The trip to Houston went just like I thought it would. The Tigers left with a win, we got some good mojo from Tyler, and the Tigers fans in attendance were spectacular. Now it is off to the Big Easy and Tulane.

Are they called Tulane Green Wave, the Tulane Green Wave, or the Green Wave of Tulane?

I know few saw the game last weekend so ya’ll missed some great plays. Hankins had some long balls that were just right on the money. Joe Doss ran like the Joe Doss we know. In fact there were a couple of runs that I thought he had 20 on his jersey. The offensive line blew guys off the line and cleared holes. Without taking the time to look it up to be 100% sure, I can remember Joe having at least six runs in excess of 10 yards on his way to 175.

The two quarterback system seems to be working all over college football. I’ve seen several of our opponents use it. And against Rice rotating Hankins and Malouf worked well.

I won’t give you the exact quote but if you’ve ever seen Blue Chips you know what I feel life is like when we’re winning.

I really thought the tackling was better this past weekend. The Tigers wrapped folks up and put them down.

The real test this weekend will be stopping Tulane’s running game. For the 2nd time this season the Tigers will face the nation’s leading rusher. We must have more success than we had the last time.

In a totally unrelated Tigers thought, GO ROX!!!! Wait, I’ll make it Tiger related. A former Tigers player who made a significant impact on Memphis football will be at Fenway tonight for game 1.

Do you ever think that play is contagious? We’ve had a lot of dropped passes and there were times when you’d think not a single Tiger could catch the ball. Then Duke Calhoun makes a great grab and everyone is catching everything.

I know most of you are saying, ‘It was only Rice, don’t get too excited.” But you’re missing something in that. The Tigers made a play in crunch time when they needed to make it. The swing pass to Greg Hinds sealed the game and gave the Owls no chance. In the recent past the Tigers have not made those plays. It is a play like that one that gives a team a new confidence that they didn’t have. I for one (yes, my glasses are blue) think the Tigers will go to a bowl and even contend for the C-USA title. Yes, both are still very real possibilities.

This weekend’s game will push my SUV over the 100,000 mark. So why is that in this blog? Well that’s because a very large portion of that is from driving to see the Tigers play. Since 2003 when I started traveling to all the road games I have missed two games, USF in 2004 and UCF in 2005. Only one game did I ride with someone else, the Motor City Bowl in 2005. So with incidental mileage in the cities where the Tigers play I’ve put 25,000 miles on this vehicle and another 5,000 on a previous SUV. Those two games I missed I did get to watch on TV both at the same place with the same friends. If you’ve never traveled to see your team on the road I recommend you do so. It is a great experience and gives you an entirely different prospective.

My suggestion for your weekend is when you get off work Friday head down to NO. You can make reservations for a room via whatever service you’d like. Plenty of tickets are still available. The Amtrak is full but the highway can handle the thousands of Tigers fans who wish to go. You’ll be able to see the Tigers get back to .500 on the season and tie for the lead in the C-USA Eastern Division at 3-1. So I’ll see you there.

I’ll close with a trivia question. Since we’re going to New Orleans and the Super Dome this is a perfect question. How many games have the Tigers played football in stadiums where a Super Bowl has been played? You won’t win anything. Ok, I’ll give you a bottle of water if you show up at my tailgate and tell me you’re the one who posted the answer. So I guess to win you have to figure out where I tailgate too.