What are the Keys to Tulane Beating Oklahoma in Highly Anticipated SEC Matchup?

Tulane faces Oklahoma for their biggest test of the season but the Green Wave have what it takes to pull off the upset. What are the key matchups in this SEC vs American battle?

The Tulane Green Wave is painted on the field of the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla. on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. The logo was painted in preparations for the NCAA football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the Tulane University Green Wave that was moved from New Orleans to Norman due to hurricane Ida. CENTERPIECE IMAGE / CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN via

Every season Tulane Football seems to have one out of conference game that stands out amongst the rest as an opportunity to prove Tulane’s competitiveness on the national stage. This season that moment comes in the form of a week three matchup in Norman against the Oklahoma Sooners. 

At first glance, Tulane should be underdogs against the newest members of the Southeastern Conference. Oklahoma are bluebloods in the history of college football but today, that program is nowhere near what it once was. So what does Tulane have to do to pull off the upset?

Usually SEC programs are able to dominate Group of Five opponents at the line of scrimmage with much bigger athletes. That will not be the case when Tulane travels to Norman. The Tulane offensive and defensive lines are well built, and surprisingly, the area where Oklahoma is weakest.

After a 10-3 campaign last season, the Sooners saw their two starting offensive tackles drafted to the NFL. Tyler Guyton was drafted late in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys and Walter Rouse was selected to the Vikings with the first pick in the sixth round. 

After that, their next best offensive lineman and expected starting guard Cayden Green surprised Sooner fans and elected to transfer to Missouri. Savion Byrd, another lineman expected to start for Oklahoma in 2024, decided to transfer to SMU. With these four departures, Oklahoma’s starting offensive line is likely the weakness of their team.

Between Jacob Sexton, Geirean Hatchett, Troy Everett, Febechi Nwaiwu, and Jake Taylor/Spencer Brown, Oklahoma will be able to patch together an offensive line, but nothing like the offensive lines required to compete in the SEC. On the other side of the ball, Tulane will be attacking this unit with the likes of Patrick Jenkins and Adin Huntington, two of the best defensive lineman in the country.

On the defensive side of the ball, Oklahoma has only one defensive lineman who could pose an issue: Dominic Williams. After two seasons at TCU, Williams chose the Sooners over LSU and Texas, but stands at just 6 '2". While Williams is certainly talented, Tulane has an equally talented center in Vincent Murphy. It is likely that Tulane will have the two best offensive and defensive lineman in this matchup with Jenkins and Huntington on the defensive side and Vincent Murphy and Rashad Green on offense.

With Dillon Gabriel now in Eugene, Oklahoma plans to start redshirt freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold. While Arnold is a former five star, he is incredibly inexperienced, and Tulane gets to play him early in the season. Arnold’s only career start came last season against Arizona in the Alamo Bowl where he completed less than 60% of his passes and threw three interceptions. True freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins has actually outperformed Arnold since arriving in Norman, but the Sooners have too much NIL money tied up to Arnold to start Hawkins in front of him. 

The two biggest factors in any game are which team’s quarterback plays best and who is able to win the line of scrimmage. Those are Oklahoma’s biggest weaknesses heading into this season and the Green Wave are built to take advantage of them.