Tulane Green Wave Host Temple Owls Hoping to Extend Winning Streak
The Tulane Green Wave return home after a 10-day break for the final stretch of the season when they host the Temple Owls on Saturday at Yulman Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
The Green Wave (7-2, 5-0 in American) have rattled off six straight victories. Tulane received votes in the AP Top 25 for the second straight week and is just outside the Top 25.
More importantly, Tulane enters the week undefeated in conference action. While the Green Wave healed up over the weekend, their path to the league title game got clearer.
Navy went to Houston and lost to Rice, leaving the conference with just two remaining undefeated teams in league action — Army West Point and Tulane.
If both the Black Knights and the Green Wave continue winning league games they’ll meet in the AAC Championship game the first weekend in December. Should Tulane get there, it will be its third straight appearance in the league championship game.
Temple (2-6, 1-3) returns to the bayou having lost three of their last four games.
Here is a preview of the Green Wave and the Owls.
Temple at Tulane
Yulman Stadium, New Orleans
Time: 3 p.m. CT, Saturday
TV: ESPNU
Radio: The Ticket 106.1 FM (flagship) and Heaven 106.7 (simulcast).
Coaches: Tulane — Jon Sumrall (7-2 at Tulane, 30-6 career as head coach); Temple — Stan Drayton (8-24 at Temple, career).
Fun fact: Sumrall hasn’t lost a regular season game or a conference championship game in October, November or December since he became a head coach at Troy in 2022.
All-Times Series: Temple leads series, 4-2.
Last meeting: Tulane def. Temple, 38-3 (2020).
Series notes: Five of the six meetings between these two teams have occurred between 2014 and 2020. The other was in 1935 on New Year’s Day, when Tulane and Temple met in the first Sugar Bowl in 1935. Tulane won, 20-14.
Last Week: Tulane def. Charlotte, 34-3; Temple lost to East Carolina, 56-34.
Records: Tulane: 7-2 (5-0 in American); Temple: 2-6 (1-3).
About Tulane: Jon Sumrall’s knack for winning games in the final two months of the season is rather uncanny. In 2022 at Troy he didn't lose a single game starting in October. In 2023 he did the same before he took the Tulane job. The Trojans lost their bowl game after he left.
After back-to-back losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma in September, the Green Wave hasn't lost since. It's a six-game-winning streak going into Saturday’s game. Given how Tulane is creating big plays defensively, along with the consistency with which Makai Hughes is running the football, there's no reason to believe the Green Wave can't make it seven straight.
Tulane is closing in on mid-November and the goal remains the same — reach the conference championship game and improve its chances of getting the at-large berth in the College Football Playoff any way it can.
About Temple: Matt Rhule went 28-23 in four seasons with Temple and used that job to get the Baylor job. Geoff Collins went 15-10 in two seasons and used that job into the Georgia Tech job.
Since then, it's been a rough run. Ed Foley was the interim coach after Collins and lost the Owls' bowl game in 2018. Temple hired Manny Diaz as head coach in 2019, but he left shortly after he accepted the job to take over at Miami. Temple lured Rod Carey, who had success at Northern Illinois, but he only won 12 games in three seasons.
So now it's up to Stan Drayton, who was last an assistant head coach at Texas before he took the job at Temple. It's been a rough go with the Owls, as Temple has won just two games in each of his first three seasons.
Next Up: Tulane travels to Navy on Nov. 16. Temple hosts FAU on Nov. 16.
