 3rd or as worse as 5th), Baylor 1-5

NEXT UP
at Oklahoma (5-4, 3-3 Big XII)
Notes: If we lose, we basically finish 5th in the Big XII or tie for 4th. That'd probably put us 7th/8th in conference play, good enough for the Texas Bowl. We've still got a chance for something as good as the Cotton Bowl or Holiday, so we'll see what happens.

[Iron Dragon]

A SURPRISING SHUTOUT


Kyle Dickson played like a madman today, intercepting a pass (above), along with forcing & recovering a fumble.


One of Mackey's two TDs on the day.

NORMAN, OKLAHOMA -- Oklahoma was a preseason top 10 team. Ten weeks later, they are now .500 at 5-5 after a suprising shutout by Tulane on the road, 24-0. Oklahoma kept Tulane out of the endzone mainly, but Tulane kept the ball away from Oklahoma ending every single one of their drives with a punt or turnover. Oklahoma never got anything going and Tulane capitalized on three turnovers and scored off of those turnovers. Oklahoma only went 5-11 on third downs while Tulane went 9-11 (punt, FG other two times), but also had two turnovers themselves both in the redzone. However it didn't hurt them as Oklahoma couldn't get anything done with those as they punted on both of those ensuing drives.

The first quarter had no scoring but Kyle Dickson did get an INT and in the second Tulane took control of the game. Burns hit Taylor Mackey for a 37 yard TD where Mackey broke away from the OU defender at the ten-yard line and walked into the endzone for the game's first score. On the ensuing kickoff, Lamont Coleman rips the ball away from the return man, and recovers it inside the 20. Two plays later, Jamal Burns hits Brandon Palmer for a 10 yard TD pass and makes it 14-0 in just about 20 seconds. Ubekista then added a 23 yard field goal before halftime to make it 17-0 Tulane at the break.

In the second half, things didn't change as Jamal Burns hit Taylor Mackey for a 7 yard TD on Tulane's opening second half drive to make it 24-0. Oklahoma had their best drive of the day after that TD until Kyle Dickson ripped the ball from RB Ellis of Oklahoma in the backfield and took it away too and Tulane forced another turnover. Tulane would eat up alot of the clock converting 4 3rd downs on this drive, but would come up empty handed as Jamal Burns was picked off on 2nd & Goal saving a TD or a FG. Oklahoma got 21 yards on their first play but then threw 3 incompletions as their QB Wilson had a rough day (6/18 passing), and they punted. Tulane then ate the final 90 seconds and won it 24-0.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 15-for-21 passing, 177 yards, 3 TD, INT, 21 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 20 carries, 97 yards, 14 rec yards
J.D. Williams: 4 rec, 70 yards
Brandon Palmer: 3 rec, 32 yards, TD
Taylor Mackey: 2 rec, 44 yards, 2 TD
Kyle Dickson: 2 tackles, INT, FF, FR
Jason Nolen: 4 tackles, TFL
Lamont Coleman: FF, FR
Ubekista: 1-1 FG, 3-3 XP, 47 yard/punt


WEEK 11

BIG XII SCORES
Texas A&M 30, #17 Nebraska 25
Oklahoma State 35, Baylor 13
Iowa State 17, Colorado 14 (What??)
Kansas 28, Missouri 24
K-State 37, #4 Texas 30 (Still too late for them to win the North)

North: Kansas State if Nebraska beats Colorado and they beat Kansas, if Colorado wins, Colorado goes on.
South: A&M/Texas winner

TOP 25 UPDATE
Buffalo beats Kent State, jump to #10 in Coaches poll, and get 3 1st-place votes, in position for BCS bid at #11 in the BCS.
Cincinnati upsets #2 West Virginia, Georgia to #2, WVU falls to #14.

BCS TOP 10: 1. Ohio State, 2. UGA, 3. Bama, 4. Iowa, 5. USC, 6. Rutgers, 7. Virginia Tech, 8. Penn St., 9. Michigan, 10. Texas, 11. Buffalo, 19. Tulane (16 coaches), 21. K-State, 23. Okie St.

UP NEXT: vs #24/23 Oklahoma State (6-4, 4-3 Big XII)
- This is the battle for 3rd in the South, whoever wins gets 3rd, the loser takes 4th. The winner also probably finishes 5th in conference.

[Iron Dragon]

FINAL SECOND HEROICS

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Just like our game against Texas at home, there were last second heroics in this game too, and once again the result did not favor the Green Wave. The Cowboys came in as underdogs and the #24 team in the country and they knocked off the #16 Green Wave for the battle for 5-3 in conference play, most likely Oklahoma State will finish 5th and Tulane 6th in the Big XII, and yet these are still top 25 teams. Oklahoma State QB Trevor Cummings tore up the Green Wave for 3 TDs how ever it was Michael Pruitt, RB for the Cowboys who stole the show with his 4 yard TD run with 20 seconds to go to seal the 34-27 win for the Cowboys in the Superdome.

Cummings started out the game for Oklahoma State with a 14 yard TD pass to Lane, to give the 'Boys a 7-0 lead. Ubekista's 33 yard FG cut the game to 7-3. Jamal Burns also threw an INT in this quarter of (not so much) action, Erik Madison also got an INT. The Green Wave took a 10-7 lead on Jamal Burns' 35 yard TD pass to Taylor Mackey, but the Cowboys tied it up with a 32 yard field goal just before halftime to give the game a low-scoring 10-10 halftime score.

Ubeksita opened up the second half with a 41 yard FG to give Tulane a little 13-10 lead. Cummings got his second TD pass to Smith, an 18 yard TD, where Smith broke away from Wade Brooks' tackle at the five and ran into the endzone on the nice catch & run. That gave the Cowboys a 17-13 lead. Tulane took the lead back on J.D. Williams' 4 yard TD run on a WR sweep, where Williams actually went untouched into the endzone, giving the Green Wave a 20-17 lead after three quarters. Oklahoma State's early field goal in the fourth tied it at 20 from 42 yards out. Then after Burns throws his second INT, that set up Cummings' 7 yard TD pass to Cliff Newberry, and that gave Oklahoma State a 27-20 lead. O.J. Clarke put the game back at a tie with 2 minutes and four seconds to play with his 48 yard TD run, a bit earlier than we expected, but he tied it at 27. Then came then drive, just like Texas, they passed down the field, cutting inside the clock. Eventually the Cowboys got to 2nd & Goal at the 4, and Pruitt took the handoff and went into the endzone up the gut with 21 seconds to play giving Oklahoma State a 34-27 lead. The Green Wave could not accomplish anything with the remaining 13 seconds after the return, and the Cowboys won it 34-27.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 23-for-43 pass, 246 yards, TD, 2 INT, 23 rush yards
O.J. Clarke: 15 carries, 107 yards, TD, 2 rec, 11 yards
Brandon Palmer: 9 rec, 84 yards
Taylor Mackey: 5 rec, 111 yards, TD
Dustin Peterson: 8 tackles, 3 TFL, Sack
Ralph Hall: 7 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Jason Nolen: 6 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Erik Madison: 5 tackles, INT
Stephen Harris: 5 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Derek Larson: 5 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Abraham Ubekista: 2-2 FG, 3-3 XP


WEEK 12 & 13

BIG XII SCORES - WEEK 12
A&M 33, Syracuse 7 (0-10)
Oklahoma 27, Baylor 7
Nebraska 28, Army 27 (Army led 27-11 after 3 quarters, but they are still 6-4)
Kansas 20, #21 Kansas State 17 OT (So much for K-State in the Big XII Championship)
Missouri 30, Iowa State 27 OT (Iowa State not going bowling at 5-7)

TOP 25 UPDATE - WEEK 12
Buffalo, Ohio State still undefeated - Buffalo up to #8 in Coaches, #10 in BCS.
Ohio State, Iowa could meet in BCS National Title game, for a rematch.. the Hawkeyes are #3 behind Georgia.
We fell out of the BCS rankings, but we're still alive at #25 in the Coaches (who had us overrated).
A&M rejoins the top 25.
Marshall, Idaho on the outside looking in.

BOWL PROJECTION: Texas Bowl: Texas Tech vs Tulane ..oh the irony.
_____________________________________________

BIG XII SCORES - WEEK 13
North Title Game: Colorado 38, Nebraska 19
South Title Game: #11 Texas 16, #24 A&M 7
NC State 34, Kansas 31 OT
Baylor 44, McNeese St. 16

TOP 25 UPDATE - WEEK 13
#9 Michigan upsets #1 Ohio State, 20-17, but the Buckeyes still win the Big Ten.
Minnesota upsets #3 Iowa 16-14
Cincinnati upsets #5 Rutgers 17-10

BCS Confusion: 1. Georgia, 2. Alabama, 3. USC, 4. Michigan (with 3 losses), 5. Ohio State, 6. VT, 7. Penn State, 8. Buffalo (only undefeated, they get #2 Alabama at home this week - this game could decide the national title game, who woulda thought that?? If Buffalo wins, do they go to #2???), 22. Tulane (#21 Coaches).

BOWL PROJECTION: PetroSun Independence Bowl vs Boise State

UP NEXT: LSU [Tulane finally won it last year!].. LSU is 6-5, all of their losses are by less than 10 points. They lost to Auburn who we beat. They are just rating-wise better than us, and it's a rivalry game so it's gonna be a tough one.

[Iron Dragon]

SLOPPY OFFENSES LEADS TO DEFENSIVE-STYLE SHOWDOWN

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- The Tiger Rag will be staying in the Big Easy, New Orleans as Tulane won a very sloppy offensive but defensive battle game over the 6-5 LSU Tigers. While neither team has a great record (Tulane 8-4, LSU now 6-6), this game was ruled by defense and turnovers and lots of sacks. Jamal Burns hit the ground 5 times, while Trevor Montoya got it twice. The teams combined to go just 7-23 on 3rd downs, but went 5-7 on 4th. There were 7 turnovers in this game (4 INT, 3 Fumbles) combined, and when it was all said and done, Tulane held up the Tiger Rag with a 22-17 win over the Tigers of LSU, two straight victories.

The first quarter started with a 53 yard field goal missed by LSU. Two plays later, Jamal Burns is picked off. LSU's response was a 1-yard TD run by Johnson. The Green Wave started well with a 30 yard pass to Chad Flowers, than a 6 yard gain, then a 9 yard gain, then 11 more, only to stall and have Ubekista boot a 26 yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. LSU took over and their drive ended on fourth down taking the game into the second quarter. Two plays later, Jamal Burns gets picked off.. again. LSU makes a 45 yard field goal to make it 10-3. Once again the Green Wave struggle and turn the ball over again, this time on a Marquardt fumble. However, the very next play Erik Madison gets INT #7 (or is it #8) on the year on Montoya.

However, the turnover party didn't stop there as six plays later, Jamal Burns coughs up the ball and LSU recovers. However, Marlin Nelson rips the ball from Montoya and takes it back. Burns finally finds his groove hitting J.D. Williams for a 35 yard gain and O.J. Clarke scored on a 2 yard run tying it at 10, and that would be the halftime score. The third quarter started with a Ubekista 45 yard field goal, LSU continues to be sloppy as Wade Brooks intercepts Trevor Montoya. However, Tulane goes four and out near mid-field on a risky call. But LSU goes three and out. And that was the third.

In the fourth, Jamal Burns takes control of the game with a 8 yard TD pass to Brandon Palmer, and Tulane goes up 19-10 because LSU blocks the extra point. However, LSU has to punt on their next drive. The Green Wave eat the clock a bit and Ubekista hits a 50 yard field goal to make it 22-10. LSU had two minutes to get back in the game and they moved quickly as Montoya hit Henry for a 5 yard TD pass with 57 seconds to play, cutting the lead to 22-17. Now for the onside kick..

..and J.D. Williams recovered it. And Tulane was victorious. 22-17 over LSU.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 21-for-30 passing, 322 yards, TD, 2 INT, -41 rush yards on sacks
O.J. Clarke: 16 carries, 76 yards, TD, rec, 14 yards
Chad Flowers: 8 rec, 95 yards
Brandon Palmer: 6 rec, 107 yards, TD
J.D. Williams: 4 rec, 92 yards
Jason Nolen: 8 tackles, TFL
Marlin Nelson: 5 tackles, 2 TFL, FF, FR
Wade Brooks: 2 tackles, INT
Derek Larson: Sack
Erik Madison: Tackle, INT
Ubekista: 3-3 FG, 1-1 XP, one XP blocked

[Iron Dragon]

WEEK 14 TO BOWL SEASON

Kinda a quick version here.

WEEK 14 EVENTS
#2 Alabama beats #7 Buffalo 35-27.. Bulls put up a good fight.
Alabama jumps to #1, Georgia to 2, USC to 3 (well, they're going BCS NC bowling).
The Bulls drop only one spot in Coaches + AP, but drop 4 spots to #12 in the BCS. What??
We move up to #18.
Florida State, Rutgers, UCLA, Cincinnati all fall out.
Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and UCF in the top 25.
Heisman looks to be headed Jack Robinson, tOSU WR's way. 1483 rec yards, 14 TD.

WEEK 15 EVENTS
Idaho joins the top 25.. only to lose to Illinois 24-13
Navy 10, Army 3
Useless week.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
MAC: The "Who Dat" CCG: #10 Buffalo 45, Eastern Kentucky 32 (EKU went 9-3)
BIG XII: Colorado 25, #8 Texas 15
C-USA: Texas Tech 49, #24 UCF 17
ACC: #4 Virginia Tech 23, #25 Florida St. 3
SEC: #1 Alabama 35, #2 Georgia 21

HEISMAN WINNER: Jack Robinson, WR, Ohio State / 95 rec, 1483 yards, 14 TD

Home Field Advantage: Tulane to PetroSun Independence Bowl vs Louisville

The Cardinals are 7-5. Woohoo, Louisiana.

Ubekista wins Groza

Woop.

BCS BOWLS:
Rose: Ohio State vs Georgia
Sugar: Michigan vs Miami
Orange: Virginia Tech vs West Virginia
Fiesta: Colorado vs Buffalo (yeah!! Bust that BCS, Bulls).. err Go Big XII?
BCS NC: USC vs Alabama

UP NEXT: The PetroSun Independence Bowl .. The 'Ville is B OVR, B- OFF, B+ DEF.

[Iron Dragon]

The NCAA '10 version of this dynasty ends in Shreveport

ID NOTE: This is it. The final game on NCAA '10. Our first game. Six long seasons ago. A 28-21 loss to Tulsa. Darryl Farley made the Dynasty's first big play. Andre Anderson was our runningback. The man by the name of Kevin Moore was throwing the ball. Jeremy Williams caught like a crazy man. Then it was Robottom. Then it was Banks. Then it was Van Hooser. Six seasons. Crazy plays. Crazy sim engine results. 3-0 USC/Cal game. FIU upset Florida. Buffalo is in a BCS game.. against the Buffaloes. 3 non-BCS teams in BCS bowls, and they all lost. A deflection at the goal line to upset Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. The Tiger Rag. D.J. Banks grabs one off his own helmet to keep us alive at Hawaii. Wide Right I. Wide Right II. Fourth and Eight I. Fourth and Eight II. Three and Four Overtime Games. Upsetting big teams, being upset by the lowest of lows, an eventual 2-win team knocked us off two seasons ago. The highs, and the lows. The 2013 National Championship, and then a 8-win season to follow it up. I've got to thank all of you for reading, over 25,000 views and some great reader interaction. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. And now in the dynasty's 82nd game, I've loved every second of it. Here we go for some more fun in NCAA '11. But first, here is the PetroSun Independence Bowl against The 'Ville.

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA -- And there we are. A home game for our first Big XII bowl bid. Louisiana. The Green Wave came out pumped while the Cardinals never got in the way of the Green Wave. The Cardinals at 7-5 overall come in with no wins against top 25 teams. The Green Wave hope with a win to finish in the top 15. Jamal Burns took the start for the Green Wave, and didn't disappoint yet again showing signs of promise for 2015. Burns started out quick with a 27 yard TD pass to J.D. Williams, who looks to be Tulane's no. 1 WR next year. Then he hit Chad Flowers for a 4 yard TD, who is also returning next year, to give the Green Wave a 14-0 1st quarter lead.

Louisville got on the board with a 26 yard field goal, but Burns' 3rd TD to Brandon Palmer gave the Green Wave a dominating 21-3 lead. The 'Ville closed the gap with a 1 yard TD pass just before halftime to make it 21-10. However, the Green Wave put the game away somewhat with O.J. Clarke's 3 yard TD run to put them up 28-10. After Kyle Dickson gets a fumble recovery, that set up John Stegall's 12 yard TD pass to Taylor Mackey with Jamal Burns on the sidelines as Tulane started to pick away starters with a now 35-10 lead.

The Cardinals cut the lead down to 35-23 with a pair of TDs (John Stegall had a strange INT in between, he was sacked and the ball flopped out of his hands to a Louisville LB), but they failed to recover either onside kick, and Tulane capped off the game with Mike Marquardt's 3 yard TD run on third and goal after John Stegall's impressive 15 yard gain the play before where he broke 3 tackles and drug two defenders from the five to the two-yard line and made it first and goal. The Cardinals could not do anything in the final 30 seconds and Tulane won the Independence Bowl 42-23.

PLAYER STATS
Jamal Burns: 18-for-26 passing, 249 yards, 3 TD, 1 rush yard
John Stegall: 5-for-6 passing, 46 yards, TD, INT
O.J. Clarke: 14 carries, 48 yards, TD, 2 rec, 31 yards
Mike Marquardt: TD rush
J.D. Williams: 6 rec., 73 yards, TD
Chad Flowers: 5 rec, 55 yards, TD
Taylor Mackey: 3 rec, 65 yards, TD
Brandon Palmer: 3 rec, 36 yards, TD (SR)
Anthony Patterson: Pancake, SA (2nd of the year, SR)
Jason Nolen: 8 tackles (SR)
Scott Barrett: 6 tackles, INT
Stephen Harris: 6 tackles, TFL, Sack
Derek Larson: 4 tackles, 2 TFL, Sack
Marlin Nelson: 3 tackles, 2 TFL
Kyle Dickson: 3 tackles, FF, FR (SR)
Ubekista: 6-6 XP, 46.6 yards a punt