Tulane has won its first three games, including a pair against Power-Four opponents and this past week in an emotional matchup against its own former quarterback.
But coach Jon Sumrall was quick Tuesday morning to caution his players that if they aren’t prepared for the slugfest he knows awaits at No. 13 Ole Miss (3-0), then a great opportunity could quickly turn into a humbling afternoon.
“I felt maybe not our best energy right out of flex and getting ready to go into Period 1, and I let ’em know, like, ‘Hey, if this is how we’re gonna roll, we’re gonna get our ass beat. You better be dialed in,'” Sumrall said. “I think practice got better from there. But this — I mean, it’s hard. Our guys have got to get over, like, that (win vs. Duke) is gone forever for me. And this next one’s all that matters for the next week.
“I think the thing I fear is just complacency and our players, everybody telling ’em how good we are when I’m like, ‘We beat a team last week by seven points, the week before that we beat a team by two points, the week before that we scored a field goal in the second half — wow, so good.’ So it’s like we better freakin’ wake up.”
Tulane (3-0) has positioned itself with its start as well as anyone in the early conversation of best Group of Five teams and the potential College Football Playoff consideration that comes with topping that list at season’s end.
But “early” is the operative word in that equation with still more than two months left to the long haul of college football season.
And encouraging and promising as the first three weeks have been, Sumrall continues emphasizing that any given week can flip that narrative on its head if the Green Wave doesn’t maintain the correct approach.
“You’ve gotta answer the bell,” he said. “It’s like a boxer. Every time you come out of the break, you’ve gotta get back up and go fight again. And, you know, boxing’s 12 rounds. This is 12 regular-season games. We’ve gotta get up and answer the bell.”
The Rebels’ bell is the loudest of Tulane’s schedule, and Sumrall knows as well as anyone.
In 2018, he coached linebackers in Oxford, Miss., under Matt Luke.
In 2022, his Troy team lost his first game as a head coach there in a game of which he felt Ole Miss seized control from his Trojans almost immediately.
“Challenging week,” he said. “Ole Miss is a good football team, extremely well-coached, talent all over the field. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ve gotta play the best we’ve played all year to have a chance to win, and it’s gonna take our best. So exciting opportunity to go on the road, hostile environment, great opponent. Daunting in some ways ’cause you look across on the tape, and you just see the athletes, see what they do — there’s so many things they do that stress you. So we’ve gotta have a really good week of preparation.”
The Green Wave tried to find a balance this week — as Sumrall said, making sure to “practice smart” — between ensuring players are effectively prepared for the Rebels, while not overworking and running down a group that has been pushed by one early test after another.
Tulane enters the weekend with +260 and +300 odds to reach the College Football Playoff, according to Caesars and DraftKings, respectively. — ahead of South Florida (+400, +450), Boise State (+600, +750), Memphis (+700, +750), James Madison (+800, +900), Navy (+850, +900) and UNLV (+1000, +1000) among non-Power Four contenders.
And continuing that early momentum in Oxford would secure a stranglehold on the driver’s seat in that race.
“These are great opportunities,” Sumrall said. “They’re great challenges. This is why you work so hard as a player, as a coach, whatever it is is to measure yourself against what I consider some of the best. This (Ole Miss) coaching staff, this roster, it’s proven over the last four years of college football to be one of the best. And they just keep doing it. So I think it’s a very exciting opportunity. It’s one that I think you have to appreciate, you have to embrace and you have to also respect what you’re going against.
“It’s gonna be a handful, but it’s fun to measure yourself against the best. And I think that’s what’s made our non-conference schedule entertaining is it’s as challenging of a Group of Five non-conference schedule probably out there. I think us and I would say South Florida’s, but we don’t have an FCS game and they do. So I would say we both have really put ourselves in situations where you’re measuring yourself against good people each week.”