Tulane Green Wave 'Should Be Thankful' For Surprise Success This Season
The Tulane Green Wave have far exceeded everyone's expectations for this season and it should be considered a success no matter what happens over the coming weeks.
As the country gathers to celebrate Thanksgiving, Bleacher Report's Morgan Moriarty has come up with some college football storylines that people should be thankful for.
Among those storylines was the surprise success that head coach Jon Sumrall has had in his first year New Orleans.
It took years for Willie Fritz to build the Green Wave into a team that could string together winning seasons. Sumrall did not let that momentum stop and has Tulane with at least some playoff hopes going into the final stretch.
There was a lot of work in the transfer portal that had to be done, but Sumrall got it done. He brought over a couple of key pieces from the Troy Trojans like Jack Tchienchou. He also found some hidden gems like Adin Huntington, the team's best defender, from the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.
A couple of stars also came from the old regime, such as star running back Makhi Hughes. Hughes has had one of the best individual seasons in the country and has arguably been the biggest reason that the Green Wave have rattled off eight in a row.
No individual season has been more surprising than that of breakout quarterback Darian Mensah.
Mensah came out of nowhere to win the starting job right before the season began and has not let up since.
The redshirt freshman has looked cool and collected all season long. He has completed a conference-best 65.9% of his passes for 2,197 yards and 18 touchdowns to four interceptions.
As much as Tulane had to be worried about replacing Fritz, they also had to replace one of the best players in school history in quarterback Michael Pratt.
While they may have leaned on Pratt more, Mensah has really made the transition seamless.
Now, thanks to the efforts of these players and even more unsung heroes on the roster, the Green Wave play their final game of the season against the 9-2 Memphis Tigers on Thanksgiving night with massive stakes.
Though Tulane has already clinched their spot in the conference title game, winning out could potentially lead to a spot in the expanded College Football Playoffs.
There could be some repercussions for this great season, such as getting Sumrall poached by a bigger school, but fans can still soak in the fun football for a few more weeks without thinking about that.
