Tulane's season is on borrowed time, as usual: The Green Wave's Bob Toledo has already stepped down, and with three games remaining, Tulane is limping into Saturday's game hosting the record breaking Houston Cougars. Statistically, the Wave isn't as bad as some other C-USA doormats Case Keenum has victimized: they're a middling 64th and 68th in rushing defense and pass efficiency defense, respectively, but - uh oh - they're 111th in scoring defense.
WIth from the garish numbers that could push Keenum towards the level of a Heisman finalist and their slow crawl up the BCS rankings, head coach Kevin Sumlin is trying to keep the Cougars on the immediate goal of winning the C-USA's Western Division, no guarantee with Tulsa (5-0 in conference play) looming on November 25. While Tulane isn't much to absorb the team's focus this week, Sumlin downplayed the national attention on Houston to the Chronicle:
"What we have to worry about is we're tied with Tulsa right now in the West," Sumlin said. "In order for us to win our conference championship we have to win the West, and we're tied right now. That gets our attention pretty quickly. We need to win this week and see where Tulsa is, not where Alabama or LSU is."
For more on Houston's BCS aspirations and the entire bowl picture, check out SB Nation's college football page.