Latest AP Rankings Leave Tulane Green Wave Football Wanting More
The Tulane Green Wave football team found itself on the outside looking for the second straight week, in spite of a long winning streak and chaos ahead of them in the AP Top 25 poll.
Tulane finished with 41 votes, the third-most of teams outside the Top 25. Missouri (81) and South Carolina (58) were the only schools that had more.
The Green Wave (7-2, 5-0 in American) are riding a six-game winning streak after their dominant 34-3 win over Charlotte on Thursday. With just three games remaining, Tulane is on a path to claim a spot in the American Athletic Conference title game next month, which would be the program’s third straight appearance in the game.
If so, the Green Wave would be making their first appearance under coach Jon Sumrall. He took over for Willie Fritz, who led Tulane to its last two AAC title game appearances and left for Houston after last season.
The Green Wave host Temple this Saturday, followed by a road trip to Annapolis to face Navy and then a home finale against Memphis on Thanksgiving day.
While the AP Top 25 is important, it becomes less relevant on Tuesday when the first College Football Playoff rankings are released.
Those rankings are quite relevant to the Green Wave, as the highest-ranked conference champion from the Group of 5 conferences (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) will get an at-large berth in the expanded 12-team CFP.
The highest-ranked Group of 5 conference school is Boise State, which was No. 12 in this week’s poll. Tulane’s new AAC rival, Army West Point, is No. 18 and remained undefeated after beating Air Force.
If the Green Wave and the Black Knights remain undefeated, they would meet in the AAC title game.
The Green Wave got back on the radar of voters last week when they received 28 votes, which was the third-most votes of any team not ranked. Ahead of them were Vanderbilt (41) and Memphis (34).
At that time Tulane had won five straight games and were tied for first in the AAC with Navy and Army.
Earlier this season the Green Wave received five votes in the preseason poll and four votes in the poll after the first full week of games. Tulane then fell off the radar of voters after back-to-back losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma. The Green Wave hasn’t lost since.
Tulane AP Ranking By Week
Preseason/Week 1: Receiving votes (5)
Week 2 (Sept. 3): RV (4)
Week 3 (Sept. 9): Not Ranked
Week 4 (Sept. 15): NR
Week 5 (Sept. 22): NR
Week 6 (Sept. 29): NR
Week 7 (Oct. 6): NR
Week 8 (Oct. 13): NR
Week 9 (Oct. 20): NR
Week 10 (Oct. 27): RV (28)
Week 11 (Nov. 3): RV (41)
