The Tulane football team will conclude the 2007 season Saturday, Nov. 24, when the Green Wave travels to Greenville, N.C., to take on the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Kickoff is slated for noon central time. It will be the only time this season that Tulane plays on a grass surface.
Game time temperatures should be in the fifties.
Saturday's game at East Carolina will be televised live on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
That channel is not carried in the New Orleans area but is available on DirecTV Channel
and Dish Network.
Tulane 4-7 overall, 3-4 in C-USA, comes off a 45-31 win over Rice last weekend in Houston.
As a team, the Green Wave are averaging 401.4 yards of total offense per game with 209.5
of those yards on the ground, and 191.9 yards passing. The Greenies are looking to end the
season with three consecutive wins.
Senior running back Matt Forté leads the Green Wave with an NCAA-leading 2,007 rushing
yards to go along with a team-leading 22 touchdowns on 336 carries and ranks second on
the squad with 29 receptions for an additional 257 yards through the air.
Tulane will shuffle quarterbacks again with sophomore quarterback Anthony Scelfo starting
his ninth consecutive game under center against the Pirates, but redshirt-freshman Kevin Moore
will also see action against East Carolina as well.
Scelfo has thrown for 1,263 yards and six touchdowns on 99-of-185 passing and has gained
165 yards and a touchdown on 54 carries. Moore has completed 26-of-44 passes for 402 yards
and two touchdowns.
Sophomore wide receiver Jeremy Williams leads the Wave with 40 catches for 701 yards and
five touchdowns while junior Brian King is second on the club with 394 receiving yards and
third with 27 catches.
Defensively, Tulane has allowed an average of 418.4 yards per game 124.7 yards on the ground
and 293.6 yards through the air.
Junior linebacker Evan Lee leads the team with 91 tackles and senior strong safety Joe Goosby
is second on the squad with 84 tackles.
Senior defensive lineman Antonio Harris leads the club with five sacks in his six and a half
tackles for loss while Adam Kwentua, Reggie Scott and Avery Williams have four sacks each.
Williams leads the team with 10.5 tackles for loss.
Junior free safety David Skehan tops the Tulane secondary with three interceptions to lead the
team and has three fumble recoveries to go along with 57 tackles, nine pass break-ups and
a forced fumble.
East Carolina comes into the game bowl eligible at 6-4 overall and 5-1 in league play but coming
off a 26-7 loss to Marshall in their last outing on Nov. 10. The Pirates had an open date last
weekend and need a win over the Green Wave to stay alive in their quest for an Eastern Division championship.
In order to salt that title away, not only must ECU defeat the Green Wave but they must pray
for Central Florida to lose to UTEP. That game starts an hour later than Tulane-ECU.
The Pirates average 383.5 yards of total offense per game, 172.9 yards rushing and 210.6 yards
passing.
On defense the Pirates allow opponents 445.5 yards per game with 149.3 yards per game coming on the ground and 296.3 through the air.
Running back Chris Johnson leads the team both on the ground with 973 yards and 13 touchdowns
on 169 carries and in all-purpose yards with a nation's-best 216.9 yard-per-game average, based
on 973 yards rushing, 366 receiving, 830 on kick returns.
Today is a test of Bob Toledo's coaching abilities. Can he get a tired team saddled with a losing record and only pride to play for up and ready to play from the opening kickoff to the final gun?
So far Toledo has shown a magician-like ability to get his team ready to play. Will Toledo's show
travel?