Tulane Back To Drawing Board on Short Yet Critical Week Against Charlotte

The Tulane Green Wave were back to the drawing board on Monday as they prepare now for yet another must-win game, on a short week, on the road against the Charlotte 49ers.

After a two week stretch of enjoying back-to-back home games with an extra day to prepare for the UTSA Roadrunners, the Green Wave now have to lick their wounds quickly with another Friday night contest and travel on Thursday.

Now, instead of needing to cram a full week of work into four days, like they did prior to hosting the Memphis Tigers, they’ll have to do so in just three.

So, the typical hourlong practice on Monday ran about 20 minutes longer.

Notably, it was outside at Yulman Stadium rather than utilizing the indoor practice facility bubble which has become customary for them to do each Monday.

The last time they practiced outside on a Monday was following the loss to the Army Black Knights. Perhaps it’s tactical. Whatever it is, the team needs to hope that it works.

Things shouldn’t feel as dire as they are heading into a game against an opponent with one win on the year, but nothing feels certain or given to this year’s Tulane team.

Not just that, but the 49ers are also coming off of a bye week of full rest while the Green Wave have had two really emotional games against major conference opponents and splitting them down the middle.

But maybe the emotional hangover from beating the Tigers played into how they started, or frankly didn’t, against the Roadrunners. Maybe the opposite of those feelings will play in the Green Wave’s favor while Charlotte might have a slow start following a bye, where teams often appear sluggish at first.

But can Tulane take advantage of that? Simply put, they need to score way more points than last weekend. Without the pick-six, the offense put up a whopping 12 points.

They’ll do so on their umpteenth iteration of an offensive line around Trace Johnson.

It’s safe to say that tackle Ryan Mickow is not playing this weekend after going down with a major injury against UTSA.

In that game, they started with Dom Steward at left tackle, Reese Baker at left guard, Gavin Marks at center, John Bock at right guard, and Mickow at right tackle.

After Mickow got hurt, they brought in Gresham Perry and put him back at left guard, where he started several games, and moved Baker over to right tackle as arguably the most important player on the offensive side of the ball at this point.

Will this latest combo work? Will that matter? There are a lot of questions that Tulane has to reckon with on a short week, and Tuesday should illuminate how many they plan to answer this Friday.