The Tulane Green Wave standard of excellence felt like a distant thought in their season opening loss to the Duke Blue Devils.
The Tulane Green Wave suffered a loss to the Duke Blue Devils in what can only be described as a brutal start to the 2026 season.
The fact that it was 10-0 heading into the fourth quarter felt a bit miraculous.
In today’s age of college football, there is little to no patience for teams to find their way. With NIL, the transfer portal, and everything in a state of transience, there’s pressure to perform.
That sentence applies to coaches who took over a fumbling program. That is not the case for the Green Wave.
They failed to score a touchdown in a game for the first time since 2019 in a 17-3 loss that felt mystifying at the helm of an offensive minded head coach.
Quarterback Zeon Chriss-Gremillion looked lost in a way that never showed to that degree in camp. He wasn't exactly aided by his line. What we weren’t able to see in camp was his running ability. Outside of his first attempt, he was not decisive and too unsure to do damage when his straight-line speed is his top trait.
He went 6-of-9 for 64 yards with five rushes for 15 yards.
The Wave had 98 yards of total offense in the first half compared to the Blue Devils’ 228 yards. Tulane added 160 in the second half under Kadin Semonza, who did actually infuse a spark coming off the bench cold.
Then wide receiver Destyn Hill fumbled a 39-yard grab three plays into Semonza's first series.
The offensive line was completely out of sorts. The missing starters were painfully missed, and the rotating of tackles nearly the entire game felt like there was never a chance at rhythm.
Nothing explains the lack of discipline that led to 15 penalties for 104 yards.
The offense committed nine of them, with a 10th declined. Every single one was by the offensive line outside of a chop block called on running back Maurice Turner, who was confusingly absent in the game along with the run game as a whole.
A hold on 3rd-and-4 turned into a false start on 3rd-and-14 that led to an incompletion on 3rd-and-19.
The chop block turned 1st-and-10 to 1st-and-19 and a three-and-out.
Despite things going wrong in every phase of the game, the defense kept a life raft floating as long as possible.
They completely failed to contain Duke running back Nate Sheppard. Linebacker Dickson Agu made a comment earlier in the week about feeling confident in their chances if they were able to hold him to 200 yards.
That sentence felt a little shocking, particularly after holding him to 75 yards last season.
He looked like he was covered in Crisco on several of his 35 carries for 227 yards and two touchdowns. That was without losing one yard. The defense failed to record a single tackle for loss, or one sack on what looked like an awkward statue in Blue Devils quarterback Walker Eget.
And yet, the game was still 10-0 heading into the fourth quarter.
There was a tackle by safety Kevin Adams early in the second quarter that felt like it would’ve been a game-defining moment had things worked out in the end.
On a 47-yard gain by Sheppard that looked all but gone, Adams recorded his sixth solo tackle of the game and managed to get Sheppard out of bounds.
Then the Blue Devils flailed in the red zone and missed the field goal. The sideline had life for the first time all game.
That eventually dissipated.
A theme of this offseason was development. It shined in some areas while failing in others.
It has yet to fully produce on the defensive line, but there were flashes of promise from younger players, including a solid wrap up tackle by true freshman defensive tackle Jordyn Crites. Bandits Jah’rie Garner and Warren Roberts Jr. had moments where the game looked totally slowed down for them.
The proof is in the pudding with Adams, who has been with the program working his way into the starting lineup since 2023. That's something to hold onto.
The offense for both sides felt like it was flailing in the wind, outside of Sheppard. The Wave will face much better offenses than what they saw at Duke. They might not face a back of the caliber of Sheppard.
Heading into the game, it reminded me of their win against the Kansas State Wildcats in 2022, where they shut down a Deuce Vaughn-led offense in one of the greatest single-game tackling performances of all time.
That felt lost in the rearview mirror on Saturday. But the heart of that defense remained in these current players until the final moments when an erroneous pass interference penalty sealed things in the fourth to give the Blue Devils a 17-3 lead.
If the Tulane offense wasn't anemic, they should win a game holding the opposing team to 17 points.
Now, there are things to point to. When the defense settled in, it proved capable of keeping the Green Wave in an adversity-riddled game.
The 90-minute rain delay excuse will fall on deaf ears, but that always favors the home team in their home facilities.
The offense made a quarterback switch in Game 1. That will never produce an identity. It’s critical to find that against South Alabama.
Sometimes teams just flat out lay a stinker.
But all of the talk of continuity this offseason was not validated in the season start.
A team beating themselves is fixable. It’s up to the Wave to prove capable of doing it.
