The Tulane Green Wave have a daunting road contest against the Power Four, but it's not their first rodeo.
Both the Tulane Green Wave and the Kansas State Wildcats debut new head coaches this season, which could certainly play a factor in Saturday’s matchup – and just as easily might be an equalizer non-factor.
But in terms of being tested, the Green Wave enter this matchup with a lot more grit and, at minimum, a contest against a Power Four opponent. The Wildcats can’t say the same with overwhelming victories over Nicholls and Washington State.
K State has yet to allow a touchdown this season. They’ve amassed nearly 500 yards of offense in both contests. None of that is a fluke.
However, none of that offered any glimpse into how Collin Klein’s Wildcats team handles adversity.
For Will Hall, that’s all that’s been his tenure, beginning with a loss and following it up with an ugly win that took mental toughness for his team to close out.
Tulane has more experience to this point as a team under this coach in what to do when things go wrong or they need to come from behind late.
The Wildcats hold the edge in plenty of ways; their quarterback is much more experienced and with this team specifically.
And while the Green Wave have shown the ability to fight back from behind, that task is certainly a lot taller against K State than it was against the South Alabama Jaguars.
One way to get ahead of that is controlling time of possession, something Tulane has yet to do this season.
They are averaging about 23 minutes per game through their first two matchups. Previously, the Green Wave dominated time of possession at times to a national level.
That will require the defense to be able to get off the field on third down. It also will require the Wave to convert more first downs, of which they have 23 to their opponents’ 45 total.
The best way to ultimately control possession time is by running the football. That will be a big test against a big and physical Wildcats’ defensive line.
Semonza has shown the ability to scramble, but the offensive line for Tulane will need to continue to build off of last week’s performance.
That includes the discipline that was shown teamwide. After 15 penalties in Week 1, the Wave turned that into a mere four in Week 2.
The ability to control early downs will have a lot to do with Tulane not putting themselves out of position into long conversions due to penalties.
It doesn’t seem like the road environment had much to do with it the first time; the rain delay likely muted what was an already smaller Duke crowd.
There will be a lot larger of a roar at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, but the Wave enter with a much more composed team.
