Tulane holds scrimmage after heavy rain

• Advocate news services
• Published: Apr 3, 2008 - UPDATED: 7:10 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — The Tulane football team endured Mother Nature’s wrath with a torrential downpour during the first part of Wednesday’s spring practice, but quickly shook off the raindrops with a 16-play scrimmage to conclude spring practice No. 5.

Following the rain, the Green Wave spent the remainder of the 24-period session under dark, overcast skies.

Several players stood out during the drills on both sides of the ball. In a 7-on-7 pass skeleton drill, sophomore safety Devin Holland intercepted a pass from senior Scott Elliott in the end zone that was intended for junior wideout Jeremy Williams. Holland turned back another scoring play when he knocked down sophomore quarterback Kevin Moore’s pass attempt to senior tight end Justin Kessler at the goal line.

On the other side of the ball, Moore found senior receiver Brian King with a 45-yard touchdown pass.

In a team pass drill, freshman redshirt quarterback Joe Kemp was on target with Williams for a 45-yard touchdown pass. Williams ran a seam route and Kemp threw a pass to Williams in stride between two safeties for the score.

Tulane concluded practice with a short yardage situation and the Tulane defense stopped the offense twice after giving up a first down on the first attempt.

COOL WEATHER BOOSTS LOUISIANA TECH: With Wednesday’s cooler air, the Bulldogs brought plenty of hits to practice with them. The energy level was high for the day’s workout as the team continued to install more of the systems on each side of the ball.

“We’ve had two good, physical practices this week,” Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley said. “There was a lot of hitting out there today. I think the cold weather got them excited.”

The big hits came not just from the defense, but also offense and special teams.

Today’s practice will be the last before the team’s final scrimmage of the spring workout period.

Dooley said he is hoping Saturday’s scrimmage will show more signs of growth and more players will step up.

TENNESSEE-UCLA MATCHUP MOVED TO LABOR DAY TO AIR ON ESPN: Tennessee and UCLA have agreed to play Sept. 1 in a Monday night Labor Day game to be televised nationally on ESPN.

Both universities announced Tuesday that the game will take place five days before the teams’ previously scheduled Sept. 6 game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Kickoff is now scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific time.