From fear the wave earlier this season
Offense
Can Chip Long adjust?
Offensively, Tulane has taken a big step back this year. Whether it’s the players struggling to adapt to Chip Long’s system or Chip Long not adjusting to the talents of his players, Tulane has at times been anemic on offense. Sure, there have been glimpses. We got off to a hot start against Oklahoma and had a good sequence of offense against ECU and Houston, but otherwise, we’ve been spotty at best. We haven’t been able to run the ball with any consistency and have done an awful job protecting Michael Pratt.
The worst thing we’ve done is put too much on Pratt. Coming into this season, Pratt had played 10 college games and is adjusting to a new offense. Yet, we’ve overloaded him with decision after decision. It seems like every play, Pratt is making a choice on a run-pass option or a read-option. Sometimes you just need to let the kid hand the ball off or throw a quick screen. What has happened is teams are overplaying the running back and letting Pratt run with the ball. They are trading a few yards for a hit on the QB. And the result has been that Pratt is concussed and has suffered injuries to his shoulder and knee. He’s not going to survive if something doesn’t change.
I was fired up with our decision to hire Chip Long not so much because of what he did at Notre Dame but what he did at Memphis. I thought that this offense would look something like Memphis’ 2016 offense with quick throws, screens and a good running game. This offense looks nothing like that offense. We haven’t done much to get the ball to Jha’Quan Jackson, one of our best playmakers. We finally targeted him deep last week against SMU and hit 2 long pass plays. Where has this been all year? Why aren’t we doing more with Ygenio Booker in the pass game or Deuce Watts, another playmaker who hoped to produce a big season? Why is Tyjae Spears not more involved now that he looks healthy? There is no reason on Earth that Michael Pratt should have the most carries on our team, but he sits as the leader at 73. The Tulane offense has failed to capitalize on its talent this season.
This isn’t an easy fix, and it’s going to require a lot of soul searching by Willie Fritz. He must decide whether Chip Long can get the most out of the roster or whether Long’s offensive philosophy is in line with what Fritz wants to do. Fritz came to Tulane wanting to run the ball and after 3 years realized that he needed to develop the pass game or Tulane was not going to win many games. Will Hall was a good fit and took our offense to a new level, but it still felt like the passing offense was lacking when we needed it. The transition to Chip Long was supposed to be seamless, but it has been anything but. The offense that Long is running just doesn’t suit Michael Pratt’s talents.
Watching SMU and Houston, I can’t help but think that Pratt would be better off in a balanced form of the Air Raid. SMU, in particular, does an incredible job of scheming plays so that the QB does not take many hits. There’s s always an outlet receiver or a relatively safe throw to bail the QB out when he needs it. Houston has been less successful avoiding sacks with Clayton Tune at QB but Tune still hasn’t taken nearly the beating that Michael Pratt has. Pratt has only been sacked 17 times, but he’s avoided 10-15 more sacks by gaining minimal yardage while still taking a hit. You may be thinking that SMU and Houston throw the ball a lot more than Tulane and that they are predominantly passing offenses, but you’d be wrong. SMU is almost exactly at 50/50 in their run to pass split. Houston runs the ball 4 times more per game than it passes. Tulane is at 36 rushes per game and 34 pass attempts. Those other schools just scheme it a lot better than we do.
The verdict: I don’t think that Chip Long and Willie Fritz were a match made in heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a mutual parting of the ways at the end of the season. If that happens, it will be interesting to see whether Fritz reverts to a more conservative approach or continues to probe ways to make this passing game more explosive. If Long stays, the offense must be more tailored to our talents.
). 
