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Oct. 19, 2007

Link To Hullabaloo Article

By Chaitanya Nandipati
Tulane Hullabaloo

Matt Forté must be sick to his stomach. What does another 200-plus yard game get you and your team? If you answered another loss, give yourself a pat on the back.

Forté boasts the highest yards per game average in the nation and has outgained the likes of Heisman candidates Darren McFadden and Ray Rice, to name a few. He is on pace to break former Green Wave back Mewelde Moore's single-season rushing record.

But while Forté continues to rake in the accolades, the same can't be said for his team. Despite his performances, the Wave is mired in a three-game losing streak and stuck in the bottom of Conference USA.

For the second week straight, the Wave was seemingly in control of the game, only to find itself short on the scoreboard in the end. Twelve penalties and two turnovers deep in your opponent's territory will do just that.

It was only a few years ago that Tulane produced back-to-back first-round picks in quarterbacks JP Losman and Patrick Ramsey. What the Wave wouldn't give for one of those two right now. The revolving door at quarterback Tulane has installed can't be helping to establish any stability for a team that craves it.

Quarterback Anthony Scelfo is a potential playmaker but can't turn good drives into points. In six games, the Wave has only been in the red zone 16 times. Although the Wave boasts a high red zone percentage, it's hard to put points on the board when you can hardly get there.

The inconsistencies aren't just on the offensive side of the ball. The defense can be great one week (see the LSU game), but then produce no sacks and just one turnover against an inferior opponent. The Wave defense was never a staple during the previous era, and it seems that it will be a while before this changes under the current regime.

This team seems to lack the killer instinct needed to be a winning program. Granted, most of the players have never been on a winning Tulane football team, though a new coaching strategy was supposed to change that attitude. Perhaps that's why only four banners hang from the rafters in the Superdome. It wasn't a good sign when head coach Bob Toledo declared all positions an open competition in the middle of the season.

Perhaps the only positive the Wave has is that it shouldn't be too hard to fix what's wrong. Scelfo has to be smarter with the football, and the defense needs to play with more intensity. The mentality should consistently be the same as it was against LSU.

Luckily for the Green Wave, they have another opportunity to stop this slide. The SMU Mustangs come into the game with an identical record, struggling at 1-5 (0-2 C-USA). Maybe the third time's a charm.

We aren't desperate yet, but if the Wave can't get a win this week, consider the season finished. The Wave would have to go undefeated to even be considered for a bowl game. The way they've looked the past couple of games, that would be a small miracle in and of itself.