Ole Miss takes on Tulane in the Big Easy; Lane Kiffin describes the Green Wave as ‘an SEC football team’
OXFORD, Miss. — Saturday in the Big Easy will be a big game for Ole Miss — but it might not be easy.
The No. 20 Rebels (1-0) head to New Orleans to take on No. 24 Tulane at 2:30 p.m.
Ole Miss last played the Green Wave in 2021 in a game in Oxford that was delayed four hours due to weather. The Matt Corral-led Rebels won 61-21, but that season was an anomaly for Tulane. The team was displaced for weeks due to a hurricane in south Louisiana and was forced to take refuge in a motel in Birmingham, Ala.
Since finishing 2-10 that year, Tulane bounced back and went 12-2 last season and beat Southern Cal and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl. The Green Wave did lose to Southern Miss and Central Florida, but rebounded to beat UCF in the conference title game.
Could the Green Wave be a better team in 2023 than last season? Ole Miss head coach believes they are akin to an SEC team, and he isn’t taking this opponent lightly on the road.
“They ask about nine-game SEC schedules, and this is a test of a nine-game SEC schedule. This is an SEC football team with that type of talent, and going on the road is always challenging.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on Tulane
Tulane began the season last week by thumping South Alabama 37-17. USA is not a bad team as it returned a lot of players from last year’s 12-3 squad. Two of those losses should have been wins. The Jaguars last at UCLA when the Bruins kicked a field goal in the final seconds to take a one-point win. Troy, which is in the midst of a 11-game winning streak, escaped South in Mobile 10-6.
The Green Wave put 37 on the board in the opener. Tulane averaged 36 points per game last season.
The Willie Fritz File
Willie Fritz is his eighth season as head coach at Tulane and 31st overall, holding an overall record of 237-119-1 including a 43-39 mark with the Green Wave.
Fritz had a banner seventh year in charge of the program in 2022, including that New Year’s Six bowl game win in January. For his efforts he was named the AAC Coach of the Year after leading Tulane to its first AP national ranking in 24 years, guiding the Green Wave to its most conference wins since 1934.
Green Wave Scouting Report
Coming off a historic 2022 campaign, Tulane entered the season ranked No. 23 in the coaches poll and No. 24 in the AP rankings. Tulane was picked to win the AAC in the annual preseason media poll.
In the season opening win over USA, Tulane tallied 436 total yards of offense, while limiting South Alabama to 265 yards of offense and forcing five Jaguar turnovers.
A year ago, quarterback Michael Pratt threw for over 3,000 yards and 27 touchdowns. Last week, he was 14-of-15 for 294 yards and four touchdowns. He also chipped in 39 yards rushing. For his efforts, he was named AAC Offensive Player of the Week.
Pratt, a preseason All American, has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 35 of his 36 career games. Two years ago at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Pratt, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior from Boca Raton, Fla., threw for 166 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the wake of a deluge of a storm.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin remembers Pratt and that performance, noting the dramatic turnaround of head coach Willie Fritz’ team.
“Every year is different for every team, and two years ago certainly means nothing (now),” Kiffin said.
“Two years ago they were 2-10. I thought they were going to have a really good season. They took Oklahoma, if you remember, right before us, down to the last series, had the ball going down to beat Oklahoma. They’re a much different team now that’s had a lot of success after last year’s 12 wins. They played at a really high level, and the quarterback (Pratt) basically played as well as you can on air last week, only threw one incompletion. He’s a very savvy veteran. Sharp, accurate, really good player.”
Lane Kiffin on Tulane and Michael Pratt
Last Saturday, Pratt had pinpoint accuracy although he only completed passes to five receivers. Yet, three of those receivers were quite productive.
Jha’Quan Jackson caught three passes for 106 yards against South Alabama and two of those catches went for scores. Lawrence Keys, III, had four receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown while Chris Brazell, II, was on the receiving end of four passes for 53 yards and a score.
Defensively, Tulane’s pass defense seems to be based on pressuring the quarterback. The rush did cause the Jaguars to throw two interceptions and have three broken-up passes, but two players stood out for the Green Wave. Defensive lineman Patrick Jenkins had two sacks and linebacker Corey Platt, Jr., had a sack, a tackle for loss in his 15-tackle effort. Ten of those tackles were solo stops. Platt, however, was injured in the game and will not play against the Rebels, according to Coach Fritz.
Again, this one will be big for sure, but might not be easy in New Orleans.
The game at Yulman Stadium kicks off at 2:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
