Coach Chris & Tulane ST Shine in huge upset win against Memphis

What Coach Chris and Tulane’s special teams accomplished last night was incredible, especially considering the windy, chilly conditions in the upset win against Memphis.

Both the kicking and punting games were outstanding, and what makes it even better is that both specialists are local Louisiana products. Coach Chris is performing with local talent. These Louisiana kids are learning elite special teams fundamentals that will serve them well beyond their time at Tulane.

Nobody grows up dreaming of covering punts or kickoffs, but special teams can be the difference between making a roster and getting cut, both in college and the NFL. When two players are comparable at their primary positions, the guy who excels on special teams has a huge advantage. Coach Chris is teaching these kids skills, discipline, coverage techniques, and attention to detail that can extend their football careers.

And frankly, Coach Chris’s story is almost too good to pass up, especially during what has been an underachieving Year One at LSU. You can’t help but wonder where LSU would be if we could find that missing piece in the program and bring in a special teams coach capable of making this kind of immediate impact.

We would be sitting at 5-1 right now had we simply covered that punt return last week at Kentucky. That’s literally a mulligan we could have had in our back pocket heading into the toughest stretch of our schedule. And in an expanded playoff era, that one play, that one loss, could effectively be the difference between earning a CFP bid and watching the playoffs from home. That’s how much special teams matter.