Sept. 28, 2007

By Keith Claverie
LSU Daily Reveille

After notching their first victory of the season this past week, Tulane coach Bob Toledo and the Green Wave have a simple goal for Saturday's game against the No. 2 Tigers - improvement.

"Basically, our goal this week is we want to play hard, and we want to get better," Toledo said in a Tuesday press conference. "We are going to practice to try and get better for the rest of this season. We want to continue to improve in everything that we are doing."

Tulane focused heavily on the ground game in its 34-27 victory against Southeastern Louisiana as senior running back Matt Forté set school records with 303 yards and five touchdowns.

The Slidell native carried the ball 40 times in the win for an average of 7.6 yards per carry. Forté accounted for 312 of Tulane's 410 yards of offense Saturday.

"Our game plan was, as you saw, to run and run and run," Toledo said. "That is what we did, and we stuck with our game plan even when we were behind. We did what we had to do. Matt Forté was phenomenal. What more can I say?"

But Forté and the Green Wave (1-2) will undoubtedly face a tougher test than the Division I-AA Lions this weekend when the Tigers (4-0) bring the nation's top defense to the Superdome.

"Defensively, well, people don't move the ball on [LSU]," Toledo said. "In my opinion, their defense is even better than last year, and last year it was fantastic. I mentioned to a reporter earlier this week that they could possibly be one of the new franchise teams in the NFL because that is how good they are."

Forté echoed his first-year coach's sentiments.

"They're a great defense," Forté said. "There's a lot of big-named guys on that defense, and it's another chance for us to go out there and get better as an offense."

Tulane struggled on offense in its season opener against another Southeastern Conference foe, Mississippi State, gaining just 243 yards on the night.

Sophomore quarterback Anthony Scelfo said the Green Wave offense has mapped out a specific scheme for Saturday.

"We've got a gameplan, and that's what we're going to try to execute," Scelfo said. "You could be playing the worst team in the country, if you don't execute, than good things aren't going to happen. That's where our focus is."

Scelfo added the Green Wave will rely heavily on Forté to get their offense going Saturday.

"[Forté] is the focal point. He's one of the best backs around. He's definitely an important part to this offense. And I'm sure LSU knows that too."

LSU coach Les Miles said he is aware of the 6-foot-2-inch, 223-pound Tulane weapon.

"We understand that Tulane is a team with talent and ability," Miles said. "They have a running back, Matt Forté, who rushed for over 300 yards last week. He is big, strong and fast."

Scelfo said even with an all-Conference USA performer in the backfield, this weekend's meeting will be a tough one as the Green Wave goes into the contest as 40-point underdogs.

"It's going to be a great challenge," Scelfo said. "They're the best team I've seen this year. We're not going to quit. Our team's going to play hard and play tough to the end no matter what the score is."

Forté, who is already halfway to his rushing total of 859 yards from a year ago, said he is excited to play the only ranked team on their schedule this season.

"It's a great challenge, but you don't play football to not have big games or challenges like this," Forté said. "You play college football for big games, and when you have big challenges, you have to get other guys motivated to go out there and play their hardest. But you can't think about that too much. It's just like any other game on a Saturday, and you have to come out there with the same intensity and passion that is necessary to play football.