Tulane Green Wave Finally Crack AP Poll Top 25 After Seventh Straight Win
The Tulane Green Wave have become an undeniable force over the course of the season and are finally starting to earn some national acclaim.
After flirting with it for the past few weeks, the Green Wave have made their debut in the AP Top 25 poll. They didn't do it by much, though, coming into the rankings right at 25.
This could be a huge sign for the upcoming College Football Playoff rankings, as the two lists were fairly similar last week. The committee's rankings are obviously the more important role, but making it into the AP's group is the first step of earning some credibility for a program.
If the team was 8-2 under Willie Fritz after the past few seasons, Tulane probably would have been ranked already. Instead, they are back to building their name brand and instilling confidence in the voters.
Winning out now puts them at a real chance to earn a spot in the College Football Playoffs. They will need the Boise State Broncos to drop a game, but the rest should unfold nicely for the Green Wave if they can just keep winning.
The Army Black Knights are still undefeated and ranked above Tulane, but the two school will likely settle that debate in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
The Green Wave offense has been the clear highlight of this team, but the defense has also been impressive.
On offense, they have score at least 40 points six times this year and have only finished under 24 once. That is certainly a recipe for success.
Makhi Hughes has been a massive part of them being able to string together so many wins. Tulane dominates the ground game on a weekly basis and it opens so much for the rest of the offense.
Hughes has 212 carries this year for 1,209 yards and 13 touchdowns. While he still isn't a major threat in the passing game, he has 13 catches for 125 yards and two more scores.
The emergence of Darian Mensah has also been a major factor. It was a bit of a shock that he emerged from the quarterback competition as the starter, but virtually everyone now agrees that it was the right choice.
Mensah has completed 65.6% of his passes this season for 2,059 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
A lot of the ease of the offense has come from the defense setting them up with great field, position, though. They have allowed just nine total points from their opponents these past two weeks.
Head coach Jon Sumrall will hope to keep both sides of the ball working well down the stretch.
