Boulder – The screams came from the far end of Old Chicago, back where the obscure games are played. I huddled under the screen showing Tennessee-Florida, flanked by Fresno State-Oregon and Florida State-Boston College.
All terrific finishes. All with dozens of eyes glued to them. Yet as I nursed my Danish beer, I kept turning away from Chris Leak and Drew Weatherford to the shrieks behind me drowning out the din in the bar.
The game on the small screen on the back wall was indeed obscure, played in a stadium only a third full. However, to the half dozen fans huddled around two tables, it was the biggest game of the college football season. I could tell just by what it said on their shirts.
Tulane.
The waves of destruction that Hurricane Katrina wreaked on New Orleans swept 140 to 160 displaced Tulane students to the University of Colorado. Mirroring its student body, Tulane’s football team has become college football’s vagabond, evacuating to Dallas, then to Ruston, La.
The Sept. 4 opener at Southern Mississippi was postponed. Finally, nearly three weeks after Katrina hit, New Orleans’ college team took to the field last Saturday night.
“It makes me want to cry, I’m so proud,” said Betsey Koban, a senior from Nashville, Tenn.
As Koban and her friends watched Tulane play Mississippi State in a “home” game in Shreveport, La., her house in New Orleans was standing in 3 feet of water. That’s the good news. It used to be under 9 feet.
Koban transferred to Tulane after her freshman year at Miami – the one in Florida, not Ohio. This isn’t new to her. This was her eighth evacuation.
Fortunately, no Tulane students at Old Chicago nor any of the players lost any family members. The campus suffered minimal damage. Loss of property was another story. Tulane ran out on the field with white away jerseys and green helmets minus the “T” decals. They were left behind in New Orleans, and the Green Wave couldn’t return to retrieve them.
Tulane’s student body didn’t care. Suddenly, a team that hasn’t been ranked since its 1998 unbeaten year, that averaged only 22,829 fans in home attendance last season, has become a symbol of hope for displaced students from CU to NYU.
“We’re getting calls on our cellphones from all over the country,” Koban said. “‘Are you watching the game?!”‘
Admittedly, the six in the bar are among only about 1,000 students who ride shuttle buses the 5 miles from campus to home games at the Superdome. How many teams have their home stadium undergoing decontamination? But watching them scream at every first down, at every defensive stop, and breaking into Tulane’s fight song, “Hullabaloo,” that number surely tripled Saturday night across America.
“Tulane football hasn’t been much,” said Nick Phillips, a senior from San Francisco. “Maybe this will bring it back.”
Tulane coach Chris Scelfo doesn’t agree, snarling, “I don’t see (how) what we’ve been through the last three or four weeks has given us a lift.”
Still, it may push talks of creating an on- campus stadium. Two years after the school nearly dropped football for lack of interest, Tulane is back on the radar, in New Orleans and across the U.S.
As Lester Ricard’s desperation Hail Mary pass bounced tantalizingly out of the reach of a Green Wave receiver in the end zone, sealing the 21-14 defeat against Mississippi State, the audible groan could be heard the length of the Pearl Street Mall.
“I’m so proud of each and every player,” Koban said. “They’re fighting not just for the school but for the city. That means a lot to me.”
Plenty of production in Pac-10
OK, the leaves haven’t turned yet. But the Pacific 10 still is putting up sick numbers.
Four Pac-10 teams are among the top 11 offensive teams in the country, with Arizona State (630.7 yards per game) and Southern California (627.0) running Nos. 2 and 3 behind national leader Texas Tech (711.5).
Go ahead and knock the competition. But cupcakes are flying all over BCS schedules. And someone’s impressed. Five Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 25.
Vandy looking dandy
Is America ready for a 5-0 Vanderbilt team? With Division I-AA Richmond, then Middle Tennessee State, on tap, it had better be. Here’s the secret: 11 senior starters. That’s not extraordinary, but at Vanderbilt, these starters have been starting a long time.
Jay Cutler is a fourth-year starter who was the SEC coaches’ preseason pick as the all-SEC quarterback. Also, last year’s 2-9 team lost five games by a total of 15 points.
“I always thought Vandy kids played extremely hard but were a little light on talent,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said during the SEC conference call this week. “Now they have more talent, and they have better team speed.”
Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson isn’t concerned about his players handling success.
“The thing about Vanderbilt is,” he said, “we have pretty smart guys over here.”
Footnotes
Nebraska has only three offensive touchdowns in a 3-0 start. … Surgeries have cost Kentucky 15 players, including six starters. … Pitt junior quarterback Tyler Palko has gone from a 135.17 passer rating a year ago to 97.47. His yards passing per game have dropped from 255.6 to 176.7, and his TD-interception numbers from 24-7 to 1-4. … Remember Alexis Serna, the Oregon State kicker who blew three extra points in a 22-21 overtime loss at LSU in last year’s opener? Since then he has kicked 40 straight, plus 24-of-28 field goals and is a Lou Groza Award finalist. … Eric Wright, a USC starting cornerback suspended because of a rape charge that eventually was dropped, has transferred to Nevada-Las Vegas. … Michigan State is 9-1 in its past 10 games against top 10 teams. … Actor James Garner, an Oklahoma alum, watched the Sooners’ 41-24 loss to UCLA from athletic director Joe Castiglione’s Rose Bowl suite.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
