ARLINGTON, Texas – The No. 16 Tulane Green Wave (11-2, 7-1 American Athletic Conference) reached the midweek mark of on-site game preparations Friday for its inaugural appearance in the 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Tulane held its third practice of the week earlier today as it readies to face the No. 10 Southern California Trojans (11-2, 8-1 Pac-12 Conference) Monday in AT&T Stadium. Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz likes where his team is with three practices in the books and three to go in North Texas.

"I think it's been good," Fritz said. "We got a lot of stuff done before we got here in town. We'll start backing off beginning tomorrow. We had a good, tough, hard-nosed workout today and I was really impressed with the guys' focus."

The Green Wave offense is on pace to gain the most total yards (5,841 – 2019) and first downs (299 – 2018) in a season in program history. Fritz likes the job first-year offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda has done, not only with QB Michael Pratt (3,170 total yards, 35 total touchdowns) and RB Tyjae Spears (1,376 rushing yards, 17 total TDs), but also the synchronization of the coaching staff.

"He's done a good job utilizing the staff," Fritz said. "I think it's been a super team effort with the offensive staff in understanding the guys' strengths and weaknesses, both as coaches and players."

The Tulane offense will face a USC defense that has forced 28 turnovers this season, the sixth-most in the nation. The Green Wave has committed only 15 giveaways this season, including nine games of one turnover or less, as ball security is a major emphasis of Fritz' coaching philosophy.

"We do it every single day," Fritz said of his focus on protecting the football. "I feel this is one of my strengths as a head coach is the over-exaggeration of ball security every day: spring ball, summer ball, fall camp, throughout the season every day. Our coaches do a pretty darn good job with it, and our upperclassmen do a pretty good job with emphasizing it as well."

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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