Tulane Football: "From Worst to First"

[kswgrad2012]

Tulane Football: "From Worst to First"

So I FINALLY figured out how to post on these forums. Haha. Anyway, gonna do a Tulane dynasty on NCAA 13 (don't have the cash for 14 yet). Keep it true & realistic. Gonna stay for the long haul. Build them up from "Worst to First".


Styles:
Offense: run the "Killer Option" (Option playbook I created)
Defense: likely a 4-3 (I don't have much success w/ anything else)
Play Difficulty: Heisman
Recruiting Difficulty: Heisman (any lower on 13 & it's too easy)

Plan:
1. Start off simple, just try to get bowl-eligible.
2. Move to Big East (now American), continue to improve.
3. Win a few BCS games, then move to Power conference.
4. Move to either SEC or ACC. I could return Tulane to their former SEC stomping grounds, or move to the ACC (the "All-Academic Conference") since my school has A-rated academics.
5. Eventually win some NC's.

How I'm Gonna Make It Interesting:
1. Only recruit players w/ high interest in Academics. Automatically look at players w/ "High", "Very High", or "Most" interest in Academic Prestige. If they are "Average" or "Above Average", I'll attempt to sway their interest. If I consistently fail, they'll be removed from the Recruiting Board.
2. Play LSU every year (except Year 1). Bring back the "Battle for the Tiger Rag".
3. Heisman sliders for everything. FINALLY I have a challenge...
4. Play as many "academic power" schools in non-conf as possible (Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, etc.)
5. Maybe form a new rivalry w/ Alabama. Crimson Tide vs. Green Wave. Call it "Battle of the Waters". Haha.
6. NO FCS opponents.


Hope it's a challenge!!! Stay tuned!



Tulane Green Wave:
C-USA (2012-2013): 12-13 (9-7 C-USA)
American Athletic (2014-present): 38-20 (30-9 American)
Current season: 2018: 6-1 (4-0 American)
Bowl Record: 2-2
Conf. Titles: 1 (2017)
BCS Titles: 1 (2017)

[kswgrad2012]

Year 1 Review

Decided to sim Season 1 w/ Tulane. The starters didn't fit my offense quite well, so I simmed games & did recruiting. Kept it fairly realistic. Held up to my recruiting standard: ONLY recruit players w/ high Academic interest. Man, was it tough...

I created myself as the Head Coach. Coach Kaelyn Willingham's first year with the Green Wave was a good one.

Here are the results:
Finished the year 7-6 (5-3 C-USA). Played Colorado State in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and lost 37-14. Got a 2-year contract extension for going 7-6. Shows you how low the standards at Tulane are. Won 6 straight games at one point (1st time in a while Tulane's done that). RB Orleans Darkwa had a 1300-yd rushing season. My FIRST EVER 1000-yd rusher, since I run the Option & distribute the ball a lot.

Got some good recruits. More people like Academics than I thought.

Some Key Recruits: QB Jeff Shelby (3* Scrambler, 72 OVR). QB Tim Ashley (2* Scrambler, GEM, 70 OVR). FB Shaun Berry (2* Blocking, 66 OVR). FB J.J. Thomas (2* Blocking, GEM, 67 OVR). MLB Jamie Baker (3* Run Stopper, 62 OVR).

Shelby & Ashley will battle w/ returning QB Devin Powell (RS Fr) for the starting job. J.J. Thomas will be converted to TE so Berry can start at FB. Berry will make a good Option fullback, while Thomas will play the H-Back role. Jamie Baker will start at MLB for the season.


Things lookin' good so far.

[kswgrad2012]

Year 2 Review

Season 2 of my Tulane dynasty didn't go as successful as I had hoped, but we'll improve for next year. Got some BIG news as far as recruiting is concerned, but I'll catch everyone up with some of the big news around the college football world as we ended the season.


Heisman Trophy
LSU RB Alfred Blue took home the Heisman Trophy this year.

2014 BCS National Championship
Oregon defeats Clemson, 37-31, to take home the Crystal Ball. RB DeAnthony Thomas is your Nat'l Champ MVP.

Other BCS Matchups
Rose Bowl: Utah defeats Nebraska, 39-35.
Sugar Bowl: Florida defeats SMU, 45-24.
Orange Bowl: LSU defeats Ohio State, 21-16.
Fiesta Bowl: TCU defeats ECU, 34-30.

Conference Champs
ECU wins Conference USA (def. Tulsa)
Clemson wins the ACC (def. Georgia Tech)
Florida wins the SEC (def. LSU)
Utah wins the Pac-12 (def. Stanford)
Bowling Green wins the MAC (def. Toledo)
Colorado State wins the Mountain West (def. Fresno State)
Nebraska wins the Big Ten (def. Wisconsin)
TCU wins the Big 12
SMU wins the Big East (aka "American")
Texas State wins the Sun Belt

FYI: I play my dynasty on NCAA 13 since I'm too broke to buy 14. Though the game refers to the Big East conference as "Big East", from here on out I will be consistent & refer to the new conference as "The American". You're welcome.


With all that out of the way, here's the final AP Poll for the season:

NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Jan 9, 2014
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	Oregon (61)	11	2
2	TCU	11	2
3	Washington	10	2
4	LSU	12	2
5	Alabama	9	3
6	Clemson	11	3
7	Oklahoma	11	2
8	Utah	10	3
9	Michigan State	9	3
10	Wisconsin	10	3
11	Ohio State	8	4
12	ECU	10	3
13	Auburn	10	3
14	Florida	11	3
15	Army	11	2
16	Cincinnati	11	2
17	Nebraska	9	4
18	Miami (FL)	9	4
19	Iowa	7	5
20	Mississippi State	9	4
21	Colorado State	12	2
22	Northwestern	9	4
23	Georgia Tech	10	4
24	Northern Illinois	9	3
25	Navy	10	3

(To Be Continued...)

[kswgrad2012]

Year 2 Review (cont.)

All-Americans
The Green Wave did not have any players reach All-American status. But they did have 4 players attain All-Conference status. The following players were named to the All-Conference USA 1st & 2nd Teams:

1st Team:
Orleans Darkwa (Sr, KR)

2nd Team:
Jordan Batiste (So, CB)
Renaldo Thomas (So, FS)
Cairo Santos (RS Jr, K)


Coaching Changes

Tulane was able to keep its offensive coordinator going forward, as Eric Price signed a 2-yr extension.

Other Coaching Changes:

• Art Briles fired at Baylor (now HC at Texas Tech). IRONY...
• June Jones fired at SMU despite 9-4 record & BCS berth. WTF?????
• then-fired Tommy Tuberville (HC, Texas Tech) now HC at UConn
• Mark Richt fired at Georgia (now HC at FIU).
• After being fired at FIU, HC Mario Cristobal becomes HC at rival FAU. Haha!
• After Bill Snyder retires, both his coordinators get HC gigs: DC at Georgia, OC now at NC State.
• Mike Riley fired at Oregon State.
• Frank Beamer retires from Virginia Tech. About time... Replaced by Oregon DC Nick Aliotti.

Notable Draft Picks (School, Position, Round #)
D. Millner (Alabama, CB, 1st)
T. Boyd (Clemson, QB, 1st)
J. Jones (Georgia, OLB, 1st)
S. Montgomery (LSU, OLB, 1st)
T. Eifert (Notre Dame, TE, 1st)
K. Stills (Oklahoma, WR, 1st)
J. Randle (Oklahoma St, RB, 1st)
C. Pachall (TCU, QB, 1st)
L. Joeckel (Texas A&M, OL, 1st)
S. Redd (USC, RB, 1st)
R. Woods (USC, WR, 1st)
S. Bailey (W. Virgina, WR, 1st)
J. Abbrederis (Wisconsin, WR, 1st)

D. Hopkins (Clemson, WR, 2nd)
L. Bell (Michigan St, RB, 2nd)
L. Toilolo (Stanford, TE, 2nd)
K. Price(Washington, QB, 2nd)

A. Blue* (LSU, RB, 3rd) *Heisman Trophy winner
Z. Ertz (Stanford, TE, 3rd)

A. Murray (Georgia, QB, 4th)
A. Ogletree (Georgia, OLB, 4th)
D. Smith (Ohio St, WR, 4th)

C. Hyde (Ohio St, RB, 5th)
T. Bray (Tennessee, QB, 5th)

T. Martinez (Nebraska, QB, 6th)

Z. Mettenberger (LSU, QB, 7th)
A. Maxwell (Michigan St, QB, 7th)



(To Be Continued...)

[kswgrad2012]

Year 2 Review (cont.)

So guys, I said I had a lot of big recruiting news to share. Well here it is!


To the surprise of man coaches across the country, Coach Kaelyn Willingham was able to assemble an amazing recruiting class, in just his second year with the program. The Green Wave recruiting class ranked 20th in the nation. That's right, TWENTY. This class includes FIVE 4-star players and 13 3-star players. Most notable recruit: 4-star QB Maurice Johnson, the No. 2 QB on ESPN's 150 list. He will enter what is expected to be a FOUR-way QB competition heading into the fall.

In addition to the QB, Willingham also convinced QB Tim Ashley to stay with the team. Ashley, who threatened to leave for Arkansas State due to playing time, realized that he actually did have a good shot to win the starting job due to his performance last season. With Orleans Darkwa graduating, Ashley returns as the leading rusher from last season, despite just 3 starts.

A week later, Coach finds out that former Oklahoma QB Trevor Knight has decided to transfer to Tulane. He will sit out the upcoming season, but if the QB situation continues to be unresolved, he could become a big factor going into 2015. In addition to Knight, former Tulsa WR Justin Atkinson has also decided to play for the Wave.

In addition to the QB's, Tulane's class includes 4* HB's Doug Clark and Nick Miles, 4* WR Justin Fountain, 3* TE Marshall Brown, 2 additional FB's and a solid core of offensive linemen.

While Coach Willingham added numerous pieces to his offense, he did add some notable pieces to his defense, a defense that ranked in the bottom five in the country last year in pass defense and overall defense. This includes 4* CB Shaun Powers and 3* DE Corey Walton. These guys are expected to contribute right away to ail a less-than-stellar pass defense.


Tulane's in-depth 2014 recruiting class can be found below. Enjoy!

QB

• Maurice Johnson, 4*, 71 OVR (-7 BUST)

HB

• Doug Clark, 4*, 66 OVR
• Nick Miles, 4*, 66
• Scott Moore, 3*, 62

FB

• Fred Roach, 1*, 64 OVR
• Marco Washington, 1*, 63

WR

• Justin Fountain, 4*, 69 OVR
• A.J. Wright, 3*, 63
• Randall Armstrong, 3*, 64

TE

• Marshall Brown, 3*, 72 OVR (+6 GEM)
• Kevin Hartman, 3*, 62

T

• Phil Maxwell, 3*, 65 OVR
• Antwan Harrison, 2*, 64 (+9 GEM)

G

• Jeff Smith, 3*, 67 OVR
• Nick Bradley, 3*, 66
• Charles Rogers, 2*, 61

C

• Clint West, 3*, 64

DE

• Corey Walton, 3*, 69 OVR

OLB

• Ross Fowler, 3*, 62 OVR (+6 GEM)
• Todd Carter, 2*, 62

CB

• Shaun Powers, 4*, 72 OVR
• T.J. Gray, 3*, 68
• Drew Watson (JUCO Soph), 3*, 69

Great Class! As Signing Day comes to a close, LSU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Arkansas and Michigan all had top-5 classes. WhileNew Mexico, Louisiana-Lafayette, Western Michigan, Buffalo and Eastern Michigan all round out the BOTTOM 5.

Surprises: The Purdue Boilermakers brought in the 9th best recruiting class. That's right, NINTH. WTH...????? At the same time, SEC powers South Carolina & Texas A&M each had the 80th & 84th ranked classes, respectively. WOW.....


(To Be Continued)

[kswgrad2012]

*Courtesy to BleedGreen710 for the new banners!*

Year 3 Preview

It's time for Season 3 of Tulane Football: From Worst to First! As the Kaelyn Willingham era enters Year 3 in New Orleans, the Tulane Green Wave enter the season with MANY questions to answer. Who starts at QB? Will the defense improve? Can they play as a COMPLETE team? How will they do in Year 1 of their new conference? Willingham hopes that all that and more will be answered in the first few weeks.

A Season Preview is available below. Enjoy!


"The New-Look Big East: American Athletic Conference"
Alright guys, I said I play on NCAA 13, so technically the Big East is still the "Big East." But to keep consistent w/ all the NCAA 14 players, I'll refer to it as "The American" in this dynasty. After using some effective Conference Realignment changes, most changes are as expected, based on what's going to happen in real life. The only difference is Marshall leaving C-USA for the MAC. Since all their C-USA rivals are now in The American, Marshall will resume an old rivalry w/ MAC member Ohio Bobcats. This move also balances the MAC at 14 teams (2 divisions X 7 teams), and gives C-USA a round-robin conference schedule at 10 teams.

Preseason Outlook for The American is posted below. "What you guys think?"

1. ECU
2. Cincinnati
3. SMU
4. Houston
5. UCF
6. Temple
7. Tulsa
8. UConn
9. USF
10. Tulane (booo!)
11. Memphis


Preseason AP Top 10
Didn't feel like writing down all 25 teams, so I'll just give out the Preseason Top 10. The Green Wave will be facing one of these teams at home on Week 3. Guess which one...

AP Top 10
1. LSU
2. Oregon (last year's Nat'l Champ)
3. Alabama
4. Washington (surprise, surprise...)
5. Michigan State
6. Clemson
7. Oklahoma
8. Auburn (huh?)
9. Wisconsin
10. TCU (Nat'l Champ dark horse)


Heisman Watch List
A few surprises make the Preseason Watch List. But all their teams did good last season.

1. QB Angel Santiago, Army
2. HB Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
3. HB Tre Mason, Auburn


All-Americans
Tulane did not have any players make the NCAA Preseason All-America 1st & 2nd Teams. But they did have 4 players make both All-AAC teams.

1st Team AAC:
RG Corey Redwine, RS JR
CB Jordan Batiste, RS Jr (should NOT have, though)
FS Renaldo Thomas, Jr

2nd Team AAC:
CB Darion Monroe, RS Jr (should have made 1ST team)


Tulane Green Wave 2014 Schedule
Schedule includes 8 conference games & 4 non-conference. We play all AAC teams except UCF and Temple. Non-conference schedule consists of 4 rematches from last year, including the Battle for the Tiger Rag vs. LSU & the Battle for the Victory Bell @ Southern Miss. Bye weeks are Weeks 1, 6, 12.

Here's the schedule. Again, what do you guys think?

Tulane Green Wave 2014 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Sep 6	at Southern Miss
Sep 13	vs #1 LSU
Sep 20	at BYU
Sep 27	vs SMU
Oct 11	at Memphis
Oct 18	vs Houston
Oct 25	vs UConn
Nov 1	at USF
Nov 8	at #22 Cincinnati
Nov 22	vs Marshall
Nov 29	vs Tulsa
Dec 6	at #21 ECU

Position Battles
The Green Wave enter the 2014 season with MANY positions unsolidified. Although QB Trevor Knight transferred to Tulane from Oklahoma in the off-season, the QB race will be 3-fold, with returning Sophomores Devin Thomas & Tim Ashley competing w/ true Freshman Maurice Johnson. Johnson, the #2 QB prospect in this year's class, replaces Sophomore QB Jeff Shelby, who was dismissed from the program due to academic & behavioral issues .

The HB & FB positions will likely be by committee this season, as no true front-runner emerged at these positions during spring AND fall practice. The TE position will also likely be committee this season, although this is due to the good depth at the position. Coach Willingham is likely to get creative with his offense this season!

The WR position will be situational. Smaller, quicker receivers will be utilized mostly in Spread formations as a way to stretch the defense, for both the pass AND the run. Bigger, physical receivers will be used in Flexbone, Wingbone and other traditional formations to help facilitate a ground-and-pound running game. They will be used heavily in blocking.

The Defense doesn't have any major changes but will be expected to improve. Most of the starters from last year return to their positions, with higher expectations in mind.



Personally, I will NOT be afraid to use situational packages in my depth chart/playcalling this season. I actually think it makes the game more fun. That DOES include the QB position. I haven't done it before, but I am kinda looking forward to running a 2-QB system this season, with Powell & Ashley. Especially if neither one pulls away by the Week 6 bye. Here's how the "Situation Offense" would work:

QB:
Tim Ashley: used during "stretch-the-field" running, play action pass (utilize his SPEED)
Devin Powell: used during "power" running, "intentional" passing (when we have to pass); intent is to utilize his LARGE BODY & HIGH PASSING AWARENESS.

HB:
RB committee of Dante Butler, Robert Kelley & Wendell Goolsby ALL STARTING. Goolsby is a former WR w/ 88 Speed, 91 Acceleration. Kelley will also see time at FB with his 6'1" 225-lb body.

FB:
FB committee of Shaun Berry, Taylor Bullock & HB Robert Kelley; with Berry used in Power situations, Kelley used in Spread situations, and Bullock used mainly in blocking. Bullock will also be used in LIMITED receiving & rushing.

WR:
WR's will be used in either Spread formations or Power formations, depending on their size, speed & blocking ability. As explained above.

TE:
TE committee of Matt Marfisi, Marshall Brown & J.J. Thomas. Situation distribution similar to WR's.



FYI: The offense this season will go no-huddle in Spread situations, while playing ground-and-pound in Power situations.




Hope you all have enjoyed this 2014 Tulane Green Wave Preview! Remember always, Roll Wave!!!

[kswgrad2012]

Sorry I haven't updated my Tulane dynasty lately! I visited my friend at college this weekend and am returning home today. New Tulane update later this week!

Preview: My team has the bye this week. I'm thinking of updating my offensive playbook...


As you can see in the signature, my team is 1-3 this season. But we're riding a wave of momentum into the bye week, and we hope to continue that success going forward!


Roll Wave!

[kswgrad2012]

After a rough 0-3 start, Kaelyn Willingham's Green Wave squad have turned their season around with FOUR straight victories. They have evened their mark at 4-3, and have opened American Athletic Conference play w/ an impressive 4-0 record. For just the third time in the Willingham era the team is above .500; they currently sit at 3rd in the conf. standings. Up next: USF, who's having a rough season at 2-5. A win would give them 5 straight, putting them at 5-3 (5-0 AAC), which puts them in great position going into next week's matchup @ #6 Cincinnati, who currently leads the conference. The Bearcats just came off a HISTORIC upset @ #11 Ohio State, in which they became the first Ohio team in over 90 YEARS to defeat the Buckeyes. The Tulane-Cincinnati game is sure to have huge implications in determining the inaugural American Athletic Conference champion.


ROLL WAVE!!!


PS: Currently my top 2 rushers are BOTH my QB's. Isn't that weird???