Tulane gave Sooners a scare early in 2017
The 2017 OU-Tulane game was played exactly one week after one of the highlights of the Sooners’ 21st century, a 31-16 thrashing of Ohio State in the Buckeyes’ Horseshoe.
OU was a 33-point favorite over the Green Wave that night at Owen Field. But things didn’t go well early.
Willie Fritz’s spread option offense had the Sooner defense in tatters in the first quarter.
In 2017, Tulane took leads of 7-0 and 14-7 with touchdown drives of 65 yards in eight plays and 75 yards in nine plays.
The exuberance of the Ohio State conquest was gone. Murmurs sifted through the crowd. Murmurs or outright complaining about Mike Stoops’ defense. Especially when the Green Wave kept it up in the second quarter and used four first downs to drive to the OU 25-yard line.
Then Parnell Motley stepped in front of a Tulane receiver and returned an interception 77 yards for a go-ahead TD. Stoops’ defense made significant adjustments and OU rolled 56-14. But it was hairy for awhile.
Fritz remains the Tulane coach, and his Green Wave returns to Owen Field on Saturday, after the game was relocated from New Orleans due to Hurricane Ida. Fritz doesn’t run as much option as Tulane did in 2017. And that’s not the only thing that’s changed.
“Defensively they are totally different,” Fritz said of the Sooners. “But there are some things that are similar with the offense. Coach (Lincoln) Riley is calling it all now so there are a lot of similarities, but each year everybody evolves a little bit and they add things to their offense, their defense and their kicking game.
“This is the 2021 Sooners we will be playing, so there’s not a whole lot to take from playing them back a few years ago.”
Back in 2017, Tulane rushed for 184 yards in the first half alone, more than Ohio State had in the entire game against OU. The Green Wave had 157 total yards just in the first quarter.
But it was a mirage. In the 12-team American Conference, the 2017 Green Wave finished eighth in points per game (27.5) and 10th in total offense (391.5 yards per game).
The Sooner defense stabilized and became a middle-of-the-road Big 12 defense, ranking sixth in efficiency. The next year, the OU defense cratered and Stoops was fired at mid-season.
How has Tulane built upon that first quarter in Norman? The Green Wave were eighth in American scoring and total yards in 2018, fifth in both in 2019, and fourth in scoring but eighth in total offense last season.
Green Wave freshman quarterback Michael Pratt was elusive last season and finished sixth in American Conference passing efficiency, with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
“They were pretty good offensively,” Riley said. “The thing you see with (Pratt), he’s an active guy. One thing you always look at defensively. How does he move around? Can he beat you with his legs? Can he beat you in scramble situations? And he certainly can. We’re certainly expecting to see a natural jump for him, like you would with any quarterback going into the next year of starting.
“You feel like you’re going to see a big jump, and we’ll probably see a bunch better player than we saw on tape. And we saw a very good player on tape.”