The Tulane Green Wave's historic season ended with a loss to the Ole Miss Rebels in the College Football Playoff, but as Sumrall put it, champions walk together forever.
The Tulane Green Wave had to do the little things right while performing in big, critical moments against the Ole Miss Rebels in their rematch on Saturday in the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff. That meant little to no penalties; they only had three. It meant winning the rush attack; they only fell short of that by 36 yards. It meant controlling the tempo of the game; the Green Wave won time of possession. It meant stopping the Rebels on third down; Tulane’s defense only conceded three of 10 attempts.
But there were two things that directly pointed to the 45-10 loss in September that reared their ugly head in the 41-10 defeat – failing to convert on third and fourth down and winning the turnover battle. The Green Wave got into Ole Miss territory seven times. They only reached the red zone once. But most glaringly, they went 5-of-13 on third down, 0-of-4 on fourth down, and lost the turnover battle 3-to-1. The playcalling had to be capable of outmatching the size, speed, and talent of the Rebels. It didn’t live up to that, with several promising drives stalling in incredibly confusing fashion.
There was a moment where leader Sam Howard said to the defense on the sideline that he “smelled blood in the water.” And he was right. The defense fell asleep and forgot what tackling was the first two drives. Then they did exactly what they did in the first matchup – they settled in and held. They gave the team a fighting chance to get into the contest. And it was the little things and critical moments that spelled the end of the team’s historic season.
As departing and former coach Jon Sumrall wrote in his farewell message on X, this team only had 5 returning starters.
The talent loss showed, unfortunately, on the biggest stage Tulane’s ever seen. The transfer portal and NIL make it near impossible for Group of Five programs to have a fighting chance at not being entrenched in the reactive and dramatic discourse that’s overtaken the entire narrative of the CFP, and where the talking heads are trying to take the future of the sport.
That short-sighted view doesn’t take into account what the stage granted to the Green Wave will lead to, should they decide to seize it. Tulane had a blatant blueprint given in where they need to accumulate talent in the transfer portal to be able to compete. But win or lose, they walked away from Oxford with $8 million dollars that should hopefully lead to more ability to do that.
It doesn’t take into account that Rome can’t be built in a day when it comes to recruiting the necessary players to continue this era of sustained success at Tulane. Will Hall could be the next coming of Bill Parcells, and it simply won’t matter if he is shut out from the ability to recruit at the Division 1 football level that the Green Wave currently exist in as 1 of 136 teams. And they’re a lot closer to the top of that massive number than half of the Power Four programs who simply have more resources to fester around in.
He now has a unique opportunity to be able to entice players to have a credible shot at the College Football Playoff. There’s an argument to be made that, even in the era of a revolving door of players, a perennial powerhouse can be built if you can live with those players being there for a year or two. One that may have a better shot at an upset a few years down the line.
If that access is shut off, then that entire momentum goes up in flames. But for now, that system is in place, and Tulane was 1 of 12 teams in the nation to have a chance at the national title. For Green Wave fans that are the foundation of the base, that was a sentence they never thought they’d utter.
But quietly, Tulane has built an elite culture that managed to get a group of players with over 60 newcomers to become fighting champions. It’s one that has roots planted in 2022, and each team since has played a part in getting that stretch through 2025. What former coach Willie Fritz began was put on turbo speed and all gas no breaks by Jon Sumrall, who will forever have a legacy at Tulane alongside his 2025 team that fans can be proud to celebrate, leaving the place better than he found it.
None of that is changed by Saturday’s result.