Sept. 3, 2001
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EAST CAROLINA AT TULANE
September 8, 2001
2:30 p.m. CDT
New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana Superdome
FACTS ON THE WAVE
2001 Record: 0-2
2001 C-USA Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Chris Scelfo
Alma Mater/Year: NE Louisiana '85
Record at Tulane/: 10-15/3rd
Overall Record/Years: Same
Football SID: Donna Turner
SID Phone: 504-865-5506
SID Fax: 504-865-5512
SID e-mail: dturner1@tulane.edu
Website: www.TulaneGreenWave.com
FACTS ON THE PIRATES
2001 Record: 0-1
2001 C-USA Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Steve Logan
Alma Mater/Year: Tulsa '75
Record at ECU/Years: 59-45/10th
Overall Record/Years: Same
Football SID: Craig Wells
SID Phone: 252-328-4522
SID Fax: 252-328-4528
SID e-mail: wellscr@mail.ecu.edu
Website: www.ecupirates.com
THE SERIES
Overall: East Carolina leads 3-1
In New Orleans: Tulane leads 1-0
Last Meeting: ECU 37, Tulane 17, Sept. 16, 2000 in Greenville
First Meeting: ECU 38, Tulane 28, Nov. 2, 1991 in Greenville
Of Note: The home team has won every game played in this series with the
lone previous New Orleans meeting a 33-16 Tulane win in 1997. The teams
have played three times as conference foes, the last two years in
Greenville. ECU leads in C-USA games, 2-1. The home team has outscored
the road team 160-68, in the four game series.
TULANE HEAD COACH CHRIS SCELFO
In his third season as the Tulane head coach, Chris Scelfo, one of the
youngest head coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has a career record of
10-15. A 1985 graduate of Northeast Louisiana University (now
Louisiana-Monroe), Scelfo began his coaching career at his alma mater
and made coaching stops at Oklahoma (1986-87), Marshall (1990-95) and
Georgia (1996-98) before becoming Tulane's head coach. A native of New
Iberia, La., Scelfo has already surpassed the two-year victory total of
every Tulane coach since 1966 except two and he is one of just three TU
coaches to see an increase of three or more wins between their first and
second seasons.
TULANE-ECU GAME NOTES
"The Most Important Game"
As Chris Scelfo says (weekly), "the Most Important Game on the schedule
is the next one," and for Tulane (0-2), that is this week's conference
opener with East Carolina in the Superdome. The Green Wave has not
played host to ECU since the 1997 season but will start conference play
with the Pirates for the second straight season.
Welcome 'Dome
Tulane's home opener is also the first of three straight September home
games. All-time, the Green Wave is 68-82 (.453 winning percentage) in
games played in the Superdome, which dates back to the 1975 season.
Tulane is in its 27th season playing in the Superdome. A year ago, the
Green Wave went 4-1 at home, falling only to Southern Miss at home while
defeating C-USA foes Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis, and Navy. Since
the beginning of the 1997 season, Tulane is 17-5 (.773) in games played
in the Superdome.
League Openers
In its five seasons in Conference USA, Tulane is 3-2 in conference
openers. The Green Wave opened C-USA play, and its season, with
Cincinnati in 1996, '97 and '98, claiming victory each year. Last year,
Tulane opened conference play in Greenville in the second game of the
year and fell by a 37-17 score. In 1999, Tulane met eventual league
champ Southern Miss in Hattiesburg in the C-USA and season opener and
fell by a 48-14 score. All-time, Tulane is 12-22-4 in conference
openers as they were 9-20-4 in SEC openers from 1933-65.
Home Openers
In 107 years of football, Tulane is 63-40-4 all-time in home openers,
including a current streak of four straight wins in its first home game
of the year. The Green Wave has defeated Cincinnati (24-19) in 2000 and
in 1997 (31-17), SMU (53-19) in 1999 and Navy (42-24) in 1998 in its
last four home openers. The Wave's last loss in its first home game of
the year came in the 1996 season when Tulane fell to Rice 21-14.
Conference Calling
In four seasons, the Green Wave is 16-14 all-time in Conference USA
play, including a 6-0 record and league championship in 1998. After
adding a seventh conference game a year ago, the league will have an
eight-game schedule next season. In 1996, teams played five league
games and the number stood at six from 1997-99 until moving to seven
last year. The league has expanded to 10 teams with the addition of TCU
this season. South Florida, a I-A independent this year, will become
C-USA's 11th football member beginning in 2003.
C-USA Slate
With the addition of TCU to the C-USA fold, Tulane is 40-52-2 versus
teams that currently comprise Conference USA.
Schedule Turnaround
In contrast to 2000, when Tulane played its last three games of the year
at home (and won them all to finish 6-5), this year's schedule is
front-loaded, with three home games in September in addition to the two
early road contests. Beginning October 6, the Wave will play just two
home games and five away contests, including four of the last five games
of the year on the road.
Slate of Winners
Tulane plays by far its toughest schedule of the Chris Scelfo Era in
2001 as the Wave will take on nine teams that posted winning records in
2000, including six bowl teams. Only two teams on this year's schedule
posted losing records a year ago. In all, the 2001 opponents went 78-61
last season.
16 and Counting...
That's the number of freshmen -- 11 first-year players and five
redshirts -- who have seen action for Tulane in the first two games of
the season. Entering this week, freshmen Brandon Spincer (LB) and
Brandon Rottmayer (DE) have already started a collegiate game while Tra
Boger (SS) and Bobby Hoover (TE), are listed as the starter or
co-starters at their respective positions. Last week, seven true
freshmen saw action on defense for Tulane, including Spincer, Rottmayer,
Boger, Jay Ashton, Darren Sapp and DL Wallace "Bam" Mateen and LB Chris
Williams, who made their collegiate debuts versus LSU. Another three
true freshmen -- Hoover, Laine Sambrooks (TE) and Carl Davis (WR)
played on offense for the Wave.
On The Watch
Four Tulane players have been named as candidates for five national
awards this preseason. Last week, senior quarterback Patrick Ramsey was
named one of just 20 candidates for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
given to the nation's top senior quarterback. Ramsey previously was
named to the Watch List for the Davey O'Brien Quarterback Award. Junior
kicker Seth Marler -- a semifinalist last year -- is on the list for the
Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top kicker. Running back Mewelde
Moore, the Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season, is one of
just three sophomores on the Watch List for the Doak Walker Award while
senior punter Casey Roussel, who finished last year with the sixth-best
punting average in the nation, is on the Watch List for the Ray Guy
Award given to the nation's top punter.
Fit As Four Fiddles
Despite playing a no-huddle offense that features over 40 passes a game
(96 in two games so far this year) and almost always a three- or four-
wide receiver set, Tulane relies nearly exclusively on just five
receivers in a game. So far this year, those five primary receivers used
have been seniors Terrell Harris and Zander Robinson, sophomores Roydell
Williams and Nick Narcisse, and freshman Carl Davis. Versus LSU last
week, the five receivers combined to catch 18 passes for 292 yards with
three players (Williams, Harris and Robinson), each catching a 40-plus
yard pass and all going for more than 79 yards on the night. On the
season, the four starters (Harris, Williams, Robinson, Narcisse) have
caught 67% of the passes (32 out of 48 total completions) for 83 % (467
yards out of 559) of the passing yards. As if that isn't enough,
Robinson also serves as one of the Wave's starting kickoff returners.
After a tremendous camp, late signee Davis made his first career catch,
a nifty 23-yard grab, versus LSU.
More for Moore
Fresh off a summer playing minor league baseball and a record-setting
rookie year, Mewelde Moore proved that his freshman year was not a fluke
with a career-high 176 yards on 22 carries in the season opener at BYU.
He followed that up with 65 yards on 22 carries (corrected from press
box totals) and a team-leading seven catches for 51 yards in the LSU
game. Through two games, the super sophomore is averaging 184
all-purpose yards per game. Moore opened the scoring at BYU with a
career-long 75-yard TD run and added a pair of receiving TDs to match
his touchdown total of a year ago. His 252 all-purpose yards in the BYU
game were one of the top tallies in school history. He has six 100-yard
rushing games in his 11 career starts and passed the 1,000-yard mark in
career yards. Last year's East Carolina contest was a "coming out"
party for Moore as he gained 131 yards as a freshmen to earn a spot in
the starting line-up. (For more on Moore, see page 5.)
Savvy Senior
Tulane offensive tackle Corey Sewell made his 36th career start versus
LSU last week, returning to his right tackle spot after working at left
tackle the previous week. The resilient senior from LaPlace has started
every game of his career, beginning with the first game of his freshman
year in 1998 through last week. Last season, Sewell played every play
except for six during the year -- 891 snaps.
Different Senior Stories
While the Tulane offense features veteran senior starters like Sewell
(36 starts), Patrick Ramsey (23) and Torie Taulli (23) as well as four
other of their classmates (Chrys Bullock, Terrell Harris, Zander
Robinson, Charles Caldwell) starting, the defense offers a contrast as
just three seniors -- LB David Dorsey, DE Glenn Lemoine and CB Trey
Godfrey --are listed ANYWHERE on the two-deep as juniors, sophomores and
freshmen dominate the line-up on that side of the ball.
Tailgating Returns
After a successful debut season, the "Tulane Tailgate Area" returns for
all Green Wave home games this year. A centralized area for tailgating
has been set aside on top of the southwest parking garage at Gate G of
the Superdome, complete with live music, interactive games for the kids,
face-painting, food, appearances by the Tulane cheerleaders and mascots,
merchandise sales, and the Tulane pregame radio show. Groups can
reserve spaces, along with tents and tables, and can bring their own
food or secure food from the on-site vendors. All Tulane fans are
invited to the area to soak up some pre-game college football
atmosphere.
Marler on the Money
With his first field goal of 2001, a 26-yarder versus LSU, Tulane kicker
Seth Marler continued his streak of perfection from inside the 40-yard
line. The junior is now 11-of-11 from inside the 40 since the end of the
1999 season. For his career, Marler is 14-for-14 on field goals of less
than 30 yards.
Camp Hammond
The Green Wave spent 16 days practicing in Hammond, La. during the
preseason, returning to New Orleans on August 18th. For the last
several years, Tulane has travelled across Lake Ponchartrain to hold
preseason drills in Covington, La., but this was its first "camp" in
Hammond, where Tulane used the facilities of Southeastern Louisiana
University. Ninety players, as well as the coaches and trainers,
managers, video and strength staffs, lived in the dorms, met in the
classrooms of the business school, ate in the cafeteria and used the
locker rooms, training room and fields of the Southeastern athletic
program.
Taking the Lead
At the conclusion of preseason drills, five players were elected the
2001 permanent team captains by their teammates. Senior quarterback
Patrick Ramsey was elected a captain for the second consecutive season
while his offensive senior teammates wide receiver Terrell Harris and
Torie Taulli were also selected. On defense, a pair of juniors were
elected team captains -- defensive end Floyd Dorsey and strong safety
Terry Fontenot.
Coming Attractions
Next week, Tulane enjoys its first, and only, open date of the 2001
season before welcoming new opponent UCF to the Superdome Sept. 22.
Another first-time opponent, Southern (Sept. 29), will be Tulane's foe
in the first-ever Big Easy Classic meeting in New Orleans.
