Tulane Green Wave Drowned by Rebels in Oxford, 45-10

On Saturday, the Tulane Green Wave couldn’t stretch their season-opening winning streak to four, as the 13th ranked Ole Miss Rebels pounded the Wave 45-10 in Oxford, MS.  That’s the most points given up by a Tulane defense since that same number in the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl.  The loss was the fourth straight to a ranked opponent for Tulane.

“Frustrating performance," said Tulane Head Football Coach Jon Sumrall after the game.  “It’s on me.  It starts with me.  I’ve got to have our guys more prepared to play better football.”

The Rebels opened the game with the ball, driving the length of the field, outrunning and out-physicalling (if that’s even a word) the Wave defense, taking just two-minutes and 37-seconds to take a 7-0 lead.  Ole Miss didn’t look back once, seemingly scoring at will.

Tulane Had Tempo Issues

“I thought we were emotionally ready to play,” Sumrall said.  “We didn’t really handle the pace, tempo stuff they did.”

The Tulane offense could never seem to quite get a rhythm going against the bigger and faster Rebels, as the TU offense staggered under an Ole Miss defense that seemed to be like an extra shirt on the Wave smaller receivers and quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who didn’t complete a pass until the 2nd quarter, missing nine straight tosses to begin the game.  The Tulane QB, who has put up some impressive rushing numbers to begin the season, led the Green Wave with 51-yards on the ground, but never could seem to get that breakout run that he found in earlier games.

Rebels Pile On the Tulane O and D

Ole Miss almost doubled the Tulane offensive output, putting up 548 yards on the Wave D, getting big chunks of yardage in the air and on the ground, while the Green Wave could only manage 282 yards.

“I can promise you this,” Sumrall wrapped up, “we’ll watch this game on the video on the plane on the way going back and get focused on conference play moving forward, but we’re going to sit in this one and let it hurt for a little while, because it should.”

This Rebel smackdown put the Wave on the mat.

Next week, Tulane takes a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The Hurricanes are fresh off a 19-12 upset of Oklahoma State in Stillwater, their first victory at Okie State since 1951.  

It will be interesting to see how quickly the Green Wave get up off the mat.