American Athletic Conference: Post-spring 2017 power rankings
By Zach Bigalke
Entering this spring, Tulane looked like it had the personnel to potentially challenge the favorites in the American. After the spring, those expectations must be tempered quite a bit. The Green Wave have an uphill battle merely to reach the school’s first bowl game since 2013. Challenging for the American, much less the other Group of Five hopefuls, is probably going to be too much to ask.
The defense should be solid once again in New Orleans, as it racked up nine sacks and two turnovers. Any chance at bowl eligibility could depend on this unit, because the offense and the kicking game both appear inconsistent at best. Tulane could be one-dimensional on offense, with a decent running game but inconsistent passing. The two kickers, meanwhile, went a combined 2-of-9 in live drills from between 35 and 41 yards.
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Willie Fritz will need to make some major offensive adjustments before fall. By mid-September, back-to-back road games at Navy and Oklahoma will let us know whether Tulane is actually a contender or a pretender. The most likely situation is that the Green Wave will struggle to the end to reach bowl eligibility. There is no reason to this this current incarnation will have fans partying like it’s 1998 again.