The Green Wave will debut with a new head coach and quarterback this weekend as their offense will finally take shape from the unknowns of training camp.
It’ll be curious to see how the Tulane Green Wave attack their season opener against the Duke Blue Devils from an offensive scheme perspective. There are a lot of things to consider when assessing how that might look.
For one, it’s a new offense under head coach Will Hall and offensive coordinator Russ Callaway, and one that will also feature a new quarterback for the Green Wave in Zeon Chriss-Gremillion.
There’s been glimpses of what that might look like in camp, but without the element of Chriss-Gremillion’s athleticism, it’s hard to accurately assess a full picture.
There will be a lot of firsts here this weekend in that regard. For one, there will be a new offensive and defensive playcaller as well as the decisions made at the top by Coach Hall.
When will his aggression show? Will it be on fourth downs? What will the offense look like if they have a lead? Will they keep the foot on the gas pedal?
Those are all important factors to look at this weekend, and how Hall handles the tempo and chaos in the live game setting.
There’s also the unignorable factor of heat for those who may be expecting a high flying passing game this weekend.
There might be a little more ground and pound than anticipated if teams just want to get out of the current heat advisory in North Carolina and back home or on a plane.
And yes, that’s saying something when discussing a group of guys from New Orleans, La., who have been preparing for the season through a full on southern summer heat wave.
As of the time writing this, it’s 89 degrees in Durham on Thursday morning compared to 86 degrees in Uptown New Orleans.
Then there’s the notion that this is only Game 1, and Tulane was easily able to defeat this Blue Devils defense last season by quarterback Jake Retzlaff just gashing them with his legs over and over.
Why not just see if that works again? There’s merit in not giving away an entire playbook in a season opener against a non-conference opponent – especially when the Green Wave face the Army Black Knights and Memphis Tigers right out of the gate in conference play.
But this is also coach Hall’s first game as Tulane’s head coach after months of criticism over his time with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles that he can’t really do much about at this point.
And it’s the first game for a group of guys who, despite reaching their second American Conference title last season and the College Football Playoff, have been counted out of this year’s conversation.
Grit and toughness just might do it, but there could easily be some flare for style points.
