Rested and ready for East Carolina this Thursday night off an open date, the Tulane football team can begin its earnest pursuit of a fourth consecutive appearance in the American Conference championship game.

Unlike fellow contenders Memphis, South Florida, Navy and North Texas, the Green Wave (4-1, 1-0) is neither ranked nor receiving points in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll , but every preseason goal is still in front of it as it prepares for the Pirates (3-2, 1-0). The key is building on what worked well in a league-opening 31-14 win at Tulsa and fixing what went wrong during an uneven but mostly productive start to the year.

The American has 32 statistical categories on its official website, and Tulane is in the bottom half of 16 of them. The Wave is first in only one--p

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