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Tulane!

Reminds me when the Commodores broke into the top 25 under CJF.

OTOH, it's a lot easier to be 6-1 in the American Athletic Conference.

Gotta love that “angry wave” logo

Tulane's stench of schedule on Team Rankings . com was just ahead of East Carolina and Kent State.

And they did lose to hapless has-been Southern Miss.... just saying...

They beat Kansas State @ Kansas State. That's K State's only loss so far this season. They also beat Houston @ Houston. Just because they played UMass and Alcorn, which brings down their SOS, doesn't mean their entire schedule is horrible.

I do not believe for one nanosecond that Tulane's schedule would be better than 3-4 had they played the same schedule Vandy has played to date. And it may well be 2-5 with a loss at NIU.

Seadog73 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 2:34 pm I do not believe for one nanosecond that Tulane's schedule would be better than 3-4 had they played the same schedule Vandy has played to date. And it may well be 2-5 with a loss at NIU.

Why are you comparing their schedule to ours? They're ranked 25th, so I'm pretty sure they would've lost to 3 top ten teams as would all of the teams ranked 10-25. They did beat #17 Kansas State, who would be undefeated and ranked even higher right now if they hadn't lost to Tulane. And on what basis do you think a 2-5, 1-2 MAC team is better than a 5-1, 3-0 Big 12 team?

My understanding of the original post was that it was comparing Tulane's 6-1 record to where VU stands today. Even acknowledging the original post noted that it "is a lot easier to be 6-1 in the AAC" I do not think the comparison is fair to what CCL and company have faced. That's all.

I could be mistaken but wasn't K. State unranked when Tulane played them?

Remember when we beat K. State then Bama mopped the floor with us? Just sayin'

Seadog73 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 8:33 pm My understanding of the original post was that it was comparing Tulane's 6-1 record to where VU stands today. Even acknowledging the original post noted that it "is a lot easier to be 6-1 in the AAC" I do not think the comparison is fair to what CCL and company have faced. That's all.

OK, no problem. No doubt we've been dealt a ridiculous schedule. And, regarding Tulane, one could argue the merits of whether many teams are deserving of their ranking.

Tulane Head Coach Willie Fritz is 62 years old and in his 7th season as their head coach. He's been able to get the program stabilized and likely has been able to recruit kids who fit Tulane's program.
Dave Clawson has been able to do the same at Wake Forest.
Pat Fitzgerald and David Shaw at Northwestern and Stanford respectively have had some past success, but have backtracked recently.
I would say Willie has an easier path to win than those other coaches I mentioned.

DS2001 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:29 am Tulane Head Coach Willie Fritz is 62 years old and in his 7th season as their head coach. He's been able to get the program stabilized and likely has been able to recruit kids who fit Tulane's program.
Dave Clawson has been able to do the same at Wake Forest.
Pat Fitzgerald and David Shaw at Northwestern and Stanford respectively have had some past success, but have backtracked recently.
I would say Willie has an easier path to win than those other coaches I mentioned.

....and clark lea has the most challenging path of any of them, with fitzgerald a fairly close second place. whether or not success is achievable for him at vu remains to be seen, of course, and there are innumerable variable determinates, but the rules, or lack thereof, are substantially different than when franklin had his brief vu winning streak. if the talented contributing freshmen are buying into the culture changes lea espouses and stick around if/when other programs try to lure them, that will be a good indicator.

You go 6-1 as a member of a high level G5 conference, you're going to ranked at some point. James Madison, a newbie to FBS football, was unbeaten and ranked until this week with a schedule I'd argue was considerably weaker than Tulane's.