Tulane Green Wave Faces Huge Opportunity vs. Kansas State Wildcats
Now that the Tulane Green Wave has their warm up out of the way it can focus on its first power conference opponent this season when they host the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday.
Tulane made things look easy against Southeastern Louisiana, winning 52-0 and handing their new head coach, John Sumrall, his first win with the Green Wave.
Tulane also got a good look add their new starting quarterback, Darian Mensah. The redshirt freshman got the nod and delivered a quality game, as he was efficient, avoided mistakes and took the Green Wave to the end zone repeatedly.
The defense created turnovers and scored a touchdown of its own. Tulane send its fans home with few complaints, even though they all know things will get harder from here.
Kansas State is a Big 12 contender that remembers what happened two years ago when the Green Wave visited Manhattan. Kansas State lost that game, and it would love nothing more than to return the favor.
Here is a preview of the Green Wave and the Wildcats.
Kansas State (1-0) at Tulane (1-0)
Yulman Stadium, New Orleans
Time: 11 a.m. CT
TV: ESPN
Radio: KVDU 104.1 The Spot (flagship)
Coaches: Kansas State — Chris Klieman (40-24 at Kansas, 112-37 for his career); Tulane — Jon Sumrall (1-0 at Tulane, 24-4 career as head coach).
Fun fact: this will be the third different stadium these two teams have played in against one another. Along with Kansas State’s home stadium in Manhattan, the pair once faced each other in the Caesars Superdome.
All-Times Series: Tulane leads series, 2-0
Last meeting: Tulane def. Kansas State, 17-10 (2023).
Series notes: The first meeting in this series goes so far back that it predates Kansas State’s legendary head coach Bill Snyder. He didn't take over the program until 1989. When the Green Wave and the Wildcats met the first time in 1988, Stan Parrish was Kansas State’s head coach and he led them to an 0-11 record that season.
Last Week: Kansas State def. UT Martin, 41-6; Tulane def. SE Louisiana, 52-0.
About Kansas State: This program was a laughingstock before Snyder took it over. He executed perhaps the greatest turnaround in college football history, turning the Wildcats into perennial winners in two different stints. He set a standard that current head coach Chris Klieman continues. He's already led the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship and the Wildcats are prime contenders to get back to the Big 12 Championship Game and get into the College Football Playoff.
The Wildcats are in a bit of transition. Last year's starting quarterback, Will Howard, transferred to Ohio State knowing that highly-touted freshman Avery Johnson would get the job this year. The Wildcats also lost their offensive coordinator, as legendary Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein took the same job at Texas A&M.
About Tulane: Sumrall and his staff executed a near-perfect home opener against Southeastern Louisiana. The offense hummed under a new starting quarterback, the Green Wave ran the ball efficiently, their defense created turnovers and they came out of the game relatively healthy.
Based on his career at Troy, Sumrall is the type of coach who knows how to win and win consistently. While with the Trojans he put together two separate 10 game-winning streaks in his two seasons.
Much of the talk this week will be about the quarterback position, but the real conversation should be about the defense, as the Green Wave limited the Lions to fewer than 200 total yards. The going will be tougher against Kansas State, but the unit set a great tone for the rest of the season.
Next Up: Kansas State will host Arizona on Sept. 14 while Tulane will travel to Oklahoma on Sept. 14.
