Reflections on Tulane-Tulsa: Opinion

After each game, ON SI Tulane Publisher Doug Joubert will take a look back, giving observations and opinions on how the Green Wave did. This week, a glance over our shoulder at Tulane's 31-14 victory over Tulsa on September 27, 2025.

Tulane 31 - Tulsa 14

That's the most important statistic we can reflect on. Opening American Conference play on the road against a team that is riding an emotional elevator that has gone to the top floor is a good start to league play. In case you didn't know, Tulsa visited Stillwater, Oklahoma the week before the Golden Hurricane's game against Tulane and beat Okie State on the Cowboys home turf, 19-12, in a game that wasn't close until the end

Tulane Overcomes Their Own Emotions

The Green Wave's own emotional elevator wasn't exactly at the penthouse after getting smacked around by Ole Miss in Oxford, 45-10. We knew the Rebels were good. LSU learned it the hard way. Mississippi is now ranked 4th in the nation by the Associated Press. They are no fluke. But that doesn't make things any easier, to have to come off a 35-point shellacking and go back on the road for your conference opener.

Tulane did just that. Give credit where credit is due: coaching and player leadership. This team has the right people in the right places at the right time to make this football team work. In this time of NIL, Jon Sumrall and his staff found the right pieces and placed them in the correct spots on the field to make this work. And those young men are leading through example.

Going back and watching game tape of that Tulsa win showed some impressive examples. Take senior center, Jack Hollifield. #58 was all over the field, not just looking for people to block, but finding them. On Jake Retzlaff's touchdown run, Hollifield blasted a defensive lineman out of the way, then found a second-line defender and pushed him almost into the end zone. On another scoring run, his kickout block opened the way for Javin Gordon's first TD. Then Hollifield's superb power block earned Gordon his 2nd trip to pay dirt.

That's just one example of a player that is playing with leadership: your senior center making play after play. And I haven't even touched on the defense. You get the picture.

Mistakes Will Cost the Green Wave Down the Road

Tulane has been bitten by the penalty bug-a-boo. Against South Alabama, the Wave was flagged eleven times. In the Duke game, nine penalties piled up 85-yards of lost turf. And against Tulsa, Tulane had a laundry basketful of 12 yellow hankies for 104-yards. An old coaching friend of mine used to say that getting penalized was like giving yardage to the other team. If this old adage is true, then the 337-yards earned in the game by the Golden Hurricane ends up a 441-yard advantage. That hurts.

These are mistakes that can and must be corrected. If you're looking a little ways down the road, a visit to what some consider the top team in the American, the Memphis Tigers, goes on come November 7th when the Green Wave head to Tennessee. Tulane cannot make those same kinds of errors against the top American teams.

Tulane has an off week, then returns to Yulman to play East Carolina in prime time on Thursday, October 9th.