Legendary Coach Gives Tulane Encouraging Preseason Ranking
The Tulane Green Wave have just over a week until their season kicks off and the national media are still trying to understand how to evaluate them.
While the Green Wave missed out on being named to the official AP or Coaches Poll Top 25 lists, not everyone in the world of college football is out on them.
Longtime college football coach turned media personality Dan Mullen released his personal Top 25 list, which included Tulane at No. 24.
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) August 23, 2024
The Green Wave still weren't the top-rated team in the AAC, though, as he put the Memphis Tigers all the way up at No. 20.
Many believe the conference will be a two-team race between Tulane and the Tigers. The schools face off to close the regular season at Yulman Stadium on November 28.
Georgia Bulldogs fans took exception to Mullen's list as they fell to the second spot behind the Ohio State Buckeyes. Mullen, of course, coached in the SEC from 2009 to 2021. He spent four seasons with the Florida Gators. He has a long history with the Bulldogs so any small thing will be taken as disrespect.
Mullen never coached against the Green Wave during his career, so there's no immediate bad blood between the two parties.
He does know something about keeping a school afloat right after a coaching turnaround, though, which is exactly what Jon Sumrall will have to do at Tulane this season.
During Mullen's first season with the Gators, he led them to a 10-3 record. It was the school's best record since 2012. Unlike Sumrall, however, the roster was already fairly put together.
The Green Wave will be trotting out a roster that is a mix between returning starters and transfer portal players with something to prove.
There still hasn't been any clarity to the quarterback situation, which has only gotten bigger since the start of fall camp.
While many believed it would be Oregon Ducks transfer Ty Thompson's job to lose, that doesn't seem to be the case. Kai Horton and redshirt freshman Darian Mensah's emergence leading the race have caused this competition to last longer than anyone could have expected. The season opener against the Southeastern Lion could act as a final audition for the role.
Despite all of the uncertainty at the most important spot on the field, Mullen still has Tulane as one of the top schools in the country. The talent should be there, they just have to prove him right on the field.
DYLAN SANDERS