The Tulane Green Wave are one of the most intriguing elements of the 2025-2026 College Football Playoff and I, for one, love that they’re getting a shot at a rematch with the Ole Miss Rebels.
We’ll talk a bit more about this later, but both Ole Miss and Tulane have lost their coaches to more prominent gigs in the SEC. And we’ve already seen one matchup between the Rebels and the Green Wave.
And now we get to see them face off once more.
Here’s what Texas Tech fans need to know about the Tulane Green Wave ahead of the College Football Playoff matchup vs. Ole Miss
- Record: 11-2 overall, 7-1 American
- Head coach: Jon Sumrall (who is leaving for the Florida Gators)
- Stadium: Yulman Stadium
- Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
- Conference: American Athletic Conference
When Sumrall became the head coach of the Green Wave, he inherited a really solidly built G5 program that Willie Fritz had elevated in so many ways. And ever since Fritz left for Houston and Sumrall has been the head coach in New Orleans, the Green Wave just keep winning.
With Jake Retzlaff transferring in from the BYU Cougars, Tulane was able to get a quarterback who is a true dual threat and has managed to throw for 2862 yards and 14 touchdowns against six interceptions while also running for 610 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.
Running backs Javin Gordon and Jamauri McClure help round out the rushing attack for Tulane’s offense by adding a combined 961 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
As for Tulane’s defense (which seems to be Sumrall’s specialty based on his resume), the Green Wave have held foes to 375 total yards of offense per game while giving up 22.6 points per game.
The Green Wave’s resume isn’t quite as impressive as what some other folks in the College Football Playoff might have accomplished this season, but as the champs in the American (and with wins over Duke, Army, Memphis, and North Texas) this team has earned its spot here.
It is interesting though. The Green Wave will be meeting up with one of the two teams who managed to beat Tulane this season as the Ole Miss Rebels won that first matchup with ease during the regular season.