“I’m trying to find a lot of positives and I really believe that they are a lot of positives, and its hard to say that when the score is 37-13,” Toledo said on Tuesday. “If you really analyze the film and you analyze the game there are a lot of good things that happened.”
Toledo was most proud of the fact he believes his team never quit in the game, especially after a rough first quarter, which saw Tulsa put up 17 points. “The problem is we put ourselves in a big hole that first quarter. It started with poor kick off returns. We didn’t do a good job returning kickoffs, and it created bad field position for that whole first quarter,” said Toledo. The Green Wave special teams has been a target of criticism among Wave fans and it was an area that Toledo has addressed with eight separate coaches for all of the different aspects of special teams.
“I got a punt and a punt return guy. I got a kick off and a kick off return guy. I got a PAT, field goal and a PAT, field goal block guy. I got an onside kick coach and a hands team coach,” Toledo ranted. “It’s not the coordinator. The coordinator can’t snap the football, he can’t kick the football, he can’t block, he can’t tackle, and he can’t run the football.”
Tulane had a field goal attempt blocked plus gave up a 66-yard punt return for a touchdown against Tulsa.
That was last week, and things don’t get easier for the Green Wave this week as they host BYU. A team that has moved up from 20th to 9th in the rankings thanks to an upset win over third ranked Oklahoma over the weekend.
No doubt the Tulane will be decisive underdogs in the game. Toledo’s advice to his team this week is to not pay any attention to the talk of them having no shot at winning. “I don’t care about BYU. I care about us. I want us to get better,” says Toledo of his philosophy told to him by famed UCLA hoops coach John Wooden. “Don’t worry about the opponent, worry about yourself and that’s what we need to do. We need to get better, and that’s my theme this week.”
The Cougars present a tough challenge not only in the talent department but also when it comes to maturity. “I think I heard Bronco (Mendenhall BYU head coach) saying that there are 40-something guys married on that football, and I know they got kids to, so they’re matured guys, responsible people all right,” Toledo said smiling. BYU’s players because of their faith must go on two-year missions so many of their players are not the typical 18-21 years olds.
BYU’s defense held a potent Oklahoma offense to just one touchdown in the game and the Cougar offense is physical as well. Toledo knows his team will have to play much better than a week ago in order to compete on Saturday afternoon. “We got our work cut out for us. We got our work cut out for us. It’s going to be a very difficult football game.”
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