Battle-tested Tulane pulls through once again
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
Maybe it was the white-knuckle experience of having stared down tropical storm Isedore in their backyard.
Perhaps it was having huddling together overnight in the campus athletic center, surviving the heart-in-the-throat bout with Hurricane Lilly.
Or, hanging together through the eight deaths in the families of their 90-man roster.
But when you have been through what the Tulane University football team has endured in the course of this Longest Season, what is a 14-point deficit 4,200 miles from home?
When you have seen everything they have, being a 12-point underdog on the betting lines in front of nearly 30,000 of your most vocal critics isn't something that easily melts your resolve.
When it counted last night, Tulane looked very much like the home team the Aloha Stadium scoreboard said it was in a remarkable 36-28 ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl victory over the University Hawai'i.
On the 117th — and last — day of their seasons, it was the Green Wave, not the team that usually wears the green here, that walked away from the 4-hour, 10-minute national cable showdown with the winner's trophy.
"It doesn't just feel good, it feels ggggg-reat," roared Tulane defensive lineman Marlon Tickles.
The team that probably shouldn't have even been here — South Florida was 9-3 against a tougher schedule and had a better record against head-to-head competition than 7-5 Tulane — made the biggest plays and left Halawa like it owned the place.
Indeed, Tulane coach Chris Scelfo made a bold statement with the game-opening kickoff, the Green Wave's first successful onside kick of the season.
"I wanted to show to our players, our staff, that this is our place; that we're the home team and that was the way we were going to act," Scelfo said. "We were going to be the aggressors. Unfortunately, we didn't get any points out of it, but I think we sent a message."
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| If you want your back cracked, call on UH defensive end Travis Laboy, who sacked J.P. Losman on this second-quarter play.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
While the Warriors struggled with turnovers (3) and penalties (12 for 88 yards), the Green Wave broke the biggest plays on offense and the most telling ones on special teams.
UH's loss of quarterback Tim Chang to a re-sprained thumb in the second quarter and a mix-and-match offensive line necessitated by injuries certainly figured in.
But when it came right down to it, when they had to have it, the Green Wave came back from a 14-0 deficit and reeled off, at one point, 26 consecutive points between the second and third quarters.
Tulane looked adversity in the face and spit Gatorade in its eye.
"We have faced a lot of adversity this year," Scelfo said. "We have faced death; we have faced hurricanes, we have faced tropical storms. We have faced a lot of it and we were able to face it (adversity) again."
And, once again, Tulane triumphed.
