Anderson gives Tulane rushing threat

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 1, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:30 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — After Tulane’s Andre Anderson carried the ball 36 times for 219 yards against SMU last week, coach Bob Toledo said he had “a Matt Forté kind of night.”

No one is expecting Anderson to rush for more than 2,000 yards, as Forté did for the Green Wave last season, but more and more it’s looking like Anderson can fill the workhorse role that Forté vacated when he graduated to the NFL.

His rushing totals each of the last three weeks have been career-highs. Before the 219 he had in the win over the Mustangs, he had 157 against Louisiana-Monroe, and the week before that he had 82 against East Carolina.

“You’ve got to remember that the guy only had 30-something carries coming into the season, and now he’s being counted on to basically do that every single game,” center Michael Parenton said Tuesday at Tulane’s weekly news conference. “He’s getting better and better each game and it’s helping us out a lot and it makes us look a lot better.”

Anderson, a junior from Stone Mountain, Ga., had 32 carries for 129 yards and two touchdowns in his first two seasons combined. In the last two games, two victories after two losses, he has averaged 37 carries and 188 yards.

“In high school I was used to getting the ball a lot and taking a pounding,” Anderson said. “The last two years I didn’t really get hit that much so I think my body’s a little fresher than most. I get a lot of carries in practice and we work hard in practice, so the game’s come kind of easy to me, I like to think.

“If I keep going every week, next thing you know I might get 40 or 45 carries. Hopefully I’ll make enough big plays so it won’t be that many carries, but I do what coach asks of me.”

Forté averaged 30 carries per game and finished with 2,127 yards last season. Anderson said he worked extra hard in the offseason to prepare his body for a similar workload.

Though he averaged just 23 carries and 57 yards in the first two games against ranked opponents, Alabama and East Carolina, Anderson is now at Forté’s carry average and leads Conference USA running backs in attempts (120) and yards (490).

“I learned from the way he carried himself on and off the field,” Anderson said of Forté, who’s the starting halfback for the Chicago Bears, “the little things he did, the extra running, the extra lifting, getting his body ready to take on so many carries.”

In the final minutes of the two victories, Toledo basically used Anderson the way a baseball manager uses his closer.

Against ULM, the Green Wave led, 24-10, after a Warhawks touchdown and took over at its 13 with 5:36 remaining. Anderson carried nine times for 40 yards as Tulane ran out the clock.

Against SMU, the Green Wave led, 34-27, after a Mustangs touchdown and took over at its 10 with 2:03 remaining. Anderson carried three times for 52 yards, including a 40-yard run that helped Tulane run out the clock.