Tulane football team emerges as worthy rival for Kansas State coach

The Tulane football team stole a road win the last time it faced No. 17 Kansas State, and the Wildcats’ head coach knows those wins are critical to a team having a successful season.

The Green Wave lost the week after their upset win at Bill Snyder Stadium, but the confidence and swagger from that 17-10 victory carried over into the run to the Cotton Bowl. They did so with one of the best single-game tackling displays in college football. It put Tulane on a national stage, making this year’s contest have a different feel.

In his pregame press conference Monday, head coach Chris Klieman praised both the team under Fritz and what he’s seen from Jon Sumrall at Troy.

“John was here last year when I was at Troy. He’s a fantastic coach. They have a really good scheme. We watched all the film of Troy from last year when we played against him and now it feels like we’re watching it again. We only have one game (against Tulane), but they’re a very well-coached team. There are a lot of similarities offensively and defensively in the scheme. I’m sure there will be some differences because you have to match your personnel to your scheme, but they’re a very well-coached team. They have very good players. We know we’re going to play in a really tough environment.”

The big game this Saturday at 11 a.m. CT has one marked difference from that 2022 game: It will be played on ESPN vs. ESPN+. That alone shows how much Tulane has grown since the road win. It reflected the perception of the program, which didn’t receive any national recognition until its run of games in Cincinnati began.

Klieman likely expected to have to account for Tyjae Spears a lot more than they saw in that game. He sees Makhi Hughes as the starting talent for the offense and credits the experience on the offensive line. The fact that Klieman said his main focus is controlling the run game because they’re not going to be able to stop him speaks to Hughes’ ability.

This time around, they’ll be facing a new running back and quarterback. Based on Darian Mensah’s limited video of the season opener, Klieman was impressed by the redshirt freshman.

“I think it was his first game as a starter and I think he threw the ball very well. I think he had control and command of what he saw before the snap, and I think that’s the most important thing for a young quarterback. It’s something we work on with Avery and Jacob, what they see before the snap. Is that true of what you see after the snap? He seemed to have a pretty good command of what he was doing.”

The last time the Wildcats faced the Green Wave, the game came down to defense. Klieman has a lot of respect for the team’s defense and gave it credit for how well they tackled. But finding the vulnerable area on this year’s team is a challenge both head coaches must deal with. Neither showed many cards in their Week 1 wins.

“I think that’s part of the chess game of early-season football, of what are you going to show in the first week based on your opponent, based on the score, what can you contain? I think they’re probably in the same reign as us in terms of not showing everything, they didn’t. It’s still about whether you get rid of blocks and whether you make good tackles, and they did that last week, and they always did that at Troy.”

In years past, Tulane was viewed (and was two seasons ago) as a tug-of-war rival for Big 12 conference play. That’s the reality of Group of 5 programs in today’s college football landscape.

However, Tulane has begun to establish itself as a credible, noteworthy, quality opponent on the road. That path could lead it to the College Football Playoffs with a win against the Wildcats.