More Gloom Than Normal

E-mailed to me this morning. More gloom and doom from College Football News: picking the Green Wave to go 1-11, ranking them 119 out of 120 programs.

Three years into the Bob Toledo experiment, the Green Wave is no closer to respectability, going 9-27 under his watch. While it would be easy to suggest a change at the top, the reality is that there’s no quick fix for a program sorely lacking in talent and fan support. Every decade or so, Tulane catches lightning in a bottle and plays in a bowl game. Unfortunately for Toledo, he may not be around when college football’s version of an eclipse occurs.

The Green Wave wasn’t just bad during last year’s 3-9 campaign. It was among the country’s worst schools, getting out scored by an average of 36-16. After showing a pulse with back-to-back wins over McNeese State and Army, Tulane finished 1-7, scoring an average of just 10 points in those seven defeats. The offense was impotent. The defense was a sieve. The future is bleak, especially now that next-level RB Andre Anderson and WR Jeremy Williams have run out of eligibility.

Tulane is pinning its hopes on young QB Ryan Griffin, who impressed down the stretch as a redshirt freshman. Three times in November, he threw for at least 200 yards and two touchdown passes, sparking a moribund attack. Whether it was Shaun King, J.P. Losman, or Patrick Ramsey, the Green Wave has always had a quality, pro-caliber quarterback on hand when it was playing well. It’s cautiously optimistic that Griffin can be that type of much-needed catalyst. He’ll have to be because the balance of the roster is thin, even by Conference USA standards.

I’ve already gone on record saying Tulane will be bad- but not that bad.

But it is a little galling to read these repeated negative, Armageddon-style musings from the very same websites and chat boards that, against all evidence, so lauded Coach Toledo and utterly hammered us dissenters four years ago. Jeez people, how many years before your guy wins some football games?