Tulane Goes From the Hunted to Being Underdogs In Just One Crucial Offseason
The Tulane Green Wave football team is no longer viewed as the top team in the American Athletic Conference – at least according to the preseason media polls.
Of the 14 teams in the AAC, Tulane came in at No. 3 in the rankings. They were picked to win the conference last season.
Memphis is now viewed as the team to beat, followed by UTSA. That could work in the Green Wave’s favor.
Success comes with expectations. Tulane ended the season with an 11-3 record and was undefeated in regular conference play. They faced their opponent’s best punch every week.
Coming off a New Year's Six Bowl win in the Cotton Bowl, each American Conference team had their matchup against the Wave circled.
There were plays used against them that the players hadn’t seen on film.
But that was a team led by Michael Pratt and a coach who changed the legacy of Tulane’s program. There was a tangible idea of what teams would need to do to beat the top of the conference.
Which quarterback is leading the next charge? Who takes the field Week 1 starting in the secondary? Tulane added a lot of pieces since spring camp; people were still wrapping their heads around the December signings.
Coach Jon Sumrall has a proven winning record as a head coach, going 23-4 in his two seasons at Troy – the third most in the country, tied with the Green Wave.
He took Troy to back-to-back conference titles in 2022 and 2023, the only program to do so besides Michigan.
The Sun Belt Conference coach of the year returned uptown, where he served as Tulane’s coordinator from 2012-14.
That stretch saw a trip to the New Orleans Bowl, in which Sumrall played a crucial role – the first postseason appearance for the Wave since 2002. Largely led by his defense.
The teams that bested the Wave in the preseason polls have a little more consistency. Seth Henigan is a veteran Memphis can count on. UTSA lost Frank Harris.
But the team that takes the field under Sumrall at Tulane is ultimately unproven.
Quarterback battle aside, the entire offense is still finding its starting pieces. In the second portal window, the defense largely came together. Understandably, no one knows what to expect when the team finalizes all the working parts.
That's the ideal position for Tulane to be in: working in silence as the underdogs, with a proven record of winning and an ingrained culture.
Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com