ARLINGTON, Texas – The No. 16 Tulane Green Wave (11-2, 7-1 American Athletic Conference) continued preparations for the 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic with an increased emphasis on special teams during Thursday's practice at AT&T Stadium.

In keeping with its usual game-week routine on a typical Tuesday, special teams were an important focus of practice ahead of Monday's matchup vs. the No. 10 Southern California Trojans (11-2, 8-1 Pac-12 Conference).

"Practice looked good. I thought the kids had good hustle and got a nice grasp of what we are going to see (in the game)," said Tulane Head Coach Willie Fritz. "A big part of these bowl games also is you have to adjust. They're going to do some things differently. They've had a lot of time off. We're going to do some things differently. We've had a lot of time off. So that's a big part, particularly early in the ball game: adjusting to new things you're seeing on offense defense, and special teams."

The third phase of Tulane's attack was indeed special in 2022, as both Green Wave punter Casey Glover and return specialist Jha'Quan Jackson earned all-conference honors. Additionally, Lawrence Keys averaged 28.1 yards per kickoff return, and Valentino Embrosio made all 38 PATs and 10-of-11 field goal attempts.

"We spend a lot of time on special teams," Fritz said. "You can get a really big edge in the game with starting field position. If you're starting 10 yards further down the field than they are over the course of 12 series, that's 120 yards of hidden yardage, so we put a premium on working on the kicking game."

Coverage-wise, nearly half of Glover's 43 punts ended in a fair catch for a Tulane team that has allowed only eight yards on seven punt returns this season.

"It's huge for us," said Fritz of his coverage teams. "Our punter has done a good job of locating punts where they need to be, and then we've done a really good job of covering the punts. We work on it a bunch, so we should be good at it."

The 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is Monday, Jan. 2 at Noon CT on ESPN and ESPN Radio. Kickoff is slated for 12:10 p.m.

This year's Classic is a part of the ESPN bowl lineup for the ninth straight year. Mark Jones and Robert Griffin III are set to the call the action from the booth with Quint Kessenich reporting from the sidelines. ESPN Radio returns as the Classic's national radio partner for the ninth consecutive year with Brad Sham and Dusty Dvoracek in the booth and Taylor McGregor on the sidelines to describe all the action from AT&T Stadium.

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