Tulane Finally Has True Home Field Advantage at Yulman Stadium

Tulane Green Wave head coach Will Hall pointed out something important on Tuesday ahead of the Wave’s second home conference matchup against the UTSA Roadrunners: the home-field advantage of Yulman Stadium.

“The building of that stadium and the turnaround of this program, it's not coincidental that they are very intertwined,” Hall told reporters ahead of Saturday’s contest. “We needed that stadium on this campus and this community needed this stadium.”

It’s a sage point. But things really blossomed when the 2022 Tulane team made it to the Cotton Bowl.

One may recall that former Green Wave running back Tyjae Spears, currently on the Tennessee Titans, made a plea for fans that year to show up for homecoming so he could hear the cheers of fans in the stands when he scored a touchdown.

It’s almost laughable to think a player of the caliber of Spears and a program at the level that Tulane is at had to beg fans to show up to homecoming the year they went 12-2.

But it shows how far the program has come, and what a real advantage Yulman Stadium has turned into.

That is a major testament to the fans just as much. You can fill the seats with butts, but if they’re sitting there silently all game, well, it doesn’t really do much for the home squad.

The noise that the stadium makes on third down, the cheers and Hullabaloo chant they fervently sing, none of it is taken for granted.

It made a major difference in the win over the Memphis Tigers last Friday. The team was infused and empowered by the energy of the fans, an electric student section who deserves real credit in the culture turnaround, and the sounds from the band.

It’s certainly more fun to record six turnovers at home than it is to celebrate amid a bunch of boos on the road.

It also shows how hard of a task it was for the Green Wave to attempt to beat two Power Four opponents on the road and start conference play against the Army Black Knights in West Point at that.

Playing in the Super Dome and trying to get up as a team for that was nearly an impossible feat.

It wasn’t too easy trying to get up and get fired up to play in front of some early Yulman crowds either.

Things are very different now, and that will be a key advantage for the Green Wave as they look to fend off the Roadrunners this weekend.

Unlike last year, they get UTSA at home this time, on their terms, with a hopeful roaring advantage at home.