Tulane Helped Florida Gators Become 'Winner' of Early Bowl Season
It's hard not to be panicked about the state of Tulane's football program right now.
After it once looked like the Green Wave were going to have an outside shot of crashing the College Football Playoff party if they won out, a loss against Memphis in their regular season finale which was followed up by a defeat in the AAC title game against Army certainly left things on a sour note.
Then, the transfer destruction happened.
Three of their best players, star quarterback Darian Mensah included, decided to enter their names into the portal and all found new homes, changing the outlook of the team heading into future years.
Not having Mensah basically ended any chance Tulane had of competing with Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl, and that was on full display when their offense was abysmal and the Gators took advantage to blow them out.
The 33-8 loss wasn't an indictment, though.
Most people understand the downgrade that occurred by going to Ty Thompson out of necessity instead of having one of the rising stars in the sport under center, but it has changed how people are viewing this Florida team after it seemed like they could be without a head coach in the middle of the year.
In fact, David Kenyon of Bleacher Report is calling Florida a "winner" of the early bowl season after they destroyed the Green Wave.
"But the final 30 minutes were considerably better for UF. Aided by that stingy defense, the Gators quickly made it a blowout ... [DJ] Lagway set a Gasparilla Bowl record with 305 passing yards, which nicely overshadowed an unimpressive first 30 minutes from him. Florida was on the verge of a miserable year in mid-November, but the outlook of the program is far more stable after the Gators rattled off four straight wins to finish 8-5," he wrote.
That's a fair assessment.
The Gators were red-hot on the recruiting trail when it was announced that Billy Napier was going to be retained, and with them building momentum that was capped by this showing, they have to be feeling good heading into 2025.
Tulane, not so much.
After the bowl game was over, more players entered the portal, including star running back Makhi Hughes and touchdown-producing tight end Alex Bauman.
Following three straight losses to close the year, there could be a rebuild coming to New Orleans.
