Tulane cited a goal in 2024 to win the state of Louisiana. But, with no in-state matchups on the 2025 schedule, this year’s goal is even more simply stated — though not necessarily simply accomplished.
“From a goal standpoint, we want to win every game we play,” coach Jon Sumrall said. “That’s sort of the goal around here is win every one of ’em — one at a time.”
For all the confidence the Green Wave have, the focus Sumrall additionally emphasized is just as critical — particularly for a heavily overhauled roster facing three Power-Four opponents in the first four weeks.
Tulane will kick off the season Saturday at 11 a.m. against Northwestern, the first Power-Four opponent to open a Green Wave schedule since Oklahoma in 2021 and the first Big Ten opponent to visit the Green Wave since 1955.
“When you watch ’em, they’re really, really big,” Sumrall said, amid a long list of praises for the Wildcats. “I think they’re gonna start three O-linemen that are 6-foot-7, so they might come out and look at us and think we’re the ‘Little Giants.’ But they’ve got big people, they’re athletic, they’re fast, they’re well-coached. It’s a tremendous challenge in Game 1. There’s no easing our way into the season with this one. But a lot of respect for them. Excited about the opportunity to play a Power-Four team, a Power-Two team, a Big Ten team, whatever you wanna call it, all those terms. I think it’s a great privilege for us to have the opportunity to do so.”
The Green Wave will then visit South Alabama (Sun Belt), host Duke (ACC) and visit Ole Miss (SEC) the next three weeks of a the program’s first schedule since 2020 without and FCS opponent.
“I would just say the sense of urgency has to raise,” said senior linebacker Sam Howard, one of just five returning full-time starters from 2024. “That’s what coach has harped on all offseason: just urgent in the details, urgent in your assignment, urgent in everything we do. So, I think as a team we’ve honed in on that, and I think we should be ready. We’ll be ready Saturday.”
Howard pointed to a greater familiarity and understanding in a second season under Sumrall, who was hired in December 2023, and Tulane’s coaching staff as enabling the team’s returners to play faster, thinking less and processing more as a reflex.
Similarly, the veteran backer hopes that dynamic will help the Green Wave start this season smoothly.
“Last year coming in with a new coaching staff, guys were still trying to learn the new playbook and see how the nuances of how the coaches were changing up maybe how you fit this gap or how we play this coverage,” Howard said, explaining from the linebacker perspective in particular. “So just coming in on Year 2, I think it’s easier to just focus on the opponent than just focus on what we do. Now it’s easy. We can just go out there and just know the game plan and just go out there and play fast and play ball and do what we do.”
But, in the modern landscape of college football, rosters feature more turnover than ever before.
And Sumrall admitted that, as much as he’s liked what he’s seen from his players throughout this offseason, knowing how a team will respond once the regular season starts remains an uncertainty until the time actually arrives.
“You’ve got five guys that were, like, every-game type starters on last year’s team, and so there’s maybe some uncertainty in that regard.” he said. “And then there’s guys that you believe in that are new, but I’ve never seen ’em do it in a Tulane uniform, and they’ve never played a game in this stadium, and so all those things kind of you’re never really sure what a guy is gonna respond like when the bullets are live, if you will, and the game’s against another opponent.
“So, I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team. I have a lot of confidence in the individuals. But everybody’s 0-0. Nobody’s been faced with real adversity yet. I’ve never been a part of a game or a season that adversity doesn’t hit at some point, and you have to be prepared for that. And I think that’s gonna be the biggest question I have is do we flinch when something doesn’t go our way or do we put our feet in the ground and stand on our two feet and be bold and be strong and fight for each other.”
Sumrall and Howard both said they’ve been impressed with the way the team has come together during the past few months.
Chemistry and confidence in one another — not just starter-to-starter, but in what Howard views as a notably deeper roster top-to-bottom — have become some of the attributes of this group that stand out most to the player-leader.
“I would say that we’ve come together through the offseason like never before,” Howard said. “Guys know each other more. Guys want to play harder for each other. Guys want to leave it all out there on the line. And I would say the depth in each room on defense I think has just been better than we’ve ever had, so just knowing that, ‘Hey, if something happens to one of us that’s on the field right now, we’ve got somebody else that’s gonna come in, and it’s not gonna be a drop-off.’ Just knowing that and being able to trust in each other and lean on each other is the confidence I have in this team.”
As much turnover as almost all programs now deal with annually, the ability to start a new season with trust in one another and one another’s execution can often be enough for a team to be successful out the gate.
“I watched those Week 0 games very closely,” Sumrall said. “I think early in the year more games are lost than won. It’s like how do you just play the game clean? And we try to do a good job around here of Football IQ and teaching the game, and you can cover things until you’re blue in the face, but getting guys to really hone in on those little details that can make up the difference in the game is when little details matter.”
Tulane has no intention to call or play the game conservatively, Sumrall clarified. Actually, he said the Green Wave will probably play a bit more aggressively in 2025.
But the coach hopes to see the team avoid costly miscues such as turnovers, procedural and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and blown assignments and, if successful in that regard, feels confident in the potential to take that first big — Big Ten — step toward its season-long goal.
“It’s just those little things,” Sumrall said. “Like last week, the Hawaii-Stanford game, the kick returner — the ball hits the ground, and he fair-catches it while it’s hitting the ground, and then goes and fields it. Well, that means the ball is dead where it was, which was the 1-yard line. And so it’s like, ‘Man, how can we avoid doing really dumb things? Like, let’s just play with our heads in the right space and don’t beat ourselves.’
“We say it all the time: ‘The Wave don’t beat the Wave.’ Let’s not beat ourselves. This other team’s good enough already. Just don’t beat yourself. So play clean football. Alignment stuff on offense: Are you on the ball or off the ball, receiver? Be smart. Know what you’re supposed to do. So it’s just those types of things. Procedurally, I think pre-snap stuff in Game 1’s, unsportsmanlike conduct type stuff that I’ve tried to coach to ’em, like I said ’til I can’t coach anymore. But I show the guys clips of that kind of stuff just cause I want to make sure that we put our best foot forward in the game and give ourselves the best chance to be successful.”
