Tulane Green Wave's Playoff Chances Increase After Navy's Loss
The Tulane Green Wave has continuously washed over the competition this year en route to a 6-2 overall record with a 4-0 record in conference play under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall.
It has seen the program become more nationally recognized, especially after games against the Kansas State Wildcats and the Oklahoma Sooners, two well-known Power Five teams that were taken to their limit by the Green Wave, only winning by a combined 22 points.
Tulane's success this year has now seen them receive AP Poll votes, getting four of them this week, and almost assuredly receiving even more in the weeks to come.
This week alone saw the Green Wave's chances at being the Group of Five representative in the College Football Playoff increase after the Navy Midshipmen dropped their game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Tulane has now moved up one spot to have the fourth-best chance at making the College Football Playoffs at six percent.
They still sit behind the UNLV Rebels, the Army Black Knights, and the Boise State Broncos, though only one of those four teams remains undefeated, the Black Knights.
"For all the talk about Army and Navy in the American Athletic Conference," writes Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic, "the team to beat in the league again appears to be Tulane."
And that seems to exactly be the case, despite the lower College Football Playoff chances for the Green Wave, whose schedule has been much tougher than either the Midshipmen or Army.
Tulane does have two pivotal matchups remaining on their regular season schedule with Navy and with the 25th-ranked Memphis Tigers, but with the way the Green Wave has played this year, those could be just as non-competitive as the majority of the rest of their schedule.
Tulane has already secured their third-consecutive season of bowl eligibility, but they do not look to be slowing down anytime soon.
With Darian Mensah refusing to turn the ball over and running back Makhi Hughes bowling over the competition with ease and sitting just 61 yards away from 1,000 on the year, the offense has put points on the board with ease.
The Green Wave have outscored opponents 324-156, easily doubling the points that they have allowed this year, a major key to victory.
It has been a fantastic start to Jon Sumrall's tenure with Tulane, and with the schedule that the team has left, it does not look to be slowing down anytime soon.
