Tulane Green Wave Football Surges into Top G5 Spot in Latest Rankings
The KFord Ratings are the latest to give the Tulane Green Wave football teams some love when it comes to their College Football Playoff hopes.
The Green Wave, coming off their massive 71-20 blowout of UAB, moved up 12 spots to No. 21 in the site’s latest power rankings.
The critical part of that is that the Green Wave (4-2, 2-0 in American) moved ahead of Boise State as the top-ranked Group of 5 school.
The expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff will give first-round byes to each of the top-four ranked conference champions, which are expected to be the champions from the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the SEC.
After that, the highest-ranked conference champion from one of the Group of 5 conferences — the American, Conference USA, the Mid-American, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt — would be guaranteed a berth seeding between Nos. 5 and 12.
So, the Green Wave still has to win the American to be considered. But, right now, they’re moving into a position where they have a chance. KFord projects that Tulane has a 45% chance of winning eight conference games or going undefeated in league play. It also projects Tulane has an 85% chance of winning seven league games and a 98% chance of winning six games.
The only team close to Tulane is Navy, which is undefeated for the season and has a 41% chance of winning all eight conference games. But, Navy and Tulane play each other later this season in Annapolis.
Tulane and Boise State are the only two Group of 5 schools in the Top 30.
Tulane is riding a two-game winning streak in conference play after a 2-2 slate in non-conference, with its two losses coming to power conference teams. The Green Wave are off this week.
Even with the blowout, the Green Wave did not receive a single vote in the AP Top 25 poll. They did receive two points in the coaches poll, which means they still have work to do to impress voters and the College Football Playoff committee when it comes to trying to claim the CFP berth given to the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion.
The top two teams in the conference go to the title game, with the No. 1 seed hosting the game. Whether Tulane gets there could hinge on the Navy game and the season finale against Memphis on Thanksgiving Day.
