Tulane Green Wave Have New AAC Football Contenders Emerging To Overcome
The Tulane Green Wave were on bye in Week 7 of the college football season, coming off their dominating performance against the UAB Blazers the week before.
A 71-20 romp in Birmingham pushed their winning streak to three games, as they are now 4-2 on the season and 2-0 in AAC play. They are one of five remaining unbeaten teams in a race for the championship that is going to be more hotly contested than people originally believed.
Two of those unbeaten teams, the North Texas Mean Green and Charlotte 49ers, will be played by Tulane after they race the 2-4 overall Rice Owls this upcoming weekend.
Those games will be big if the Green Wave wants to earn a spot in the AAC Championship Game at the end of the season. But, also blocking their path to achieving that goal are unexpected contenders; the Army West Point Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen.
Both teams are off to incredible starts in 2024, earning rankings in this week’s polls. Coming in at No. 23 and 25, respectively, it is the first time both service academies are ranked since 1960.
To achieve their goal of a conference championship, Tulane could very well have to go through both of them.
Their regular season schedule includes a trip to the Midshipmen in the second to last game. They close things out by welcoming the Memphis Tigers to Yulman Stadium before hopefully a title game.
If things continue trending in this direction, a meeting with the Black Knights could be on deck after that.
That could be a stretch, based on power rankings and projections, that is enough to get the Green Wave into the College Football Playoff should they navigate it without a single loss. The only blemishes on their record being losses to the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners are not major knocks at all.
In some unique metrics shared by Bill Connelly of ESPN, Army and Navy are both firmly inside the top 25. As they continue to blow away preseason expectations, Tulane and the rest of the AAC benefit.
The longer they remain undefeated, the more weight a victory over each team will carry. It also lessens the blow for any team who lost to them throughout the season as the Black Knights are already bowl-eligible and Navy is one victory away.
Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. In addition to his work here, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.